The wordsholding cellsechoed in my mind. A place I imagined being cold and dank, with little to no light. I had barely anything left of me and, in that nightmare place beneath the fortress, my paralyzing fear of the dark would be my end.
Some spineless, pitiful part of me trembled.
It whispered from me. “Dungeon, you mean.”
“No.” It was more snarl than a word.
Frigid silence thickened in the room as everyone’s gaze sliced to Graysen.
Graysen pushed his shoulders back and walked closer to his aunt. There was a predator nature about his stride.
Kenton shoved off the table to flank his brother at a polite distance, and Caidan shifted sideways to take the other.
Everyone was paying attention to Graysen.
Not to me.
If I could get to my father…
Move, move, move!—I shrieked at myself. Adrenaline pumped through my heart, my veins, my blood.
“She can’t go anywhere, can’t do any more damage without her wyrm,” I heard him tell them all as I stealthily slipped toward the door,closer, closer, closer,stepping carefully over the books that had fallen from the shelf, willing myself to be a shadow.
“That’s not—” Valarie began to say.
“She’s mine,” Graysen cut her off. His claim rumbled through the air, skating over my skin, prickling the fine hair. “It’s my signature on the Alverac. It’s my name spelled in blood. I decide what happens with her.”
And that was the last I heard because I’d made my escape.
While the Crowthers were focused on Graysen, the audacity that he should overrule his aunt, I slipped through the doorway and bolted. I knew I’d have little time before they realized I’d escaped and came after me, but I had to try.
No dark power wound itself around my bones, urging me on, increasing my strength and speed. Instead, I rallied the last scrap of energy left, burning through it, existing purely on adrenaline and desperation, and hurtled down the hallway. I gasped ragged, frantic breaths, pumping leaden arms. My lungs were aflame as I pushed myself faster, darting past servants, a blur of startled glances and half-uttered exclamations.
No one stopped me.
No one would dare to.
Not with the fierce look on my face.
My father is here… My father is here…
I fled the same way I’d come, following the twist of hallways, through open rooms and a short flight of stairs, to the innerbalcony that led to the grand staircase. I flew down its wide steps toward the entranceway of the fortress.
The sound of furious pounding came from behind the heavy oak doors.“Unlock this godsdamned door!”
The young woman, Penn, who’d announced my father’s arrival to the Crowthers, had a guard on either side gripping the hilts of their swords. All three of them faced the massive entranceway. Unaware of my approach, Penn pulled at the door.
My muscles burned in protest. Legs ached with agony.
There…nearly there…
Leaping off the bottom step, I crossed the foyer. “Father!”
“Nelle?!”My father’s rich tone, even though it was laced with panic, surged through my heart and eased my terror.
Penn half-twisted around in surprise.
Both guards whirled.
