“Nice try, darling,” she says. “But I can slit your throat right here, go upstairs and announce to Master Iywan that he can go ahead and execute his plan.Ican be queen without you. Hells, I can beyou.”
She’s delusional! My heart is racing so fast that my head grows light. All I’ve wanted to do for so long now is die, yet as I’m confronted with my mortality, I’m scared stiff. I haven’t had anything to drink in quite a while, yet my bladder aches, a reminder of the moment when my pride had been completely stripped from me.
Drip, drip, drip.
“What are you waiting for?” I whisper.
“What? You’re not afraid?” There’s a hint of disappointment in her voice.
“Yes.”
She draws the blade back slightly, and I suck in a breath. Uncertainty shows in Eefa’s expression, as if my admittance has thrown her off her game. Her perfectly arched brows draw close together and she steps back. She starts pacing the length of the cell, tapping the blade against her face and muttering something under her breath.
Then she whirls on me. “You’re a disgrace to the crown. You don’t even care to fight for what’s yours. You’re a coward.Ishould be the one to hold the power.Iknow how to get what I deserve!”
The tip of her blade presses into my cheek. I wince at the first sting. She draws an excruciatingly slow line down my cheek. I barely breathe, afraid that if I move, she’ll take out my eye. As she lowers the blade, I ask breathlessly, “Does Iywan even know you’re down here?”
Eefa lifts the blade again and, this time, she carelessly slashes across my face. My scream echoes through the cell, and the satisfaction on Eefa’s face is apparent. My breath comes in ragged pants, my face throbbing and stinging as warmth spreads from the blood oozing down my cheek. Heat rises in my chest, that pulsating power beckoning to me, but I try to keep my focus away from it. I stifle the screams of my brother in my head and breathe through the suffocating fear.
“First, my own bloody sister puts her life on the line to save you when she’s never so much as lifted a finger to help me. Now Master Iywan chooses you, a pitiful Wielder who cannot even summon her own powers. Why choose a Flamewielder when he can have a Skinchanger? I can be anybody he desires. Literally!”
Gods, she really is delusional.
“Say something!” The wild intensity in her glare makes me wither.
I open my mouth to say something, but my lips close again as nothing comes to mind. I barely register her movement before she madly slashes her dagger across my face again. Had I closed my eyes just a heartbeat later, the blade would’ve blinded me. Instead, pain sears across my eyelid, my nose, and down to my jaw.
A sob tears free as I dare to look at her again. “Eefa, please!”
Everything slows down, a chill running through me. One moment, I’m staring at the vulpine grin on Eefa’s face and the next,a figure in my peripheral vision catches my attention. As I blink, my eyes stinging from the blood, I’m standing, unbound somehow, in a dark tunnel.
The figure materializes before me. I take in his tall, lean stature, his black hair, and brown eyes like our mother’s. He’s wearing the same loose tunic and trousers as the last time I saw him, a small crown around his head, and a sword belted to his narrow waist. Just the way he looked before… Oh, gods.
I draw in a shuddery breath, gulping back the emotions. “Aneirin?”
“Hello, sister,” he says.
CHAPTER 78
Carys
I sink to my knees,sobbing before my brother. “But you’re dead …”
“I am,” he says. “I know you feel guilty about what happened, but it was not your fault. You were a child then, and not in control. But you are now.”
I can only blubber in response.
“Carys, don’t let your guilt destroy you. I have to leave again, but I love you with all my soul and I forgive you.”
The words begin mending the torn pieces of my heart back together as he disappears. I jump to my feet, as a different figure materializes where Aneirin just stood. I take in the mane of red hair, the playful glimmer in olive eyes, and the dazzling smile playing on painted red lips.
Ellynne.
“Hello, sweet girl,” she says.
I want to laugh, to cry. I step toward her and throw my arms around her body, only to be met with air. I step back, befuddled.
“Am I hallucinating?” I ask.
