I rolled the screw between my fingers. I wasn’t about to give in. When his Havra finished her cleaning and left, he didn’t notice that she’d forgotten to close the door behind her. Used to materializing through walls, she probably didn’t think twice.
Now is my chance.
“C’mon, Leena.” Wynn reached for me, and I lunged. Drove my makeshift weapon into the thick muscles of his neck. Stumbling backward, he cursed and clapped a hand over the screw.
Run.
I bolted for the door, but my muscles shook from lack of food and sleep. I only made it a few steps before Wynn caught me by the arm. My bones threatened to snap beneath his grip, and I tumbled to the floor. He jerked me toward the chains. Thrashing against him, I attempted to knee him in the chest. He responded with a swift punch to my gut, and the wind abandoned my lungs. Body shuddering for air, I wheezed in place on the floor, and he made quick work of shackling me in place.
Thick fingers extracted the screw, and it clattered to the floor. “And here I thought I would go easy on you today.” Painful breaths stabbed my throat until my chest relaxed. Wincing, I leaned against the wall. Wynn tacked my wrists above my head and once again settled down in front of me. The leather sheath on his hip dominated my vision.
“I saw it, you know.” He scratched his beard while studying me. “You gave out at the end. You were almost mine.”
I went completely still. He could never know. “You’re imagining things.”
Reaching for the blade at his side, he frowned. “I don’t think so.” He coated it with more Uloox venom and ignited his internal glow, kicking on his charm and meeting my gaze head-on. “Ready?”
I didn’t have time to answer. The sharp bite of his blade split open my skin, and agony lanced through me. I shrieked with all the force I could muster. In the corner of my vision, I kept the open door in mind. But either the rushing falls backing the tower were too great, or there simply weren’t any Charmers to hear. Aside from my crescendo of screams, each one louder with the tinge of raw pain, I heard nothing. And no one came.
I don’t know how long I lasted. I just know that at one point, the sound of my voice escaped even my ears, and the steady flow of my tears dried altogether. The static buzz droned on, and the venom settled thick in my veins. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. Couldn’t act. I was never getting out. My only option was the curious ball of warm light illuminating Wynn’s frame. A solace of sorts. A promise.
I was sick of this room. Of the revolting mixture of lemon and bleach failing to mask metallic blood and bile. I needed out. I needed a way to escape the pain.
“They have us.” Wynn’s strained voice cracked, as if it were a struggle to utter those three words. “They want our beasts to fight for them, no matter the cost.”
His words were a fogged string of nonsense I didn’t have the fortitude to dissect. Who had us? We were all here. Safe in Hireath. The venom settled like a fog in my brain. I didn’t bother to try to wipe it away.
“We need to fight, but no one wants to leave our sanctuary.”
His voice went in and out, one minute glaringly loud and the other muted as if spoken through cotton. The murmurings of a lunatic. Charmers didn’t fight. The only time we’d taken up arms had been for the First War, and the casualties had nearly destroyed us. Our pain had been a sign from the goddess Celeste that our creatures were meant to be companions, not weapons. We’d never militarize again.
The world spun, white walls converging with the expanse of the ceiling into a swirling mess of sickening light. Framed by the stone door, a Gyss appeared. One of Wynn’s. Wild black hair fanned her shoulders, revealing a smattering of tiny white flowers. She had eyes like the sun. And she looked horrified.
That was odd.
Leena.Faint and hushed.
Did I know that voice? It was painfully familiar. Her shaking timbre cut through the fog and begged for recognition. I’d seen her somewhere before…on the banks of Nepheste’s Ruins.
Winnow. It was Winnow.
A hysteric laugh bubbled in the back of my throat.Not real. She’s not real.I mouthed the words endlessly to bury hope before it even had a chance to breathe.
She pressed her hands to her face, capturing tears with her fingers.Leena, what do I do?
Uloox venom was a cruel, wicked thing. Hallucinations of escape when I was on the cusp of giving in. The light in the distance grew in intensity. A tangible and soft promise. I wanted to touch it. It was almost within my grasp.
Winnow dared to pass through the crack.Tell me what to do. Noc’s at the barrier. He can’t get through.
I never wanted something to be true so badly. I clung to it, knowing that when I closed my eyes the illusion would fade. Winnow traded for Wynn. Love for torture. My chest tightened and suffocated my heart.
I indulged her anyway—nothing left to lose.Visitors need permission from the Kestral. It lives in the sacred tree straddling the river.
Another deep gash from Wynn’s blade, and I speared my lip with my teeth. Winnow swam out of view with the sudden burst of light. Otherworldly warmth chased away every remnant of pain, condemning my agony to a world far away.
Free. I was free—and in the end I didn’t care if my limbs were mine to control or someone else’s.
Thirty-one
