Page 57 of Savage Throne
I’m sorry for disrespecting You long ago—for doubting You, and for not coming to You to thank You for Moni.
Prayer felt foreign in my head, yet it soothed me too.
Please, bring her back to me safe. Please don’t let my father hurt her. Please. . .I humble myself to You.
I leaned all the way forward and pressed my forehead to the floor.
Polished marble cooled against my skin, grounding me.
What would my men had said if they’d seen this?
What would the East have thought?
It didn’t matter.
And I knew, too, that a man like me—violent, cruel, too damn powerful for his own good—didn’t deserve the mercy from God that I begged for.
I knew that.
Still, I begged.
Please, God. Let her be safe. Let her feel my love even now, wherever she is. Let no matter what my father does to her. . .break her. Let it make her even stronger.
The darkness in my heart and soul deepened, thick with regret and longing.
But in my mind’s eye, there was only Moni—her smile, her laugh, her touch—and the faintest sliver of hope that somehow, some way, she would be okay.
If this is what it takes. . .if I need to fall on my knees. . .if You need anything else from me. . .I’ll do it. For her, I’ll do anything.
The tears came harder.
Sobs clawed at my throat, but I let them come.
I let them drown me.
There was no pride here, no strength, no power—only love so fierce it gouged me out from the inside.
Moni. . .
I would fight through hell and back to hold her again, but for now, I was just the broken Mountain Master on his knees, face down with prayer hands, clutching at the darkness in my soul.
And if God were listening, maybe—just maybe—He’d answer this one prayer.
A prayer made in love.
A prayer wrapped in desperate devotion.
A prayer that only a man willing to lose everything would utter.
Because without her. . .there was nothing left of me.
I must have talked to God for an hour, asking for forgiveness, begging Him some more over Moni.
Once done, I wiped my face, slowly rose, and paced my bedroom like a caged animal.
She and everyone else wanted me to go to sleep and rest, but thoughts collided in my head—plans, strategies, possibilities.
How could I reach her?
