Page 79
Sav
A scream tore its way up my throat, clogging my lungs and my back bowed as another ribbon of invisible power, woven through the fabric of my very being, came free and slithered through me. Silv, the clan leader of Spring’s satyr tribe, dropped her hands, panting.
“Are you ready to go again?” she asked far too soon.
Kaspar gripped my trembling hands in his, jaw clenched as he squeezed. “Your sister’s cruelty knows no limit.”
The words skated down my skin, promising death and I would have been fearful for my sister if I had any love left for her. Alder had long since fled the room, stomach too weak to sit through any more of my torture.
“How many ribbons was that, Silv?” Foxglove asked behind me.
I wanted to shout at him to leave. Horrified that he would no doubt take the news of my suffering back to my sister wherever she was languishing, but my energy was spent, and I couldn’t muster enough even to chastise him.
“One-hundred-seventy-four, Lord Hawthorn.”
He growled something under his breath, then, in his polite court voice, said. “Might we take a respite to allow the princess a moment’s reprieve?”
She nodded, but I pried my hand from Kaspar’s latching onto her arm. “No,” I ground out between clenched teeth. “Finish this.”
Her bright yellow eyes were round, and her gaze darted over my shoulder to Foxglove. She opened her mouth when Kaspar spoke.
“My lady has given you a command, Satyr, and as her rank far outweighs Lord Hawthorn’s, I suggest you follow it.”
Sweat soaked my silk blouse as, with some effort, I released Silv’s hand and Kaspar wrapped his fingers around mine, holding them in his steel grip.
Silv raised her hands, glancing warily between Kaspar and me.
When the pain began again, my vision went dark at the edges and I leaned into Kaspar.
“I will end her for this,” he seethed.
“It’s…as much…your fault…as hers.” I panted, digging my nails into his flesh as a ribbon of power worked its way backward, out of my chest. She’d started with my head and that had been both better and worse.
With some of my magic accessible, I was healing the damage nearly as quickly as Silv inflicted it, but just as I’d remembered, each one was a new kind of torment as she worked her way down my body.
Kaspar’s aquamarine gaze was cool, indifferent, but the way he squeezed my hands, holding me upright so I didn’t have to writhe on the floor like a beast, told me emotion was buried somewhere under that cool facade.
I was transported back to the night he’d saved me from Lord Banyan.
Back to the night when, just for a moment, through my numbness, I’d thought I witnessed real feelings.
I had tried to stop the shaking, as I did now, tried to hide the pain, but I could never hide anything from him. That night had changed everything between us. I wondered how it would change again after this.
“Sav, you should rest.” Foxglove said.
With great effort I turned my head as another ribbon tugged out of my middle, and my gut burned. I swallowed bile rising in my throat, attempting to answer him, but when the next ribbon slid over my spine my body jerked and I crashed to my knees.
Kaspar tugged me to my feet and Silv dropped her hands looking stricken. “I don’t think you can handle anymore today,” she said, in a small voice.
This would have gone so much faster if my sister had been here.
Silv was working blindly, unable to call on magic that didn’t belong to her and so far, she’d only unwound the outer layers.
Deeper magic, wound around my heart and soul would need to be undone by my sister.
The coward was going back on her promise.
I gritted my teeth. “I can take it.”
Silv shook her head. “Let’s rest for a few minutes. My own strength is waning.”
A lie. But my knees threatened to buckle again and I relented, nodding.
Kaspar guided me to a sofa in the room’s corner and I collapsed into it, breath rattling. My lungs were full of blood, but the magic in my veins rushed to heal them and I leaned over, spitting up crimson.
Foxglove surprised me, crouching low and handing me a cup of water.
Kaspar stood, saying nothing, but I felt his anger. It twisted my gut. I wished I didn’t need him here. Wished I didn’t need any of them, terrified to admit just how much I did.
With shaking fingers, I lifted the cup to my lips and drank. Glancing down, my vision razor sharp, I noted the tiny hairs on my arms standing on end. My fae vision had returned.
Shoes squeaked on wood in the hall, telling me my hearing had as well. Silv had done good work, releasing all of the superficial magic, but to reach my well of power, I needed the deeper bindings removed.
Setting the cup down beside me, I held up a hand and nearly cried with relief when red flames flared to life in my palm. They bloomed beautifully in my hand now that my lungs were clear of blood.
I inhaled my first real breath in three years and tasted all the emotion roiling around me. I’d never truly lost it, but now, partially unbound, Foxglove’s anguish clogged my nostrils. Kaspar’s blind anger and most surprisingly, Silv’s shame.
My gaze snapped to her, zeroing in on her interlaced fingers, white-knuckled and squeezing together.
“Silv.”
Her gaze shot up, meeting mine and another wave of shame barreled into me. The others must have scented it, but perhaps they were too clouded by their own emotions to smell anything else.
Silv dipped her chin and dropped to her knees, eye level with me. “Yes, Princess?”
“What have you done?” The magic lacing my words tasted sweet on my tongue. I should not have taken such satisfaction from using one of my gifts on the low fae, but it had been years since I could force the truth from anyone, and I reveled in it. Just a little.
Her lips parted, compelled to answer, but she fought it and her words came haltingly and grudgingly. “Princess…Hawthorn…Is…Missing.” She choked on the last word, and I wrinkled my brow, not making the connection between her emotions and her words. Why would the admission cause her shame?
“I don’t understand.”
Silv said nothing, pressing her lips into a thin line.
“Speak.”
She fought hard, standing and backing away.
“Kaspar.” His name had hardly left my lips before he moved, wrapping strong fingers around her biceps and holding her in place.
She let out a small whimper, and the words tumbled free. “A whole section of the castle has disappeared, just like the rest of Faerie, and Sage has disappeared with it. Alder hoped you’d be taken too. You and the prince.”
I glanced at Foxglove, silently asking the question I couldn’t say aloud. Had whoever was removing pieces of Faerie taken Sage? Was it the same person who took Mab?
My thoughts were interrupted as Hazel raced into the room. “Sav.”
Kaspar, Foxglove and I all looked up as she slid to a stop beside us. “We have to move. Two sections of the castle have disappeared, Prince and Princess Hawthorn with it. We’re not safe here.”
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- Page 79 (Reading here)
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