August pressed his mouth flat, eyes pulling from Felix to look at his surroundings. He didn’t want to leave. Leaving would hurt. And he was so tired of hurting.
“We need you,” Felix added. “Ineed you.”
The words rang through August’s mind, cutting through the haze like the tolling of the alarm bell.
What was he doing? He couldn’t stay here.
You have to fix this.Lottie was right. He couldn’t give up.
August grabbed Felix’s hands, gave a sharp nod, and then gently pulled them from his head.
He took a moment to steady himself, dragging in the musty air. Fear clawed deep inside him, and he wished, just for a moment, that he didn’t care enough to take the risk. That he could use the indifference he’d grown so comfortable with and hold it like a shield.
It will kill everyone.
August lifted his arms out to his sides. His eyes fell shut, and he exhaled shakily.
He could feel everything. Not the physical sensations—the Hollow Dark swallowed all that—but the shiver of the veil, the cold vibrations of the anchored, the raw, gnashing edges of the tear.
He reached for them, but it was too far.
“Do it again,” his mother’s sharp voice rang in his mind, and he flinched at the sound of it. “Stop being so dramatic.”
He could see her, standing in the training room, drenched in sunlight, arms folded. Had he ever set foot in there? He didn’t think so.
It felt like a memory. But it was utterly foreign, like it belonged to someone else. Was it an anchored memory, pushed into his head?
His hands fell to his sides, and he squeezed his eyes tighter, focusing on it. Diving deeper.
A woman kneeled on the ground in front of him, almost at eye level with his small form. A castle servant, by the look of her uniform. She was afraid, but he didn’t know why.
“I can’t.” He recognized the voice. It was younger, but it was his. This washismemory.
But it was new.
“You’re trying my patience, Augustus. Stop wasting our time.”
“Please, Mother.” His voice cracked. “Just let me—”
The aesran swung without warning, the back of her hand colliding with his cheek. Pain bloomed hot, and his vision blurred with tears.
His mother narrowed her eyes. “I’ve given you a task. Youwillcomplete it.”
“No, I don’t want to!”
There was a body on the floor beside the woman. Another castle servant. The man’s neck was twisted and broken. Like Benjamin.
“Your training is not subject to your whims. Why must we go through this every time?”
“Please!”
“The dark room, then. You can spend the night there and try again tomorrow.”
“No.” Terror twisted inside him, but he didn’t understand why. What was the dark room?
“Two nights,” his mother pushed.
Magic flared, a spark igniting into wildfire beneath his skin. Anger, grief, fear, pain. All of it coiling inside him, tighter and tighter and tighter until it released in one explosive blast.
