Chapter 6
The sun sinks beneath the horizon, and I lean my temple against the metal bars. My stomach cramps, and the day’s worth of food sits on trays at the foot of my enclosure, but I’ve yet to find an appetite.
Shades of purple and violet dance through the window, and I watch them, studying the way they bounce off the mountain peak in the distance. Straightening, I cross the space, my chains dragging across the ground, and reach my hand through the narrow slit. Evening air kisses my skin.
Two days ago, I broke free from the curse. My feet touched the deck of a ship for the first time in a decade—my power unleashed from its cage. I was ready to sail to Delterran and reclaim my court. Prove to my people I’m a worthy ruler to follow.
I drop my hand to my side and press my forehead against the cool stone, closing my eyes. My last sunset, through a cell window.
At dawn, I’ll be executed.
My hands grow heavy, the weight of the rhodium cuffs steadily growing, dragging me down. I succumb and slide to the floor, pulling my legs against my chest.
Kressa’s face flashes through my mind—the way her expression was pressed in stone when her father ordered my execution. As if she already knew it was happening, or hoping for it. The easiest way to break our bond, I suppose.
The dungeon door creaks open.
“I’m not hungry,” I say, resting my chin on my knees.
The guard wraps her hands around a rung and looks at me down the bridge of her nose. “What about some fresh air?”
I straighten, furrowing my brow as I scan the woman’s face. I’ve seen enough of the guards since we arrived, but she’s one I don’t recognize. “Excuse me?”
“The docks are heavily guarded, as well as the perimeter of the castle.” Her features ripple as she unlatches a keyring from her belt. “You can’t escape, and I can’t stop what happens in the morning, but I can at least give you time to say goodbye.”
Her hair shifts from auburn to black, and her eyes darken five shades. I rise to my feet as the guard before me morphs, her features transforming into—
“Gemma,” I breathe.
She looks over her shoulder and slides the key into the lock, glamouring herself back into the guard. “Quick, the guard rotation is about to begin, so we only have a few minutes to get you to your crew and back.”
The door swings open, and I hurry over the threshold, lifting my hands. “What about these? If you have the keys, we could all get out of here.”
“Sorry.” She shakes her head, leading me toward the door. “Kressa is the only one who has that key.”
My shoulders droop, but I hide the disappointment as she peers around the opening. Pushing open the door, she tilts her chin forward and steps out.
I follow, gathering the chain into my hands, keeping it from tapping over the stone floor. Low lanterns light the space—too dark to get a handle for the path we’re taking, but she weaves us through hallways and tight corridors, then comes to an abrupt stop before a solid door.
She presses an ear against the wood. “Don’t make a sound.”
Pulling a deep breath in through my nose, I settle my pulse. Cool air slips into the hall from beneath the door, and voices sound from the other side, garbled as they come closer.
Gemma’s chest halts as a bead of sweat drips down her temple. The voices pass, and her gaze finds mine. “Now.”
She pushes the door open into a covered walkway—a bridge linking this tower to the neighboring one. We break into a sprint, and the wind whips at my face, tangling through my hair. I breathe it in, letting the final dregs of sunlight warm the sides of my face.
“Just a bit farther,” Gemma pants as we make it to the other side.
The walkway ends at an open doorway carved into a turret. We slip through the opening and descend a spiral staircase. I grip the rail as we take the steps two at a time, but the rhodium drags against the metal.
“Quiet,” Gemma snarls.
I rip my hand from the rail and hold my breath as we take the steps two at a time. The air grows thicker the farther we go, and my muscles ache as we bank right at a landing.
Gemma slows, pulling the keys from her belt. The dungeon door sweeps into view, and my heart thuds against the undersides of my ribs. I haven’t thought about what I’m going to say to my crew—how I can beg them to forgive me before tomorrow morning. How I can possibly say goodbye.
“We have five minutes until the next guard rotation shows up.”
The space behind my eyes stings, and the door groans on its hinger as it swings open.
“I’ll keep watch,” she adds.
I hold her gaze for a heartbeat. “Thank you.”
I step into the dungeon, and my eyes adjust to the low light. Cells line the space, and a shiver climbs up my spine. The lack of windows, the damp cloying at my lungs, the chill in the air—it’s just like the dungeon back in Sarenia. The one Kressa freed a handful of Earth Court people from.
“Briar? Is that you?”
I push myself off the closest cell and stumble toward Thea’s voice. A sliver of light shines on her face, pressed against a set of bars.
A breath whooshes out my lips. “Thea.”
Our fingers intertwine through the bars, and I choke back a sob. Her cerulean eyes break through the darkness, and her braids are pulled back into a knot at her nape.
Another face comes into my periphery—Odette.
Her upturned eyes settle on me. “How’d you get here?”
I gnaw on my lip. If anything happens, I can’t let Gemma take the fall. All she’s ever done is help me.
Before I have a chance to respond, Inez appears on the other side. “Are you getting us out?”
My heart sinks as I trace her features. She was only twelve when I found her wandering the streets and brought her onto the crew. Now she’s a woman who grew up in a prison. A childhood lost to time.
I shake my head. “I’m here to say goodbye.”
Thea’s eyes widen. “What are you talking about?”
I swallow and turn, locking eyes with each member of my crew.
Katrina worries her lip. Leigh and Astrid, their hair like wildfire, share a worried glance.
Ivy studies me with her piercing green eyes—the same way she’d watch waves from our ship.
Collin turns to Elayne and fills her in, signing with her hands.
Even Celia, her lips pressed into a thin line, meets my gaze.
“It’s all my fault for what happened to you.” I swallow, parsing out my words. “But not a single day went by where I didn’t think of each of you, wondering where you were and how you were doing. I want you all to know how sorry I am.”
“Briar,” Thea says, reaching out for my hand.
I shake my head. “I have to do this.”
Tears threaten to overflow in her eyes, like she already knows what I’m about to say, but she nods and retreats a step.
Clearing my throat, I fight back my own tears waiting to break free. For them, I’ll be strong. “It’s been the greatest honor of my life to share a ship with you. To call you my crew, my friends. Sisters.” My voice breaks. “Starting tomorrow, you’ll have a new captain.”
Thea stiffens. “What are you talking about?”
I pin my shoulders back and clear my throat. “I, Queen Calisdana of the Sea, am naming Thea as your new captain—someone whose bravery I have admired my entire life. She will be the one to lead you, because come dawn, I will be executed.”
Silence fills the dungeon.
“No,” Thea breathes, shaking her head. “No, I won’t do it. The ship is yours, Briar, and nothing is going to happen to you. I can’t—”
“You can,” Celia says from my back. “And we will. We’ll find The Twelfth Night and join the forces back at Delterran, like we were always meant to.”
I fight the urge to flinch at her words. They dig deep into my core, tearing at my wounds, but I nod. “Exactly. There’s no one I would trust more with my ship than my first mate.”
Tears roll down Thea’s cheeks, and she steps forward, gripping the rungs so tight her knuckles blanch. “You carry a natural leadership that I could never replace, but for you, I’ll do my best.” She swallows and clasps my hand in hers. “To the ends of the earth.”
A knock comes from the entrance, and Gemma appears. “Time to go.”
I fold my hands into Thea’s, and finally, I let my tears slip free. “Even when I’m gone, you’ll always have me.”
“Hurry,” Gemma whispers.
Blowing out a hoarse breath, I untangle my fingers and step back, letting my gaze sweep over my crew for the final time. A single tear drips from my chin and splashes to the ground—an offering for the ship I never returned to. The final member of my crew, still lost.
I walk toward the entrance, and a hand reaches out, brushing mine.
“I wish we had more time,” Inez whispers, her eyes glistening. She lowers her voice further. “I was so young, and you gave me a chance when no one else would. I would’ve followed you anywhere, captain.”
My heart squeezes, and I give her a small, tear-stained smile. “No time would ever be enough.”
I stride past each cell and join Gemma at the door. We slip out, and my stomach clenches as she fits the key into the lock and turns it. It feels wrong to say goodbye—to know what is in store for me tomorrow without trying everything to stop it.
But I’m out of options, and I’ve caused enough destruction.
Thea is smart. She’ll get them out of this, find our ship, and become the leader I never was.
We retrace our footsteps up the spiral steps.
“I’m sorry about Marianne,” I whisper, hoping the curved stone walls carry my words to Gemma’s ears. “I promised I would protect her, and yet…”
Her steps falter, and she grabs the railing, steadying her balance. The light pools on the muscle that feathers in her jaw. “I’d rather not talk about her.”
The image of Isolde’s blade going through Marianne’s chest haunts my mind—forcing its way uninvited into my dreams. Another death at my hand.
We come to the top of the turret and cross the bridge. Far below, guards meander around the courtyard, nothing but insects from this height.
“And now you’re on the council?” I say.
“Kressa nominated me.” She shrugs. “Thought it would be wise to keep me close to the crown.”
I gnaw my lip. “Would she be angry if she knew you took me out of my cell?”
“Livid.”
The air shifts between us, warming. If I’m to die at dawn, at least I can rest easy knowing Gemma doesn’t harbor animosity. After everything she’s done for me, that’s the least I can hope for.
We wind through the corridors, each step closer to my cell adding to the weight settled on my chest. We turn the final corner, and—
“Going somewhere?” Kressa says.
My blood turns cold, and I stumble to a stop. She leans against the doorway with a cloak buttoned tight around her throat, arms crossed over her chest as her gaze rakes over me.
Gemma—still glamoured as a guard, straightens her spine. “Sorry, Your Highness, I was told she—”
“Cut the act, Gemma,” Kressa says.
Gnawing on her lip, Gemma releases her glamour, letting it sluice off her like water.
Kressa steps closer, her lip curled away from her teeth as she scans me. “You’re lucky it was me my father sent to check on you. Otherwise, you’d be meeting the guillotine right now.”
I step closer, until the tips of our boots kiss, and stare into her honey eyes. “What’s stopping you, Your Highness?”
A muscle tics in her jaw, and she flexes her hands, as if deciding whether or not to use her power. But I stand my ground. I have nothing to lose.
“Why don’t we pay your father a visit and tell him about our little secret?” I whisper, lips tilted into a smirk.
Gemma raises a brow, leaning a hair closer. She was there when Kressa used her fire power, but there was so much going on that it could’ve come from anyone—or even a fire sparked by the wielders. The only ones still alive who witnessed her fire are her, Isolde, and myself.
“You wouldn’t,” Kressa snarls, her breath hot against my cheek.
“Why not, love?”
She blinks, her lips parting for a fraction of a second, and my gaze dips to her chest, where my power resides. Nothing—not even a hint of cerulean filtering from her skin.
She clears her throat and steps back, adjusting the cloak draped over her shoulders. “Get into your cell, before I—”
An explosion rocks the castle. I’m thrown sideways, my body pitching through the air. Gemma screams. My back slams into the wall, and I slump down, blinking through the stone and dust sifting in the air.
The night sky greets me—the entire wall in front of me blown out.
And outside, moonlight filters through a pair of wings attached to a scaled, blood-red body.
A wyvern.