“Throw the bitch in and be done with it!” The dark voice growled before fading.
Maura knew she should’ve left, should’ve ran before they caught her, but something froze her in place.
She opened the dungeon door, moving like a ghost. The outline of a fragile woman in a cell appeared—thin, wrinkled fingers and a pale gaunt face.
Realization struck Maura like a dagger through the heart, piercing her soul.
Tabitha. The woman who’d kept her sane, who’d taught her to control her ability, now lay dying inside the dungeons.
Maura kneeled at the bars, knuckles flushing white as she gripped the cold steel.
“Tabitha!”
“Maura?” Tabitha’s voice was raw, hollow.
“I need to get you out of here!” Maura whispered, despair clogging her throat.
Tabitha’s clouded eyes warily searched down the hallway.
“No,” she wheezed, each breath a struggle. “I’ve chosen my path. I don’t regret walking it.” Her eyes were firm, pleading with Maura.
“Please,” Maura rasped. “I can’t leave you here! He’ll?—”
“Listen to me.” Tabitha’s voice strengthened, cutting in. “There are things you don’t know,” Tabitha continued. “I was born . . . a Soul Wielder.”
Souls be damned. A wielder?
Maura’s mouth went agape. Soul Wielders were thought to have been myth, or an ability that died out ages ago. Speaking to souls was one thing, but tocontrolthem entirely, that was unfathomable power.
“Albeit a weak one, I kept it hidden. Until the King found me, wanting me to rip out a soul.” Tabitha’s forehead creased. “The Vinter King’s soul.”
A hefty weight dropped in Maura’s stomach.
“The Vinter King is in some kind of never-ending sleep. No weapon, not even the King’s shadows, could pierce him. They’ve been trying to kill him to no avail. That’s why they needed me—told me to remove his soul.” A sly smile suddenly spread across her weathered face. “So I did. But the Skell King never specified towhere. I imagine they’ll be back shortly when they realize?—”
A roar from the depths of hell rumbled the floor.
Tabitha’s head snapped down the hall, then back to Maura. Her eyes shared secrets that weren’t spoken aloud.
“Go! Do not worry for me, child. I am not afraid! As I know you will not be either.”
Tabitha was weak, broken, and torn, but her soul was unwavering in the face of death.
With one last loving squeeze of her hands, Maura bolted back to the stairwell.
A deep darkness swept through the corridor and violently swirled in front of the cell. Then—the Skell King appeared.
The skeletal pattern on his body flared to life. His arm shot out, grabbing Tabitha by the throat, slamming her against the bars.
“I will singe the skin off your bones. Peel back each layer to revel in your screams and when your body is utterly broken, I will ensure your soul is lost forever!” the King screeched, shadows constricting. “You will never know peace. Only pain. Only suffering!” His teeth cracked, clenching. “Answer me now, hag!Why does the body stilllive?”
Guttural sounds left Tabitha’s throat—the King’s wrath had his control slipping.
Tabitha’s shoulders shook. Not in fear, but in laughter.Hysterical laughter.
“You . . . are . . . a . . . cunt!” she wheezed.
The Skells behind the King shot each other looks. They knew exactly what happened when the King was so gravely disrespected.
