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I couldn’t save Sebastia, but I hoped there was still time to save Aurelia.

With determination, I sprinted from the Forbidden Forest, promising to save Aurelia. As if she could hear my words, I whispered, "I am coming for you, Aurelia."

1.Ezu (Eh-ooh): Heaven

2.Tastameii (Taws-taw-mee): Normally Summer (Tas for short)

3.Haxnau (Hah-nah-woo): Hell

Chapter thirty

AURELIA

My eyelids lifted, finding nothing but darkness. Where was I? I reached up, my fingers grazing my head, attempting to cool down the pounding, just to find my arm couldn’t move past my shoulder. A rattle ricocheted past my barriers, pain stinging into my wrists.

Cold chains had locked me in, the metal sinking into my skin. My eyes were still flickering open, adjusting to the dim light. The rusted silver chains attached to my wrists wrapped and molded into the bars behind me. I jerked my hand away from the wall, and they clinked and dug deeper into my wrists, making the flesh burn. They wouldn’t budge.

My ankles had the same aching feeling. They were also bound and sculpted into the bars behind me. My eyes wandered the space that I found myself in.

I was in a cage, like an animal.

It was large and meant for humans.

Or Scalebornes.

“Belle?!”I called out desperately.

I waited.

No response.

“BELLE?! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”I felt defeated. Where was she? Was she in a cage like mine? Was she dead, asleep, or gone? Not being able to feel her presence made me feel nauseous.

Looking to my left there was a dog-looking creature beside me. Its pouting cries vibrated my cage, the metal whimpering under my touch. Its eyes hung low, almost yellowed. There were dark red bruises embedded beneath its black thin fur. It had a tail slithering behind it, clanking the bars in its cell, the tapered tip filled with interlocking plates resembling scales.

I tried to think back to my books to know what the creature was, but my mind was moving slowly, slipping through my mental grasp.

The alloy cage to my left contained a larger figure.

It was another girl. She was tattered and dirty and looked as though she had been here for a while. Her body was crouched, slumped in between the barriers, not able to stretch out her longer legs. Her skin was sliced, blood crusted around the edges. A rugged sack was draped over her body, reaching her ankles, replacing whatever she was wearing prior to being taken. Her feet were bare, her toes dangling outside of the cage, nails broken and crusted with gold, filled with soot.

Leaning back in her cage, her eyes drooping closed, her lime green hair ratted and ruffled. How long had she been in the cage?

Her nails were a shimmery black with edges that looked rough and broken as they were gently placed in her lap. However, it caught my eye that the remains of her nails were not matching the green tint of her hair. They were darkened to a black, small white dots lined them, scattered like familiar patterns. I hadnever seen nails the opposite color from one’s hair before. Then again, I hardly was able to leave my tower and explore the world.

I could feel my eyes widen as I noticed the black and blue marks that were spread over her body, discoloration of the skin peeking through. Her face was swollen unnaturally in certain areas on her cheeks or over her eyes, also marked with blotches that looked like ink spills. However, what stood out to me the most were all of the deep cuts along her hands, wrists, and arms. I found it odd the pigment of gold found around her bruises and cuts, showing through her skin.

Some of the cuts were scarred over, whereas others were newly wounded, with golden and fleshy lines.

Her eyes opened and made contact with my own, her consciousness alerting her that she was being watched.

I had to cover my mouth with the gasp that was released from my mouth.

Her eyes were… gold. She had golden eyes.

I opened my mouth to say something when words got blasted into my ears.

“Shhh. Don’t say anything. They’ll hear you and come back.”She spoke to me in my mind. I didn’t know that Scalebornes could speak to one another. Her golden eyes were pleading, and worry lines stuck on her face. She shifted her head slightly, her movements slow and without energy.