The labyrinth is a misty haze behind me. Pressure rings in my ears. I’ve never been this deep in the Below before.
The prison comes into view. It’s dark. Only small glowing orbs illuminate the figure sitting behind a transparent wall.
She’s smaller than I expected.
I don’t let my feet slow. If I do, I’ll stop right here and never start again.
It seems Sira hasn’t been able to regrow her crystals yet. But it’s only a matter of time.Cas, what were you thinking?
The figure stands as I approach. She’s about my height, and I hate that it’s like looking into some sort of cursed mirror. Her brows lower as she takes me in, then her eyes widen, moisture pearling at the corners.
“Don’t cry,” I snarl. “I am here for one thing.”
The former Queen’s face hardens. She straightens, taking me in like I’m just another guard. “Very well. Tell me what you want, Wrenley.”
She cannot stop the tremor in her voice as she says my name. It was the one thing Sira allowed me to keep from her.
I take in a shaky breath, desperate not to let my fear show. Not to her. Not to this woman who bargained me away to Sira as if I were nothing more than a sack of flour. What did she even get for trading my life, my agency? I hope it was fucking worth it.
“I can summon briars, and more recently, water,” I bite out. “But you could control all the elements. All the powers of the Enchanted Vale.”
“Yes,” she says simply.
I flick my gaze up at her. “I need you to teach me how to summon fire. I’ve tried everything. I’ve stolen mages from Autumn but they were useless. Read scripts and texts. Useless. I can’t so much as create an ember, no less control it. But I know that power is inside me. I canfeelit.”
Aurelia tilts her head, studying me. “It is. I have no doubt. May I ask why you so urgently need this?”
I hiss and begin to pace before the cage as if I am the one trapped inside. “Your daughter has poisoned Caspian with her ideas. Sira suspects him of betrayal, of his unwillingness to accept his destiny. He has gotten … sloppy.”
“I think the word you’re looking for, darling, is brave.”
“What would you know of it?” I slam my hands against the transparent wall. “What would you know of bravery? You fled from duty! You bargained away your own child!”
She doesn’t so much as flinch. “This is not a fate I ever wanted for you.”
Angry tears cascade down my face, and I turn away from her. “Then you shouldn’t have made a deal with Sira.”
“No.”
I whirl around. “She has Caspian imprisoned above Cryptgarden, bound in a cage of fire. A mockery and a warning to all in the Below. She intends to keep him there until she can fix the damage and continue siphoning your magic. Every day, he screams in agony. I cannot take the cries anymore.”
“So, you would learn fire to free him of this cage. To take him where? He cannot survive anywhere but the Below.”
“Away from here,” I say. “Better death than the fate that awaits him.”
“What will she do to you if you are caught?”
“I’m sure I will be punished,” I say. “But she will not kill me. Who would throw away a weapon they can control absolutely?”
There have only been a handful of times Sira has enacted such control over me.
But I remember everything from every one of those moments. The look on Dayton’s face as I fired the arrow. The guttural sound Caspian made as my thorn pierced his back.
I remember it all.
I belong to Sira.
Because ofher.
