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Unlike in the previous fight I was meant to lose, I had no intention of even trying to win this one.
My opponent was an enormous hierog, one of the true brawler species in the prison. They stuck together like glue and weren’t built to fight one on one. They were pack hunters and preferred to pummel their prey into submission in groups. Their prey wasn’t small either. On their native planet, they were huge monsters that dwarfed much of what could be found in the rest of the galaxy.
This hierog systematically demolished me with his fists. He did not play to the crowd or turn his back on me as my previous opponent had.
Even if I hadn’t been told to lose this fight, I would have struggled to beat such a formidable opponent. But no fighter was perfect. There were weaknesses to exploit if you knew where to look.
A fist in the face followed immediately by an elbow in the ribs, and I hit the ground. I lost my balance and skidded along the craggy rocks that tore my cheek open, leaving a streak of blood across the fine sand.
The crowd loved it. They cheered, baying for more.
I doubted I could take much more, not that the hierog would stop the moment I lost consciousness. I was certain he would continue to pulverize me with his fists every moment he could and wouldn’t have noticed my body hanging limp and lifeless.
My life rested in his giant hands. It wasn’t a life I much cared to live any longer anyway.
No matter the damage he did to me, I couldn’t get over the look on Harper’s face, the absolute ache and agony, the total betrayal I had forced from her.
Each time I shut my eyes, I saw that curled look of hatred on her face and heard that agonizing scream she’d emitted when I dragged her back to her padded prison cell.
Almost as bad was the look of victory on sister Annas’s face. She got to see me repaid for the lies I told about the note she pushed under my cell door. She hadn’t been the one to cause this, not directly, but she seemed satisfied…
Or was she?
Would she find some other way to make me suffer for what I’d done to her? Hers was a dark and evil soul and I doubted a simple act like this would suffice to soothe the malice and hate she fostered in her unbeating heart.
What more could she do to me?
What more did she want from me?
I had lost the only girl I ever loved, ever cared about, and the child growing inside her would soon belong not to her but Krial.
And we all knew what happened to babies handed to him, especially in his weakened state.
There was no hope for the child.
I had seen many mothers give birth to their newborns, each with a warm hopeful smile on their faces at the miracle they held bundled in their arms, each certain this time Krial would find mercy in his heart.
It was a hope that was never met.
There was only ever one road open to the child and it was not one the mother would ever wish upon it.
The hierog demolished me with his elbow, smashing my ribcage and splintering it into a thousand pieces. Some of the shards sliced into the surrounding tissues and organs. Nothing life threatening, I thought.
A pity.
At least then I wouldn’t have to watch the final act of my betrayal take form.
There was one small victory, and that was that the giant hierog would not be allowed to claim Harper.
A small victory to be sure but it was the only one I could salvage from this entire situation.
Even the memories I shared with Harper had been tainted. They no longer sparkled and shone. They had once been sparkling diamonds in a river of shit, now they lay submerged by the way I had treated her, the blood marking my hands every bit as much as Krial’s. A red tint descended over the memories and tainted them forever more.
The hierog, finally done with having fun, picked me up and pinned me against the wall.
My body was limp and I could barely stand under my own weight. The hierog grunted with disgust before he picked me up and held me there with one arm as he drew his other giant arm back to deliver the final blow.
He grinned at me through bent and broken teeth that jutted in chaotic angles. He needed a good dentist.
