Page 41

MAYBE OSKAR WAS RIGHT

GRACE

I may have been a prisoner in Sebastian’s manor, but here, I am less than human.

I’m kept in a literal cell, with iron bars and no furniture.

I’m forced to sit on the cold stone floor, exposed to frigid air that filters through a gaping window.

While it was too dark to see much of anything when I arrived, I know I’m in some sort of village.

This building is small, closer to a shack than anything else.

From what I can tell, I’m the only prisoner here.

I decide that’s not a good thing.

Perhaps witches don’t have the patience for prisoners. Perhaps everyone who interferes with their laws is slaughtered.

“How long have I been here?” I ask.

It’s still too dark to see. Morning has not come, but I am sure of little else. It could be close to midnight or in the final stages of this blackened sky. I hope there’s still time. As soon as the sun breaks, Sebastian won’t be able to come until evening.

If he comes .

Just because Sebastian didn’t want me to die, doesn’t mean he’s willing to risk his life to save me.

The curse , I remind myself. He needs me to break the curse. He’ll come. He has to come.

I sob against my knees, pulling them tight to my chest. It’s too cold. I don’t know what the temperature needs to be for someone to freeze to death, but I’m sure I must be near it.

“Hello?” I call.

I know someone else is here, if only because he keeps shifting his position near the door. His boots crunch against the gravel, and he occasionally lets out an exasperated sigh, as if my imprisonment is a terrible inconvenience for him .

“Are you going to kill me?” I ask. My voice falls now, even as I try to keep it steady, strong.

The man appears in front of my cell. He’s one of the men who grabbed me from Oskar, as if I am nothing but cattle for trade.

He is young, a few years younger than I am.

Despite his cruelty, he looks soft. Rounded features and wide eyes.

Is that fear I see in his expression, or is it only wishful thinking?

“I can’t tell you anything,” the man says. His gaze drifts over me before finally settling on my eyes. “You know who you are— what you are to us—don’t you?”

“I am no one to you,” I snap. “If you were smart, you’d send me right back where I came from. Sebastian doesn’t like sharing his toys.”

“Is that what you are?” the man asks. He crouches into the only sliver of moonlight, letting the light shine over his face. He’s handsome, in a plain sort of way. “A toy, Grace?”

“You have no idea what I am,” I say, propping onto my knees. I flex my fingers, both surprised and offended they didn’t bother binding my hands. “But I assure you, if you keep me here, you’re bound to find out.”

A slow, easy smile crosses the man’s face.

“That’s exactly what we’re hoping.”

He starts retreating, back to his place on the other side of this tiny prison.

“Aren’t you at least going to give me food?” I ask. I’m sure he can hear the desperation in my voice—it’s all I can hear. “Or let me go to the bathroom?”

“You’re welcome to piss in there,” he says mockingly.

The snarled grin on his face transforms his look entirely.

Forgotten are those boyish features, consumed by the demonic spark in his eyes.

“As for food, there’s no point, is there?

You’re a walking corpse, Grace Pruce, and in a matter of days, you will be nothing but ash. ”

With a parting sneer, the man returns to his side of the prison, and I press my face against my knees. I do my best to keep my sobs quiet, so he doesn’t get the satisfaction of making me cry.

I don’t mean to fall asleep, but I am woken by a violent scream.

By the time I’m to the bars, hands clasped over the rungs, knees pressed to the stone, my guard and I are no longer alone.

A second guard collapses through the doorway, his throat torn out, leaving his head barely attached to his body.

“Don’t—”

That’s the only word my guard manages before Sebastian has him against the wall.

I strain to follow the action from my cell, but it’s too shadowed to see much of anything.

There is only my smarmy guard, kicking his feet in the air, and Sebastian’s back.

He’s wearing his usual slacks and a stark white shirt, bright enough he almost glows through the darkness.

“That should be all of them,” Beatrice says. She enters the room, followed by Theo and Cora.

There’s a horrific tearing sound, and moments later, my guard’s head bounces to the gravel. Through the darkness, his wide eyes are frozen open, staring at me.

“I’m here,” I say. My voice is shaking, and I start crying before I can stop myself. “Over here! I’m?—”

Sebastian is in front of the bars. He reaches for them, only to stop when Cora grabs him forearm.

“Careful,” she warns him. This close, the moonlight shines over them. I can see every detail. The thick blood coating Sebastian’s chin and shirt. The way Cora’s hands are trembling. The desperate, wild look in Sebastian’s eyes.

Maybe Oskar was right , I think. Maybe this man is terrified, not just to lose the curse, but to lose me.

“Sebastian,” Cora snaps.

He ignores her. He’s looking over my cell, silently calculating. When he reaches for the bars again, Cora flares her palms at him. He’s thrown backward, smacking hard against the stones. My eyes widen, and Beatrice instantly lurches for Cora.

She flicks the vampire away with an easy twitch of her wrist.

I raise my eyebrows. I can’t help it. I assumed Cora was powerful…but this is a different level.

As if sensing my surprise, she flashes a cat-like grin at me.

“They didn’t condemn me for nothing, Gracie.”

Sebastian growls and pushes to his feet.

“You’re going to kill her,” Cora snaps, placing herself between Sebastian and the bars. “They’ve got this riddled with magic. If you pull her out, she’s going to die. So stay the fuck over there.”

Sebastian’s eyes are one me, and I feel it then. No doubt in my mind. No second thoughts.

Love . He looks at me with pure, tortured love.

“I didn’t run,” I tell him. It’s not one of the many things I’d considered telling him while rotting on this cell floor. And yet, right now, it feels like the most important. “I didn’t try to escape. I don’t know what Oskar told you, but I swear?—”

“I am going to get you out,” Sebastian says, ignoring me. “All right, Grace? I’m going to get you out.”

“It’s going to be difficult,” Cora murmurs. “I need time.”

“Then get started,” he says. He jerks his chin at Beatrice. “You, stay here with them. If Cora needs anything, you fetch it immediately. Understood?”

“Yes,” Beatrice says. She bows her head, slipping behind Cora. My mentor is already muttering under her breath, eyes rolling back as she works.

“Theo and I will be back,” he says, looking at me. He steps forward, touching the bars with forced caution. I grab his wrists, as if anchoring him here.

“Where are you going?” I ask. “Can’t you?—”

“I’ll be back,” he says, rather than answer. His wild eyes roam my body before settling on my face. He brushes my lower lip with the pad of his thumb, pulling back far too soon.

“Thank you for coming for me,” I say. My voice cracks, and already, the tears are back.

“You underestimate the things I’d do, little witch,” he says.

“To break the curse? ”

“To keep you.” He swallows as he stands. “Now, help Cora if you can, all right?”

He doesn’t give me the chance to respond. He’s already gone, and Theo has disappeared with him.

“You two better work quick,” Beatrice snaps. “Or we’ll all going to die for nothing.”

“Is it working?” I ask.

I collapse against the back wall, so covered in sweat my clothes are wet. We’ve been at this for nearly an hour. Cora is doing most of the work. I’m only sending magic her direction, casting it for her to channel. She leans forward, pressing her head against the iron bars.

“Not well enough,” she says. She gasps for breath, each one coming ragged and slow. Her skin has lost all color, and her balance is starting to waver.

“You have to stop,” I say. I choke out a sob, and I can’t bear to look at her. “You’re going to kill yourself, Cora.”

“We have our direction,” Beatrice snarls. She’s glaring at me, and I can’t bring myself to be annoyed. She’s hated me since I arrived at the manor. I’m only surprised she’s here at all.

“Cora,” I say, ignoring Beatrice. “If you keep pushing, you are going to die. You said it yourself, this isn’t working well enough. We need a different plan.”

“There isn’t another plan,” she says. There’s no bite to her words. There’s only bone-deep exhaustion and those heavy breaths. “This. Is. The. Only. Way.”

I run a hand through my hair, tugging at the roots. This is impossible. Cora isn’t saying it, and Beatrice won’t either, but I still know. I can feel each of Cora’s attempts getting weaker. She’s withering away before my eyes, and I’m sure I’m doing the same.

Cora lifts her shaking hands, palms facing me.

“No,” I say. I lurch forward, snatching her hands in mine. She’s too dazed to be irritated. I tug her close. “You need to go, Cora.”

“I was in this cage once,” she whispers. “Did you know?”

I glance at Beatrice, who looks away.

“Three months,” she goes on. “Beaten and starved and treated like an animal. I was too dangerous for their liking, and they hoped to break me until there was nothing dangerous left. Do you know what I did?”

I shake my head, lips parting.

“I broke for them,” she says. Her eyes are staring past me, as if she can see herself standing in this very position. “I became small and harmless and weak. I convinced them I was different now, that I was nothing to fear.”

She blinks and pulls back, her hands falling from mine.

“And then?” she says. “When they let their guard down, I killed them all, just like they once feared I would. I ran through sleeping town after sleeping town, until finally, I ran into a man I was taught to fear. He had sharp teeth and a black heart made of stone. He was a monster, Grace, and finally, I felt safe. Like I belonged.”

I swallow. Out of my peripheral gaze, I notice Beatrice has fallen as still as I have.

“You have cracked his untouchable heart,” Cora says. “I owe it to him to save you, as he once saved me.”

Cora lifts her palms, brows scrunching as she closes her eyes.

“Now, give me everything you have,” she says. She starts chanting before I get the chance to protest .

Within seconds I’m gasping again, tears streaming down my face as I give her every ounce of magic I contain.

Be enough , I beg. Please, just be enough.

The door to the prison slams open, striking the stone wall. We all turn, and Cora’s magic snaps. We keep our arms raised and ready, only to lower them when we realize it’s not a witch.

It’s Theo.

He’s covered in more blood than before, and now, some of it appears to be his own.

“We have to go,” he says. “Now.”

“Buy me more time,” Cora snaps. “We’re close.”

We’re not, and we both know it.

“Master’s orders,” Theo says. He smacks the door, holding it open. “Let’s go.”

Cora looks back at me, and for the first time, I think I understand her. Harsh and blunt and at times cruel. She was raised in a world where there wasn’t another option, and she’d done her best to prepare me for the same.

“Go,” I say. I’m surprised at how level my voice sounds, as if I’m not telling them to leave me here to die.

“We’ll be back,” she promises.

“Go!” I scream.

Beatrice doesn’t give Cora the choice. She grabs her, and together, they disappear. The wind howls through the gaping window, and I am alone once more.

I curl into the corner, sobbing as I wait for the witches to arrive.