Page 69

Amias

I can't breathe.

My nails dig into the tutela flower stems around my neck. My throat is wrapped so tight that I could suffocate. It doesn't help that my feet are nowhere on the ground.

All my efforts to pry them off are useless.

“How many times do I have to choke you to get it through your thick skull?” Grandmother yells.

The flowers wilt around me and I'm slammed onto the cold wooden floor. Pain courses through my back. I scream.

I cough in between each desperate gulp of air, my throat aching. I meekly force myself to sit up. Today is the cleansing ceremony. I've been resisting, both physically or verbally, but each time she ends up suffocating me in this empty white wall room in the newly fixed castle.

“You're going through with the ceremony,” she scoffs. “I don't care how much you scream, or try to infect me with your illness. I'll even find that beast and strangle her myself if I have to.”

She stands over me in this empty white room, her eyes like a dreary winter sky. I can't tell if it's the lighting or if it's actually changing.

My body trembles under her, dreading another choking. She won't listen, but more than ever, I need to convince her of the truth. “Please Grandmother… Please…”

“No amount of begging is gonna stop this either.”

“Let me just explain,” I whimper. “It was a misunderstanding. Dreamscreechers are good people… There are good ones…”

“You're delusional,” Grandmother scoffs. “Pathetic. You're so desperate, you went as far as to use a dreamscreecher for your lustful need. Didn't I warn you against your neediness? Didn't I tell you what happened with your Grandfather?”

“I won't stop until I convince you. I-I can't kill Ignatia,” I weep, biting my bottom lip. I can't break into sobs. I won't have the strength to convince her.

“Killing her will set you free, Valley Lily. You should want her dead.”

“No! I know you're trying to keep me away from these… delusions … but I will do what I can to convince you. And for the life of me, I will die before I kill Ignatia myself.”

She sighs disappointedly and shakes her head. “After all I taught you, and this is how you turned out.”

Whimpers escape from my mouth as thoughts scramble for words. I don't have much time. The ceremony is in a few hours.

“The flower glowed for us Grandmother…” I swallow in another hoarse breath. “We touched the amare flower, and it glowed. Please, believe me, it did.”

For a moment her eyes widen, her pupils growing in size. Her eyes shift back and forth as if considering the idea true. My heart beats in my throat thinking this can possibly change things between us.

Please, just listen.

Then her gaze hardens again. “It was a mutated flower,” she scoffs before walking away from me. “I'll get Dr. Kurt to check up on you. Glaide should be here any moment to get you ready.”

She closes the door behind her, and I'm left alone in this cold empty room. My heart grows in my throat, each thump constricting my lungs further.

I'll kill Ignatia. I won't remember and she'll make me kill her.

My body shakes so much that vomit comes up my throat, unable to keep sitting. I can't kill Ignatia. I love her! She's innocent! She's saved my life! She's my flame ! I can't kill her!

But I won't remember this. When they destroy my memories and brainwash me, I'll be more than proud to kill her. I'll be a sick monster and her lifeless body will be nothing more than a trophy.