Page 70

“I’m simply welcoming my boyfriend back home, I haven’t seen him inmonths,” Donika replied with a sinister smile.

“Boyfriend?” my voice cracked as my eyes fixed on Nik. He didn’t so much as stir under my gaze. He met my eyes with his chin held high, his hand in Donika’s.

“I sent Nikolai to your realm a few months ago, so he could infiltrate your little group and get me what I needed,” she said.

“Is that true?” I asked him as Tess stood and looped her arm through mine, giving it a tight squeeze.

He didn’t answer, his expression unreadable.

“But I didn’t even have the grimoire when Nik came to school…” I protested. “I didn’t even know I was a witch.” None of this made any sense. Had this been his intention all along?

“Well, that was the other part of the deal. I knew you were out there, even if you didn’t know what you were yourself. I could sense you. I knew you were hidden in the human realm, and I knew that Nik, being one of the strongest Nightshades in my army, would be able to coax you out.Stormshade.” She hissed the word like a curse.

He was in her army? He waswithher? She knew I was a Stormshade, and she sent Nik to bring me back here, to her, all this time. None of it had been real. From the very beginning, all he had wanted was to bring me to Istmere. To surrender me to the Shadow Queen. What would she do with me, now that she had me? Would she kill me, like she had all the Stormshades that had come before me? Would she let Tess go?

I felt sick. I felt so hot it was as if my skin was melting. Without Tess holding me up I was sure I would collapse into a pile of limbs at her feet. There was a lump in my throat as I remembered last night. The feel of Nik’s skin on mine. His mouth on my mouth. His hands all over me. Even then, he had known he was going to hand me over to Donika. He had touched me, kissed me, knowing he was going to betray me. How could he lie to me so easily? How could he hand me over to her? I could see a muscle tick in his jaw, but he was still as a statue under my gaze. I shook my head back and forth. It couldn’t be…it just…couldn’t. I didn’t want to believe it.

“Nik was taking an awfully long time getting the job done, so I had to send Fletcher. But even he couldn’t bring you back here. Just a little Stormshade…I don’t get what all the fuss is about. When Fletcher failed, I sent Antonia Finch, but in the end, it was Tyr who came through for me.” Tyr. My own blood. Despite the way in which we met, and the reminder he left on my neck, his betrayal still stung.

Nik had betrayed me. He had manipulated me. He had used me. The last few weeks were a total and complete lie. I wanted to wring his neck, to crush him beneath my anger and bring down this castle around us. I felt my magic surge forth without being called upon, as if it had a mind all its own beneath my rage. As I felt flames lick at my fingertips I was kicked to my knees from behind, and a soldier clapped ash shackles onto my wrists. A feral growl left my mouth as I twisted and turned in his grip.

“I’ll let you calm down for a bit, this was quite the news. Nik and I have a lot of catching up to do…” Donika trailed her finger down Nik’s chest, a smile in her dark eyes. “Take them back to the Stormvault,” she called to the soldier, never taking her gaze off Nik. Tess and I were dragged from the room.

The throne room led out onto a large landing with a wide, curved, staircase that descended into the main part of the castle. I was thrown over the soldier’s shoulder and carried around like a rag doll through the castle hallways. I memorized the way, and we passed a large set of doors that must be the main entrance to the castle. I would find a way out of here, no matter what it takes. There is no way they can keep me here. I refused to resign myself to whatever fate Donika had planned for me. I wouldn’t play into her little charade.

As Tess predicted, the Stormvault was three levels down from the main floor. She must have been mostly conscious when they dragged her down here earlier. At the base of the staircase, the prison was protected by an iron, ash infused, door that appeared to be as heavy as a boulder.Vault, indeed. This time Tess and I were tossed into the dirt of the same cell, and I coughed against the cloud of dust as our shackles were removed. The soldiers left, slamming the iron door behind them, leaving us alone together in the dark.

IreachedforTessin the dark and held onto her tight, my head pounding as I laid it against her shoulder. My eyes squeezed shut as tears stained her dirt-covered shirt.

“Diana, I am so sorry. I amso, so sorry,” she said as she held me, rubbing small circles into my back.

“Me too,” I said as I wiped a dirt-stained tear from my cheek with the back of my hand. “I had no idea. I thought it was real. I thought all of it was real. I can’t believe he…used me. He deceived me. He betrayed me.”

“I know.” She continued rubbing soft circles into my back as I cried, finally letting the emotions from the last few weeks pour out of me. “Puck betrayed us too.”

He had. Now I knew why he couldn’t meet my eyes in the throne room. He had felt guilty. At least, that’s how it had appeared. Nik had feltnothing. He was as cruel and lifeless as Donika as he stood before me, his hand in hers. Had everything he told me been a lie?

So, this was the ‘business’ Fletcher had been alluding to all along. Nik was supposed to bring me back to Istmere…back to Donika. He was much stronger than me, and I hadn’t even known the extent of my magic before I had started training with him. Why had he taught me how to reach my magic, anyway? If his intent was to always bring me here? Why hadn’t he brought me to her earlier? Was he waiting for the grimoire to make itself known to me? And why did he feel the need to…to…seduce me? Was that the only way he could think of getting close to me?

“What a mess.” I laughed as I wiped my nose with the hem of my filthy shirt.

“You’re telling me.” Tess shook her head. We crawled to the back of the cell together and rest our heads against the concrete, my hand in hers, our legs outstretched.

“There’s nobody I would rather be locked in a prison with.” I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

“In a foreign realm, no less,” she added. “Our parents are going tokillus if we even make it out of here alive.”

“Whenwe make it out of here,” I corrected her.

We could hear the heavy iron door creak open and swing shut with a thud as a soldier made his way down the long corridor. Through the darkness I could make out a familiar silhouette in the shadows as he opened the door, slid a tray inside, and locked it again. He sat cross-legged in the dirt outside our cell, his elbows resting on his knees.

“I need to talk to you. Both of you,” Puck said quietly as Tess moved forwards and dragged the tray to the back of the cell with us. It had a jug of water, what appeared to be some type of mysterious grey meat stew, and hunks of stale bread on it. Tess and I passed the water jug back and forth before digging in. We hadn’t eaten since yesterday and we would have to keep our strength up if we were going to make it out of here. I had no idea how much time had passed when I had been knocked out in the carriage, and without windows we couldn’t see the sun rising or setting.

“Nothing to talk about,” Tess said around a mouthful of the stale bread, her jaw working hard to chew it.

“There is a lot you don’t understand…I need to explain,” he replied, his eyes on Tess in the dark.

“Nothing to explain. You and Nik are scum who used us and lied to us. End of story,” she replied as she bit off another chunk. I remained silent.