Order of Scorpions

by Ivy Asher

The only thing I ever want to be to anyone is the last thing they see before they die.

“There will be a time in the next couple of days when someone else from an Order will demand to play with you. He has a taste for rare beauties who have yet to be broken. He will single you out, get you alone, and when he does, you are to kill him. Am I clear?”

All I’ve ever wanted was freedom, but it was never going to be mine. I saw the truth in Tilleo’s face today. That bastard was never letting me leave this place. I’ve been a fucking fool, and now it’s time to pay the price for it.

Hope truly is a deadly viper, and at last its poison has finally come for me.

I’m going to die before I ever see beyond these walls; maybe it’s time to shake things up and live a little before I do.

All I can think is, if he’s going to kill me, maybe sooner rather than later might not be such a bad thing, and I wonder how many of them I could take with me before I go.

I don’t feel threatened, only challenged, and I’m done handing my power over freely. If this Scorpion wants to play, then let’s play. I sting too.

“You won’t choose me, because I’ll be dead before the actual bidding even starts,”

What happened to me is that they’ve finally stripped me of everything. This is what happens when there’s nothing more to live for, when there’s nothing left to lose.

“It is nice to hunt something we’re not being paid to slaughter in the end,”

I want the warmth that comes from staring deep into his pitiful eyes as he realizes he’s not the hunter, he’s the hunted.

“I’m a blade slave,” I remind him. “We don’t play. We obey or we die. We kill or we’re killed. I wouldn’t know a game if it bit me on the ass.”

There’s a certain exhilaration that loosens my tongue when it comes to snapping at these Scorpions and not giving them what they want.

She’s ours. She’s just waiting to be claimed, and I can’t wait to put our mark all over her.

Scorpions always have each other’s back. Skull and Scorpius may not know it yet, but our watch begins now.

“Victors don’t talk shit about how they’re going to kill you, Taur. They just kill you. Threats are for the weak,”

People with options don’t find themselves in this kind of nightmare. People with hope and a future don’t sign up for what happens in a place like this ludere.

“She’s familiar, I can’t explain why, but I know her somehow. I don’t see a spy when I look at her, I see a slave who’s tired of being a slave. I see hopelessness and a fae that has nothing left to lose.”

“I just can’t shake the feeling that we know her somehow. That we’re here for her. That she’s one of us.”

“Awww, look at the little dagger thinking she can take on a sword,” Scorpius teases

“Fuck the stars! What are you, a bridge troll with all these riddles and inane questions?” I growl crankily. “What do you want, Order of Scorpions? To irritate me to death?”

This whole time I thought the realms revolved around the four kingdoms, but now I know how wrong I was. It’s been all about your little circle jerk this whole time. I can die happy now that I know,” I say with a tired laugh and far too much mirth. “Remind me to bow down when I’m all healed up, wouldn’t want to waste the opportunity to worship you like you so clearly worship yourselves,”

“What does he look like?” Bones asks, and I can taste the sliver of desperation in it. “He looks like the end of everything I ever wanted for my life,”

Dead is dead. Not even the Scorpions in all their glory hold dominion over that.

It took a pair of silver eyes, a smart mouth, and an unhealthy lack of fear for us to see it. The Order of Scorpions hasn’t been paying enough attention, and that’s a serious fucking problem.

“Before you rush to perfect your curtsey,” I warn her playfully, “I wasn’t a prince. Although, many have said over the years that I have the countenance for it,”

“Don’t do anything that might put the Order in danger. If you do, you’ll have more than them to answer to,” she continues casually.

They’re not slaves. They’re fucking Scorpions. I’m staring at Skull, Bones, and Scorpius, only now there’s no shadow and bone glamour for them to hide behind.

Bones is Riall,

Curio is Skull,

Scorpius’s, or Tarek’s,

I don’t want to see past the façade or dive into a deeper understanding of who they are. It’s a fucking trap if I’ve ever seen one, and it has rage curdling in my stomach.

“There’s my little beasty,”

“You want me to kiss your feet for saving me, but all you’ve done is unlock Tilleo’s shackles and then put on a pair of your own. I am not your slave. I don’t want to be caged,”

“I don’t want to be owned.” I growl at them. “I don’t want to be bought and sold on the whims of greedy, weak fae. I’m not an animal. I deserve more.”

I like that he sees me as a threat. He should.

“I belong to no one but me. I never did and I never will,” I proclaim, my head high and my stance proud. “I want nothing more than that. Dressing up the cage doesn’t change what it is. I don’t give a fuck how comfortable you make your chains or what benefits might come with them, they’re still chains.”

“No, let her go. She deserves to choose this.”

“You’re my brother and I don’t want to hurt you, but she’s my mate. If you don’t move, I will fuck you up,” I warn.

“Letting her go is a mistake. She’s ours! She belongs with us!” “I know that. We all know that, but we need to be patient while she realizes it,”

Yes, she belongs with us, but she doesn’t want to belong to us yet. That’s an important difference to her. If we don’t honor that now, we’ll never have her the way we want, not truly,”

“We want her, and she wants freedom. So she’ll have it. Our mate is smart, she’s cunning and calculating, and she’ll realize soon enough that she’s not thought this through. That there’s a better way for her to get what she wants.”

I don’t want to get a taste of this life and love it, only to find out that it’s poison.

Hope is a dangerous mistress, but I don’t have to rely on that bitch, I only need myself. Well, myself and a good dagger wouldn’t hurt.

Step one of the new plan is find a dagger. Step two, do whatever I need to do to get away and survive on my own two feet. Step three, vengeance. I’m free, and no matter what, I’m going to make sure I stay that way, and then I’ll make anyone who’s ever hurt me, pay.

I eye the three Scorpions, weighing which would be the easiest to fight for their food.

Something warm settles in my chest. If I didn’t know better, I’d think it was hope, but I’ve long since learned my lesson from playing with that poison.

Awkwardly, I lean away from the table. I’m not really sorry, and I’ll probably do it again next meal, but it’s odd to have the three killers defer to me like they are.

“What happened to you was unfortunate, but you survived it. That’s more than many can say. No fae in their right mind would condemn you for doing what you had to do; all we ask is for that same courtesy,” Curio insists.

“We’re not monsters…I mean, we are, but at the end of three months, if you choose to leave, you can take everything you’ve been given, because it’s yours. You can do nothing more than eat, sleep, heal, train, and hate us while you’re here, and it will all still be yours no matter what. We’re not trading, Auset, we’re giving.”