Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Txälina

One final cry, and my vision blurred as the mountains evanesced.

In the Dreamland, coated with white sand, I found myself crouched on the ground, Säli looming over me. Her voice echoed through the earth.

Säli men will pay with their blood.

I ploddingly lifted my head but was blinded by a white light and quickly lowered my gaze.

"Ignominy lies in your continuous denial of what's planted in you. You are the daughter of Säli and you cannot resist your fate. Cede your resistance. Yield to the voice in your head."

I woke up, retching into the bucket close to my bed, leaving me slumped against the pillows. My mouth was wet with the sour, bitter taste of the concoction.

I opened leadened eyes, and they settled upon a pair of bright golden eyes hovering over me.

 Nuxiwän preen at her reflection in the mirror, her fingers skimming her hair.

"You're awake," Täneli muttered.

"You were practically comatose for three days," Nuxiwän added.

Three days? My eyes widened. Though it was hardly the longest I had gone unconscious during the full moon.

"I'm thirsty," I rasped, my frail hands reaching for the waterskin on the table. Täneli handed it to me. My hands quaked as I unlatched the screw and drank until my throat no longer burned.

"Where is Kaluen?" I asked.

"He hasn't returned yet."

A crease formed on my forehead. "Does that mean the challenge...."

"Alpha Wyränkla is dead," Nuxiwän said, walking toward the bed and sitting close to me. She took the waterskin from my hand, gulping it.

Täneli's expression pleated into something like regret.

My heart sank. I didn't know what to feel. Should I be happy that one bastard was dead? Or be sad that Mätxin was now the Alpha?

"One brute monster off the list," Nuxiwän said, sulking. "But still, I am disgruntled that Kaluen still lives."

"Quiet," Täneli said abruptly. "The guards can hear us outside."

The prolonged absence of Kaluen and his cronies bestowed the house with an unfamiliar quietness, a sense of peace I had long sought to taste. I sat on the couch, the cup cold in my hand as I drank wine, dredging up the dream I had a few days ago.

Yield to the voice in your head.

But the voice had not recurred, until now.

"Txälina?" Täneli's voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and I opened my eyes to meet her gaze. Täneli and Nuxiwän stared at me with a look of horror.

"What?" I asked, my voice tense.

"Kaluen and Mätxin are back," Täneli replied.

My eyes widened.

…

I felt my heart soar against my chest as I adjusted my tasseled gown and trailed after the guard. The hall was crowded with warriors, their faces gleaming with happiness.

Mätxin stood amidst them, newly crowned with the Alpha position. A smile perched on his face as he caught my gaze.

Yield.

I sealed my eyes for a moment, granting the voice permission to permeate through my body.

Yield to the voice daughter, and Säli women will be free.

When I opened them again, I found Mätxin watching me with bright eyes, a crinkle at the corner of his lips. He extended his hands as though to welcome me, and the grin on his lips broadened. I felt queasy.

The warriors were all sworn to Mätxin now.

Yield.

I wanted to wring his neck. Smother his nose. I wanted to command him with the voice.

But another part of me, the part that had witnessed the horrific scene of what happened to the woman on the full moon night, reeled in horror.

This is your fate. Give in.

What if the voice wasn't Säli? What if it was a part of me, writhing to escape this distress?

"People of Säli," Mätxin called, "tonight, we celebrate my new position as Alpha."

Warriors cheered, but I couldn't help the scowl that formed on my face. My lips sealed tightly with disapproval. My hands clenched.

"Yet the prospect of my ascension to the Alpha position would never have transpired were it not for my newly designated Beta, Kaluen," Mätxin spoke, beckoning to Kaluen.

Warriors cheered again, and music began. They drank, and as the night dragged on, anger spun across my face. I gritted my teeth, fingers digging into my skin at the sight of Säli women degraded and violated by men.

Sadness snaked into my vision as a pair of golden almond eyes affixed to mine, hers burning with tears. Her face was red, and tears smeared her cheeks.

"Brother," I spoke, turning to Kaluen. Kaluen stared at me drily, and I gestured to the woman pinned beneath the cluster of large hands, her diminutive frame quivering with pain. "She's in anguish."

Kaluen gave me an admonishing glare. "And you're next," he said, drawing the attention of Mätxin.

Fear spread through my body like wildfire. My eyes widened.

"It's time," Mätxin said, rising from his chair.

My teeth grounded as I stood. Mätxin's rough hands found me, trailing lower, nudging the strap off my shoulder. I closed my eyes.

I needed to be strong.

But that thought crumbled when he shoved me onto the bed and reached for the ties of his tunic.

I was repulsed by his touch.

"Strip your clothes off," he ordered.

"No."

Mätxin ceased, his brows pinching. "What did you say?"

I sat up.

"You belong to me now, and you'll submit to me. Do you understand?"

"I don't belong to you," I said firmly. "I don't belong to anyone."

Silence permeated the room, thick with tension.

I felt the pain on my cheek before I could process the speed of his hand as it struck my face, whipping my head to the side. The impact knocked breath from my lungs.

A bright rush of heat kissed my cheek with excruciating pain.

He struck me again. My vision fuzzed. The air shifted; it felt suffocating. When Mätxin's rough hands girthed around my neck, smothering me, I gasped.

"Is this how you were inured to speak to men?!" he bellowed, delivering another strike across my cheek.

My hands rose in an attempt to shield my face. Another blow dropped on me, this time a belt across my skin, and I screamed.

"Good thing I know how to deal with women like you," he growled, punching my face. I gasped for air.

Something vast and cold stirred inside me, a presence I had spent years avoiding. Avoiding the ancient force that ravened for freedom and dominance. As I slowly gave in to the power inside me, it felt both terrifying and freeing. Goosebumps pebbled my skin.

Anger and rage coated me.

"I'm going to revel in hurting you, bitch," he snarled, darkness consuming his eyes.

Mätxin raised his hand, prepared to hit, but the word that rolled from my lips halted him cold, straining him against an invisible force.

"Stop."

My heart galloped.

His head swayed slightly, a deep growl rumbling from his throat in an attempt to shift into his beast. But nothing happened. Säli shielded me.

Trepidation lined his features.

"What… what did you do to me?" he asked.

A smile snaked on my lips.

 "Säli women lost access to the moon powers many years ago."

All control and access to my body sapped, and my lips spoke. "That is what you believe."

His eyes warped with fear.

"The day of reckoning has arrived, and your blood will be the first to pay the price."

He strained against the invisible thread tethered to my mind.

"Kneel," I commanded.

He fell to his knees instantly.

My hands traveled up his body, trailing across his face. His body was rigid, eyes wide with horror.

My eyes still stung from the pain of his punches. Rage bloomed inside me and spread its branches throughout my body, forcing me to reach for the dagger on the table.

"I will show you how it felt when you inflicted pain on Säli women. What it was to be treated like a slave," my hands tightened around the dagger.

"How you assaulted and murdered different Säli women because you feared we would grow stronger than you." I felt power throb in my veins.

Without hesitation, without a second thought, I closed the distance between us and grasped his face with one hand.

Mätxin blinked at me with bewilderment.

I brought my face close to his, taking in the gold of his eyes, his breath reeking of sweet wine.

He parted his lips to speak, but all that came out was a mangled choke as I sliced him from ear to ear.

His crimson blood sloshed across my face and gown like flowing water. I watched in silence as his life enervated from his eyes.

"Säli men will pay with their blood," I murmured, digging my hands deep into the gash and splitting his head from his neck.

Säli slowly melted back into silence, departing me as I took a receding step at the sight of Mätxin sprawled on the floor.