A couple servants pass by as I charge down the stairs. They don’t stop me, but they’ll probably tell someone, so I pick up my pace. When I reach the second level, I poke my head out a window, checking the distance to the ground.
I’ve climbed taller trees. Not to mention the clock tower—ignoring the time I fell and almost died—and this is just a really big tree, right?
The odds are better than meeting more guards, at least.
After a few precarious minutes struggling with nonexistent footholds, my feet land on the ground. With a rush of hope, I disappear into the gardens, keeping as straight a path as possible away from the castle.
The stone wall’s ahead. Looks scalable. Probably.
But there’s also a gate. With two guards.
I spin on my heel, following the garden path in another direction, only to find four soldiers barreling toward me.
Shit.
I bolt for the wall.
The round stones make for easy handholds. I throw myself up it.
One of the guards grabs my leg, yanking me down. My hands slip, but I hold tight, the rough stones scraping my palms.
I kick my leg wildly as panic’s icy grip sends my heart hammering. The frantic rhythm echoes through my voice.
“Let go of me!”
A second later, my foot’s free.
I clamber over the wall.
I hit the ground running.
I’m doing it. I have no idea where I’m going, but I’m out. I’m free. I’m—
A wrathful voice booms from behind me, echoing through my veins.
“STOP.”
My feet halt so fast I tumble forward, as if they landed in the strongest glue ever made. I push myself up, only to realize I haven’t moved a muscle.
I can’t move. At all.
I’m not even breathing.
“You will not speak.” Mother’s voice echoes above me, bloated with rage. “You can move, but you will not resist.”
I gasp for air as two guards hoist me up by my shoulders. My body’s jelly. My shouts empty. They drag me back to my room, step by crushing step, my mother leading the way. Pain hits me as I’m dropped to the floor.
I’ve never seen an expression so wrathful, Mother’s green eyes blazing with fury. Her voice echoes with her inflamed willbending.
“Stay there. Silently.”
She moves to one of the windows. Placing her hand on the wall, the woodstretchesuntilthe window ceases to exist.
My heart hammers in my chest.
She does the same thing to the next window. And the next, and the next, until none remain.
Light leaks in through the open door. She turns toward it.
