This is your fault.
You did this to her.
How could anyone forgive you?
There was a soft tap at the door.
My eyes snapped open, and the book I’d dropped on my chest fell to the floor with a thud. Out of the corner of my eye, I could’ve sworn I saw several wisps of shadows retreat back beneath my chair, but when I looked closer, they were gone.
I struggled to catch my breath as the door to my room cracked open. “Miss Devora?” The young maid peeked her head in. A brown curl came loose from her bun and framed her face. “I have your dinner ready.”
“Come in,” I said, voice cracking. I quickly cleared my throat. She opened the door just wide enough to slip inside, then hastily shut it.
I didn’t know why she bothered. We both knew I couldn’t get out, even if the door was wide open. My captor had madesureof that.
I threw the blanket over the cream bedsheets. The sightstill made me snort. I never thought my prison would havesilk sheets, but here we were.
A shiver raced down my spine as the memory of the dead fox resurfaced. If I was being honest, I never thought I’d be in a “prison” at all. After what I’d done, I thought my future lay in the gallows.
Instead, I was here. In a locked bedroom at the top of a tower in a cold, gray empire full of magical strangers.
Don’t forget, you’re now one of those magical strangers.
The maid set a tray of soup at the foot of my bed. “I’ll just leave this here,” she said in her bright voice.
“Thanks, Rebekah.” I gave her a smile, which she returned with a slight curtsy.
We hadn’t always been on good terms. No, back when I first got to the Veridian Empire, I was a menace. On my first day meeting her, I attacked her with little wooden shards I’d scratched off the bottom of my bedside table, then bolted for the open door.
I’d gotten about a foot before I slammed into some invisible barrier. It knocked me to my back and left me dazed for several minutes, long enough for Rebekah to retreat and call for the master of the house.
Nox Duma.
My would-be captor and, in a strange way, my savior. After all, it was thanks to him I wasn’t left hanging at the gallows or rotting in the dungeons of Mysthelm after I betrayed his empress and almost got her killed. As a favor to the empress—and probably to get me out of the way—he’d offered to bring me back here to his province to serve out my “sentence.” I didn’t think he even knewwhatto do with me besides toss me in a room and hope I stayed quiet.
You deserve so much worse.
I silenced the voice with a wince and climbed onto the bed, leaning forward to see the murky brown soup on the tray.
“Bean soup again today?” I sniffed the air and grimaced. “Lovely.”
“He heard how much you disliked it last week.” Rebekah pinched her lips together. “He requested the kitchen make it as often as possible.”
“Of course he did,” I muttered. “Well, joke’s on him. Ilovebean soup.” I lifted the bowl, sucked in a greasy mouthful, and smacked my lips dramatically. “Mmm. Bean soup.”
Rebekah shook her head with a smirk. “I’ll be sure to pass along the message.”
She took a few minutes to tidy up the room. I tried to tell her long ago that I could do that—I used to be a lady’s maid in my kingdom of Mysthelm, after all. I liked having something to do with my hands. A goal, a task, a purpose. Sitting here in this tower, I hadnopurpose. No use beyond wallowing in my own guilt and imagining the life I was missing.
Perhaps that was the point of Nox’s punishment.
I padded to the window at my right and gazed onto the choppy waters in the distance. The blue waves crashing against the rocky cliffside were darker in the fading sunlight.Everythingin this province was darker. Colder. Lifeless.
With a shiver, I sat in the wooden chair next to it and pulled a quilt around me. I’d been in Drakorum, the mountainous province of the Veridian Empire, for three months now, and I’d barely seen the sun come out at all.
Every day was the same. Wake up, find a plain breakfast of oatmeal and pomegranates already sitting at the foot of my bed, pretend to sulk and refuse the meal, then give in because a girl needs to eat—and nobody was there to witness my silent temper tantrum, anyway. Then, I’d alternate between my many scintillating activities.
Pace the rug in front of the fireplace. Read one of the countless books on Veridian Empire history from the bookshelf. Take a bath. Pick at the bottom of my bedside table until I’d chipped off those little wooden darts that I could throw at the door. In Mysthelm, I’d gotten used to carrying a dagger at my thigh, just in case. I became somewhat proficient at throwing,having grown up as an orphan on those dark streets. But since the annoyingly arrogant dragon Shifter currently holding me hostage took my safety dagger, I didn’t even havethatto target practice with.
