Had they already killed her? No, it couldn’t be the fae girl. The hand of the body looked as if it had been dead for a while, not less than an hour. It had to be Sydna. The fae girl from the bar might still be alive. Amira fought back the tears that were gathering in her eyes. Where could they have taken her?
“Come on, Amira, think,” she muttered.
She knew she had to make sure it was Sydna and not the girl from today, so Amira reluctantly moved to the table. Her fingers gripped the cloth covering the dead. A pair of emerald eyes appeared in her head. Frantic. Pleading.Punishing.Her breathing quickened. Her heart sped up. Her hand burned with such intensity, she let go of the cloth and hurriedly stepped back.
In her frantic state, Amira knocked into a shelf and one of the jars fell. It shattered at her feet. A potent-smelling liquid spread on the floor, staining her already dirty shoes.
“Dammit!” She tried to gather the fragments of the jar and cut herself on a particularly sharp one. Her mind was quickly unravelling and the sight of blood didn’t help her stay grounded in reality. The red liquid spurting out of her wound shifted colour in front of her dizzy eyes, turning from burgundy to completely transparent. She put her finger in her mouth and let the red liquid coat her tongue with its silvery notes.
“What are you doing?” a strange voice asked, startling Amira. She turned around, her finger still pressed against her lips.
A face emerged from the darkness. A sickly twisted face. Thewitch.
A wave of panic took over Amira’s body. She frantically looked around for a way to escape this dark presence. Cirny took a step forward and Amira noticed her limp. She could outrun her. But what about her powers?
“What are you doing here, girl? This is no place for you.”
A list of lies passed through her mind, none convincing enough to evade the witch’s watchful eyes. Amira stayed silent, hoping to buy herself some time to come up with an escape plan.
The witch came closer and detailed Amira’s face. “Who are you, dear? You look familiar.”
“We’ve never met,” replied Amira with more contempt than she had intended.
Cirny smiled sadly. “I know. I’m just a freak to you and everyone else. A cursed being, cast away by the Gods. Someone they share scary stories about.” As she spoke, she came closer and closer to Amira. “Yet no stories tell you about the ropes that bind me. The orders I follow, the sanity I slowly lose—” The witch broke off with a scream. For a second, her face lost all colour and she brought her hands to her neck as if to remove the invisible bind that was strangling her.
“No, no, no. I’m sorry,” she whispered, completely out of breath.
Amira reached out to her, but before she could grab the witch’s arm, Cirny’s wide dark pupils locked on Amira. “Your soul, it has been stained like mine. I can feel it…” She extended her hand to touch Amira’s face, but Amira didn’t let her.
Completely terrified, Amira pushed her away. Only she didn’t properly evaluate her strength and Cirny fell against the table. On instinct, Cirny tried to break her fall and grabbed at the table. Her hand tightened around the cloth draped over the body. Amira watched as the cloth came off while Cirny slowly fell.
For a few endless seconds, her brain didn’t catch on. She couldn’t understand what she was seeing.Whoshe was seeing. It wasn’t Sydna. It wasn’t the captured fae girl. The almond-shaped face and chin length black hair were all too familiar.
“Nalani,” Amira whispered, tears already running down her cheeks. She rushed to her maid’s body, but the fae was long gone.
The witch got up. “You’re not supposed to be here,” she hissed, stepping forward. Acting on reflex, Amira pushed the witch again. This time, Cirny fell on the ground hard, her frail body twisting in a strange angle as she whimpered.
With her mind in shambles, Amira fled.
* * *
Amira was surprised to find her makeshift rope untouched. She couldn’t process what had just happened. Who she’d seen.Nalani.
She was barely holding on as she climbed the makeshift rope back up to her bedroom. She needed to be alone, to sort her spiralling thoughts, to forget about Nalani’s lifeless body. She needed tobreathe.But when she looked up, Rhay was sitting in her chair.
“Amira, I was so worried,” Rhay started, straightening when he saw her. “The guard let me in. He almost saw your emergency exit, but I closed the door quickly. I was worried you’d gotten yourself into trouble again and I didn’t wanna make it worse...” He trailed off as he noticed Amira’s frantic state.
She violently pulled on a strand of her hair and muttered under her breath, “It’s my fault.”
Rhay ran up to her and held her arms to still her movements. “Princess, what have you done now?”
She couldn’t tell if it was worry or anger filling his voice. Her whole body was shaking uncontrollably even with Rhay holding her. She felt like something was growing underneath her skin, wanting out.
Tears stained her cheeks. “I’m a bad person,” she wailed. “Why do I keep hurting everyone I care about?” Her heavy tears burned her face, reminding her of all the pain she had caused. All the death.
Rhay was visibly uncomfortable by the strength of Amira’s emotions. He tried to wipe her tears as best as he could, but new ones kept ruining his efforts. He tried to reassure her, “It’s okay, princess. Karwyn’s going to forgive you. You’re going to be queen and you’ll be happy. I just know it.”
Amira pulled away from him as she whispered to herself, “My brother’s right, I ruineverything.Why can’t I just ignore my feelings? If I don’t get attached, they don’t get hurt and I don’t get hurt.” She jumped when she felt Rhay’s hand on her shoulder.
