Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
MORGANA
W e’d been misted away with the wind before I had the nerve to fight it. My skin tingled and the air stuck in my throat like violent waves pulling me under.
The shadows settled around us, disappearing into the dark floorboards beneath my feet. I squinted, the dim lantern’s light replaced with black iron bay windows that overlooked the afternoon shore. My gasps echoed in the large foyer, and Aster took a step away from me. My skin turned cold when his gloved hand released me, and for a moment I wondered what might happen if I took this moment to run.
How far would he let me go?
And when he tired of the chase, what would the monstrous shadows do upon subduing me?
We were in a large foyer, walls lined with elegant portraits and gilded vases full of blooming midnight petals. My eyes fell upon dark oil paintings of glittering crowns atop elegant kings and queens, and a chill rocked down my spine. He wasn’t joking—this was the faceless crown prince of Verdantium, a man hidden behind shrouded myth and terrible, terrible tales of cruelty. Rumor had it he killed for his cure.
The entire royal family did.
His mouth opened, but my anger snared his words. “Tell me what you know of Galen.”
With a closed grin, he took a step forth. With every move, I pushed back. More, and more, and more until my back was flesh to the wall and my chin tilted up to maintain eye contact. Despite the proximity, he didn’t stir. Those shoulders were pulled straight, hands clasped behind his back.
“Do you expect me to lay all my cards on the table so quickly, little dove?”
My hands closed into fists. “Doves have talons all the same. Continue with the nickname, and I’ll slice you open.”
Aster’s face settled, not in frustration or terror, but calm amusement. A warm laugh bubbled from his chest and he took a step back to create space. “In due time, I will fold and the answers will present themselves to you. I vow that. But this is provided you help me.”
I didn’t realize I was baring my teeth at him in utter hatred until the words were spilling through a clenched jaw. “I can’t help you. I won’t help you.”
“Then you shall return to the dungeons beneath the Afterdark where rats will feast upon your flesh. Or shall I show you the gallows near Vespera’s very shores?”
Another chill snaked around my spine, and my lip trembled. I pressed further against the wall, begging for it to swallow me whole. Anything to break free of this torment. His dark gaze narrowed onto me, and he turned away to pace down the hall. Back and forth.
“Are you going to tell me how you gutted that arcanist with those shadows? Fortunately, your foolish attempt at resurrecting Lord DeBurne was squashed. The arcanist though?”
“Gutted?” I rasped. “What do you mean gutted ?”
“Do we not speak the same language?” Aster asked with a bite in his tone that hadn’t been there earlier. “Her skin was flayed and that heart was still twitching on the ground next to her head.”
Visions of the darkness swirled across the forefront of my mind. My heart lodged into the middle of my throat, and every time I blinked, I saw those lifeless eyes staring back at me. What I didn’t remember, however, was the violence he insinuated. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be. I hunched over as my stomach roiled, my hands clutching onto my knees and holding on for dear life. I had killed before, but never an innocent life. Not innocent to me, at least.
Never someone who didn’t deserve the violence and mayhem I served to them. The men I hunted were criminals, or of such wealth that I knew they only got lavish luxuries through the blood and tears of the less fortunate.
“You lie. ”
Aster stopped pacing in front of me, and though I didn’t stand up straight, I could see his gloved fingers flexing in irritation just over my lashes. “I suggest you stop accusing me of such trivial matters and start listening to me. After all, we are cut from the same cloth, as fate would have it.”
My chest constricted, and anger snapped deep inside my chest. I roared and lunged at him. When my shoulder was set to collide into his chest, he vanished. Shadows enveloped me as I stumbled forward, holding me just inches off the ground in a cold embrace. I screamed in irritation, but as soon as his magic let go, I collided face first into the hard floor. My nose ached, head pounded, but I made no move to stand.
Sets of footsteps echoed from the hall to my right. I curled my hands into fists and let them hoist me up, head hanging low as blood dripped out. Aster’s shoes solidified before my very eyes, black mist hissing off him as if he were boiling.
“You will remain in the tower until you are of use to me.” A bone-chilling wave of terror coursed through me. The blood rushed from my face, and I squeezed my eyes shut to swallow the fear. “She is not to be touched,” he said to the men holding me upright.
My eyes fluttered open, and though relief washed over me, I spat at his feet and watched the bloodied spit dribble off the side of his shoe. He sighed through his nose, and without another word, the guards dragged my limp legs up winding stairs until I was tossed into a dark room with the door latched behind me.