Did Eyden think she was dead?No,he’d probably forgotten all about her. She should do the same.
“If you want to motivate me, give me back my phone and a new WiFi cube,” Lora said. If she could reach Earth—if she could hear her family’s voices again, somehow explain her continued absence—maybe it would lift a smidge of the weight crushing her chest every day.
“Why in Caelo’s name would I do you any favours?”
“My family must be worried out of their minds,” Lora replied, unable to hide the desperation in her voice this time. “Imagine if it was your family.”
Karwyn’s face was void of any emotion. “You are the last family I have left, and I cannot wait to be rid of you.”
“What about my…your uncle?” He’d said before that her biological father had been banished years ago, not executed. There was a chance he was still out there. Lora wished she could remember his name from the fae history books she had studied. Her mum had never known her father’s full name, only a nickname, and even that she’d kept to herself. Stuck in this room, Lora had had time to obsess over that detail too.
Karwyn’s eyes flashed mockingly. “The knowledge that he will never meet you brings me great satisfaction. Not that he seemed to ever care; he never acknowledged your existence. Did you lie awake as a child, hoping he would find you?”
Lora bit her tongue. He was too close to the truth. His words were like stab wounds to her heart. “Imagine if it was your parents,” Lora pleaded. She realised she actually had no idea what had happened to Karwyn’s mother, just that she was long dead. His father, Harten Adelway, had passed away this year of old age, reaching almost two hundred years as fae usually did.
Karwyn pointed a pale finger in her face. “Stop trying to deflect and focus on what matters. I am beginning to suspect you are not holding up your end. You agreed to train.”
“I’m trying.” She was. She could feel the constant simmer of power beneath her skin next to the coldness of the blood contract, but she had no idea how to access it. Karwyn had threatened her worse than this before, but something was blocking her.
Maybe it was the knowledge of what would happen once she completed her training and gave him what he wanted. Picturing her cousin ruling over Liraen made her heart hurt. Elyssa would be devastated. Lora was helping the one person that every human, witch, and some fae hated almost as much as the Dark King. Variel Sartoya had ripped a tear in the universe and opened the portal to Earth before turning on his own people seventy-five years ago.
If Elyssa was here, she’d tell Lora to fight any way she could. But how could Lora fight when she was always stuck in this room with no escape in sight and a contract binding her mother’s life to Lora’s word?
She wondered again what Eyden would think of her now—if he even thought of her at all. Would he hate her for her connection to the Adelways who had caused him so much pain? Lora shut her eyes, closing off the thought.
“You areuseless,that is what you are,” Karwyn said, drawing her attention back to him. “What will your family think when they watch your mother die?”
“Did anyone ever tell you that threatening is not the best teaching method?” Lora shot back.
“It can be effective.” His tone was serious. Did he speak from experience?
“Maybe it’s not me, it’syou,” Lora replied. “You’re a shitty teacher.”
Karwyn’s lip curled. He stepped back, fumbling with a button on his elegant, royal-blue jacket. He seemed to wrestle with a decision as his golden hair fell into his face. “What shall I do with you, little cousin? I had hoped this would be a quick ordeal after Saydren recounted the fire you used in Chrysa. Now fae are starting to talk, and this is a most unfortunate time for rumours.” His tone was venomous, slipping under Lora’s skin and curdling her blood.
“What are you getting at?” she asked impatiently. They both knew he couldn’t kill her before the ritual. And it wasn’t like she wasn’t trying. She wouldn’t risk her mother’s life, but even so, the fire stayed locked within her.
Karwyn straightened his jacket. “It is time for you to step into the role you were born into.” He looked her straight in the eyes. “Let us see how good of a liar you really are.”
* * *
Karwyn had been gone for almost an hour now—at least Lora thought so. It had been difficult to track the days in her mostly barren room. The faint sunlight coming in from under her door and through the thick curtains blocking her windows were her only indicators of the time. It must be late afternoon now.
Alone in her room, Lora had time to take notice of every little detail as she tried to escape her own mind. The double bed next to the shut window was carved out of old cedar wood, the same as her small desk and almost empty closet. In the corner by the door stood a small silver table between two blood-red chairs.
It had been hell being stuck here. Lora couldn’t speak to her family, couldn’t see anyone but the one person who was responsible for all her suffering. Her own flesh and blood had released the virus that had taken thousands of human lives. And all for power. Forherpower.
Lora felt her skin heating, the fire needing an outlet as fury burned her from within, but nothing came out. In a fit, Lora kicked at the fancy chair Karwyn had sat in earlier that day. She watched as the back of it snapped apart, shocked by her own strength.
Before she could dwell on it, she heard footsteps draw close to her door. Looking over her shoulder, Karwyn appeared in the doorframe. She was about to turn away when he moved inside and another face peered into her room.
Lora’s palms started sweating. Her heart raced as she took in the familiar face she’d seen once before in a bar in Chrysa. His bronze skin and ocean eyes were the same. His hair was messy, but in an artful way. It had been a pale pink before, but now it was pastel blue with silver highlights.
Blue.The name floated through her panicked mind.
The fae, Blue, lifted his head, his gaze falling on her.
What on Earth, orLiraen,was he doing here? Did he know who she was?No.His surprise was obvious as he looked her over.
