Oh Gods, he’s going to ask for an explanation. I’m acting erratically and entirely unhinged, and he’s going to ask me to explain myself, and then he’ll reveal what he suspects I just did at House Torleaf, leaving me without any doubt that he knows, which will force me to?—
“Leave, Kole!” I called, my voice shrill. “Go out in the hall. Don’t come back in here until I command it.”
His eyes widened, and he took a step toward me with his hands raised nonthreateningly. “Primelle, I just want to?—”
“LEAVE!” I yelled. I stumbled back, my legs hitting my mattress, and I fell onto the bed.
His head snapped back, his warrior expression descended, and thevery-Kolemask I’d once seen daily fell into place. For a moment, we stared at one another, neither of us moving.
I swallowed down the sob that threatened to rise in my throat and held onto my fragile sanity that threatened to slip away in the next whispered breeze.
“Please, Kole,” I begged. “Please leave.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw, his only outward reaction. I thought he was going to ignore me, since he wasn’t moving and was instead assessing me in thatvery-Koleway of his, but then he stiffly bowed and turned on his heel.
The second the door closed behind him, I flung my telekinetic magic out and locked it, then I collapsed onto the mattress. Sobs worked up my throat, and I grabbed a pillow and buried my face into it. Heaving cries racked my frame, but I muffled my sounds.
My shoulders shook, and agony ripped through me. I allowed myself a moment to break down. I cried and cried and cried until I had no tears left to give.
Finally finished, I tossed the pillow to the side, but amazingly, my head wasn’t heavy, and my nose wasn’t full. My body was so different in this state, so foreign and terrifying.
Don’t think about that now.
I crawled under the covers and turned on my side. Outside, the sun shone brightly. The birds sang. The realm continued to turn as if nothing had happened.
I closed my eyes and began to reassure myself. Tomorrow, I would return to the libraries and find a way to beat my uncle. Tomorrow, I would begin my hunt for a way to undo this.
But for right now, I would force myself to be still so as not to hurt anyone again today.
Yet despite my pep talks, I couldn’t stop the feeling that the entire realm was crashing down around me.
Kole didn’t tryto enter my chambers again. He couldn’t with my door locked. And when Betsee knocked on my door near suppertime, I sent her away too. My parents had asked that I join them for the meal, but I feigned that I wasn’t feeling well and asked for a tray to be sent to my room.
I spent the entire day holed up in my chambers with only my worried spirit and accusing thoughts for company.
But it was safer that way. Better. I couldn’t hurt anybody if nobody was allowed to see me or question me. And I knew that Kole had questions. Big ones.
It didn’t help that all day, I’d felt him. He hadn’t moved from his position in the hall, and his aura leaked through the door. But he didn’t push, and he didn’t try to force his way inside.
And when night came, and his replacement arrived, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, I just needed to fall asleep and stay unconscious until the morning. Sleep would provide relief. A way to escape. A brief reprieve.
And I’d fulfilled my uncle’s command. For the time being, I had no more orders being held over me. Tomorrow would be better.
I just needed to keep myself hidden and not do anything that would make others suspect that I was different.
That’s it. Today was just a bad day. Tomorrow, I’ll start again. Tomorrow, I’ll find a solution.
A ray of hope hit me, a kernel of my old self sparking, and I once again felt that all hope wasn’t lost. I just needed to figure out a way to stop my uncle’s control of me. And then everything would be okay.
Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow will be better.
I slept like the dead.Literally. I was so deeply lost to the pull of sleep that I stayed unconscious until somebody’s hands gripped my shoulders and began shaking me.
“Princess Primelle!” Betsee yelled. “Oh Stars, Primelle!”
Her shrill tone had my eyes snapping open, and just as fast, they zeroed in on her throat. Her blue-tinged skin was only an arm’s length from my line of sight. Her pulse fluttered in her neck like a desperate little butterfly trying to break free. Blood flowed through her veins. Sweet blood.
