Rage bubbles up inside me and overflows before I can stop it. I sit up fast, and the blanket pools in my lap. “Veydran love to pretend they have no choice,” I snarl. “They line up in neat, faceless rows, follow orders, and kill, kill, kill. A basilisk here, a griffin there—does it even matter to you?”
“Control yourself,” Riven hisses, hands trembling at his sides.
I ignore him. “Do you get off on making us bend until we’re nothing but shells of ourselves? I bet you fucking love it, huh? After all, if we’re as empty as you, no one will notice that you’re nothing.”
“Shut up!”
I cover my mouth with one hand sarcastically. “Oh no, I’ve upset Riven. Tell me,Riven, is that even your name? You don’t have a face of your own, so why would you need a name? I bet no one bothered to give you one?—”
“I don’t know,” he shouts. “Is that what you want to hear?”
His face goes haywire, striped bands flickering from the top of his head to the curve of his amber chin. He turns away from me, his shoulders hunching as he shudders. It’s a shared shifter issue—the shaking—and it only happens when someone has poorcontrol of their transformation or gets overwhelmed by extreme emotion.
Which is it for him?
“Let’s take a few deep breaths,” Ciprian says. He runs his hand along my arm in warning as much as comfort.
I sneer, pleased to have scored a hit against our enemy. “I’ve said all I plan to.”
The silence is tense. Celine gives me a look, her brow pinched, as if she’s disappointed... in me? “Thanks for the upgrades and the cloak,” she whispers.
I scowl. He’s the enemy. We’re trapped here because of him. The veydran are profiting directly off her torment. If he gave her that cloak and a better cell, it wasn’t to be nice; it was to protect his asset and ensure she survives to earn him more money.
Am I the only one who sees or cares about that?
“Have you recovered from your chill?” Riven asks, his tone wooden. “I can send Hyacinth.”Who the fuck is that?
“I’m fine,” Celine says.
Riven strides from the cabin, shutting and locking the door behind him.
Celine and Ciprian face me warily, like they’re unsure what I’m going to do next. My skin prickles. Do they see me or the monster I’ve warned them about all along?
I need to get out of here.But I can’t, not unless I tear through a foot of magically enforced wood.Trapped, no matter what.I’m doomed. Unregistered, unbound, and they know it. Even if Celine keeps winning in the arena, I’ve seen the writing on the wall. They won’t let me go. This only ends one way for me: with my basilisk bound and my parents’ sacrifice erased.
I climb out of bed, and the chill sinks into my bare skin. Fuck. Where are my pants? And why do I feel so exposed? Every word I said to Riven was true, but he barely fought back. There’s no reason for me to be this raw.
“Luca,” Celine whispers.
“I’m sorry.” I tug on my hair. “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“You didn’t, slow down.” Her feet hit the floor, then her hand is on my back.
I shrug it off.
Her intake of breath is sharp. She doesn’t try to touch me again.
I wish she would.
“I can’t do this,” I hiss at the ceiling, then pace to the furthest wall from the bed. With my forehead pressed to the wood, I search desperately for the calm I’m known for. Fear and resentment are all I find. I’m overflowing with both.
Something scrapes against the floor. Something heavy. I hear a few mutters, but I can’t focus on them right now. Maybe they’ll understand; maybe they won’t, but I’m crawling out of my skin.
Eventually, Celine calls my name, her voice firm.
I glance over my shoulder and blink twice. They’ve pushed everything that wasn’t bolted down to the edge of the room, including the massive bed.
“Let’s go on a walk,” Celine says. “Or you can go alone if you want.”
