Landen.
The world tilted, a cruel distortion that shattered my senses. The sound that erupted from my throat was far from human—it was the desperate howl of something feral, something irreparably shattered. It ripped through the air like a blade, raw and unrestrained, a visceral echo bouncing off the stone and iron walls that trapped my anguish. My knees buckled beneath the weight of despair, colliding painfully with the unforgiving cobblestone. Zayn and Fintan dropped beside me, one on each side, grounding yet amplifying the crushing hole in my heart. Their faces mirrored my torment, but it couldn’t save me from this reality.
Tears streamed down my cheeks, hot and relentless, blurring my vision as I felt the throbbing ache of loss clawing at my insides. I was drowning in a tide of grief that rolled through me, unyielding and merciless. My scream escaped again, even louder, reverberating off the walls like a wounded animal crying out for aid. It shattered my vocal cords, each note fraying at the edges, falling into a hollow silence that echoed my crushing heart. The air around me felt like it was mourning, suffocating under the weight of my despair. A deep sense of heartbreak clawed at my chest. My world had unraveled, and all I could do was scream for thepieces of me that would never be whole again. Everyone’s voices became muffled—silenced. Fintan’s arm came around my shoulder, trying to pull me into him, but—
“Get your hands off my mate!” Zayn snarled, his voice like a whipcrack.
Then Zayn was in front of me, his hands gripping my face. “I know it hurts, baby, I know. Don’t look up, look at me. Eyes on me.”
Fintan flinched, stepping back like Zayn had struck him.
But I couldn’t stop crying. Couldn’t stop staring at three of my favorite people. Three people I loved so much. My world is now torn completely apart. My chest heaved, my throat burned, and the salt of my own tears coated my lips.
And then something inside mesnapped.
My palms pressed against the earth, feeling it hum under my skin. I surged to my feet, spinning on Fintan. “This is your fault!!” I screamed so fiercely at Fintan. “My Father would’ve been alive and freed if it weren’t for you last night!” Fintan’s face dropped. “You told the King!” My voice cracked, but it carried, loud enough for every witness to hear. I hated him. And he was about to pay.
“No! I didn’t tell anyone! I would never do that, Elara!” His voice shook, panic etched into every line of his face.
But I didn’t believe him.
“Elara, don’t. Fintan didn’t say anything.” Zayn said out loud and then added quietly,“Keep your magic in check, baby.”
I shut Zayn out. I didn’t give a flying fuck who saw me. All I saw was red. Fury. Fire.
Vines erupted from the ground, coiling up my legs like living chains. Lightning forked in the clouds above, splitting behind me with deafening cracks, no doubt it added drama to the scene unfolding. Flames danced across my fingertips, curling and twisting like serpents as my gaze locked on the king.
I was going to burn him alive.
But before I could move, Aymon’s lips stretched into a grin I wanted to rip from his face. “Arrest her.”
Zayn’s voice erupted like a thunderclap, a fierce beacon in the chaos. Fintan’s voice melded with his, creating a tempestuous harmony against the backdrop of clashing steel and shouts of fury. The air crackled with tension as fighting surged behind me, yet my gaze remained locked on the King, whose presence was a dark shadow.
The cold, unyielding bite of iron clamped around my neck.
My magic was wrenched away, leaving me a hollow shell, trembling and vulnerable. Three guards seized me, their grip like iron bands, bruising my skin as they dragged me with ruthless efficiency inside the castle.
I found myself laughing—an unsettling, jagged sound that sliced through the air, mingling with the echoes of my sobs. The laughter was a fragile defense, a desperate attempt to keep the shards of my sanity from splintering into oblivion.
My heart… my heart felt as if it were being crushed under an unbearable weight, a pain so profound I had never known it could exist. But I kept laughing through my tears, as they dragged me.
An oppressive silence enveloped us, and there stood the Queen, poised like a winter storm. Her penetrating gaze was as frigid as frost clinging to a windowpane, and her lips bore a curve that was eerily reminiscent of a smile—but there was no warmth, only a chilling menace.
“Take her to the Argentum Chamber,” she commanded, her voice cold enough to freeze the air between us.
Then, I felt it again.
That same magic that lurked in the trees that night with Landen.
And I knew now, it washer.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I was dragged through the familiar halls, my heels scraping against the stone as we passed the queen’s garden. The scent of frostbitten roses lingered in the air, a cruel contrast to the grip digging into my arms. We stopped in front of the large iron doors.
I laughed. A sharp, humorless sound.
Of course my prison cell would be just beyond these doors.
