I peeled sticky lashes apart and met the harsh blaze of sunlight.
Slapping a palm across my eyes, I squinted to ease the sting. When my sight adjusted, I slowly slid my hand aside and stared up at the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen.
Blue.
Glorious blue.
Vivid marlin blue with a buttery-golden orb set into the apex of the sky. A trio of swallows darted overhead, twirling and diving and soaring upward.
Where the last week had been filled with oppressive silence, but for the soft whir of air-conditioning and the routine appearance of quiet Penn with her endless trays of meals, now I was surrounded by life.
The ringing of steel; the thumping of metal on wood; the splash of running water; a purr of engines. Some sounds were gentle and smooth, others more industrial and gruffer; footfall and conversation; clipped, hard voices shouting orders and eruptions of laughter.
Everyday life.
A glance around revealed I was outside and on a balcony circling the tower’s crown, its balustrades and thick railing carved from weatherworn stone.
I levered up with my elbows.
My thoughts were muddled, and it took a while to work out where I was and what had happened. As I drew in a surprised breath, it both sounded and felt a lot healthier than it had the day before.Or had it been several days?I’d lost track of time, of life, of everything.
I sat up slowly and found I’d slept on a leather couch. Soft cashmere blankets were tucked beneath my body, and a fluffy pillow wrapped in deep-blue silk had cradled my head. As I patted my hair, I knew it was a bird’s nest and would take forever to untangle. I needed a shower desperately…and food.
My stomach was practically gnawing itself with starvation.
Oh my gods, I was hungry.
Ravenous.
Thirsty too.
There was a small table set up beside the couch with a water pitcher and a tall tumbler already filled. Picking up the glass warmed by the sun, I sipped the gloriously refreshing liquid, almost sighing in pleasure.
I had no idea how I got out here. It had to be sometime in the afternoon, judging by the sun’s position in the sky.
My knotty hair slid over my shoulder as I propped a hand on the back of the couch and twisted around.
I blinked, astounded.
Half the walls of my jail cell were gone as if the stone had been cut away. Sunshine flooded the interior, turning the furniture golden and lightening the bleak colors that adorned the room into a more sun-bleached shade.
I turned back to face the wondrous outside world. Past the fortress and its foreboding walls crowned by cruel spires and jagged parapets, I could see for miles. A thick forest of murky greens, touched by fall with a dusting of yellow, rolled with gentle hills, and in the distance was a mountain range in dusky blues.
Testing my limbs, I stretched my arms and wiggled my toes, taking stock of my body and appraising my physical state. I felt refreshed. Recharged. Energized.
Rising, I padded the few steps it took to get to the railing and leaned over, gasping at the startling height. Below a courtyard sat at the heart of the formidable fortress. Men and women—soldiers and servants—were crossing the cobblestoned area from differing points; one was sluicing water from a vehicle, and the sound of clashing steel came from a training pit,and…
My fingers tightened on my glass as I heard something making a clipping noise on stone swiftly approach—
And spun about, my heart pounding.
Something that shimmered and trailed wisps of mist barreled around the balcony. 100 pounds of pure muscle hit me hard, knocking me off my feet and the glass from my hand. I collapsed flat on the couch with an oomph, the beast landing on top of me.
A tongue, wet and rough like sandpaper, licked my cheek. And a whine mixed with excited yaps that were more puppyish than I’d ever heard my fully grown wraith-wolf make had pure joy bursting through my heart like sunshine. “Sage!” Wrapping my arms around my best friend, my fingers slipped through his fur. His tail thumped furiously with delighted wags while I nuzzled my face into his neck, and I started to cry. I couldn’t help the fat tears that rolled down my cheeks. I had never felt more elated to see my wraith-wolf.
Sage licked up my tears and nudged his moist nose under my chin.
“Ugh, gross,”I wailed, then laughed—a gods-honest laugh that croaked from my throat, and laughed some more as I pushed him away to scrub my saliva-slick face with a hand. He landed on the balcony floor, and I swiftly followed. My kneecaps met warm stone where I kneeled and patted Sage. I laughed and tickled him, rubbed behind his ears and beneath his chin, and when he rolled over onto his back, his belly too. He huffed with pleasure, and my broad grin was as wide as my mouth could stretch.
