Page 3

It felt as if my gut had collided with a solid iron bar. I keeled over, gasping, and before I could get my bearings, I was yanked up over someone’s shoulder. The connection to Effie snapped and frayed into nothing.

“Oh, no you don’t.” The husky voice vibrated through me. The man didn’t even seem winded as he tossed me onto his shoulder like I was no more than a sack of grain.

Fuck.

“I admire your ambition,” he said, his tone annoyingly calm, “isolation it is.”

I slammed my fists into his back, thrashing like a wild thing. His body was a wall of stone, unyielding and utterly unmoved by my struggles.

“Let. Me. Go,” I screamed, my voice muffled by his leather-clad back.

“No can do, Princess.”

I felt the tilt of his jaw against my hip and nearly snapped. “And stop fucking calling me that.”

His grip on my legs tightened. “Stop acting like one.”

His words hit me like a whip, and I could feel the heat of anger crawling across my skin. That was it.

I slammed my hand against my thigh, tearing my hidden dagger from its sheath. The golden dusted emerald gave me away, reflecting the single flicker of light coming from a torch on the wall. Aether went rigid as I brought my hand down towards his leg at a maddening speed.

But it stopped. My hand froze just as a bead of crimson formed on the surface of his leathers. I tried and tried to plunge it deeper into his flesh, but an invisible force kept my fist in place, trembling.

“Pathetic,” he said in a low tone, just as my fingers uncurled against my will, the dagger falling to the floor with a clang.

Without thinking, I snapped, sinking my teeth into his side.

He shifted, his body only mildly twitching at the attack, and let out a low hiss.

“Not helping your case.”

My teeth ground together. “I swear I’m going to?—”

“Bite me again?” His voice had a soft, satisfied edge. “You might just be the weakest Duskbound in the history of this realm.”

I hissed in frustration, trying to kick him, but he was rock solid, barely even acknowledging my efforts.

A gasp echoed from the doorway just as Aether turned to begin the trek up to the holding cell and my eyes locked onto a veryconfused Effie, realization slowly dawning and flushing her cheeks.

“What–how did I get down here? What’s going on?” She stumbled over her words, following after us.

“Effie, next time, do as you're told and wait.” Was his only reply.

I felt ridiculous being jostled with each step as Effie’s expression shifted to anger directed solely at me.

“You bitch!” she shrieked, her eyes pulsing. “I was so nice to you!”

And suddenly, her form disappeared, only to materialize a mere breath from my face.

“I brought you rice—” she began just as Aether cut her off.

“Don’t waste it, Effie,” he growled as he continued his climb, putting distance between me and the woman. She let out a hiss of exasperation and crossed her arms before spinning around.

I let my head slump as my eyes met the stone floor.

I did not feel apologetic in the slightest.

We ascended and my body went limp as heaviness settled into my bones.