My name is Auren Turley.
Now that I have these truths, these certainties, I’m famished for more. It’s an aching hunger that gnaws through my gut, pushing for the need to be fed.
But what’s even more insistent is my desire to get the hell out of this cell.
My eyes snap down to the shackle around my ankle—this thing that somehow dampens my magic. If I’m going to get out of here, I need this gone. And I saw what my ribbons did to Una. They’restrong.
I send a group of them down to the cuff, and they slip beneath the polished gray surface. My ribbons wrap around it, again and again, going taut in four different directions. Then, theypull.
The cuff snaps open with a crack, releasing a puff of gray dust in its wake. The pieces fall to the floor, spilling out dirt, and I instantly feel its absence.
I rub at the raw spot on my skin with a sigh of relief. The burdensome weight that draped over me like a heavy, sodden blanket is now blessedly gone. Just like the itchiness that kept crawling over my skin.
Excitement and victory thrum through me, making my heart beat faster. Straightening back up, I lift my hands and then call to my magic.
It answers instantly. Easily.
Gold drifts up, puddling into my palms in such a familiar way. With a smile, I turn my hands over and let the liquid metal start to pool upon the floor. It comes out steadily, like someone’s turned on the tap of a tub to fill it with a rush.
Soon, there’s enough that it floods the room, and the black veins of rot run through its gleaming surface. I’m able to make it easily drag Una’s body away from the door with a flick of my wrist. Then I rip off my filthy and torn shirt that’s barely hanging on, and liquid gold starts to slither up my torso.
It forms in layers over my body, molding like a chest plate of golden armor that’s marbled with black roots. It spreads down my arms like gauntlets next, ending in feather-tipped shapes above my wrists. I glance down at my handiwork, feeling the armor connect at my back, leaving spots for my ribbons to feed through, and I’m filled with pride.
The easy control of this magic, the way it flows out of me, it’s like a dam knocked away from the river. To be so powerful isinvigorating. The gold feels as familiar as the ribbons do, and because of that, I feel stronger than ever.
Because this isme.
I call more rot, making it sprout up from my fingertips, ready to see if I can rot straight through the door, but suddenly, I hear footsteps again. It must be the guard, coming to let Una back out.
Perfect.
The slosh of gold on the floor gathers in front of me, and I wait, breath paused, eyes unblinking.
The beast within me is ready to hunt for more prey.
When the cell door opens, the guard freezes. His eyes go so wide I’m surprised they don’t just pop right out of his sockets and roll around on the floor.
“You lock yourself in here while I walk away, and I won’t kill you,” I say, giving him a chance.
He doesn’t take it.
A warning call tears from his throat. His cry cuts off as my magic moves up to his lips and clogs his throat, choking off the sound. He falls into the room, hands tearing at his mouth, fingers plunging into the glutinous metal. But no matter how hard he tries, he’s unable to clear his airway.
“You should’ve taken me up on my offer,” I tell him as my ribbons grip him by the ankles and pull him out of the doorway.
I step over his soon-to-be corpse but then pause when I spot the Vulmin ring that Emonie gave me. My ribbon snatches it off the floor, and I pluck it up and shove it into my pants pocket while the guard lets out one last choke.
Then I exit the cell with my ribbons twisting at my back and my gold trailing behind me like a gleaming beast slithering along the floor.
But the true beast about to tear through this place isme.
CHAPTER 24
AUREN TURLEY
The dungeon’s corridor is madeup of a half wall of thick gray stone. Gripping the top like a balcony railing, I look over and down, taking in the multiple levels that seem to sink below at least four stories.
Just how many people does this king keep imprisoned?
