“Heart of my desire.
“The selkie knew she would have to acquire these things through a mixture of cunning and brutality. But she did not balk at her task, she relished it. At last, she had her chance to seek her revenge and return to her home. Nothing would stop her.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
“Cat got your tongue?” With a pointed look at the cauldron, she laughed again. “Sorry Magnus.”
I blew out a breath. I couldn’t believe it. Livia was a selkie. She, like me, was a magical being and a child of Vell. I couldn’t imagine how painful it would be to be kept away from the ocean. But something she said troubled me. “What do you mean by ‘Heart of my desire’?”
“Why,you, of course, silly,” she said. “My desire is to become you.”
All the air left my lungs. “You mean to transform yourself into me?”
A sly smile confirmed the awful truth. “I am going to take on your form, and then I’m going to return to the ocean. Finally.”
“And what if you’re caught? They’ll never let you get away with this.”
A low laugh. “I will be you, lovely. I’ll tell them you escaped from that wicked Livia within an inch of your life.”
“And Amalie?”
“Everyone will be so pleased when they hear that the princess’s savior managed to rescue her once again,” she beamed.
“Livia?”
“Yes, Alara?”
“You’re a sick bitch,” I spat. Ignoring me, she disappeared behind the tree. I already knew what she was going to do, but I still winced at the sharp pain as she carved into my palm.
“No,” she said, making her way back to the smoky cauldron. “I am the ocean’s lost daughter, returning home at last after years of exile.” She encircled it, inspecting it with a critical eye, until finally, she hummed in satisfaction.
She turned her attention back towards me. “Let’s see. What’s left? Heart of my desire.” With a dangerous glint in her eyes she said, “It looks like you’re up, lovely.”
“Does this mean you’re going to release me?” My voice sounded braver than I felt.
Slowly, like a predator anticipating the thrill of its kill, she approached me. My heart thundered. She, once again, crouched next to me. Lifting my chin with the bloody dagger, she looked deep into my eyes. “I think I’ll enjoy wearing this face,” she murmured, stroking my cheek. I recoiled, repulsed by her touch.
And, with that final gesture, she raised the dagger and drove it into my chest.
Chapter 48
The blade delivered pain unlike anything I’d ever known before—excruciating, all-encompassing, and unrelenting. It was sharp, it was searing, it stole the breath from my lungs.
As steel severed skin, the sound of screams pierced through the stillness. My screams.
My suffering didn’t seem to faze her. If anything, she reveled in it. She drove the dagger in deeper, watching gleefully as I howled and thrashed. I couldn’t do anything else. Not against the binds that restrained me and rendered me as vulnerable as a mortal.Mortals don’t survive wounds like these.
“You’re still a bitch,” I panted, warm tears rolling down my face.
My strangled words were enough to momentarily distract her from her nefarious task. “Maybe so, but I’m a bitch that will be wearing your skin,” she taunted.
A choked laugh spilled out of my dry lips, the agony causing my insides to reel.
She quirked an eyebrow. “Something funny?”
“My grandmother… is going to obliterate you,” I rasped.
For the first time, doubt flickered on her face. “She’ll have to find a way out of Vantillios first,” she dismissed. “Now hold still, this next part might sting a little.”
