Heir to Destruction (Cursed and Broken Book 1)

  Heir to Destruction

  C. T. Knight

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  About the Author

  Also by C. T. Knight

  Heir of Destruction

  Book I

  Cursed and Broken Series

  Copyright ©2021 by C. T. Knight

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  1

  “Destiny or Death.”

  I repeat my mother’s words aloud to convince myself that what I do today is for the greater good. The Day of Glory is not only a ritual but a necessity to earn my place on the ruling council.

  The screen resting in my lap filled with the instructions and guidelines for my initiation into the ruling council, seared the history of the Great War of 2185 and my fate, into my mind.

  The Great War divided humanity into three; Kantian-the supreme intellectual and physical species, Neumarians – defective mutants which threatened all of mankind, Humans the passive beings protected by the Kantians.

  I’d read all the information of the dangers of a Cursed per my mother’s orders. The Cursed Neumarians were dangerous since their powers were never the same between any two Neumarians. They were the Cursed. The ones who burned down buildings full of people, electrocuted prisoners with their bare hands, and infiltrated minds to have people end their own lives.

  It was my duty as princess of all Kantians to protect those who could not protect themselves.

  The airship jolted, warning we’d arrived in the Mining Territory, so I abandoned my screen and watched the scene outside the porthole.

  Blood-orange streaks shot across the lifeless sky and the land below remained barren. Nothing survived in this desolate, sand-covered region since the war. Not after the nuclear and acid bombs stripped the earth of most of its natural resources. The only real reason Mother and the council kept this territory under their control was for the mining of copper. A resource used for Kantian upgrades since other metals were too scarce to mass produce.

  That’s why we were here. To choose a Cursed from the mine workers.

  Wrapping my arms around my middle, I dream of returning to an earlier life. One filled with the childish pleasures of swimming in a crystal-blue lake, sunning on the beach, running over soft dirt, and climbing tall trees.

  Of freedom.

  Clank.

  “Mother?”

  A sting of warning flashed through me but the sound of her other natural foot hitting the ground didn’t echo through the corridors the way her metal appendage did. My mother, like most Kantians survived the war thanks to their upgrades. Humans weren’t so lucky since their bodies and minds couldn’t handle the implants used to patch and upgrade soldiers so they could return to battle.

  I hiked up the yards of crimson and black fabric and ran, but I stumbled and slid on the slick metal floor. Even after four years, I couldn’t manage to walk properly in fashionable royal clothes despite Mother’s constant corrections to my behavior.

  I peered out my chamber door and scanned the hall. No sign of her. Only endless, sterile hallways twisting and turning with no end in sight.

  Stubby fingers jutted through an air vent halfway down the wall and curled over metal slats. The large vent plate thrust out and short arms pulled the silver cover sideways into the opening. A moment later two small feet dangled, followed by a pudgy man who dropped to the floor on his rear with a thud. He pulled his legs beneath him and stood.

  My heart soared at the sight of my only friend, especially today. “Bendar. I’d hoped to see you.”

  “Princess Semara Valderak.” He bent, retrieved the screws, and replaced the vent. “You ready for Day of Glory?”

  The familiar sting of tears begged for release, but I turned my head and steadied my nerves. No crying, not today, not for myself. “I’d love some company.”

  “Face sad today. Fate not what you think.”

  I flashed a warm smile and nodded as if I understood his ramblings. Many of the workers’ brains had been scrambled by the uranium-filled engine room. “Thanks, my friend.”

  Friend.

  A word I hadn’t said since I’d carried out the death warrant on Raeth Arteres four years ago. A Cursed who’d been captured to make an example of, in order to squash the ramblings of an uprising. She’d been so brave, never breaking under interrogation. Even in the end, she didn’t confess what powers she possessed that threatened Mother.

  If only I had been that brave.

  I’d never be able to forget how I’d betrayed her when I didn’t stand up to Mother and tell her Raeth was different. That she’d become my friend. Not that Mother would’ve listened. Were other Neumarian’s like Raeth? Kind, gentle, in control of their powers and only wanting to use them for good?

  Bendar studied me with his morose brown eyes. How could he still bear to look at me? Did he worry that I would turn against him, too?

  I tugged at the constricting corset and yanked down the ties hiking up the overcoat.

  If only we could’ve done more to save her.

  Clank…thump…clank…thump.

  My heart raced faster than a power burst during takeoff.

  He spun on his heels. “Bendar go or Queen toss me out as waste.”

  His tiny feet pattered down a different hall, away from Mother’s approaching steps. Hearing the clang of the air vent closing I knew Bendar was safely in his world—the belly of the ship.

  I’d heard the servants speak of how the little people’s size was ill-fated, but I envied him. Him and the children who fit in the small spaces in the underbelly of the ship.

  If only I could hide, too.

  I took a deep breath. At least Bendar and our secret were both safely sealed away.

  Clank…thump…clank…thump.

  Mother rounded the corner and marched into my room. Hair the color of flames danced above her sheet-white face.

  A tremor raced from my shoulders to my fingertips, fear threatened to consume my body, paralyzing me into mute stillness.

  The smell of bleaching serum and the tangy scent of metal fought for dominance as Mother’s one eyebrow rose. “Daughter!”

  Her mechanically enhanced, muted gold eye with its glass iris reflected my hideous upswept hair wrapped in a cornucopia of flowers. I hated the thick face paint Mother forced me to wear, along with the flowers adorning each twist and turn of the golden-dyed curls piled high on top of my head.

  As servants scurried into the room close behind Mother, I relaxed a fraction. With a witness present, even a servant, Mother’s corporal punishment might be held
in check.

  She grabbed my arm with her clinically bleached white hand, while the copper plated, mechanical one tugged my corset down. “Your destiny awaits.”

  I struggled to control my desire to flee, and steadied my nerves. Running would do no good. After the fourth beating since my arrival on her ship, I learned there were no good places to hide.

  “Today, you become a ruling member of the council and sit by my side.” Mother stood even straighter, towering over me, pushing my shoulders back before she placed the tamer device on the table—the black opal of death I’d use to subdue a Cursed Neumarian in the upcoming ceremony.

  I sucked in a quick breath and averted my gaze.

  Cursed was a term used by most, but mother declared them parasites since one of the powers that threatened her the most during the war was the ability to suck a person’s life force from their body. And she used this term to instill fear and remind humans that Neumarians possess dangerous powers that endangered their existence. That’s why mother declared Day of Glory as a symbol of their threat and a remembrance of how Mother saved the world from their kind.

  But how did I choose a Cursed to be dressed in costume, hung from the posts in the heart of town for me to murder? All to show my commitment to protecting the world from Neumarians in order to earn my spot on the Kantian Council.

  A servant shuffled around me, fluffing my skirt and spraying my hair until Mother shooed her to the corner of the room. “When we land, you’ll choose your parasite for sacrifice. The guards will take it to the holding area until the ritual can be performed. Once it’s over, you’ll officially be a ruling member of the council.”

  It. Raeth hadn’t been an it. I choked down the rising lump in my throat. My stomach constricted even tighter than the corset cinched around it. “Mother, I-I don’t know if I’m ready for—”

  Her palm slapped my right cheek with a radiation hot sting.

  I stumbled backward, my feet catching in the tangle of fabric. Gravity tugged me toward the floor. My head hit the table, sending the black opal of death skidding across the floor. Lights flickered in my vision.

  I licked at the trickle of blood on my lip. Everything around me tasted like this blasted ship. Scraping my tongue through my teeth, I attempted to rid myself of the horrid taste.

  Bright red locks of hair arched over Mother’s lineless forehead. “You dare question me?”

  I rubbed my face, forcing back the tears. Crying would only prompt another smack.

  “You’re heir to the throne. Act like it.” Mother’s perfect features never changed. Only the dark pupils expanded and contracted with each heated word, even the right eye, which stuttered with its mechanical movement, half a beat off the natural one.

  I pushed off the floor and concentrated on steadying my nerves. If I showed weakness, it would only fuel Mother’s fire. “I did not mean—”

  “Of course, you didn’t, dear.” Mother pivoted and marched to the doorway, then paused and looked to the servant in the corner of the room. “Clean her up.” Her nose crinkled, the only thing on her face still able to twitch. “Don’t treat her wounds, just cover up the outside bruising. She needs to remember her place.”

  “Yes, my queen.” The servant scurried over to clean the blood from the floor. Swirls of red gave color to the dull white surface for a moment, only to be wiped away.

  Mother paused in the hall and gave me a creaseless smile. “I’ve chosen your enhancement for tonight.” She placed her hands on her hips. “You won’t have to worry about your pathetic sympathy for those unworthy of a princess’s attention anymore.”

  My chest tightened.

  “You’re getting an improved heart.”

  As if the ship had hit turbulence that sent it into a spiral, my world spun, the white walls, floor, and ceiling no longer distinguishable.

  Mother’s cackles echoed then faded down the hall.

  There would be no escape. I’d have to use the tamer or face more beatings and torture. I wanted to crumple to the floor and dream of the days when I lived with Father. If my father wasn’t murdered four years ago, I’d still be living in the resort territory instead of on this massive metal box.

  I would have to take the life of a Cursed or die myself—or worse, be transformed into a completely new enhanced being. I shuddered at the thought of steel mounted as a permanent organ—a heart as cold and hard as Mother’s.

  Kantians believed the stronger implanted versions of themselves were improvements and made them superior to others, but I feared the enhancements. The gruesome ritual of implanting a device to be a member of the ruling council was not something I understood, nor did I want to.

  I retrieved the tamer. My fingers clutched the bronze outer ring of the black opal. Its intricate gold-lace patterns wrapping around the dark, shiny sphere appeared harmless. I knew better. Its unassuming beauty masked its ability to electrocute a person into submission.

  The ceremony was pointless. I didn’t need an implant to prove I was worthy to rule the people. Mother was an original Kantian; it was obvious I possessed the gift of a supreme mind with no cursed powers. No human peasant or Cursed Neumarian could handle an implant, which was why Raeth had been so ill after the interrogator experimented on her. Of course, Mother gave the order. She always looked to improve technology at any cost, and Neumarians were usually her test subjects.

  A zing of electricity shot from my center, through my shoulder, and down my arm to my fingertips. The outer shell of the tamer shook and cracked.

  Shocked, my fingers unfurled and the tamer clanged against the floor. The solid surface rippled like waves on the lake back home in the Resort Territory.

  Behind me, the human servant gasped.

  “Speak of this to no one or I’ll sacrifice you to the innards of the ship.” The harsh tone of my voice resembled the queen’s. Maybe I’m a princess after all.

  The servant fled from the room, sealing the door behind her. I lifted the device. Black oozed over the melted latticework of the ring. Should Mother notice its altered state, she’d be suspicious. How would I explain it had just changed in my hand?

  That was something a Cursed did, and I didn’t want to face being accused of committing a Neumarian crime. Not to mention the torture that went with such an accusation.

  I crossed the room and dropped it down the waste containment chute.

  Gnawing my lower lip, I paced the floor, one word beating like a drum in my head.

  Escape. Escape. Escape.

  The door swished and Mother’s general stood before me in all his self-proclaimed glory. Medals marched down his long, blood-red sash. Disgust radiated through me as I fought the desire to rip out the small sprouts of implanted hair dotting his false widow’s peak.

  He gave a mock bow and licked his lips. “Good morning, Princess Semara.”

  My morning meal churned in my stomach. Acid inched up my throat. The memory of the last time his rancid breath and slobber had covered my mouth assailed me.

  “One more year and you’re mine.” His meaty hands grasped my shoulders and he pushed me against the wall. “I told you…I always get what I want.”

  “But not now, for now it’s forbidden.” I pushed hard against the metal chest plate hidden under his adorned coat, ignoring the throbbing pain in my head. “I must remain pure until my wedding night. It’s the queen’s orders.”

  I prayed my words were enough to keep him at a distance.

  He pulled away, wiping his sweaty brow with his sash. “Yes, I’m aware of the queen’s command.”

  The door slid open. He glanced back at the vacant doorway. Then, with a smile, he grabbed the back of my neck. His nails pierced my skin. “Someday you’ll know your place. No one speaks to me like that.”

  “I just did.”

  His face turned crimson and his jaw clenched tight.

  “Go ahead, hit me.” I knew he wouldn’t leave evidence. Not since he left a scar on me two years ago that landed him in the brig. But so
mehow, some way, I’d convince Mother not to force me to marry him. I’d never let him touch me.

  Once again, the doors swished open and shut, and I knew Bendar was watching out for me.

  This time the general backed away. “I’ll do a lot more than hit you on our wedding night.” He marched from the room.

  My legs shook beneath me. I palmed the wall, fighting to stay upright. I took a deep breath and straightened. In less than an hour I’d be forced to murder an innocent person, just because he or she was a Neumarian.

  No. I couldn’t think that way. They weren’t innocent—just because Raeth had seemed nice—Neumarians had killed millions of humans and Kantians. They had taken Mother’s arm, leg, and eye during the war. If it hadn’t been for her, humans and council alike would be extinct.

  I stalked from the room, head held high, and nodded at the guard. Memories of Raeth strapped to a table invaded my mind. Saw grinding, tears, screams. I grasped the wall to steady myself. A zap of heat pricked in the center of my chest as it did a few hours ago when I melted my hairbrush, and again with the tamer.

  No, no. Not again!

  This time it shot through my entire body, exploding every nerve ending. Sweat pooled at the back of my neck. I yanked my hand away before the wall could melt under my touch.

  Shaking my head, I prayed no one noticed the less than smooth wall and followed the guard until we reached the infirmary.

  Maybe I was going mad, like the Cursed I’d seen carried from the holding cells after interrogations.

  What was happening had to be a trick. Perhaps it was the general’s newest attempt to drive me insane—or worse, make Mother believe I possessed the powers of a Neumarian. Maybe a Neumarian stowaway on the ship found a way to bypass the warning alarm or hadn’t been collared, allowing him or her to play with my mind. Mother always said they were life sucking monsters that shouldn’t be trusted. Not knowing what power each Neumarian possessed made them all dangerous. They were only safe as long as the collars kept them under control.