“Now, you must look as though you have been captive, and not living in our generous safety and hospitality.” The Champion lifted a hand and flicked his wrist.
The motion was a cue to the other Pillars in the room. They descended on her swiftly, closing in on all sides. Ferro was the first to strike. He kicked at her side without warning. Eira smashed against the ground. Dazed, she blinked, Ferro’s face hovering in her vision.
“Don’t make a sound,” he whispered with a smile. “If you do, we’ll know the limits of what you can endure for your goddess.”
Eira pressed her lips together as he caressed her cheek.
“Yes, that’s it…good girl.” His fingers knotted in her hair and he jerked upward, slamming her face against the ground.
Everything went dark.
* * *
Eira woke with a groan. Her head ached all the way down her spine. Her ribs were bruised and it hurt to breathe. The world was blurry and dim, taking far too long to come into focus. She licked her cracked lips, tasting blood.
Panic set in when she tried to move and discovered she couldn’t. At first, she thought they’d broken bones, or worse. But as sensation returned to her body, she could feel the binding on her wrists and ankles.
She had been tied with rope and left in some kind of warehouse. Around her were the makings of a hideout—food, bed rolls, clothes. But there was no one around.
Inhaling slowly, Eira brought her magic around her wrists and ankles. The ropes strained against the ice, fraying and breaking the second she pushed spears through them. Just that effort left her breathless. Her head throbbed with every movement.
The moment she stood, she was on her knees again, retching. The process made her ribs scream and the pain blinded her as stars popped behind her eyes. Eira wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, stifling sobs. She couldn’t cry. It physically hurt too much to do so right now.
Trying again, Eira made it to her feet this time. One ankle barely supported her and she had to hobble out, using crates and trunks for stability. She was on the highest floor of the building. Eira stood at the top of the stairs, swaying. If she tried to walk down them, she’d trip and snap her neck.
Instead, she sat, using what strength she could muster to summon a slide of frost. Her first attempt was too fast and Eira smashed against the landing hard enough to leave her dazed and breathless. Her second attempt was better. She managed to summon a snowbank for her third.
She was on the second floor catching her breath, clinging to the wall for support, when the sight of a queen’s knight patrol caught her eye. Eira didn’t hesitate to smash the glass of the window. The commotion caught their attention and Eira leaned out, broken glass and all, shouting, “Help! Help me please!”
17
Maph—the Lightspinning word to block pain.Halleth, ruta, sot, toff, all healing words.Loft not…to sleep. At least as far as Eira could figure, since those seemed to be the last two words she heard before falling into a deep and dreamless slumber.
Eira spent her first few hours after being recovered by the soldiers in a state of mental transience. Some things were too painful to remember accurately. Other hours were spent sleeping and waking up to different healers attending her.
This time, however, she woke and felt surprisingly good—comparatively, at least. The familiar ceiling of her room at the competitors’ manor came into focus, moonlight turning it silver. The weight of the blanket on top of her, the scenery outside her window…it was enough to have her choking on emotion and blinking away tears.
Yet, between the shuttering of her lids, she transitioned in and out of where she was and where she had been. One moment, her window showed the river winding through Risen. The next, like a flash of lightning across a dark sky, she saw that horrible illusion they’d plastered in front of her for days in the Pillars’ stronghold.
Muffled speaking from outside the door distracted her from the oscillating distortions. Eira sat, her head swaying slightly but eventually coming to a stop with the world right-side-up. Her stomach stayed in place, her vision didn’t blur. The healers of Meru had done wonders to patch her broken body back together in what seemed like record time.
Pushing her blanket aside, Eira padded over to the door. As she rested her hand on the latch, she took a steadying breath.This was real. She had made it out. Yet a creeping terror overwhelmed her that she would open the door and find herself back in the Pillars’ halls, back in the dark pit that would always be a part of her.
Amber light from the fire crackling happily in the hearth spread across her as she entered the room beyond. Its warmth tingled up her exposed legs and arms, seeping through the sleeping gown she’d been put into. Alyss, Cullen, and Noelle all sat in a collection of chairs between the fireplace and windows, their heads turning to face her.
“Eira,” Cullen breathed with wide eyes.
“Eira!” Alyss barely kept her squeal at a low level. She leapt from the sofa, rushing over to Eira and slamming into her with a heavythud.
“Alyss.” Eira tried to hold her friend as tightly as she could—which wasn’t very tight. The muscles in her arms didn’t seem quite as strong as they once were. But her friend was as sturdy as a rock, compensating for whatever weakness was there.
“I was so worried—” Alyss choked on her sobs. “—You—You disappeared. We didn’t know. Then they found you and…and…” Alyss pulled away, rivers streaming down her cheeks. “They brought you in, I’d never seen so much blood. They said you’d been conscious when they found you but none of us believed it.”
“You were basically pulp.” Noelle glanced over her shoulder. Despite her dry remarks, Eira thought she saw real relief in the woman’s eyes. “Shocking they could put your face back together even halfway decent after all that.”
“Your face is fine.” Alyss wiped her cheeks.
“You look beautiful, as always.” Cullen was on his feet, but he had yet to make his way to her. Eira could see him holding himself back. The barrier of everything still unsaid was between them. The wounds that she’d no doubt made with her reaction to the vulnerability he’d shown her were healing ugly, fusing him a few steps away from her. A distance Eira wasn’t sure she wanted any longer.
