Page 36 of Wings of Lies (Daughter of the Seven Circles #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Two

T he first half of the day was long and uneventful.

The orange trees were pleasant to look at.

But my eyes grew heavy after the first couple hours of the same scenery, lack of threats or unpleasant conversation.

With thoughts of my mom firmly in my mind, in case my powers returned, I let the soft clip-clop of hooves put me to sleep.

They were always purple, which kind of annoyed me. But I suppose it helped to distinguish between a dream and a dream-walk. This time, I dream-walked into the body of my five-year-old self.

“It hurts, Mommy.”

She crouched in front of me, holding my tiny hands, frowning. “What does, love?”

“The flames,” I whispered, like talking too loudly would make them come back.

She tilted her head to the side. “What flames? ”

I rubbed my arm up and down. “The white ones on my skin.”

Her eyes widened. “But you’re only five.”

“Almost six!”

“Yes, almost six in two months.” She gave me a small smile, but a tiny line formed between her eyes. I didn’t know why. She hadn’t found my stolen brownies yet. I checked under my pillow.

“Are you upset, Mommy?”

“Just—” She pushed a strand of my wavy hair behind my ear. “Confused.”

“Why?”

“No reason.” She stood, patting my bed. “Do you want to hear a poem, love? And when you’re older, I’ll tell you the story.”

I really wanted to eat my brownies, but a poem wouldn’t take too long. Nodding, I scurried underneath the covers, making sure not to lay on my pillow.

Mommy grabbed my hands, smiling, looking sad.

“There once was a daughter of seven circles, hidden, protected, avoiding the hurdles. There once was a palace of crystalized ice, awaiting the daughter to sacrifice. Unbalanced and sorrowful. Hopeless without tomorrow. There once was a world concealed from her, vibrant in color, awaiting a shudder. When the ice whispers. Be prepared for the fissures.”

“I don’t think I want to know the story when I’m older,” I said.

“It’ll stay a story, baby. But only if you promise Mommy something?”

I nodded.

“When you feel the little pricks, before they really hurt, I need you to come to me. I’ll take away the pain, so the poem never comes true. Can you do that?” She rubbed my arm .

And I smiled, nodding, until her warm hand tingled.

“Mommy—”

My eyes jerked open. Aspen gripped my arm.

“You were sliding out of your seat,” he said, only half his attention on me, letting go.

I reached up to my neck, rubbing the healed cut, surprised Brock didn’t add more while I let myself dream-walk. Except it wasn’t the memory I was looking for. I ended up with my mom, but not at the right time. How did I jump to the right memory?

Disoriented, I sat straighter, taking in my surroundings.

I bobbed out of the way of a patch of dangling moss.

The branch it hung on twisted into a dark canopy of entwining limbs, blocking the sun.

Without its warmth, the damp air easily breached my jacket, prickling my skin.

The aroma of decay filled the air, not like the earthy smell of leaves decaying, but more like the decay of spoiled meat.

“Where are we?”

“Drune Forest,” he answered, scanning the woods.

The forest Hana mentioned.

Spiders crawled up my spine as Aspen, who was most definitely scared of driving, willingly took his eyes off the road. The smell didn’t help. Neither did the shadows of the trees that moved when they should definitely not be moving.

“Are the Drunes out there?”

“Yes,” he whispered, gazing over my head.

Shadows interspersed between the trees flickered as if they heard him. My grogginess completely wore off.

“Will they attack? ”

He narrowed his eyes. “They won’t.” But the arrogance that usually graced his words wasn’t there. And for once, I didn’t like that.

“But they could?”

“They won’t. I’ve sent Brock, Cacus, and Bael to talk to their leader for safe passage. They should be back soon.” That didn’t mean we had safe passage now. “Plus, they’re scared of me. Drune’s go for easy kills unless otherwise commanded, or they’re with a group.”

Ahh, there it was.

“And what if you’re an easy kill?” It wasn’t an admittance, but I wasn’t exactly a warrior.

“Weak beings have a difficult time surviving in Elora, Lucille. No matter what side you’re on.” His gentle tone shocked me.

I expected a, then you will die, with a nice glare to hit me where it hurts. Not that.

“Well, I think I’d have a better time surviving in the Ethereal Kingdom than the Tenebrous.”

His gaze drilled into my cheek. “You know the names?”

“I know a few things.”

“Not enough. The Ethereal Kingdom isn’t much better than the Tenebrous. But I suppose we do have the Mother of Demons as our queen.”

His queen was the mother of all demons? That’s who he was taking me to? Now I knew why he scrutinized my cheek. He wanted to know my reaction.

But he wasn’t finished.

“Which is why your cuffs aren’t just cuffs that bind your magic.

They’re made from the metal mined in Dark Embers hot pits, where demons are first created, and they’re infused with demon energies.

And seeing as crossing into The Tenebrous Kingdom requires demon blood, and we’re not sure what you are besides part angel, you need to wear them, or you’ll die before we reach her. ”

I laughed, unsettling the ancient forest, and probably making the Drunes and Aspen wonder if I’d lost my mind. But I couldn’t help realizing how unlucky I was, how every step of the way had been one terrible thing after another.

Did I need any more proof of why I shouldn’t be attracted or moved by his stupid laugh or pain? Like he said, he was the enemy, not a handsome stranger in the forest, not my guardian angel. My enemy.

I closed my mouth, reining in my disbelieving laughter, letting it sink in.

If I crossed that boundary line, I’d never escape. I’d never be able to remove the cuffs without killing myself.

“I told you not to come here.”

My head whipped around, eyes narrowing.

“I told you to stay.”

Stay here. Stay put. Stay safe.

He never meant to stay put at my house. We moved, and he didn’t care. No, he meant stay put on Earth . He never wanted me to come to Elora.

I scoffed. “You told me to stay put. To stay safe. And now look at you, handing me over to your queen to be slaughtered.”

He flinched, and I laughed, feeling a creeping itch. I focused on the sensation and analyzed it. But it wasn’t just an itch. It was a ruthless energy coiling beneath my skin, begging to come out. Soon, I’d let it.

“You’re a liar. Your words mean nothing.”

Aspen jerked on the reins. I flew forward at the sudden stop, catching myself on the wooden ledge .

“I am no liar, Lucille.”

Right.

“I remember those sweet words you’d say right before you ran away. You probably went straight to your queen to give her all the intel she needed. Is that it? Or are you Marcus’s new employer, and that’s why he gave me over to you? Do you have my mom, Aspen?”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re creating in that naive mind of yours, but we didn’t take anyone but you. I intercepted Marcus before he took you to wherever he was running away to and reported the traitor to our queen.”

So, the chilling voice was right. Marcus worked for someone else, and if he took my mom, the queen wouldn’t have her.

“That doesn’t change the fact you’re a liar and play twisted games. I’m just calling it how I see it.”

He stood, towering over me while I sat on the edge of the carriage front. “No, you call it how you want to see it. There are reasons I did and said the things that I did.”

I held his searing stare and grasped the coiling energy that itched my skin. I didn’t want to show my power. I only wanted to practice for when I was ready to show my hand. “Says the male, taking me to his queen. I will be another Nalini, won’t I? Murdered and forgotten.”

He shook his head, gripping his sword hilt as the scar on his chin darkened. “Maybe if you’d stop being the ignorant, helpless wimp you are for one second, you’d survive!”

They were his words. I saw his lips move.

But the voice that said helpless wimp wasn’t his, even if they were spat in the same way and just as demeaning and arrogant.

It wasn’t Aspen. It was— The memory was at my fingertips.

But it stayed at the edges of my mind, taunting me.

So I was left with the bitter taste of fear and an unending loathing I didn’t quite understand.

But that word. That damned word. My hold on my power slipped as my rage took over.

“Do not”—the itch surged—“ever call me that again.” Pressure pushed behind my eyes. The sense of deja vu overwhelmed me.

He smiled, the red glow making him look vile and wrong. “I call it how I see it.” Throwing my words back in my face, eyes flashing blue.

The call in my blood sprung to my hands as I swung at his face. He dodged deftly, smirking. “Careful Lucille, wouldn’t want to find you naked again…”

Low blow.

I jerked my knee up, going for the source of his arrogance, and was stopped by my chains.

“What would that be… the second—no, the fourth time I’ve seen you naked because of your lack of skill?” he continued, smug.

Every inch of my skin raged with the itchy energy.

Mindless, I pushed off the floor planks with all my strength and tackled his royal ass off the side of the carriage, catching him off guard.

He took the brunt of the fall, letting out a grunt as we landed in a heap on top of a soft patch of moss. Straddling him, hands covered in a deep purple, I placed one around his neck, threatening to squeeze as I bared my teeth, ignoring the tingles.

How dare he?

I wrenched my arm back, ready to wipe the pretty smirk off his stupid, handsome face.

Ready to make him feel the overwhelming, itchy, fiery pressure of whatever this was.

Because what coiled in my core felt different from all the other times my purple flames erupted.

It was hot and lacked the crackling noise of ice.