That’s all it takes.
Even though he doesn’t realize it yet.
The captain blinks at me, like he’s confused, like he’s wondering why his raised hand has stopped, why it isn’t coming down to punish, why he isn’t already subduing me.
Our faces are inches away, and I can feel his putrid, alcohol-laced breath puff out. I can feel the shudder that travels the length of his body.
His lips part, like he wants to ask what the hell is happening, but all that comes out is a mangled choke. It stutters from his throat for a split second before cutting off unnaturally.
He goes still as my hand squeezes tighter around his neck. Behind me, I hear Rissa gasp. Because there, at the spot beneath my palm, a change starts to spread across his skin.
Like a ripple, it extends from his neck where I’m touching. It billows out, like smooth water, cresting over his shoulders, pouring down his arms, spreading over his torso, dripping down his legs. I feel it seep beneath, sinking past his skin, puddling into his organs, flooding through his veins.
His face is the last to go.
Because I want him to watch. I want him to see. I want him to look at me and know that my eyes are his punishing promise.
The last thing Captain Fane is able to do is widen his gaze in shock. But he doesn’t have time to blink or breathe. Not again. Not ever.
One second, his skin is ruddy, his tunic stained, his cock purple, his eyes brown. And the next, he’s frozen in time, every inch of him, from the beads on his beard to the toes in his boots, all of it gleaming, resplendent, vindictive.
Because I just turned the motherfucker solid gold.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
The gold beneath my hand is cold and solid, no give, no warmth. It feels the way only lifeless, insentient things can feel to the touch. Like a rock left at the bottom of a sea.
I stare at the face with the slightly curled lip, the barely visible grains in the teeth, the panicked stare. My heart pounds in my chest, but not with regret. It thrums with the truth of what I’ve done. With what I’ve revealed.
I peel away my fingers from his throat one by one, until I’ve released the metal husk of a man, letting my arm drop to my side.
“You…you—what did you do?”
My eyes pass over to Rissa who’s sitting frozen on the bed, gaping at me in horror. Her eyes keep flitting from me back to the gold statue of Captain Fane’s body, like she isn’t sure which one is more of a threat.
Her breath is coming in quick pants, but I don’t know if it’s from what I just did, what she endured from the captain, or if she’s just in shock from it all.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
She only blinks at me, mouth open, hair disheveled, tears drying on her cheeks.
My head is beginning to swim, an ache blooming out through my temples, while a heaviness is threatening to settle over me. I rub my forehead for a moment, as if I can ease the oncoming headache. It feels like all of my strength is dripping out of me, like a tree oozing sap.
I gesture to the late captain. “He’s much better like this, don’t you think? No more talking or moving…” I glance down at his cock that’s still standing at attention, my lips pursed in thought. “I bet we could even hack that thing off with a hammer if you wanted to.”
She makes a choking noise, though I’m not sure if she wants to scream, sob, or laugh. Maybe a combination of all three.
Ripping the belt from her throat, she rubs at the red marks marring her skin before shakily getting to her feet and pointing. “How did you do that, Auren?”
“Umm…”
She walks over, unbothered by her nudity as she circles around the captain, her trembling hand reaching toward his chest. She makes a fist and knocks on it before snatching it back. “Great Divine, he really is solid gold,” she breathes. Her uneasy eyes lift to me. “And he’s…dead?”
“Oh, yes,” I assure her. “Very, very dead.”
A weighted exhale tremors through her body. “But King Midas…”
Her words trail off and fall at our feet, but I don’t pick them up for her. I’ve already revealed far too much. I can’t explain how it all works, with Midas and me. I can’t let her know anything more than she already does.
She shifts on her feet, and the wooden boards beneath us give an ominous creak. We both freeze and look down, where the floor is sagging beneath the weight of the captain.
I wince. “That…that’s probably not good,” I admit.
She gives me a vexed look. “You think?”