My mind makes connections just as the scenes burst behind my eyes.
Ludogar, murdered. Emonie’s ear butchered. Wick knocked unconscious. I remember their names, their faces.
What were we doing here? Why were we captured?
Vulmin Dyrunia.
A flash of the symbol from the ring Emonie passed to me. Of a broken-winged bird…
Wick, Emonie, Ludogar.
Then another name whispers in my ear.
Lyäri.
The restored memories jolt my eyes open just as the root in my head withers away, utterly spent. I sit up from where I was sprawled on the floor. I’m panting, covered in sweat and shaking from the rush of adrenaline.
It worked. It actuallyworked.
And while I let myself celebrate this victory, I feel more of those things still writhing. Still tunneling.
How many are there? Dozens? Hundreds? Just how many memories have they eaten their way through? What else have they stolen?
The rest is still out of reach, poked through with holes. But now that I’ve gotten my first taste at my lost memories, I want more. I want them all.
I realize when I glance at the window that there’s no soft glow of daylight left. My cell is darkening, nighttime dragging in as my stomach bottoms out.
What felt like seconds was actuallyhours.
It took me that long to destroy justoneof those things. Who knows how long it’s going to take to get rid of all of them?
I wipe at my sweaty face, trying to wipe away my anxiousness too. I try to call more rot, but it doesn’t work, and I had a feeling it wouldn’t. But I don’t let it discourage me, because now, I know that I can do it.
One by one, for however long, I’ll rid my mind of these tunneling worms.
Because I am Auren Turley.
And I’ll do whatever it takes to savemyself and break free.
CHAPTER 21
QUEEN MALINA
My arms are coiled aroundDommik’s waist, his cloak a pincushion of frost as it ruffles between us.
The breakneck pace we’ve been keeping is nearly enough to give me whiplash. There’s been little time for rest. Ever since we crossed out of Sixth, Ravinger has been like a man possessed, speaking little, focus fixed, intention clear. I didn’t want to be left behind, so we had no choice but to keep up.
Dommik is furious with me, though he seethes in silence. His dark eyes dart toward the rotten king every time we stop. When we eat, we chew on food and thoughts, while I keep swallowing down my dread.
Yet we’ve reaped the culmination of our pace, because we’re nearly to the ruins of Cauval Castle now.
This close to the edge of the world, everything’s gone gray, as if the voided space between our realm and the next has spilled into our sky. The sun, wherever it is, seems to only skim thehorizon, never setting and never quite arcing up either. Just trapping us in this perpetual drab dusk.
It’s been said that this part of the world always did like to mutiny against both night and day. I remember old texts stating that it once took Seventh Kingdom five years to see a night sky. Then they were trapped in it for months before it finally tempered itself.
“We’re dropping.”
Dommik’s voice blows with the wind, his head turned to look at me over his shoulder.
