“What has gotten into you?” Jessina demands, staring at him as if she doesn’t even recognize him.
And that tiny flicker of hope in my chest is crushed into oblivion as Bane’s demeanor immediately changes. His shoulders straighten and that ruthless glint returns to his black eyes as he flicks a look full of disgust down at us before meeting his mate’s gaze again.
“Nothing. I just…” He shakes his head. “I’m just so sick of breathing the same air as these people. So let’s finish this.”
“Of course.” That annoyance has cleared from Jessina’s features now that Bane is back to normal. “Did you bring it?”
He nods.
My pulse thrums as Bane holds up a small piece of metal, shaped kind of like a bracelet with a small piece missing so that it can be wedged onto someone’s wrist.
Dragon steel.
Even though all of us are wearing iron collars, and thereforecan’t channel our magic through it, he still holds it in a thick piece of leather so that it won’t touch his skin.
I stare at that crude dragon steel bracelet. I would recognize it anywhere. It’s the one that Draven was wearing when we did the prisoner exchange. The one that Jessina took back right before she killed my?—
Grief and regret crash over me without warning as that awful and excruciatingly vivid memory that I was forced to watch hundreds of times last night flashes before my eyes again. The ice blades. The blood that spurts from their necks. The thuds as their bodies hit the floor. The pools of red spreading out and soaking my mom’s silver hair. Those looks of shock and fear on their faces as the light died in their eyes. Eyes that used to only be filled with resentment. Except for those final few moments.
Does that mean that the hatred in their eyes was in fact only caused by my magic since it disappeared in those final moments right before they died? Or were their shock and fear just so strong when Jessina slit their throats that it only temporarily masked their hatred for me?
If I had gone to see my parents as soon as we left the Unseelie Court, I would know. I would know if they only hated me because I had accidentally created flames of hatred in their chests when I was young. I would know if my parents loved me.
But I didn’t go to check on them.
Because I was too busy.
Too busy doing everything except the one thing that really mattered to me.
And now, I will never know.
Regret strangles my chest like steel bands. It seeps through my body like ice, poisoning everything. I can’t breathe. I feel like someone is sitting on my chest and squeezing my throat with merciless force.
A vicious laugh suddenly cuts through the clanging in myhead. “Oh, that’s right. The last time you saw this was right before I killed your parents.”
I suck in a panicked breath and try to blink my eyes back into focus, but everything is blurry. It’s only then that I realize that I’m crying. Dread joins the panic in my chest, and I desperately try to pull myself together.
My entire soul is screaming at me to use my magic to create an emotion so that I can feel that comforting pleasure again. But there is an iron collar around my neck, so I can’t even reach my magic right now.
Blinking furiously, I try to clear the tears from my eyes and force my mind back to the present.
At last, the dark stone cell becomes visible before me again. So do Bane and Jessina. And my friends.
But the aching in my chest doesn’t stop. And neither does the desperate need for that soothing pleasure that only my magic can bring. My soul is practically vibrating with the pent-up urge for it.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Bane begins.
In a feat of pure desperation, I finally manage to shove the pain and regret back behind the walls where they belong. That desperate need for the comforting feeling of my magic doesn’t go away, though. But I try to ignore it as best as I can.
My chest heaves, and tears still stain my cheeks, but I force myself to focus on Bane’s words. This is important. I need to know what they’re going to do to us. Otherwise, we will never be able to figure out how to escape.
“You,” Bane says, pointing at Hana. “What’s your name?”
Still sitting on the ground with her knees drawn up to her chest, she looks up at him with wide green and blue eyes. Her soft voice trembles slightly when she replies, “Hana.”
“After Hana has gotten the pocket reality open, you three,” Bane continues, and motions to me, Isera, and Orion, “are goingto go inside and put this dragon steel bracelet on the leader of the Gold Clan.”
“Is that right?” I flash both him and Jessina a mocking smile full of challenge. “And who is going to control it for you now that Lavendera is on our side?”
