By the Sword - By Sara Flower Page 0,80
rage. The traitorous dogs from Chira raced into the sea of Malinorians. He should have never trusted that king. No matter. Their army was small. Two thousand extra enemies couldn’t defeat the imperial army.
Ittonifer spun around to face his wife. Roselyn had moved to higher ground with Uittan, but she was still staring at him with the same defiance that she had the first day he laid eyes on her. He never should have allowed himself to fall for the stubborn wench’s beauty.
They stared at one another for several moments. With that prophet at her side, it was not likely that he would be able to get to her. His grimace turned into a smirk. If he couldn’t kill Roselyn, he would kill the one person that she would give her life for.
His mind flashed to a place and time many years earlier. Over seventeen years ago, Ittonifer had sensed that Roselyn was plotting to leave him. But then she had become pregnant.
It had been Roselyn’s worst fear that he would kill the baby if it were a female. As fate would have it, the child was a girl.
Ittonifer had taken the infant from Roselyn’s fragile arms just moments after she had given birth. He brought the baby to the city’s butcher. Many Malinorian families brought their newborn daughters or malformed sons there. Babies were a delicacy among Malinor’s elite.
When the moment came that the butcher was about to decapitate the child, Ittonifer stopped him. Ittonifer had realized then that Roselyn would hate him forever if he killed her firstborn. When he had returned to Roselyn’s room to tell her that their daughter had been spared, she had already fled his castle.
He had decided to keep the child alive as a bargaining tool with other rulers and kings. He knew that she would grow up to be beautiful like her mother. It turned out that he had never needed her for that. He had simply taken the other countries by force. But it had been satisfying to know that Roselyn was alive somewhere, thinking that her daughter was dead all this time. She deserved at least that much pain for turning her back on him and leading a rebel country.
Today, Ittonifer would finish the job that he should have done in the first place. Chrissa was no longer his daughter, but a traitor of his empire. Like her mother.
*****
Hundreds of Malinorians fell at the hands of the Chirian army. Edandir’s army fought with a renewed vigor, with the relief of the other soldiers.
After taking down several more enemies, Edandir searched again for Ittonifer. The man had been making his way toward Roselyn and Uittan earlier. He had intended to stop the man before his unexpected ally had unleashed its pandemonium on the battlefield. It had caught the Malinorians off guard again.
Ittonifer was running out of surprises.
The general scanned the field once again for Malinor’s cruel ruler. Ittonifer was standing at the base of the hill that Uittan and Roselyn stood on. He blinked. They were conversing with one another.
Edandir could not imagine what Roselyn would have to say to that man, or why Ittonifer would be wasting his time talking rather than fighting. Very strange.
Edandir started in their direction. Now was the time to finish off Ittonifer for good.
*****
“She’s alive,” said Ittonifer.
Roselyn’s heart pounded against her ribcage, as her knees grew weak.
“You are cruel,” said Roselyn.
Alive? No… it can’t be. There’s no way that he would have spared her.
“I spared Chrissa’s life that day, but you had already left me. All of these years you have lived without her while she has been here with me. I enjoyed the irony for a time, but today I will finally kill her.”
Roselyn trembled. All of that time, Chrissa had been existing as the daughter of Malinor’s oppressive ruler. She really was alive. A living young woman now.
But he said that he is going to kill her.
Ittonifer had already turned away from her, walking back toward the battle. Roselyn started to run down the hill, but Uittan gently held her back.
“Wait! Why would you kill her now? Your own daughter. The one that you have raised!”
Ittonifer stopped.
“She turned her back on me and has joined Sanctus… like you.”
“Where is she?”
“Fighting, but not for long.”
“Don’t fear, Roselyn,” said Uittan.
Roselyn ignored the prophet.
“Ittonifer, stop! You can have me. Just don’t touch my little girl!”
He didn’t stop this time. He started running toward the raging battle. She would never be able to save Chrissa from him.