Chapter 120: Answer me, Karl. Can you bring me back to life?

The gaze of Dune sharpened behind her eyes. With no comment whatsoever, she placed the plate of the remnants of dinner on the table close by and started moving through the crowds of the guests, gently pushing whoever hesitated to make way.

She got out to the yard where lamplights glowed between the stone walls and saw Karl moving further ahead, holding the girl's shoulder in his hand as he moved her toward the darker corner closer to the wall and away from the light.

A clenched fist formed in Dune's hand; she clenched her jaw as she felt a knot of anger tightening inside. She moved forward at an even pace, moving in the shadows and getting to the dark corner where she saw them, his pants lowered, the girl kneeling before him, his hand grabbing her hair as he groaned softly.

"Karl Martinez."

Karl froze on the spot, jerking his head back sharply. "Who's there?"

She climbed up in a heartbeat, using the sleeve of her dress to clean her mouth and watching him as well as the stranger who stood a few meters away from them nervously. She backed up and disappeared in the darkness without a sound but her eyes stayed on Dune for a second or two longer than necessary.

Dune said nothing and came closer slowly, taking one step at a time.

"Do I know you, girl?" He put on his pants and shot her an irritated look. After that he took some time to study her and his lips twisted in a nasty way.

She came closer a meter or two from him, her face set in a hard line. "You will pay for what you did to me."

"What?" Karl frowned deeply. "How can you say that? What have I done to you? I don't even recognize you? You must be confusing me with somebody else here." He sneered, adjusting his collar. " "Ruin my night like this. How do you intend to make it up to me?"

Numen flared through her knuckles.

His gaze ran over her, lingering slowly. He licked his bottom lip with his tongue. "I have a pretty good idea of how you are going to pay me back. And you are not leaving this place empty handed."

"Thirty years and you have not changed one bit." The temperature in Dune's voice dropped even more. "I thought that you were dead. I thought my sacrifice was worth something."

"What are you talking about?" Karl stumbled backwards, the look of utter confusion on his face. "What sacrifice? How did you even know my name?"

"It doesn't matter anymore." Dune's fist shot out towards him.

Karl blocked the punch on instinct, and the faint red barrier appeared in between them, stopping the blow in its tracks. But a small crack formed where the fist had hit.

Dune pulled back and struck again, and this time the crack widened.

"I'll take back everything you owe me." she said, her tone flat and cruel. ""Every bit of pain. Every bit of suffering."

The third strike broke down the wall completely, and Karl was forced to fall back to the stone floor beneath him.

"I don't know what you mean!" He tried to crawl backwards on his hands, fear rising up inside him. "I have gold; lots of gold, I will pay you back tenfold, however much you want—"

Dune loomed above him, disgust clear in her expression. "Can you bring back my husband?" The tone of her voice wavered here, the first hint of feeling coming through. "Can you bring back my children?" She kicked him forcefully in the chest and he cried out in pain. "Tell me, Karl. Can you bring me back from the dead? Can you resurrect the Aldric family just like before?"

Karl turned white. "Sabrina?"

"So, you do remember me." Dune's foot landed squarely on his abdomen, causing him to suck in another painful breath. "Even knowing everything, you still decided to lie. I trusted you with everything I was worth and you simply made use of me. It was you, wasn't it? You're the one who told Edwardo."

"I never told Edwardo anything!" Karl coughed violently, his mouth filling with fresh red spots of blood as he desperately searched for a way out of the situation. "I helped you, can you recall that much? I am the only one who helped you, while everybody else turned a blind eye to what was going on with you. It is some other person who did not want to see your family happy again."

"I know you are lying to me once again." Dune's voice remained flat, cold, and unfriendly. "You were interested only in my body. The minute you finished using me, you went ahead and spilled all the beans about it. I saw that a moment ago."

"I swear, I'm not lying, I swear." Karl's hands shook where they pressed into the stone below him. "What I've done to you was wrong, but you were the one who sought me out in the first place. I never tried to force anything on you, and it worked, right? I did you some good. It was Edwardo who couldn't comprehend the enormity of the sacrifice you made—"

Dune planted her sandal across the side of his head, forcing him to press against the rock. "Someone has to pay for it." She applied more pressure, the power of Numen flowing up from her legs and into the kick, setting herself to deliver the last kick. "It will be you."

"Sabrina, please, don't—" Karl shut his eyes tight in anticipation.

The blow never came.

Karl opened one eye to see why. Dune found herself immobilized in a shimmering sphere of water, her fists and boots beating ineffectively against the surface of it, trying to break free. She whirled around, and Hakimi was almost there already.

"Hakimi! Let me out!" her voice splashed into the water, distorted and desperate. "He deserves to die; he is the reason why Sabrina went through all of this pain." Nothing got through the surface of the sphere; the words were swallowed before getting to the outside world.

Hakimi stood in front of them, looking down on Karl with cold, dead eyes. "Get out of here."

Karl rose on wobbly legs, looking at Dune trapped inside the sphere of water, then spat onto the floor before walking toward the light of the hall.

"If a single word of this gets out—"

"I won't. I promise," Karl answered him as he was disappearing into the darkness.

Hakimi turned back to the sphere, his gaze softened as he looked at Dune struggling within the sphere of water. "Take a deep breath. Just like we've practiced."