The tightness in my chest changed to something else…
She snapped her fingers. “And?”
“And Shadowick could become such a place if we all tried.” But his gaze didn’t drop. It held mine steady.
She drew a breath, and her chest puffed. Before I knew what was happening, she unfurled her finger and zapped him farther into the cell, his back slamming against the wall.
His eyes never left mine as my teeth ground together, and I fought back my urge to fight the Priestess, and the shadow mark approved.
My heart stopped at that revelation.
I scraped together logic, trying to find a reason for the shadow mark to calm. Maybe it had nothing to do with my resistance to the Priestess but with my ability to calm myself. I was sure it was nothing more than that.
I glanced at her as she took in my expression, and I nodded. “And the others?”
“Anyone who doesn’t enjoy Shadowick as it is creates friction, and friction creates disorder.” She waved her hands. “They’re all in here for various infractions. Similar in nature. Except for that one.”
She pointed at the far cell and walked toward it. My stomach felt sicker with every step.
“This one was the biggest disappointment.” She sighed dramatically. “She tried to poison me. My own staff, whom I housed here on the premises, tried to hurt me…of all people. And to think I did nothing but try to teach her.”
My gaze turned toward a small woman. She wasn’t a goblin, but she was…something. Possibly Elvin like Nova? Her greeneyes settled on mine, and I didn’t see sorrow or defeat. I saw defiance.
I gave the woman a slight nod and turned to the Priestess. “What made you bring my mom to the dungeons?”
“Oh, that was merely a holding cell.” She shook her head. “I needed to teach her a lesson. After all, I’m her mom, right?”
I slowly slid my hands into my pockets so my grandmother couldn’t see my hands trembling. With every part of me, I clenched my jaw and commanded myself not to let my anger turn into something more. Usually, when I felt like this, vines erupted from the floors, and fire lit the sky, but that would prove no purpose here.
Not yet, anyway.
The shadow mark warmed beneath my clothes as if rewarding the restraint, and that only made my stomach churn harder.
It liked my silence, or it liked that I was learning how to keep the storm inside until it had somewhere useful to go.
Either way, I didn’t trust the mark.
“Why keep them in the dungeon?” I asked. “Why not do away with them?”
My grandmother’s gaze flared to life as a wicked smile spread across her features.
“Because they’re…useful.”
“How?”
The little woman in the far cell studied me without blinking. Her hair was silver-white and braided over one shoulder, and she held one hand to her ribs like the movement of breathingtook effort. There was a bruise blooming along the side of her face, faintly green around the edges, and a tiny smear of blood at the corner of her mouth.
Still, she stared at the Priestess with the kind of hatred that could keep a person warm in winter.
I liked her immediately.
“Fear and anger are fuel for many things.” The Priestess glanced at me, and I knew she was deciding whether to be amused or annoyed.
The roots and vines…
I was right. They’re feeding.
“I don’t understand.”
