“I know.” She huffed, rubbing her eyes. “But I’m not going to tell you what I think you should do. I won’t ask anything of you.” It was too dangerous. As horrible as the situation was, Nymiria wouldn’t risk Desi’s life for a favor. Whatever decision she made,it had to be her own. There was a chance that Everand already knew where Desi’s loyalties lay.
“Why did you go back to Everand, Nymiria? You could have let Aziel handle all of this.”
She snorted a humorless laugh. “I’m not answering any of your questions. I believe you know enough about me to draw that conclusion on your own.”
“So, you have a plan.” Not a question. A statement. One that Nymiria didn’t trust either of them enough to answer. “We just have to be strong for a little while longer. Just a little while longer. You’re strong, Nym. It won’t be like this forever.”
“I’mstrong?”
Desi nodded again, offering her a small smile. “You’re one of the strongest people I know.”
“If being strong feels like your heart is repeatedly ripped from your chest, if it feels this lonely, if ithurtsthis much—I don’t want it. I don’t want to be strong anymore. I just want to gohome.” She held her hand over the ache, pressing her palm into her chest. This was all just a part of the plan, but good gods, it hurt. For once, Nymiria just wished to live. She wished for peace. For a single day without having to discover something she wasn’t prepared enough to know.
There was nothing left for either of them to say. So instead of sitting and speaking on things they couldn’t change, Nymiria pulled herself up from the floor and walked to the cot. It was stained and torn in multiple places, but she’d slept in far worse conditions. Her chains clattered as she sat down, leaning her head against the cold stone wall. She took that moment to take her still-bound hands and drag up one of the sleeves on the dress Everand put her in, hoping to see if there was any trace of the witchlocks he’d put on her.
But what she found was far worse than what she expected. Her stomach hollowed out, a strangled whimper tearing from her throat as she looked down at perfectly smooth, unmarked skin.
No vines.
No moonflowers.
Justrunes.
Everywhere.
She jolted to her feet, jerking and clawing at the skirts that hung heavy over her legs. Desi watched in confusion, slowly pulling herself up.
“What is it?” She asked in a whisper.
Nymiria shook her head frantically. “They’re gone. All of them—they’regone!”
“What’s gone?”
She finally managed to wrangle the skirts enough to see that her legs, too, bore none of those markings that’d become a part of her. Just glimmering, iridescent witchlocks. Desi sucked in a sharp breath, sheer horror taking hold of her face. Nymiria clawed at her skin, eyes welling up with tears. “No…no, no, no, no!”
Desi grabbed her, wrenching her hands away from her skin and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Nymiria—”
“NO!” She wailed. “No—hetook themfrom me! They were mine!” She dug her nails into Desi’s arm in an attempt to free herself, but the woman still held her close. She bucked and thrashed, even as Desi lowered her back down onto the cot. “He took them away.” She gasped. Her whole body trembled with fury and sorrow. She didn’t know how much more they would take from her, but Nymiria was starting to feel as if she had nothing left. Those moonflowers weren’t just a reminder of her power. They weren’t just pretty decorations that marked her skin. They were a constant reminder of who she was and whatshe’d gone through—the pain she felt so deeply for the better part of a decade.
The villains in her life had taken everything. And this piece of her, these markings that held so many memories of darkness, pain, triumph, and joy…
They were gone. Taken from her. Just like everything else.
This was all a part of the plan, she reminded herself. This was all a part of the plan. Aziel would come. They made a plan. But,good gods, did she feel like giving up.
She didn’t want to be strong anymore.
She just wanted to gohome.
“Get up.”
Nymiria blinked, eyes straining against the darkness. She slowly lifted her head off of the cot, glancing around the cell until her gaze fell on the hazy white mist of a man standing in the corner. His name fell from her lips on the wind of a relieved sigh, her body aching as she sat up, careful not to disturb Desi’s sleeping form that was huddled behind her.
“You have to be ready.”Owen came forward, the cold mist of his hands curling around her own.“Aziel is coming—you have to be ready.”
Her heart gained speed. “When?”
“Soon.”He glanced behind himself, as if something sinister was waiting for him in the shadows.“Everand is currently enchanting this palace. I won’t be able to get to you again for a while, but I needed to warn you. Things here are not like they were before, Nym—they’reworse. Far worse.”He shook his head, worry written all over his face.
