“She’s never had to before, and her powers have been dampened for years. She just needs time.”
Eefa sighs heavily. “We don’t have time. The summer solstice will be here before we know it. If we fail, we’ll have to wait until the autumn equinox. Master Iywan would never forgive us.”
There’s silence for a moment.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
That incessant dripping has me alarmingly aware of how full my bladder is. I breathe through it, though when a few footsteps come my way, I hold my breath.
“She’s awake,” says Eefa.
As much as I want to continue pretending to sleep, I quit the charade. I’m back in my cell, except the chair from the torture chamber is now rooted to this floor.
“Welcome back, Your Highness. Let’s give the fire summoning another try, shall we?” Briony says with a too-cheerful smile.
“I can’t do it. I think we’ve already established that. I reach for the damn energy you keep talking about, and it rejects me.”
“But itisthere?” Hope blooms in her icy blue eyes.
“I suppose so.”
Briony casts an I-told-you-so glare at Eefa, who crosses her arms and huffs a breath. Briony turns to me again. “Find that power and try again.”
I cannot find another way out of this, so I reach deep inside again, searching for that source of energy. The heat grows stronger and stronger, the power surging beneath my skin, and I try to draw the energy to my palms. Suddenly there’s a blast of fire in my mind alongside Aneirin’s screams. My heart races, my body cools, and I clench my fist. I lift my head to Briony again and her shoulders slump.
Eefa cackles and steps away from the bars to strut toward us. “You’ve had your turn, now step aside.” She pulls a dagger from her boot and crouches, holding the blade a mere whisper from my face. I press my head back against the chair as hard as I can, my heart threatening to give out. “Let’s see how high your pain tolerance is, darling princess.” She touches the tip of the dagger to my cheek, and there’s a cool sensation at first, until the blade bites into my flesh.
“Eefa, don’t,” I hear myself say with a gasp.
“Oh, a command. How predictable. Maybe if you beg, I won’t do it.” Her vulpine grin makes my pulse skitter again, but I steel my nerves.
She will not get a plea out of me.
The blade bites deeper into my cheek as Eefa drags it slowly across my skin. I clench my jaw and fight the urge to whimper.
“Stubborn bitch,” Eefa coos. Her tone is confusing, almost affectionate. It makes me shudder. “Imagine what you can do with that power.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, pushing away the memories. Aneirin.
“Just summon the damn power. Prove what you’ve always wanted to prove. Be that warrior princess that Ellynne claimed you were.”
The sound of Ellynne’s name on her lips pulls fervent rage from my core. “Don’t you dare say her name.”
“El-lynne.”
She steps back, and though the cut from her dagger still stings, the memory of Ellynne bleeding to death in my bed hurts even more. “You’re a disgrace,” I say. “You deserved every bit of mistreatment in your marriage.”
A glint of amusement appears on her face. “Ah, the claws have come out,” she says with a grin. She taps the flat of the blade against her cheek, leaving a smear of my blood on her olive skin.
“Once I figure out how to summon my powers, you’ll be the first person that I burn.”
She laughs. “I’m looking forward to it, darling.” She sighs happily, a smile still on her lips. “She begged for your life, you know.Ellynne. Before I shoved my knife into her belly.”
Heat floods my hands, but it doesn’t go beyond that. I want to stick my fingers into her eyes and burn her from the inside out. I want her brain to melt and her flesh to blister and burst.
Briony suddenly stands at full attention, focused on something beneath me. Eefa’s attention shifts as well, not to me but to the shackles binding my wrists.
They glow bright orange with my own summoned heat.
