Page 83

Bria

A fter the events of last night and this morning, breakfast is underwhelming.

We passed Luthais guarding Nimai’s door, and it made me wonder if she was still sleeping off the drugs or if she was being held in there—a regal dungeon of sorts.

His face was drawn, gripped with worry, which didn’t sit well with me and still doesn’t.

There is no good reason for that man to worry about my sister.

Aamon took Evander somewhere after breakfast, leaving me utterly alone in this palace full of enemies.

I yearn for him to come back, unsure of what to do or where to go.

I wish we could have left last night but I was in no shape.

I lost control of myself, of my magic. And he brought me back to my body.

But today I feel wholly different. I am in control. And we are leaving tonight, Evander and I discussed it last night. When night falls and the shadows creep around the castle, I plan to cloak us all and we can finally be rid of this godless hellhole.

As I walk the seemingly endless corridor to my bedchamber, the deep navy gown I donned for the day trails behind me.

I glimpse Luthais far ahead of me, but I continue moving slowly, picking up my skirts so that I’m making nearly no noise at all.

With no one around, he’s slumped his shoulder against the side of the door.

His face is pressed to the wooden edge, hand pushed flat against the door, and his mouth is moving. What is he doing?

I stop, forcing my body to still. He’s talking, whispering through the door to her. I’m so curious to know what he could possibly be saying to my sister, the girl he captured. But if I draw closer, he will absolutely hear me. As of now, he has yet to look up, focused solely on Nimai.

Luthais drags his fingers down the wood and they settle on the metal handle. He jiggles it to no avail. She’s locked him out. Joy and something more, maybe pride, well up inside me, spilling out in a full grin along my face. She’s still in there. They haven’t fully broken her yet.

I’m not too late.

I let down my skirts and pick up my pace, walking toward him.

Luthais hears the rustling gown and lets his hand drop.

He replaces the concern on his face—the warmth I saw just mere moments before—with a scowling mask of irritation.

It drops into place easily, as if he learned, as Ev had, never to show his true emotions here.

He folds his arms across his massive chest, still leaning against the door, and his lip curls up at me.

“I would like to see my sister,” I say, trying to keep my face neutral as I look up at him. My voice is still a bit raw from last night and gods is he huge. He stands taller than Ev and he’s just big.

“Well, she locked the door, so good luck with that,” he snaps back, rolling his eyes. The irritation may be real, but the concern is as well. I haven’t a clue why he isn’t running off to Aamon or the king if she’s locked him out, but he must have some reason.

My nostrils flare and I bite down on my lip to keep the grin from spreading across my face once again. But Luthais catches it and snarls at me, removing himself from the doorway.

I lean into the door and knock softly, letting my knuckles rap against the heavy wood.

I open my mouth to speak, but the door flies open in front of me.

Stumbling forward, I see the floor rising up.

But the air around me seems to slow, wavering and shimmering before an arm sweeps around my middle, catching me before I slam to the ground in a tangled heap of my gown.

Luthais has one hand pressed to the doorframe, his fingers curled around it to steady himself as he catches me mid-fall. The other is around me, hauling me back to my feet. Nimai stands before us, and her pure beauty makes my heart twist in my chest.

I straighten my gown, smoothing down the silk as he releases his grasp.

The air seems to shift again once he lets go and the coolness of it makes me register just how warm his hands were.

My thoughts cloud for a moment as I sweep forward into the room without speaking so much as a “thank you” to the man behind me.

There is something strange about the air, almost staticky now, and I want to ask Nimai if she feels it too, but I’m wary with Luthais around.

Wary to divulge anything that may indicate a change in our magic or our bond.

I wish even more to slam the door in his unfairly beautiful face and block him out so I can speak with my sister alone, but he’s at my back, moving into the room.

His presence is annoying and causes the hair on the back of my neck to stand at attention.

I should have known he wouldn’t let me see her alone.

Warmth seeps into my pores, heating my body like a match being struck when I get closer to her.

The bright floral scent of roses fills my nostrils.

I surge forward, encompassing myself in Nimai’s embrace, letting her light and love wash over me.

I shudder as a sob breaks free from my lips and I smother my face into her shoulder, wrapping my arms tightly around her, refusing to let her go.

I hear a hiss escape her and step back, holding her arms and examining her face to determine the cause.

“What is it?” Pain grips her features, stretching her pouty pink lips thin and pinching her brows together.

Shooting a glance behind me, she straightens her shoulders, stacking her spine up to her full height. She’s taller than me now—a full head taller—and so graceful. She may have the features of our mother, but her tall, thin body has come from our father.

“It’s nothing,” she assures me softly, her eyes focused on Luthais.

Had he done it or Aamon? How much did they hurt her before we got here?

Nimai breaks free from my grasp and nearly stumbles to the bed before climbing up onto the mattress.

It barely moves beneath her weight. She’s thin.

Not terribly thin, but she could stand to gain a bit of weight, to fill out the curves she should have.

She moves to the middle, crossing her feet beneath her.

Her movements are slow but these are not lingering effects from the drugs she was given last night.

This is utter exhaustion and crippling pain that’s stifling her young body.

If I close my eyes, I might be able to feel her, to see if she could show me what pains her.

To see who did this to her. But I stare at her instead, worried about what Luthais may make of our connection and taken aback by her sitting just as she used to when we were younger.

My heart aches when I think of her before all of this happened.

When she would curl into me and I would stroke her midnight hair back from her face and read to her.

She stretches a hand out to me and I follow, climbing up onto the bed and pulling my gown along with me.

Luthais watches us closely from the door but makes no movement further into the room.

He leans back, raising a booted foot to rest against the wood with a soft thud.

I see it again only for a second as his eyes linger on my sister—a flash of something in his features, but I cannot put a name to the emotion.

I don’t know him well enough. Perhaps it’s guilt for the beatings she’s clearly sustained at his hands.

My eyes narrow on him, and he catches my stare but gives no reaction, just wearing his cool, calm demeanor.

I will kill him for it. I feel the itch in my palms, my fingers prickling at the thought.

Nimai holds my hand tightly as if urging me to keep calm, as if she can feel my power reaching out.

And perhaps she can now. But he holds my gaze only for a moment before returning it to Nimai.

His features soften when he looks at her and rage boils inside my veins, setting my blood on fire.

“I’ve missed you, B.” Her voice is breathy, quiet, and soft, as if it floats on air.

The words tear my gaze from Luthais and back to her.

She is achingly beautiful. She always has been, but something has shifted since the last time I saw her.

Likely the same things that have shifted in me—the changes you go through when you’re forced into a life you didn’t choose.

When you have your reality torn from your grasp too early. Too young.

“I’ve missed you too, Mai.” Just as I had not heard my own nickname in years, I let hers escape my lips, but it’s painful to say it.

Makes her more real. It had been easier for me to forget when I was training my life away.

I squeeze her hand, holding it so she cannot disappear again. So she can stay.

“Is mom—” I try to ask but am unable to finish the sentence, too aware that Luthais is in the room, watching us, and that I am supposed to believe Nimai traveled here with him of her own volition. I am not supposed to know what really happened in the rebel camp.

Her face breaks, shattering into a thousand pieces, terror and agony pushing into all the space that’s left. Glistening tears roll down her rosy cheeks. I raise my hand to wipe them away, wishing I could take away all the pain she has suffered in this lifetime.

“I don’t know.” The words come out fragmented in a jagged sob, and I wrap her in my arms, holding her as I did when she was younger. It doesn’t matter that she’s taller and older now, she’s still my little sister. My little Mai.

I catch Luthais’s stare from where he stands and glare back at him, letting the flames flare in my eyes. His eyes widen as he takes me in. He knows. He can see it in my eyes that what he did is something I will never forget.

“Do you know?” I question, forcing him to recognize he’s to blame if my mother has not survived.