2. Eva
Chapter 2
Eva
I woke up chained to an all too familiar bed, trapped in a living nightmare from which I was desperate to awaken. My eyelids were unbearably heavy from the remnants of the drug that had finally released me from its cloying grasp, and I was too drained to open my eyes more than a crack. Everything inside me felt bruised and raw from the aftereffects of the battle against Aviel, the hammering in my head worsening as I silently screamed at myself for what I had done.
But I would sacrifice myself for them again in a heartbeat. For my anima, my faerie soulmate, Bastian, though he had always been Bash or a teasing ‘freckles’ to me. For our friends, Yael and Rivan—the latter of whom had been barely breathing when I last saw him. For Tobias, my twin brother who had survived the fire I had assumed he had died in. Instead, he had made it to the faerie realm of Agadot first, where he had learned that our parents were truly Queen Estelle and King Adrian…and they had fled to the human realm because I was the heir not only to the hidden northern kingdom of Soleara but to all of Agadot. That was why the False King had hunted me while hiding in plain sight pretending to be his own son, Prince Aviel. It was why he had spread the lie that the curse warping the magic of the land was due to the need to find his lost anima —leading to my true fae soulmate bringing me to him. And it was why Aviel had grown obsessed with claiming me in order to somehow use my power to become High King.
My sacrifice had been worth it, even if I was left to face the consequences.
Determinedly, I forced my eyes fully open. Then let out a short, relieved breath. I appeared to be alone…for now. Though the reprieve was likely Aviel trying to make me squirm from the dread of anticipating his arrival—a monster playing with its prey.
Fear unfurled in my stomach, cords of apprehension lacing around my lungs, binding each breath. Closing around my throat as surely as if he were strangling me.
I curled into as tight of a ball as I could with my hands bound above my head, manacles securing my wrists, the gleaming silver headboard they were shackled to shining dully. Ignoring the pain radiating down my side, I squeezed my eyes shut as I tried to hold back my sudden rush of tears. One slipped out anyway, rolling across my temple.
Big breath in , my father’s voice commanded me as I attempted to inhale. Count each second.
There was a sharp, stabbing pain in my ribs as I finally managed to suck in a shaky breath, my wounds struggling to heal with the band blocking my magic. On instinct, I reached out for Bash…and came up against an adamant wall where our bond should be, his calming presence entirely out of reach. Then cringed at the yawning emptiness where my darkness should live. At the static where I should feel my magic roiling.
It was horrifyingly silent to be alone inside my head again after growing used to that constant flow of love and warmth. My heart throbbed, painfully aware of the half it was missing.
At least he was safe. They were all safe for now, having been forced back through the mirror to Imyr, the Southern kingdom, before Aviel had closed the gateway to Morehaven to them. And assuming Marin had been able to heal Rivan after Aviel had suffocated him with the light magic he had leeched from my brother. They were safe , I repeated to myself firmly, though I doubted they would be content to stay that way.
As much as I ached at Bash’s absence, we had been lucky in that one small instance. I hadn’t been sure if Aviel would really let him go—not when he could use him, or Tobias, or any of my friends as leverage to control me. He could have easily used their presence and continued safety to force my obedience, even though I had already promised it.
Unfortunately, something told me Aviel had something more sinister in mind for me. Pulling fruitlessly at the shackles binding me, I suppressed my mounting dread and desperation before it could escape me in a cry of despair. I would never forget that feeling of being held down against my will in this bed, never forget that utter helplessness, but I couldn’t let my mind take me back there. I needed to stay strong, stay vigilant for any chance to escape. To hone my rage into a weapon that would ensure I would never feel that way again.
I uncurled from my fetal position, wincing as the shackles dug into my wrists as I tested their limits, the scarred skin stinging. It had been too much to hope that Aviel would trust me at my word to stay in line after I had agreed to do so to save my friends. Nor should he.
My upper teeth sank into my dry lower lip as I glanced at the doorway. Where was he?
The waiting almost made it worse…so much so that when I did hear footsteps, I was almost grateful for a reprieve from the anticipation, my heart racing even as I braced myself for what came next.
Aviel had come for me, and the time had come to fight with everything I had left.
I bit the inside of my cheek, the iron taste of my blood grounding me as I lay on that cursed bed I had so recently escaped. My hands had started to tremble at some point, and I found myself unable to stop the shaking that overtook me. I closed my eyes, willing my body to stop but failing. The footsteps neared and I held my breath, tensing to strike when the opportunity best presented itself.
But the hand that stroked my face was soft, female, and familiar.
“Poor little bird, caught in the serpent’s nest once again,” said an annoyingly sing-song voice. “You don’t need to pretend you’re asleep. He’s not here.”
I cracked one eye open, groaning at the jolt of pain from my broken rib as I tried and failed to take in a deep enough breath. “Where is he?”
“He’s gone to feed from the land like the vampire he is,” Alette half-sang in my ear, her voice raising the hair on my arms. She had helped me escape the last time I had been trapped here after I had convinced her to stop doing Aviel’s bidding. I had no doubt that her strange resemblance to me was the reason he had enslaved and abused her, and I held back my wince as her gaze met mine, a hint of madness in her too-wide eyes. “He used too much magic fighting you and yours. But at least we have some time alone.” Her grin was maniacal as she tugged on a loose strand of my hair, the chestnut brown a match to her own. “Should have flown further, little bird.”
My lips parted, but I bit back my retort as I glared at her. For all the good it would do as she closed her eyes, humming four eerie notes over and over.
“What do you mean, feed from the land?”
Her wild gray eyes flew open, her expression almost pitying. “From the Source, of course. The lake of magic that lies deep beneath this very castle and branches out throughout this realm. Or did you think he got so powerful from feeding off your brother? Not to mention the others who weren’t so lucky as to get away with their lives…”
She clucked her tongue at me disappointedly as if I should have known this already.
“He’s stealing magic from the realm itself?”
I couldn’t seem to stop shaking, whether from the drug leaving my system, being back in Aviel’s bed, or the shock of what Alette was telling me.
No wonder we weren’t able to stop him.
I swallowed; my mouth painfully dry. “Who knows about this? How do you?—”
“Oh, I know a lot of things I shouldn’t, little bird,” Alette said, her unblinking gaze unnerving as she slowly cocked her head to the side. “No one notices the fly on the wall.”
Looking at her more closely, I realized the shadows beneath her eyes had multiplied, her complexion sallow like she hadn’t seen daylight in far too long. She had always been willowy, but now her skin seemed too loose, like she had lost weight too quickly, her simple black linen dress billowing on her thin frame.
“How are you even alive? After you freed me, I thought he would kill you.”
Her head slowly tilted to the opposite side, a blank sort of smile plastering across her face. “No one notices a fly in the wall either.”
I thought of the hidden passage she had taken me through to escape from Aviel the last time I had been trapped here in this bed. Its faintly glowing stone, leading downward. Of course it wouldn’t be the only one of its kind.
Would I be able to use the same escape a second time?
“Alette—”
“The first thing you need to do is get him away from the source of his might. Or, well, you should have.” She giggled, repeating “would’ve” and “should’ve” a few more times in a possessed-sounding chant that had my already bleary head pounding.
“ Alette , please,” I urgently interrupted her, earning me an annoyed pout. “I need to get out of here before he returns. Do you have the key?”
She shook her head as she leaned closer. A manic gleam reflected in her too-wide eyes as she started stroking my hair. “But don’t worry, little bird. We’re friends now. So I’m going to help you.”
The words sank in strangely, like the other shoe was about to drop, just as I realized the light gray of her eyes had morphed into the reddish orange of an ember. A nonexistent fire reflected inside them—an inferno blazing to life like a backdraft given oxygen.
I opened my mouth just as all the air seemed to suck out of the room.
And then everything exploded.