The thought is unbearable—I push it away. But a shadow of fear is growing in my mind. I need to get to her—need to make certain she’s all right. If she sends me away again, I’ll go—for good this time. But first, I have to be certain she’s well and safe.
I just hope those fucking visions were false glimpses of the future because if either of them was true…
I can’t think about that but inside I feel a drumbeat of fear and uncertainty growing…ever growing.
Fuck—I have to get to her!
78
IRENA
I’m chained in the dark for hours. I have to stand—the chains won’t let me sit. I don’t even want to lean back against the wall—a trickle of water is running down the stones behind me and slimy black moss has grown there. The scent of rot and damp invades my nostrils and I shiver with cold in my drafty cell.
It makes me realize what Valen went through when Kellis had him trapped down here. No wonder he hated me when we first met—no wonder he still hates my people.
I don’t blame him.
The iron manacles chafe my wrists painfully, but I pull against them just the same. I keep thinking I could get my hands free, if I just twisted a little more. I only stop when I feel blood—warm and sticky—trickling down my wrists.
I try using magic too. I can feel it inside me—swirling around like an untapped source of water, deep underground. Maybe if I went back to the Lady of Thornmere, she could teach me how to tap it—like drilling a well to get to what I need. But for now, I can’t seem to reach it.
I wish I still had the key I used to unlock Valen’s magical chains—but I doubt it would fit my own, regular iron manacles. And besides, even if I had it—how would I reach to unlock myself? My arms are held wide by the chains—I couldn’t reach one hand with the other even if I tried.
So I’m stuck…chained here and waiting to see what might happen next. Whatever it is, I’m sure it won’t be good.
My fears are answered an unknowable time later when I finally hear footsteps echoing in the dungeon. I stiffen, pushing myself back against the cold, slimy stones behind me as though I could melt into them and hide myself away.
But there’s no hiding from my fate—it’s coming towards me, which I realize as the footsteps grow louder and louder.
At last a light grows in the cell and a torch comes around the corner. My cell door is unlocked and two familiar faces come into view.
“Well, well, my dear Princess—and how are you feeling?” the Head Healer asks, as he puts his torch in a nearby bracket and comes over to me.
“Yes, little sister—how are you?” my big brother asks—or rather snarls—he looks angry and unhappy. I hope that’s a sign that Sir Horace is keeping his word to guard my mother against everyone—including Kellis and the Head Healer.
“How’s Mother?” I ask in reply.
“Oh, on the mend, to be sure,” Kellis snaps. “Some of the guards spread the word and the whole Court is already rejoicing! And it’s all thanks to you.”
“You ought to be rejoicing too. She’s our mother,” I say to him. I look at the Head Healer. “And you—you promised to safeguard the Queen’s person and health—you swore an oath to serve her!”
“I swore to protect the Monarch of our kingdom—and your brother would be a far better ruler than the Queen,” he says calmly.
“Why, because he’s a man?” I demand.
“Exactly,” he says, with complete certainty. “Women don’t have the intelligence or capacity to lead a country.”
“My mother was doing fine before you started poisoning her!” I snap.
“You may think that, but there was much she wasn’t attending to,” the Healer says. “For instance, your brother wants to extend our territory but she refuses to go to war with Verdelia.”
“What? But Verdelia is our ally!” I protest. “They’ve stood beside us through wars of aggression by foreign invaders for years. Why would you want to make war on them?
“We need their lands,” my brother says firmly. “For the defense of our own country.”
“No, we don’t! That’s ridiculous!” I protest. “Besides, if you attack Verdelia, our other allies won’t trust us anymore. We’ll be cut off and friendless as a country. No one will come to our aid if a larger kingdom attacks!”
“Now you sound like Mother,” my brother snarls. He looks at the Healer. “Women are so stupid about these things—never wanting to go to war because they’re afraid of hurting someone’s feelings.”
