Chapter Forty-Five
Analleia
Light blazed around the Enchantress like a burning inferno, blinding me. Power and magic and rage overcame her being, magnified her essence by a thousand.
“One task,” she hissed at me. “Bring me the ring. You can’t bring it to me with him alive?
Then kill him. One task, that was all I asked of you, and you had him by the throat.
You held the power of life and death. Held the power to kill him, but you didn’t.
You let him go, left him. Just like you left your mother. Left her to die.”
I shielded my eyes from the light, but I couldn’t turn away from her. Her power held me prisoner and left me at her mercy. Gold flecks danced across my skin, burning like ice wherever they touched.
“My deal was to bring you the ring.” My voice strained to rise above the roar. “It never included murder, and I will not kill an innocent man. I vowed to kill one and only one person. My hands will not take the life of another. Not for anyone.”
Her face contorted with rage, magic twisting around her arms in weaves of golden light. “You have broken our bargain, Analleia de Ellen Mercais Kallistar. I will take the gift I bestowed upon you and withdraw it like poison.”
She reached her right hand toward me, the weaves of magic around her arms growing larger before extending out to me like tiny hands, brushing across my face like a feather.
I screamed, my face heating as if it were being burned from the inside out.
Tendrils of magic seeped through my pores, too big to fit through but forcing their way in.
The pain only intensified, making me want to black out.
Making me want to die. No compassion hid within the Enchantress’s eyes.
No drop of mercy fell before her. The tendrils of magic returned to her as they left me, silver specks mixed in with the gold, and twisted around her until diffusing and becoming one with her being.
I gasped for air, wishing to crawl out of my skin, to escape from the never-ending pain.
But there was no mercy here.
With a jerk, the last of the magic left my body, and I stumbled forward, looking up as the Enchantress spun, disappearing in a flash of light.
My hands shook as I gingerly touched my face, sure the skin had decayed or melted off, but it felt smooth.
No different. I turned to the looking glass on the wall, staring at my reflection and wondering what others would now see.
Boots thudded down the corridor like a herd of thundering horses.
I drew a dagger, unsteady on my feet, my vision blurring as I tried to focus on the approaching guards.
I needed to hide, but my ears were ringing.
The colors in the world weren’t right. They distorted, marring my vision.
I blinked, unable to gather my bearings.
A group of soldiers surrounded me, trapping me in a circle of spears.
Two men broke through the ranks, staggering to a stop at the inner ring, staring at me as if I were a ghost.
“Kallistar.” Disbelief coated Athello’s pale face, his shirt drenched with blood.
I watched as recognition spread across their faces in horror.
“The enchantment around your face ...” Athello trailed off. “You’re one of them.”
The soldiers broke conduct, muttering among themselves. “She’s one of the criminals from that accursed kingdom.”
My wide eyes sought Valeris, pleading with him for help, but all I found was betrayal burning in them. He took me in. My identity. The assassin’s garb.
“Valeris.” My voice wobbled. “I can explain.”
I watched his defenses rise.
He would never believe another word I said.
“Seize her,” Athello ordered.
The guards closed in, and my mind grasped for a plan.
My hand dipped into the gray powder secured at my waist, flinging it out in a circle.
The line of men jumped back, several falling to their knees.
It wasn’t powerful enough to knock them out, but it was strong enough to disorient.
I held my breath, squinting and charging through a break in the guards.
A soldier on the outer edge accosted me, yanking me against him.
Two dark shapes flew in through the window, one ripping the soldier off me, the other attacking the guards.
Desmond and Nadiyah.
I stumbled, seeking escape, but there were too many. Two other soldiers each grabbed one of my arms, slamming me into the ground and pinning me down.
“He’s a Kallistar!” Valeris bellowed, pointing at my brother.
“Analleia, go!” Desmond said.
The soldiers directed their attention to him, and Desmond took on each one that advanced on him, arms and legs flying as he sent one after the other slamming to the ground—but he was outnumbered.
Wylan Athello lunged for him and I saw the flash of steel, shouted my brother’s name as the dagger arced toward him.
Nadiyah threw herself in front of Desmond and the blade sank into her gut.
My jaw hung open, eyes widening with disbelief. I may have been screaming.
Soldiers overran Desmond and tackled him to the ground as he roared.
His arm shot out from between the bodies, hand reaching for Nadiyah as she collapsed onto the floor clutching at her side and struggling for breath.
The pounding of boots signaled more guards were coming, flooding the halls.
They clapped chains onto Desmond’s hands and feet, and I saw a pair coming for me.
I twisted between my captors, biting one on the arm.
He released me with a yell, and I reached for the small rock-like trinkets in my left pocket, hurling them at the ground.
They hit the floor and cracked, filling the corridor with smoke.
I elbowed my other captor, coughing as I barreled out of the haze and away from the soldiers who chased me.
I couldn’t get to Desmond now. He had a better chance if I could get away.
I tore down the hall, rushing out a side door that led into the courtyard where I barreled for the palace wall. Rain pelted me, the ground slick. My arms pumped at my sides, lungs heaving, eyes watering from the smoke and from—from— I choked on the thought.
A body plowed into me from behind, tackling me to the ground.
We rolled in a tangle of limbs and curses, mud flying around us and staining our clothing.
I couldn’t tell up from down, struggled to get my bearings, but then my pursuer was on top of me, pinning me to the ground.
I looked up, finding Valeris’s emerald eyes brimming with frustration, boring into me like the traitor I was. The betrayal in them rocked me.
“You lied to me.” Hurt welled in his voice. “You were playing me the whole time.”
My chest heaved, his proximity overwhelming and surfacing memories from our earlier encounter. I shook my head, tears spilling from my eyes.
His face hardened, grip tightening on my wrists. “Why are you really here? To kill my uncle?”
His eyes demanded answers, but I couldn’t give him any.
Rain pelted us, his wet hair falling around him like a dark auburn halo. It dripped onto my face, my white-blond hair raked with mud. I had tried to protect him, and I had made it so much worse.
“Why?” he yelled.
I took in a shuddering breath, gathering the will for what I needed to do. He’d pinned my arms but not my legs. My knee shot up, ramming into his groin. He rolled off me, doubled over in pain, and I unsheathed another knife, holding it out to keep him at bay as I struggled to my feet.
“I never wanted to lie to you, Valeris,” I gasped out, “Never meant to hurt you.”
Soldiers poured out of the palace, flooding the outer lawns.
“I didn’t want to kill your uncle either,” I said. “I tried to, but I couldn’t.”
He glared at me, and I backed away until I hit the outer wall a few steps later and leapt for the rope.
I clambered over the top of it, trying to slide down on the other side, but I was too shaken.
I fell halfway to the ground, pain shooting up my leg at the landing I wasn’t prepared for. I grimaced as I stared up at the inn.
The compromised inn.
I bolted for the streets, falling in with the crowds and trying not to draw attention to myself. I kept my head down, all too aware I could now be recognized for who I was.
I had to keep my mind straight, had to get somewhere safe, but all I could think about was Nadiyah bleeding out on the floor.
Desmond clapped in chains. For me. All for me.
I had abandoned them. Failed both them and my mission.
I choked back a sob as I swiped at my cheeks, slipping into the shadows of an alleyway and leaning against a grimy wall as I hyperventilated, the rain falling around me in sheets.
The Paravellian guards would find me.
They would execute both me and my brother. And Nadiyah—if she made it that long.
Valeris. He hated me. He would never forgive me for lying to him. For trying to kill his uncle. For everything I had done.
I squeezed my eyes shut, my chest rising and falling as I tried to get my breathing under control before I stepped back into the street, the sea of swirling faces threatening to drown me. Drown me in sorrows. In failures.
I had failed.
I had failed everyone.