Page 34 of The Hunchback
“I can no longer trust you not to put all of our lives in danger,” Frollo said calmly. “And I especially cannot trust you to stay away from Esmeralda.”
“You can’t—”
“I’M NOT DONE!” Frollo snapped before continuing in a calm, measured, and calculated tone. “I will contact Althea—Old Nan—to see if she will have you back. If we’re lucky, and you haven’t ruined Esmeralda, you are never to see her again. I’ll come to the Godswood once a month to tend to your back. But if you have done the irreversible, we’ll need to get you both off this planet before the mob and the Elohim descend upon you.”
“You do not dictate my relationship with Esmeralda or where I go,” I said, taking one menacing step towards him. “She is not your prisoner, and neither am I. If I’m no longer welcomed in the temple’s ground, I will go where I see fit.”
“I don’t give a fuck where you go,” the Praetor says dismissively. “Go to Godswood, and I will honor my promise to Althea to look after you. Don’t, and I wash my hands of your fate. As long as she lives in the temple, Esmeralda is my responsibility and is under my protection. Should she choose to run away with you, I will wash my hands of her as well. But until then, you approach her or the temple, and I will have you arrested for illegal entry in the city.”
“Give me away, and they will prosecute you as well,” I retorted angrily, hurt by his indifference far more than I’d ever admit.
Frollo snorted and shook his head. “No, silly boy. Do you really think I hadn’t planned for the eventuality you might go rogue? No one has ever seen or spoken to my gardener, but me and my two personal guards. On the day you get arrested, the corpse of my disfigured gardener will be found. The poor man will have been brutally murdered by the ruthless Fallen hybrid who infiltrated the city to kidnap and defile its greatest jewel; the people’s beloved Anointed Vestal Esmeralda.”
I gaped at him, robbed of voice by such a cruel and calculated evil plan.
A hard smile stretched his lips as he coldly stared at me. “You have two days to pack your belongings, at which point my guards will either escort you to the Godswood or kick you out of the city. Your choice.” He gave me an assessing once over before continuing. “Whatever you may think, I do not wish you ill. But fuck with me, and I will crush you.”
With these last words, he turned around and headed for the door.
“You may kick me from your city, and forbid me access to your temple, but nothing and no one will ever keep me away from my mate,” I said in a tone that brooked no argument.
Frollo stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. “Do what you must, and so will I. Just see that you do not set foot again in the temple.”
I do not know how long I stood staring at the door after it closed behind him. A single thought replayed in my mind: please, let Esmeralda be all right.
Chapter 14
Esmeralda
Iwoke up with a start, feeling observed. My head jerked right, and I gasped in shock at the sight of Frollo, sitting in a chair a few meters away from me. His blue eyes looked almost dark as he stared at me with an angry scowl. Pressing my palm to my chest to contain the erratic beating of my heart, I glared at him in outrage that he should trespass the privacy of my room.
And then I noticed the syringe case resting on his lap.
Swallowing hard, my gaze flicked back to his. As my lying down position made me feel too vulnerable, I sat up at the edge of my bed and folded around me the panels of the black sarong I was still wearing. Gone were the seductive looks, smoldering glances, respectful gazes, and open admiration the Praetor had previously showered me with. The blue depths of his eyes burned with a hard mix of anger and contempt. One could almost say hatred.
Was he truly such a sore loser?
“You’ve been busy,” Frollo said at last with an icy voice.
“I merely did what someone else wouldn’t,” I said, lifting my chin in defiance.
“Oh, we both know you did far more than that, little Vestal,” he retorted with contempt. “But then, are you even a Vestal anymore?”
I recoiled, taken aback by the unexpected comment. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He gave me a slow once over as if examining an odd, alien creature. “Your Light is gone. A rock by the roadside would emit a thousand times more ergokinetic energy than you do,” he said bitterly. “You shone with the brightness of the sun. The gods of the Elysium were willing to lay their hearts at your feet. And you threw it all away for the cock of a Fallen.”
I gasped in outrage at such rudeness.
“First off, you have no say in my relationship with Kwazeem. And second, you do not get to judge anyone the way you’ve been whoring around with the Maidens,” I snapped in response to his crude words. “My Light isn’t gone. I merely overexerted myself at the Festival. It’s called a burn out; a very common reaction amongst newly ordained Vestals upon their first Festival.”
Even as I spoke those words, a cold shiver ran down my spine. I knew of the burn out but had never experienced it myself—until now. Old Nan’s words had been replaying in my head non-stop since I’d awakened in Kwazeem’s bed feeling completely exhausted, and my powers muted.
“I am well aware of the burn out. You seem to forget that I’ve been Praetor of the greatest city in the Nine Circles for more than a decade,” Frollo said, adjusting the case on his lap as he leaned back in the chair. “Many of your sisters have come and gone, each one too weak to fill the Well. All of them burnt out and did so right at the Well during their Chant. You completed the ceremonial, then sat and enjoyed dinner for two hours with us before getting escorted back to your room. You then snuck out to Kwazeem’s cabin, drained him, and then fucked him all night. So no, Esmeralda, you didnotburn out.”
“That’s enough from you,” I shouted, jumping to my feet. Beyond the crass rudeness, his words terrified me far more than I dared admit to myself. “I do not need your approval for anything, and I will not tolerate you trashing my relationship with my man. I do not believe my Light has faded. Last night wasn’t my first time being close with Kwazeem. Every time we’ve been together, he’s enhanced my power. Do you really think I did all this on my own at the Festival?”
Frollo narrowed his eyes at me but kept silent.