Chapter 16 - Someone Like Haron
Agony.
Pain in every form.
One shrouded in darkness. Hot pools of sweat. Sometimes a voice, one so familiar that she listened.
But she remained in darkness still. Feeling the strings of pain tugging her back and forth. Falling into the abyss.
Deeper.
Darker.
Till suddenly, there was light.
It was only a blur. But it was so different from the abyss she had been stuck in that even this unfocused light was too bright.
She blinked, trying to clear her sight.
Haron.
It was the only word on her mind.
Then she felt it.
Warmth against her skin. In the inside of her palm. A pair of lips.
Haron.
The kisses were gentle and they trailed higher up her hand.
A sigh slipped past her lips, a smile warming her face.
He was alive.
She turned in her sleep, slowly, and her hand reached out for him. For his brown short… no, not short.. not…
Panic flooded her veins and she pulled away her hand as if it had been yanked back by an invisible force. She tried to pull her other hand away, but his grip only tightened.
No.
Not him.
He looked very much like Haron but very different at the same time.
It wasn't him.
She tried to sit up, but the dizziness knocked her back to the bed. When she spoke, her tongue felt dry and her mouth felt like sand.
"Sta..van."
He smiled. "You are awake." He rushed up from his feet and leaned closer to her. She pulled away swiftly, as much as her strength could allow, which honestly, wasn't enough at all.
The closeness between them was not just repulsive but one that frightened her to the core.
"You… you are back," she said with a croaking voice. Her emotions overwhelmed, they choked her.
This was not good.
She couldn't be in here with him.
"Ismena," he reached into her hair, and when she flinched, he pretended not to notice. "Why would you do such a thing? Do you know how many times I have snuck here and stayed by your side? How scared I have been? Why would you give him your blood? What were you afraid of?" His breath fanned her face, warm, unwelcome. "I would have taken over. I would have taken care of you."
He pulled closer, his lips only a hair's breadth from hers.
Not now.
Not when she was too weak to fight him.
Not when there was no one here to defend her.
Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt too lightheaded.
She could still remember the feel of his lips on hers… and the punishment that had come after.
She could remember everything.
Her skin pebbled with dread.
"Water," she said, for the lack of anything better to say. For the lack of anything else that would pull him away.
He pulled away from her then, his eyes filling with concern.
Quickly, she felt the coldness of the cup's rim pressed against her lips. She gulped it down and when he pulled the cup away, she wanted more.
"Haron?" She asked and he frowned.
"He lives."
Stavan looked every bit like his brother, five years younger - her age.
25.
"You should tell the physicians that…" she began to say weakly,
"You should have let it happen."
"You can't," she paused, in need of air. "You can't say that. Treason."
Anger blazed in his eyes. "He would never know. Would you tell him?" A cruel smile played on his lips. "Would he believe you?"
Ice spread through Ismena's veins. She was too dizzy for this but she didn't want to lie back down, she didn't want to sleep. Not when it was only Stavan around her. She was scared of what he would do to her unconscious body, dreaded the knowledge of what he might have already done and gotten away with.
About two years ago, Stavan had come into her chambers and had come onto her.
It was that very event that triggered her pathetic attempt of an escape.
Before that, she had already suspected that he wanted to be more than just a brother-in-law. But there was never any clear action from him, and Ismena feared ruining the relationship between the brothers, so she had kept it to herself.
Until that night she had seen him in her bedchambers, drunk. He had her about how he would treat her better than Haron and when she fled from him, she thought she was safe.
Only to find Haron, and find Stavan at his feet, begging him to have mercy on the Queen for falling into the temptation of mistaking the brothers.
Haron had been furious.
We look nothing alike. Haron's voice had thundered across the throne room. Then he punished her for seducing his brother.
Stavan had been more secretive about his intentions ever since, and Ismena had taken solace in the fact that he was always out of Ragma on different diplomatic meetings with Haron, or at the battle front.
What was he doing here?
So soon?
Where was Haron?
Why wasn't he here yet?
If he were to see him here, wouldn't he lose his mind?
Wouldn't it set them back from the progressive relationship they were starting to have?
Fear made her shudder.
She had to get Stavan out of here.
"Stavan," she began to say but her voice sounded too weak. She let out a breath as her body pushed down to the bed against her will.
Why was she so weak?
There was a smile on Stavan's face as he rolled up his long brown silky hair into a bun.
Ismena felt her eyes falling closed. She forced them to stay awake. "Get the physicians!" She begged but Stavan only walked away and took off his shirt, slowly taking off the buttons, relishing in the sight of her.
"There is no need for that, Ismena. You are just going to fall asleep for a little while. Now that I know that you are alive and well, I have needs. Pent-up needs. Needs that only your presence can ease, sister-in-law."
Ismena's heart dropped.
The water.
He had put something in the water.