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Chapter Eighty-Two: Rhea

I’m freezing.

The cold air of the room I’m in sinks beneath my skin, somehow touching my bones. My tongue feels heavy in my mouth, the need for a drink driving my eyes to flutter open. I wait for the details of our bedroom to come into focus, but when the double vision finally evens out, above me isn’t a ceiling made of wood but one of gray stone, sending confusion spiraling through me. I blink several times, the act doing nothing to make sense of where I am. And my head … It is as though there is a haze clouding it or it’s been submerged in water. I try to shake the sensation off, pushing myself up to sit as my hands cradle my temples.

“Nox,” I rasp out, working to clear my throat and feeling as if I haven’t spoken in days. Slowly, my memories filter in. Tienne’s body in the foyer. Nox staying with his dad and Cass and the council. Daje and I—

Daje.

I had tried to help him when… The thought dies as I look down at my dress, the green fabric covered in dirt and the hem ripped in multiple spots. The slits in the front show my bare legs, dried blood crusted on one of them. My hair hangs down past my shoulder, a rust color dyeing the ends of the strands.

“What happened?” I whisper, finally turning my attention out to the room. It’s a modestly large bedroom. The bed I’m in is centered on a wall across from the floor-to-ceiling rectangular window. Curtains, in a light shade of purple, are pulled open and secured to pulls on the wall, sunlight pouring in between them.

A tapestry depicting a field of flowers covers a large portion of the wall to my left, and to my right is a wooden wardrobe—lilies, jasmine, and roses painted delicately on its front. Next to the wardrobe is an open door, and when I lean forward, I see that it leads to a bathroom.

“Nox?” I say again, my voice echoing ominously in the room, that odd feeling of a watery veil still in place. I reach for my magic, pulling at the warm tendrils to heal whatever this presence is, but it stops short of my head, like there is some kind of wall around my mind that my magic can’t pierce through.

My eyes lift to the ceiling again, to the gray stone. Gray. Stone. My magic thrashes wildly in panic as I choke on my fear, gasping for a single breath. No. No , it’s impossible. I am in the Mage Kingdom. I was with Daje on our way to the beach, and I—

The door to the room opens, startling me as I grip the comforter with both hands. My lips part, a yelp slipping out when a golden-armored guard steps in, his dark eyes boring into me with intense recognition. Xander . I shake my head, my body acting on instinct alone as I try to scurry off of the bed—intent on running through the window if I have to. Xander’s eyes scream at me, the only part of his face that shows any sort of shock. Any sort of emotion at all.

And then he walks in.

“No,” I gasp out loud, legs tangling in the scraps of my dress as I haphazardly reach the edge of the bed. The moment my feet hit the rug, I spin towards the bathroom door, stretching a hand out for the door handle. Even if it’s just a bathroom, I’ll lock myself in there forever. I’d rather die there in the dark than live in the light with my uncle again.

“Stop,” King Dolian commands calmly. That film covering my mind flares , like a wall of water cast out by a tempest sea. It surrounds me until I feel as if I’m on the outside of my own body.

I watch in utter horror as my body obeys his command. My feet stay fixed to the floor, my hand dropping down to my side. Move . I send the thought to each limb, visualizing myself stretching my fingers towards that door handle. But I don’t go anywhere. Move! I scream in terror in my mind, my chest heaving and my eyes beginning to dry out from how wide I hold them open. King Dolian appears in my peripheral vision, walking until he is standing directly in front of me.

“My gods, it does work,” he muses, his eyes scraping over my face, my skin , and making my stomach churn. “Hello, my darling. Gods have I missed you.”

“You bastard!” I scream, my limbs like lead. “Nox will kill you—”

“You are to never say that name again,” he snarls, his voice hitting a deeper octave as his lips curl in anger. Power flares again within me, the sound of rushing water filling both of my ears.

I open my mouth, Nox’s name on the tip of my tongue in any act of defiance I can muster. Nox. My voice echoes in my head, but the word… Nox! My mouth doesn’t move. King Dolian brings his thumb to my chin, moving higher until he’s caressing my bottom lip.

“What is going on?” I whisper, unable to stop the fear that ravages my voice. “What have you done?”

He reaches for my left hand, bringing it up until it’s between us. “Do you see this ring?”

Following his gaze, I look down not on the beautiful engagement ring Nox had given me but a different one. The band is gold, carved to look like coral with a small pearl resting in the center, the inside of it swirling as if it’s somehow captured the very sea within it.

“Where is my other ring? The one—” I choke, unable to say Nox’s name out loud. King Dolian studies me, watching as my eyes flit in panic back and forth between his face and the ring on my finger.

“This is the only ring that matters now,” he says gently, as if he’s speaking to someone he might love and not someone that he abducted . That he beat and tortured and abused for years . “It’s a very special ring, Rhea. I even have one that matches.” He turns his hand around, keeping mine in his grip, as he shows me a gold and blue band on his ring finger.

“Don’t touch me,” I growl.

Through the haze of confusion and terror and whatever this feeling of submersion around my mind is, my magic writhes furiously. My magic . I don’t have to hide it anymore. I know how to use it, and I don’t need control over my body to call it up and hurt him when he’s this close. He tilts his head to the side, his smile growing wider as if he’s finally been given everything he wants. My magic quickly heeds my call, filling my palms with bright light. I blast it into him, his body flying back and smacking into the wall before he falls down on his knees. My heart beats fast and hard, and I keep my grip on my power as I try once more to move. But it’s as if I am nothing more than a rooted tree. Xander rushes around me, his sword drawn as his eyes briefly meet mine before they move to the king.

“I’m fine,” King Dolian growls, pushing Xander away before coming up to stand. “You will never use your magic on me again. In fact, you will only use your magic when I tell you to. Is that understood?”

My mind is drowning again, even as I try to fight against his demand. I picture Nox standing at my side, squeezing my hand tightly. Reminding me that I am not the same woman he found in that tower. I’ve changed—grown into something stronger. Into a version of myself that will never tolerate the abuse doled out by this monster ever again. “ Fuck you .”

I expect it, but it still stings my cheek when he backhands me. My vision blurs as tears form, the taste of blood filling my mouth. I reach for my magic—ready to hit him again, to hit him as many times as it takes to kill him. To call even the shadows up—as I should have done the first time. But there is nothing except a feeling of emptiness where my power should be. No. No. No.

“I see that spending time with that filthy prince has changed you, but it’s no matter. I’ll get you back to how you were,” he says calmly, his hand once more wrapping around mine. He kisses the ring on my finger, his eyes pinned to mine as he does. “No, you will be even better than before because now you are truly mine to command. Can you sense it? The power my words hold over you? Can you feel the way your body responds to them? How you respond to me ?”

I can, and I’ve never been more terrified in my life. “You can’t do this,” I beg hoarsely.

“Oh, Darling, I can do whatever I want. And now,” he pauses, interlacing our fingers despite my inability to move my own. Despite how my stomach revolts and how I’m screaming in my mind to stop, stop, stop . “Now I can make you do whatever I want as well.”

This time, the tears that drip down are in response to the lethal fear that is poisoning my very blood. My uncle drags his thumb up my cheek, collecting the wetness there and then bringing it to his lips, smearing my tears over them as he smiles.

“Come, I have something to show you.” My head wobbles from the cresting of his command within me while my feet move, despite my internal protests. He takes me to the window, and when I peer out, expecting to see the castle garden or perhaps the lake or wildflowers visible from my tower, I’m instead met with a view of the ocean, a large ship bobbing in the water where it’s anchored at the dock. My lips part as I drag in a breath, my eyes flitting over the tan sandy beach and small green shrubs that dot its border before the Spell.

Swallowing, I blink through the lingering tears and ask, “Where are we?”

“I thought we might spend some time together before I officially introduce you to the court.” Gripping my chin, his smooth fingers sliding along my cheek, he turns my head to face him. “We are somewhere no one will know where to look.”

The insinuation pummels me as if it were his fists, and he smiles at the panic that drains the blood from my face.

“Welcome home, my betrothed .”