Knew?
“You were taken on your selection year by the queen, and she…she…” Cynthia looked nervous, and I winced again, the breath leaving my lungs in one giant push as I fell to my knees. Images of a crowd, of a young red-haired girl flared behind my eyes, and I gasped, clutching my head.
Cynthia ran toward me. “Zara! Are you okay?!”
What the fuck was happening?
A woman with long blonde hair flashed, and I screamed. The pain was like crashing waves, except they were blades, and they were on fire, stabbing my eyes, my mind.
“You need help!” Cynthia screeched, and I saw her sprinting for the stable doors.
“No, stop! Wait!”
I fell to my hands and knees, panting through the stabbing pain. Breathing heavily, I shook my head.
“What did she do?” I looked up at her desperately, clenching my teeth.
Cynthia looked as if she were unsure what to do, looking from the barn door to me over and over again nervously.
“Please,” I begged, not knowing why but needing to know what she was going to say.
“She—”
Cynthia's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fell to the stable floor with a hard smack.
“No!” I shouted, but my vision began to darken, and I realized I had collapsed onto the ground. I blinked, and Lana was standing above Cynthia, a shovel clutched in her hand.
Chapter 4
Zara
The icy chill of the room seeped beneath my skin, draining the last bit of warmth I had left. Chains bit into my wrists, the raw skin stinging with every movement. She had bound me to this cursed chair—the one I’d come to hate as much as this place. As much as her.
“Stop resisting,” Morgana’s voice slithered through the cold air, laced with mocking amusement. Across the room, a man with greasy black hair shifted. Spencer. His ratlike nose hovered over a vial as he poured liquid into it, mixing another vile concoction like the obedient pet he was.
We’d been down here for hours—maybe longer. Time had lost all meaning as they chipped away at me, tearing apart my past, my thoughts—my very self—and reshaping something new in its place. My only anchor to reality was the dull, rhythmic pounding in my skull. It reminded me I was still here. Still alive. But the edges of my mind were fraying, and it was growing harder to remember why I was here.
Spencer turned and handed Morgana another vial. She forced it down my throat, the bitter liquid burning as it slid over my tongue. Then her hands came to either side of my head. A sharp, splintering agony exploded through my skull. I screamed, the sound ripping from my throat and fading into the suffocating void of this wretched place. My head throbbed in time with the sick, twisted magic clawing through me, burrowing deep, tearing me apart from the inside out.
Something warm trickled from my nose, and amid the agony, a strange unease prickled at the back of my mind. Blinking through tear-blurred vision, I scanned the room for the source of my added unease. I lifted my head, my breath shaky as my eyes roamed the dark chamber ahead.
Shadows, darker and more menacing than the rest, were churning in the corner. They were thrashing and twisting with fury.
Within them, a pair of golden-flecked emerald eyes met mine, burning with rage.
PART TWO
PRESENT DAY
Chapter 5
Theo
Fates, I'm hungry.
Green scales burst from the dense forest, branches snapping as they flew toward the ground, crunching beneath the daka’s massive paws. The ward shuttered as the daka passed through. I sprinted toward it, ducking and sliding beneath it as its sharp claw swung my direction. A loud gurgling sounded from my stomach, and I let out a frustrated sigh as I slipped past another attack.
Emerald and black uniforms appeared around me as our guards closed in, circling me and the daka. They all had their palms raised, and magic crackled in the air as a massive wind started to swirl around me. They pushed the beast backward and the daka thrashed its long neck, its claws digging into the earth as it fought to gain more ground.
