I stare at the bonds in shock before I find the nerve to face Briony and Eefa again. Briony’s shoulders sag with relief, but Eefa’s chest puffs out.
She smirks at me. “Good girl.”
And again, my flame dies.
CHAPTER 63
Carys
Iywan holdsthe book so close to my face that the words are barely visible. “Read it. In the common tongue this time.”
“I can’tseeit!” I protest. I’m back to sitting in this damn chair after they let me loose for a moment to relieve my bladder. I am so bone-tired that I could probably fall asleep in this.
Iywan pulls the book back a small distance. Two guards, plus Briony and Eefa, stand nearby. “What does it say?”
“It says that you are a pretentious bastard.”
I expect him to strike me, but he does something even worse. He summons Eefa.
She practically skips to his side like an overeager child. Her dagger is in her hand before Iywan can say anything else.
“Read,” Iywanrepeats.
I glimpse something animalistic in Eefa’s eyes, sending my heart leaping into my throat. “Alright, fine.” I fix my focus on Iywan for a moment before taking in the text. “It says that the mighty shall fall with the coming of the new age. The Heirs of Dusk and Embers shall rise again and dismantle the very foundation of the realm.” I shrug a shoulder.
Iywan stares at me for the longest while, and I cannot figure out what’s going through his mind. He doesn’t turn away from me. He simply says Eefa’s name.
Without hesitation, she slices through the sleeve of my tunic. The blade grazes my skin, and I hiss from the sting. The upper portion of my sleeve is fully ripped open, blood bright against my pale skin.
I glare at Iywan. “I read you the passage!”
“You’re lying.”
“How can you be so sure?”
He only glances at Eefa, and she slices swiftly just below the last cut. I grit my teeth as more bright red blooms.
“Read it properly,” says Iywan.
I grunt. “That passage isn’t even important, you idiot! I earmarked it because that’s where I left off.”
He crouches so that his face is close to mine and says, “Then tell me what is important.”
“How am I supposed to know what’s important when you haven’t explained a thing to me?”
He straightens and, as Eefa lunges to mar me again, Iywan catches her wrist. She pouts but lowers the dagger, and I release a breath.
“It was said that the daughter of Agryna will restore power to Erleya—and the only way to do that is by piercing the Veil of Fiada Purlieu,” Iywan says.
Shit, I still can’t believe this is true. My stomach squirms.
“As far as everyone knows, the magical bloodline ended with the royals a millennium ago, yet here you are. A Flamewielder, in the flesh.” Iywan gestures vaguely to me.
“What clued you in that I’m a Flamewielder? Not evenIknew.”
“After I discovered that you could read the Ancient Tongue, it narrowed things down. It’s in your bloodline. Not to mention that your mother gave you the necklace after Aneirin mysteriously died inan accident, and you haven’t taken it off since.”
My stomach sours and I force myself to swallow. I grit my teeth against my brother’s screams in my head.
