Chapter Thirty-Six
Distract her. Distract her and maybe you'll find a way to get out of this alive.
"What did you mean when you said you had plans and I'd make an interesting plot twist?" I ask, narrowing my eyes at Larxene. Her smile doesn't falter.
"I know what you're doing, Iris. You're trying to buy yourself time," she says, and I mentally curse myself. "It won't help any, you know. You're in quite the sticky situation, aren't you? In fact, I'd go so far as to say your odds are pretty bleak here." Something in my mind clicks. Her arrogance! Her arrogance might be your saving grace. Keep her talking.
"Well you told me I had two options," I say, flying by the seat of my pants. "How am I supposed to weigh by pros and cons if I don't even know what this plan I'd be helping you with is?" Her smile falls into a tiny frown, considering my words.
"True," she starts slowly. She smiles again and stands up, taking a few steps down from the throne. I glance around as stealthily as I can, trying to find a way to take her and Saix by surprise. The arrows are all scattered at my feet, the bow a few feet to my right. The lances Axel brought in with us are too far from me. If I try to reach any of these items, Saix will have Axel's jugular bleeding out within seconds. I look back up to Larxene, and I can tell she's practically reading my mind. She laughs at me softly. "I've won once against, little sis. But let's see, what was I about to say? Ah, yes, my plan. You see, no one knows I've been manipulating our dear brother. Everyone thinks I was killed or sent off to the slave market like you. So just imagine how much of a welcome surprise it'll be when I come in to stop Demyx from sending those troops off to invade our neighbors. And how interesting of a story will it make that I saved you while saving our kingdom and you agreed to relinquish your rights to the throne to me? Then the public will just love me once I've cleaned up all the little villages and gotten rid of all those terrible laws Demyx made," she finishes sweetly. I shake my head while glaring at her.
"I don't…I don't get it, though. If you're just going to repel all the laws you pushed through, why didn't you just take over in the first place? Why make Demyx look like the bad ruler?" Her eyes glint with malice, and she starts making her way towards me.
"Isn't it obvious? The kingdom was already so nice, so it had to be messed up a little bit before I could take over. Start the slave market to get rid of you, make it look like Demyx is the bad seed who craved power, and then play the hero card to make myself look better so everyone can be thankful for my reign," she explains, just a few feet away from me now. I feel sick to my stomach, and the blood loss from my leg is starting to make me dizzy. "So what do you say, Iris? Play into my plan, and everyone else stays alive and goes free. If you don't, everyone dies. What'll it be?"
"I hate you," I whisper. I didn't think it possible, but her smile grows.
"That's not an answer," she says in a sing-song voice. I bite my lip, and I guess she thinks my hesitation takes too long. "Maybe this will help you decide," she coos before punching her fist into my gut. I double over, coughing. She buries her fist in my stomach a second time, forcing me down to my knees. I dry-heave from the pain before turning my face back up to hers with a glare. "Oh, my. It appears the breakers didn't do a very good job on you, now did they?" she asks. I remain silent. "It looks like I'll just have to fix that myself." She walks over to Saix. "Your knife, please, Saix," she says.
"What? But what about-"
"He isn't going anywhere. If he tries anything, he'll just get to watch her blood spill instead," she says, running a hand along Axel's jaw.
"Don't touch her!" he shouts. She laughs again and pats his cheek.
"You're cute," she condescends while taking Saix's knife. He repositions his hold on Axel, keeping him sufficiently pinned. Seeing a brief window of opportunity, I inch my hand towards the bow. Larxene whips around. "Ah ah ah! Hands to yourself," she says, stopping my actions.
She saunters back over to me and kneels in front of me. She smiles and flashes the knife at me.
"How about another scar to match the first one? Maybe that'll help you come to your senses." Before I can speak, she has a hand knotted in my hair to hold my head still and the knife is slicing into my flesh. I shriek as she drags it from the outside corner of my eye and along the curve of my cheekbone. She withdraws it, and I feel the blood trailing down my face. "Aw, what a shame to further mess up such a pretty face," she says, her voice laced with false sympathy. "Now how about you be a good girl and answer my question: are you going to help me and live, or refuse and die?" I eye the knife held loosely in her hand. It's now or never.
"I think I'll refuse and live, thanks," I hiss, lunging forward. I knock her backwards and clutch onto the handle of the knife. She doesn't let go, but wraps a leg around my waist and flips me onto my back. She grabs onto my wrists and pins my legs down using hers, putting an extremely painful amount of pressure on my wounded leg. She laughs cruelly and slides one of my wrists along the floor to hold both of them in one hand. She presses the knife to my neck with the other. I hear Axel shuffle against Saix.
"Iris! Shit, let me go you asshole," he hisses at Saix. Saix lets out a laugh of equal caliber to Larxene's. Larxene presses the knife to my neck a little harder, and I can feel little beads of blood escaping.
"You shouldn't have done that, little sis. Now everyone you brought here is going to die, starting with you," she says lightly. I stare up at her, hatred burning in my eyes.
"You're no sister of mine, and you'll never truly be this kingdom's ruler" I whisper, refusing to look 's grin falls and an evil look enters her eyes. She presses the blade down harder, and I wince.
I tried, Daddy. I may have failed, but at least I gave it my best shot.