A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)

Chapter Eighty-One

         "Why do you plan on smuggling my skeletal corpse out of the city?" The witch doctor pants, leaning against buildings dipped in shadow as we scurry from cover to cover, hiding from the watchful eyes of city watch or early rising citizens. "More importantly, how  exactly do you plan on sneaking me out?"

I drag him by the arm, noticeably feeling fragile and thinner, until we reach a blind zone where we can rest for a bit. "Because I'm done." I reply, reaching absentmindedly for my weapons like they're my lucky talismans. "With all of it."

"Don't play hero." He gasps, sweating noticeably beneath the mask. "Tell me the real reason why. It's not just teenage rebellion."

"Fine!" I snap, fixing my belt tighter as it slides beneath my meager infirmary gown. I unpin the serving girl's cloak and fix it over his head and shoulders, ensuring the mask cannot be seen. "I saw your past. I learned your name."

"And it's harder, isn't it?" His eyes go to the dagger peeking out from my belt. I hide it in shame. "It's harder to kill someone when you know their name."

I tuck the dagger away and drag him to the next hiding spot, beneath a shop-keeper's tent on the market row. "Don't go and think we are the same."

"If I was you, I'd have said my name and killed me already." He informs me. But there's a weariness behind it. He's so tired. So horribly, deadly tired. "There's not much point living as the shell of a murderous corpse."

"Maybe I want you to suffer living, rather than be happier dead." I twist around for a moment, pointing towards Lioness Gate. "I have the skeleton key from prison watch. I can get you out of here. I saw  you, Ingatan. You're better than whatever Rangda turned you into."

Ingatan.

I did it.

I guessed his name.

When the mask falls from the old, bloodied place where it had cut into his face, I see a young man with Harto's piercing eyes. I see a young man who could have done whatever he wanted. Run away. Stand and fight his father's will. Become something greater than a worthless, murderous puppet for Rangda to play with. I see frail strands of long hair that brush his shoulders. A warrior's nose. The smirking lips of a heartthrob and dandy who never knew that death couldn't be charmed.

He laughs, a snickering sound that makes him almost younger. A remnant of the boy I saw in the vision. A lost little boy, beaten by his father and ignored by his brother. "You don't believe that. All this time, and you still can not fathom that I'm beyond saving." He laughs, reaching up to run his fingers through my hair, then tug on the ends like a little kid trying to annoy the piss out of me. I pull back, startled by the familiar gesture. "Terima kasih, putri. Thank you." He presses his lips first to his hand then to my face. An indirect kiss. Like he's scared to go too far.

I furrow my brow. Confused. "Thank you for—?"

A piercing sensation. So fast one wouldn't even know. Not until the shock registers. The blooming tendrils of betrayal. Of the pain that comes with first blood.

He digs the knife into my side.

"Freeing me."

I let loose a startled scream, loud enough to alert the city watch we'd struggled for so long to hide from. They come running when Ingatan, not aged a day in body since he'd been cursed, snatches the city keys from my possession. He holds the bloodied dagger, his mask, and the key aloft with a sort of childish pride.

He laughs as I cradle my wound in shock, a curious gleam in his eye. Pride? Madness? "Down with the Empire." He declares, just loud enough to carry across the empty, echoing streets. "Down with the gods of Rahasia."

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Readers,

What the what?!

Sophia