Page 53 of City of Promise and Light (Mates of Gods and Fae #1)

Sybil

I moaned, my body feeling heavy, weighed down.

My eyes fluttered open, focusing on the figure sitting by the windows of my room.

Swallowing, I peered up to the ceiling. I wasn’t sure how I had gotten here.

I remembered running through the forest until I reached Samian.

I remembered falling and everything going dark.

I remembered feeling like I was picked up, but the rest, I don’t remember anything after that.

Looking back to the figure, my vision cleared.

The windows and lights were fixed, the glass cleaned up.

Samian was reading a paper, his eyes skimming the page, only stopping when he heard the blankets rustling.

Attempting to sit up, I hissed from a dull pain and put my hand to my side, probing my skin with my fingers.

Wincing, it all came crashing back. The forest, being stabbed by the tail of that monstrous snake and the man who saved me.

I felt the area again, but the wound was gone.

My brows knitted together, and I pulled up my shirt.

I had thought that being stabbed by a spike the size of my forearm would feel worse than this, that there would be a gaping wound or at least something to show for it.

But all I found was a massive bruise, purple and blue. A shiver rippled across my body.

“It’s called a beithir—the beast that attacked you,” Samian said.

I flicked my eyes to him in time to see his face hardening at the sight of the bruise.

Concern flickered through those unusual eyes of his, each so different from the other, though they grew wary when his gaze met mine.

Folding the letter in his hand, he tucked it in the pocket inside his jacket.

“Care to tell me what happened?” His tone was laced with skepticism.

I eyed him, unsure of what to say. I knew Samian wasn’t fond of Ambrose.

He had made that clear time and time again.

But he created a bond with Ambrose so there more between them than he was letting on.

After everything that happened yesterday—I swallowed, looking away from Samian, from his glare. It all felt like too much.

I didn’t want to believe it, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he was here as a spy for Ambrose, letting him in on my whereabouts, what I was doing, perhaps even what I was thinking.

If I told him what happened before I found him, before I collapsed from blood loss and exhaustion, I shuddered at the thought.

The crimson-eyed man in the forest recognized the necklace I took, which had to mean that he was part of the rebel group if Ambrose was correct about Arbus.

I closed my eyes, my heart squeezing at the loss of the necklace. Though I only had it for a short time, it was proof of my failure, of how far I’d fallen. Without it, I felt empty.

Pushing that thought aside, my hands tightened around the blanket bunched at my waist. The most important thing right now was to keep what happened in the forest to myself.

If Arbus was truly part of the rebellion, I couldn’t let Samian know what really happened.

I needed to keep meeting that man hidden from him.

Not daring to look at Samian, I buried my skepticism deep inside, murmuring, “I don’t remember much.

I just remember the giant snake—the beithir—attacking me.

I heard something close by, which distracted me.

That’s when it stabbed me. Other than hearing you call for me, that’s all I remember. Everything else was a blur.”

“I see,” Samian whispered, though I could feel the intensity of his gaze on me.

Samian stood, and I eyed him from under my lashes as he walked to a small table near the bathroom entrance and turned the page of a book left open from a few nights ago.

Tension gathered in his shoulders, though his face remained indifferent.

“You know, they say that once one is stabbed by the beithir, one must race it to the nearest body of water. If they beat it, the venom left behind is healed. If they don’t, well,” Samian closed the book with a loud thud, and I flinched.

He turned to face me, and my eyes snapped back to the bed.

“It’s said that they will die a miserable death. How did you survive?”

My head whipped to Samian, an icy fear drenching my veins. I could feel the blood leach from my face. I wasn’t even sure I was breathing. He knew. Samian knew that I was keeping something from him, something vital.

I swallowed the lump that rose in my throat, desperately searching for an answer, any answer that would ease his suspicions, but nothing came. My mind was completely blank.

Before I could say a word, Samian leaned against the table, exhaling.

“Well, no matter what happened, you’re alive, and that’s all I care about.

I don’t know if you remember, but Aster gave you a sedative before she healed you.

The venom is still healing, which is why you have a bruise.

Aster closed the wound, but the venom must fade on its own. ”

I blinked at him and nodded, not knowing what to think of the man who was now rubbing a hand against the back of his neck.

“I also heard about what happened in Lowbrook and what came after.” Samian came to the bed and sat, though he looked out the windows.

“I’m so sorry, Sybil,” he said, his gaze drifting to mine, his voice trembling.

“I’m so very sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you.

Please hear me when I tell you that it wasn’t your fault, and I will do everything in my power to help you through this. ”

My eyes burned, and my stomach twisted as I thought back to the villager, to the light fading from Arbus’ eyes.

Bile threatened to rise, and my breath quivered.

“I killed them, Samian,” I whispered bitterly.

“First the villager, and then that person in the dungeon. I did that, which makes it my fault. It doesn’t matter what you or anyone says. I was the one who killed them.”

“I apologize,” Samian murmured, his eyes finally meeting mine.

Silver lined them, and he blinked it away.

“I just meant that I’m here. Should you ever need anything—a friend or a light to guide you out of the darkness, I will always be here.

With you. I can’t convey what you have grown to mean to me, but I will spend the rest of my days fighting to show you, to protect you with everything that I have. ”

A tear fell down my face, and Samian wiped it away.

The gentleness of his touch made my heart flutter and left me longing for more.

His words meant everything to me, and as much as I wanted to believe him, to trust him, I couldn’t give in to that.

His bond with Ambrose made him a dangerous ally.

Everything in me cried out to believe him, to fall into his touch, but Ambrose had shattered everything good in my soul.

All that was left were broken pieces. To let Samian see those pieces…

Sniffing, I cleared my throat and looked back to Samian. He was staring out of the window, so lost in his thoughts. His face was withdrawn, his jaw clenched tight. He felt like he was a world away, like a wall so tall had been built between us. The sight made my heart drop.

I was beginning to open my mouth, to say what, I wasn’t sure, when a fist pounded on the front door of my room.

Samian’s head whipped toward the sound, the muscle in his jaw feathering.

Looking back at me, concern flashed across his eyes, and he stood and hesitating before he crossed the bedroom and into the living area.

Opening the door, a guard shoved the door wider, pushing Samian to the side as he and two other guards filed in.

Spotting me in my bedroom, they rushed in, ignoring Samian’s shouts.

Two of the guards held off Samian while a tall, lanky guard roughly pulled me out of the bed and toward the entrance.

I hissed at the sharp pain in my side from the sudden movement.

Samian fought against the guards, the sound of fists meeting flesh jarring me from my shock.

My body jerked, struggling against the guard’s hold, and I called out Samian’s name when the wood of the door frame groaned, rippling and splintering.

The room turned eerily quiet, and my wide eyes snapped to Samian.

His glare grew deadly as he watched the guard holding me, even though another held a dagger against Samian’s throat.

Samian’s gaze cut to the guard closest to him, his lips curling. “Where are you taking her?” he snarled.

“To the dungeon. Ambrose’s orders,” the guard sneered. “He also ordered you to stay in your room until you’ve been called for, dog . ”

The hand around my arm tightened, and I whimpered.

A deep growl rumbled from Samian’s chest, and the guard paled slightly.

Still, he remained unmoving, while the other guard sheathed his dagger and joined him.

Together, they hoisted me from the floor.

Samian’s burning glare never left them, marking every place they touched on my body.

“I’ll be waiting for you,” Samian called out while the guard pushed me out the door and into the hall.

The rest of the trip was a blur. Fear and dread consumed me while my heart raced.

The guards shoved and jerked me down hallways until we reached a dark cell in the dungeon.

They pushed me inside, and I tripped over the uneven stones.

My knees throbbed from hitting the floor hard.

Ignoring the pain, I quickly stood, twisting, lunging toward the exit.

But before I could make it, the door slammed closed with a the sharp sound, making my heart drop.

I gripped the cold iron bars, my heart beating frantically as panic started setting in.

I shook the bars, screaming for them to let me out, but they walked away, laughing at the wavering in my voice.

Goosebumps pebbled along my body as the cold started to seep in through my thin night clothes.

I sank to the floor, my breathing becoming tight.

My head pressed against the bars, and I whimpered.

There was no way out, and no one here could help me. I was alone—completely alone.

A shiver ran down my back, and I turned, taking in the cell.

It was dark and completely made of cold, wet stone.

The air felt like ice, and the silence was deafening.

There was a pile of dirty blankets in the corner that smelled of blood, piss, and death.

I gagged at the odor and turned away, moving to the corner where the iron bars met the wall.

A small hope I would be able to see what was happening outside of the cell formed, but was quickly doused.

The only thing I could see was the two cells that sat opposite of mine.

Something large moved in one of the cells, shuffling closer to the front. Gasping, I sat straighter, leaning closer to the biting cold metal.

“Hello?” I asked weakly, afraid to speak any louder.

A pained groan sounded from the cell, and a large body moved to the light. Ezra slowly came into view, his face bruised and bloody. His bottom lip was red and puffy from an angry gash and his left eye was so swollen that it was shut.

“Ezra,” I breathed, my grip tightening on the bars.

“Sybil?” Ezra whispered, confusion pinching his face. “Sybil!” His body shot up as soon as recognition hit, his voice full of panicked. “Fuck, are you okay? What are you doing here?”

A small part of me was relieved by Ezra’s presence, but it didn’t last long. Not as the cold was already making my bones ache. “I-I don’t know,” I said, trembling. “I was attacked by something yesterday, and when I woke up, Ambrose had ordered the guards to bring me here.”

“Attacked?” Ezra’s voice was tight, and his knuckles, now holding onto the bars, were white. “Tell me, Sybil. What happened after we parted?”

Recounting what happened with Arbus and the dark forest, Ezra sat deathly still.

His whole body was rigid and enraged, though his face looked grave as he stared at the stone floor.

But his eyes looked almost black in the dim light.

As I did with Samian, I kept spinning the story that implied I was attacked by the beithir near the lake, and how I luckily fallen in as soon as it pierced my side with its venomous spiked tail.

Ezra didn’t seem to question it, but a dark laugh rumbled from outside the cell .

Ambrose stepped into view, and I paled, silently thanking whatever instinct told me to keep the crimson-eyed man a secret, but my thanks stopped there. Fear wound its sharp claws tight around my heart, squeezing until I could hardly breathe.

Walking up to the corner where I sat, Ambrose crouched down to my level, meeting my wide eyes with a dark smile curving along his lips.