Book: Queen of Nothing
Pg 147
XI. Queen of Nothing
Just the sound of her voice is enough to make the hunter freeze. Hesitant golden eyes flick over cold, uninviting metal walls before turning to face Eramis.
“Are we not done here? I should go fill Variks in on what he’s missed.“ Shadow struggles to break away from the conversation, hating any and every time she had to interact with Eramis.
Conversation with the Kell’s Council had become increasingly hostile, leaving Shadow more and more uneasy.
Wolf had been right. Nothing she said was intelligent enough. Nothing she did was impressive enough. Riis Reborn, for awoken Shadow, was a place of failure and constant ridicule.
Phylaks and the other veterans of House Devils have hung back in the shadows forebodingly, watching her. Their eyes are calculated, hungry.
Fear stirs in the pit of Shadow’s stomach.
“Pah!” Eramis dismisses her with the wave of a sharp clawed hand. “Variks, Variks, Variks,” she sneers. “Do you spend all of your time groveling at his feet?”
She cringes and takes a hesitant step backward. “Variks is my Kell—” Her voice falters, chest burning as Eramis takes a step closer to her. Daring to look up into her two eyes, the hunter’s breathing halts.
“Variks is not your Kell here,” she reminds her darkly, allowing a stifling silence to draw out between them.
Shadow swallows.
“I believe I asked you about those robes you’re wearing. Where did you get them?” Eramis’s head tilts curiously.
Shadow can feel the malicious gaze of Phylaks biting into her back. “I...” She raises her chin, struggling to hold her composure. “Variks helped Ilasaan make them for me.” She curses the way she sounds like a mere hatchling in comparison to Eramis’s throaty growl.
“What does he take himself for, a weaver after his time with the Wolves? Pathetic,” she says, followed by a bark of amusement.
Shadow bites her tongue, fighting against her anger when she hears Phylaks’s wicked laugh paired with Eramis’s.
“These are not the colors of our house.” Eramis states, narrow eyed. “Why are you the only one who does not represent?” Her voice softens menacingly and she shakes her head slowly.
Shadow had not noticed the scrappy white cloak gripped in a lower hand until now— Eramis raises the cloth, sized for what could only be a dreg, or Shadow herself. This conversation must have been planned. The thought angers her.
“You will wear [i]this[/i] instead.” The dark Kell holds them out to her, making the hunter recoil. Was this some sort of sick test?
“I wear the colors of Judgment- that’s my house-“
“[i]No![/i]” Eramis shouts, her voice reverberating off the walls. She clenches her fists. ”Variks no longer bears the colors of Judgment and neither will you.” She spits his name like a poison on her tongue.
The sudden outburst makes Shadow flinch away from her. She had forced Variks into this as well? Or had Variks willingly done so? Shadow doesn’t get the chance to question her.
Eramis’s chest swells, fueled by the hunter’s fear. “You belong to [i]my[/i] house now and you belong to [i]me[/i]. And this...”
Eramis’s voice deepens to a growl as she studies Shadow’s soft-furred, emerald green robes. So intricately designed by Variks’s hands, emblazoned with the symbol of judgment.
For one fleeting moment, Shadow thinks she sees a spark of something there in Eramis’s eyes. An old memory. Haunting.
It is gone far too quickly for either of them to acknowledge.
The hunter hardly has time to react before the eliksni has taken a fist full of fabric between her claws. “No more!”
A startled intake of air is all Shadow can manage as the front of her robes are torn away from her. The sound of the beautiful fabric shredding nearly makes her cry out.
She stares at nothing, stunned into silence. Feeling all eyes on her.
Though trembling, she forces herself to raise her head and meet Eramis’s gaze once more. Her pale awoken skin glows softly in ripples under the dim lights of the ketch.
“Weak flesh…” Eramis hisses in disdain, taking in the foreign sight of Shadow’s rounded breasts. She finally shoves the cloak against them, hard.
Breath knocked from her, Shadow wheezes, her hands grasping at the cloak to cover herself.
Eramis leans in closer to her. “Variks has [i]never[/i] been, nor will he [i]ever[/i] be a Kell... And you are no queen.” Faint amusement creeps into her voice as she shakes her head. She finds the thought laughable.
“He is [i]my[/i] Kell,” Shadow insists with quiet authority. “And I [i]earned[/i] that title—“
Shadow’s objection is cut short as her body hits the floor with a resounding thud. Hardly surprised, she rests one hand on the ground to raise and steady herself, the other still holding the cloak loosely to her chest. Her shoulder stings fiercely where Eramis’s fist had connected.
The Kell towers over her. “You [i]will[/i] wear these... I know you will.” Her voice softens to the same insincere tone she had begun with. “Or... I can have Phylaks fetch your precious Variks, and see what he thinks?”
“[i]No![/i]” Shadow instantly feels Eramis’s satisfaction at her outburst. She quickly regains control of herself in an effort to save whatever is left of her wounded pride. “No. I will wear them.” She would rather die than let Variks see her like this.
A rumbling sound that may have been a purr rises from Eramis’s throat. “Then I see no reason we cannot keep this conversation… just between us.”
Shadow watches her rise and turn away, breathing a shaky sigh of relief.
That relief is short lived. “Oh, and one more thing, Shadow...” This time Eramis lowers herself even closer to her.
The hunter shrinks down, feeling hot breath washing over her neck.
Eramis then speaks quietly and with such a confident certainty that Shadow actually believes her. “The only title you’ve [i]earned?[/i]... Is the Traitor’s [i]plaything[/i].”
The awoken woman is forced to look away. Her hand clenches into a fist, the floor blurs beneath her.
Satisfied with her submission, Eramis rises once more and is followed by the rest of her council.
Shadow catches her lip between her teeth, brow furrowed as she furiously fights against tears.
She waits for the silence that tells her she is alone before finally losing that battle.
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4 RepliesWait what is this Is this like Datamined lore or something Or you made it up? I'm confusion