CHAPTER 16

I part my lips to let the air fill my lungs devoid of it.

__ Yes, my skin is yours ... my body belongs to you __. His mouth curves on my neck in a triumphant smile. But my soul never.

__ As you say? __ He ​​separates his face from my neck, fixing his gaze on mine like a beast that carries a thousand and one demon inside, burning the flames of his hell in his eyes.

__ You can punish my skin, you can take my body ... But you will never break my will. You will never bend my soul or be the owner of my heart __. I smile when I see his black eyes looking at me confused __. It only belongs to me.

But something changes in them, an impetuous curiosity declares its presence. It's strange, as if the fire in his gaze didn't burn, it's still there latent, but its flames don't embrace me.

What am I thinking at? I have to check my brain to see where I get such nonsense.

Mikael gives me a funny look of tolerance.

But what is he doing with the funny smiles? At this rate I will end up assuming that I am a comedian or have a clown face.

Without warning, his hand removes in a single movement the veil of filigree that covers my face, that gesture causes the hood of my cape to fall completely.

It only takes him a second to realize what has been hidden from his eyes since he entered this room. Still with the veil between her fingers, she backs away from me, her gaze scrutinizing each part. It can be seen how in his mind the pieces fit together like a cog in a machine, they square in his thoughts piece by piece until he unravels the puzzle in front of him.

He is puzzled, dejected, as if he has been beaten and with it sucked every breath of air from his body.

__ Come out __. I think I have been the only one to listen to him because nobody moves a hair.

__ Get out! __ replies making everyone get up one by one as if they had been told that otherwise they will lose their lives.

Mikael doesn't say a word, he just stands there staring at me without barely blinking. His hands form fists that turn whitish from the force he generates in them.

I hear the click of the door closing as if it were the one of my life disappearing. That's it, the room lies empty, except for two pairs of eyes, one struggling to contain himself and the other trying to understand what is happening.

May God help me now, otherwise Leceth's smile before leaving will win. I even thought about what would happen to him realizing who I am. But here we are, the damage is done and with nothing else to do but wait for the fate cast to dictate its sentence.

__ You are the slave __. His eyes narrow harder in my direction.

That's it, goodbye to the battle that I haven't even had the time to win. I let the silence give you the answer you already know, it's not that I can do more, denying it won't do. It only remains to maintain my pride and thereby prevent my dignity from being stepped on.

I am who I am and I will not be ashamed of it. The road has been hard, the path is rubble, but each stone has shaped who I am. That belongs to me and no one can take it away from me.

__ What are you saying Mikael? __ Tulio looks at him as if he thinks he lost his mind. They cross their gaze from one to the other as if they could find the answers.

__ You are the slave who collided with me in the corridor __. Mikael continues talking to me as if that man does not exist, waiting for me to deny or affirm as if he is not capable of more.

__ It is not possible, they would not dare to send a slave instead of Tsarina Mikael.

__ It is __ sentence even if you pay the least attention to it.

Tulio goes from looking at him to looking at me, confusion, disbelief, horror and a number of other feelings seem to make their way on his face. One after another until he looked at me with more contempt than before, if possible. That is enough for me to get out of my silence.

__ I am, I am the slave of that afternoon __. I look at him haughtily, enjoying his anger that increases with every second that passes.

__ Shit! They have seen our idiotic faces __. Tulio hits the table throwing everything on it directly to the floor __. How is it possible?

He turns to me abruptly __. Where is the tsarina? __ Everything in him demands an answer as if his person were the owner of a truth that is owed to him. Since he feels it is his, I am going to give it to him.

__ It's me __. I smile wryly, I can't help but enjoy this moment. They have a thousand questions and only I know the answers.

__ You better stop playing games or ...

__ Or what? __ I challenge him again, being the one who approaches him this time without hesitation.

__ Enough is enough __ Mikael interrupts our murderous gaze duel.

He walks slowly towards me, like a predator knowing cornered its prey __. Who are you? __ Cocks his head to the side in a gesture that makes him look even more intimidating by letting him know that no matter what, he will get what he wants.

Knowledge of the truth is the most elusive power to attain and that gives it its appeal. Everyone wants it, but not everyone can pay its price, sometimes it can be a very high one.

What price is Mikael willing to pay for it?

__ I am Suhaila Korkmaz or Suhaila the slave ... as you prefer __. I laugh bitterly without being able to help myself.

There it is, now you have what you wanted, you just need to know if it is what you expected. I'd bet what I have that I don't.

Mikael reviews every part of my face like an incomprehensible map. Detail and scrutinize every inch for traces of lies. I cannot blame him, no one wants to believe that truth, human beings can be vicious to self-deception using it as a shield against what we decide to deny ourselves just because we believe it inconceivable.

__ Did your brother have you like a slave? __ His disbelief is palpable, so much so that I can feel that this question is unimaginable for him, even having formulated it, his mind does not process it, nor does it conceive of it as possible.

__ Yes.

There is nothing more to add, what is the case. Sometimes the simplest answers do the job better.

__ Incredible, so in addition to being haughty, slave __. The laugh that Tulio lets out sounds too sadistic __. Perfect, we will see how answering you are when you see what awaits you when it is returned __. He laughs again with all the coldness he has in his eyes.

__ What are you talking about? __ Mikael turns to him without understanding what he means.

He does not seem to know anything about the culture of my country, but the same cannot be said of his partner, apparently he is steeped in all of it. It is not usual for a foreigner to know our traditions, much less one like that, which nobody talks about.

__ A woman who is returned is a shame, in some cases she ends up as a slave, or on the street when she is rejected by the family and ... __ She just laughs looking at me maliciously looking for an effect of fear in me that he does not know does not exist .

__ Dying, they can die because they have no way to support themselves as no one wants to help them because they are rejected __. I finish for him without hiding my smile. They cannot understand that for someone who has spent years in slavery, that is better than living this way. Death is a rest for the pain, the suffering, the devastation that your soul suffers from day to day.

Mikael turns to me, the surprise at my calm words despite their meaning is not tried to hide. It takes each step slowly approaching, so that the tips of our noses can almost touch.

With an almost imperceptible gesture of his hand he orders Tulio to retreat, the man snorting out of the room, muttering incomprehensible words. It's just me and him.

Mikael looks down in search of a point that he soon finds as he continues on his way. Drawn on my greenish skin is still the mark of Argus's fingers on my arm. It has started to disappear, but not completely, followed by it almost completely scarring my fingernail prints.

__ Why do I have the feeling that dying would be paradise instead of what awaits you if I return you? __ whispers leaning towards me looking me straight in the eyes.

I avoid his gaze, I can't let him see in mine what thinking about it does to me. Being returned gives Leceth the perfect opportunity to drag me to some place where I am at her disposal and there is nothing I can do to prevent her plans with me.

I can't admit that or I will give Mikael full control over me. Something tells me that he senses my fear and confirms it by laughing openly at my pride, even when I avoid his gaze without lowering my head.

__ I deny you the pleasure of dying __ it is so low that it is barely heard. It is like the whisper of the wind on a still dark and empty night.

Has he really said it or am I imagining things?

But no, it is not my imagination, nor am I a victim of madness, his lopsided smile and smug eyes make it more than clear. The beast decided to play with its prey, the placed board swaying unstable on a broken pillar. Two opponents, one move at a time, both in each corner, one mistake and the loser will fall into the abyss.

The question is: Who will lose?