The candles on Amira’s dressing table lit up suddenly. In her distorted vision, she saw the flames grow menacingly and spread onto a faceless body as another memory fuelled her vision. A childlike voice screamed, “No, Quynn. Please! Wryen, stop.Please make it stop.”
Wryen had taken so much from Amira. But nother.Not Quynn. She couldn’t live without Quynn.
But she’d had to.
The memory came in flashes. Amira at seventeen, watching Wryen burn her first and only love at the stake.Treason,that’s how he had justified it. But Amira knew that it was to hurt her. Topunishher. He had forced Amira to watch Quynn burn. The screams had torn her heart apart, triggering something inside of her that she never knew she possessed.
Witchpowers.
Wryen had rushed to move her inside, away from the balcony and any prying eyes. He had beaten her senseless, commanding her to bury her powers. Her memories had sunk deeper and deeper inside of her with each strike, each slap, each burn.
The flame went out and Amira’s room went dark. As if she was outside her own body, Amira saw herself slowly fall to the ground, like she had at seventeen, broken by Wryen’s wrath.
Her whole body gave up as she struggled to grasp the past and was swallowed by a cold emptiness.
Chapter60
Lora
This was the second time in a week that Lora found herself in a cell. The cold, stifling air made her think she was underground. They had kept a bag over her head until she got here, but she assumed she was in the palace dungeons.
Her hands were now free, but Lora soon realised the almandine shackles were unnecessary. The whole cell was made from it, including the floor she stood on. The bars and shiny ground all held a tint of dark red. Surrounded by such a high quantity of almandine, Lora found it hard to focus on anything other than the dying buzzing in her veins.
She wondered if she had ever felt like this when she had first started wearing her almandine necklace. Had she been young enough that she simply forgot the hardship of it? Maybe it was only her attitude that had changed. She had wanted to get rid of her powers as a child. She had wanted to make her mother’s worries vanish and make her own life easier. But it wasn’t and maybe it had never been. All she ever did was play pretend. And you could only hold onto lies for so long.
Trying to escape the almandine, Lora rested her head against the one stone wall but she couldn’t escape the floor. She still didn’t know how the hell Saydren knew who she was and that she’d crossed over. Elyssa had tried to save her. There was no way she was responsible for her current dire situation. Lora had to believe the other girl managed to escape.
That left Eyden. Saydren hadn’t said his name, but the description he gave painted him well enough. Had Saydren spied on them? Had she been doomed to be captured? It was the only explanation that made sense. The alternative was too painful to consider.
She was on her own now. No one would come to the palace to save her. No one could. Lora pictured Eyden sitting in his closet, adding her name to the long list in his notebook. How long would he think of her? Or had he already erased her from his mind? Erased the time they’d spent together? It hadn’t even been two weeks, maybe it wouldn’t be hard for him to forget.
She forced the image out of her mind. There were more pressing worries. What would the king do to her? Experiment on her to see how she had survived the journey? Goosebumps travelled over her skin, heightening the cold feeling that had settled in her veins and extinguished the flames buried inside her.
They had taken everything from her. The silver, her phone, the WiFi cube, even the vial of her mother’s blood. The only thing holding her together was the sliver of hope that she could somehow get Saydren to create a cure in exchange for anything he wanted. Saving her family remained her priority, and she wasn’t ready to give up yet.
The cards weren’t in her favour, but she was prepared to make sacrifices. There was nothing else she had left to give but her secrets.
The door creaked and a guard, Layken, strode in. His face was exempt from any emotion. He held the door open, not meeting her gaze as he waited. Lora craned her neck to sneak a peek outside without leaving her spot next to the wall.
She didn’t have to wait long before another fae walked in, taking his time as he beheld Lora. He was wearing fine clothing, his golden hair brushed back to reveal intense eyes. He looked her up and down and flicked his finger. Layken pulled the door closed as he exited, leaving Lora with the golden-haired fae.
With slow, determined steps the fae strode towards her. He stopped a safe distance from the bars. The corner of his mouth pulled up into a relieved and twisted smile. Lora refused to cower in his presence. She stayed deadly still, angry eyes trained on her captor.
“You know who I am, don’t you?” the fae asked, crossing his arms behind his back.
She had a strong suspicion. “Karwyn Adelway. The king.” The smug grin spreading across the king’s face further enticed her anger. “More importantly, kidnapper. Probably torturer. Nothing to be proud of,” she said, lashing out with words. It was the only weapon she had left.
Karwyn didn’t move a muscle. “I admit I probably did not make the best impression on you, dragging you here and all. But you see, I have been looking for you for quite some time. And I was not about to let you slip through my fingers.”
His words took her off guard. Her mind tried to connect the dots that were swirling around aimlessly. “Why would you look for me?”
“First of all, let us discuss what you want.”
Lora pushed herself off the wall, standing up straight. This conversation wasn’t what she expected. She couldn’t put her finger on where he was going with this.
Karwyn took a small step forward, eyes watching her every move. “You did not cross out of boredom, did you? You are trying to save someone. Whose blood sample have you been carrying around?”
“None of your fucking business.” She twisted her hands into fists by her side. She noticed Karwyn’s gaze dropping, taking in her reaction.
