They bypassed the castle completely, passing by a large, sinister graveyard before disappearing back into the cover of the forest.
Sol fidgeted with her braid. “Do you know where it is?”
He exhaled from his nose. “The Colosseum.”
The first sign the day wouldn’t end well was that Fin awaited them by the Colosseum gates. The building itself seemed to be made out of a mixture of clay, mud, and stone, giving it a rusted color. The ground beneath them morphed from grass to dirt the closer they got. Past the entrance was a narrow hallway that led to a larger opening, which Sol figured was an arena of sorts, based on the circular ground. As they emerged, there were two additional hallways on either side of them.
“Princess to the left,” Fin said with a wave of hishand. “Other one to the right.”
Sol tried meeting Cas’s gaze one final time, but he was dragged the opposite way before she could.
Two kingsmen grabbed her by the arms, dragging her down the corridor, tightening their hold when she tried to wiggle out of it. The last thing she saw as she looked over her shoulder was Fin placing shackles on Cas before they rounded the corner into the depths of the cave.
Sol managed to free herself. “I can walk.” After five minutes of walking, they had reached a small cell. There was nothing within it, and the far wall was solid metal. It vibrated with the sounds from its other side.
“You wait here. The wall will open when it's time.” The kingsman motioned her forward.
Sol glared at them, crossing her arms. “I demand to see Cas.” They laughed. “Oh, you will, Princess,” one of them drawled. “You will see him plenty out there.”
When she made no motion to enter the cell, one of the men pushed her in. Sol yelled after them, but they faded into the darkness of the underground area without so much as a glance back. Chants reverberated across the roof of the cell, giving away just how large the crowd gathered above her was.
Yarrow. Yarrow. Yarrow.
Xanthos. Xanthos. Xanthos.
Sol clamped her jaw shut, sinking to the cell’s muddy ground. The only reprieve from her emotional torment was the fact this was the end.
After this, she would Awaken her magic, then take the throne before bracing the gods-awful note her mother had left her.
Breathe.
Breathe.
She traced the dirt with her fingertips, drawing a star then crossing it out. Sol wouldn’t fight him. She couldn’t. There had to be a way—something besides one of them dying. A way to get them both out ofthis.
Come, dove.
Sol inhaled. “Lora?”
Let me show you, dove. Come.
It was the third time the echo of her voice rang through her, and each time something happened.
Fuck it.
“Fine,” Sol said, utterly defeated. “Show me.”
The shift of scenery knocked the air from her lungs. One moment, Sol sat in the cell, then she was falling into nothing and everything all at once. It was like home. There were small shops with straw roofs and roads made of soft dirt and cobblestone, even the smell of sweet jam from the bakeries was the same. As Sol stepped forward, though, she realized it only looked like Yavenharrow on the surface, but the liveliness and life her town had was absent. Abducted.
The mirage was wholly silent. Only the stray leaves crunched beneath Sol’s bare feet.
She continued down the main road, looking for any signs of souls, of anyone other than her through the otherworldly mist.
But there was no one.
“Sol.”
Sol turned. “Aunt Lora?”
