“Yes,” he said, his voice clipped and harsh. I didn’t know what to think; hope and hopelessness warred within me. If Azurill lived…
When Casaan came running back into the room, wide-eyed and breathless, we all knew the king lived. My heart soared as my fire, once ready to be extinguished, now seemed to reignite in my chest, until it was screaming for vengeance once more. Against every single one of them:Carnelian. Casaan. Sania.
Traitorous, back-stabbing, cowards. All of them.
Azurill lived, which meant there was hope for a future. If my love truly lived, I would fight with everything in me for that future together. All I had to do was wait for this potion to wear off and then… I would find my moment. I would show themwhyyou never mess with the followers of Erodite. The goddess of love and hate was the most passionate of goddesses, and her followers had a capacity for both that was seriously intense.
Azurill had my love, and I would do anything to be reunited with him, and these traitors had my hate. I couldn’t wait to show them how dangerous a thing that was for each of them. It fueled my need for vengeance in ways they didn’t yet understand.But they would.
I already knew Sania was no true follower of Erodite. She would never have turned against her blood if she had been, for there was no greater sin to Erodite than to turn on the love of partner or family. She and her treacherous family chose wealth and power over blood ties. I wanted to laugh at the knowledge that they’d done all of that, only to be locked out of the vaults.
As it was, I sent a prayer in thanks to my father for thinking ahead.
“We’ll return to Ruby Court immediately,” Carnelian declared, but as he ran a hand through his long ruby-red hair, I could see the frazzled look in his eyes as his plan fell apart. “You’ll be a useful hostage, and with your blood, we can finally open Pearl Court’s vault. But don’t worry, at least you’ll be reunited with your dearest friend.”
Ula.
Fuck, I’d tried not to think of her during all of this, tried to push thoughts of her to the deepest recesses of my heart so I could stay on task, but worry for her rose swift and hard. He could have been doing anything to her during all this time, especially since he never planned to let me live. And I’d all but handed her over to him.
I’d have to find a way to free us both. There was no other option. Ula had done so much for me; getting her out of this mess was the least I owed her.
Carnelian smirked at me as he instructed others to carry me out, and I could feel whatever potion Sania used pulling at me, my eyes slowly falling shut even as I tried to fight it and stay awake.
I desperately looked around to see where we were, for anyone I knew, even one last glance at the palace, but it was no use.
Blackness rushed in, and the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to a wood-paneled room and smoothed rock under my feet. I blinked drowsily, finding myself in the middle of a room, surrounded by guards on all sides, with a ring of people a bit closer, comprised of Carnelian, Sienna, Casaan, Sania, and her parents, and…Ula.
My eyes widened, looking between them all, but lingering on the mint-green hair and eyes I hadn’t seen in what felt like an entire lifetime. I tried to move, only to find myself unable to. I feared I was still frozen, but upon looking down, I found that I was merely tied to a chair. Onyx chains were crisscrossed around me, keeping me pliant.
“Good of you to finally join us, Lady Linnea,” Lord Darcel drawled, raising his orange brow at me. I narrowed my eyes at him, sneering back.
“You don’t get to speak my name you traitorous bastard,” I growled, straining my chains and fighting against the drowsiness induced by the onyx.
He laughed lightly, turning his head to Carnelian, “You did say she was spirited.”
“Yes.” Carnelian stepped forward, his arms crossed against his chest. “But we don’t have time for her foolishness. Word from the capital has already spread; we must work quickly.”
“What do we need?” Darcel asked, an excited gleam in his eyes.
“Blood,” Carnelian answered, and I scoffed, knowing they meant mine.Of course. He stepped forward, knife in hand, and grabbed my arm. I braced myself, readying for the pain, but when he brought the knife down, he fell backward, crying out in pain.
I blinked in surprise, and everyone looked at him and me in varying states of shock. Carnelian got up, brushing Sienna off with a glare when she tried to help him. He dusted himself off, and motioned to Darcel, who stepped forward and took the knife. I glared up at him, unable to believe I was related to this piece of shit.
I felt a bit of satisfaction watching him get similarly hurt trying to cut me, but I couldn’t understand what was happening. Carnelian stepped forward again, grabbing my chin.
“What is happening?” Sania demanded, her petulant tone grating on my nerves.
“Where is it?” Carnelian asked me, making me shake my head.
“Where is what?” I truly had no idea what was going on, but he somehow had an idea.
“You’re protected,” he ground his teeth back and forth as Casaan scoffed in the background.
“By what?” he asked his father, who turned his glare on him, making him shrink back like the child he was.
“By something powerful.” He ran his eyes over every inch of me before narrowing in on my necklace. My mother’s pearl and diamond necklace. He reached out for it, and I wanted to slap his hand away, but the onyx chains kept me still. Thankfully, when he tried to grab the pearl hanging at the end, his hand stopped an inch away.
He ran his hand through the air above the pearl, seemingly feeling it out, before he growled, a sound I was surprised to hear from him. “A goddess. I would guess Erodite since the power lies in the pearl.”
