Chapter 28
Someone’s in my room. I sit up and find eyes watching me through the darkness. Footsteps sound against the wooden flooring, and I press my back into the wall behind me. The figure steps out of the darkness, and a familiar smile twists his face.
“How did you get in here?”
He tilts his head in fascination as his eyes scan every inch of me. I pull the covers up, hiding what I can from his sight, but the move only seems to amuse him.
“I have missed you, Adina. So very much.” He moves closer, and my eyes track his every move. “Why do you cower? You know I will never hurt you.” His voice is strange, so unlike the last time I heard it. It slithers off his tongue like liquid, and there is something so familiar about it.
“Where’s Willow?” I ask.
He blinks as though trying to remember exactly who I’m talking about.
“She is safe…for now. Why is the prince still alive?”
My heart thunders inside my chest. I cannot tell him the truth. If he knew, then he would kill me right here, right now.
“He was too strong.”
He tsks. “Do not lie to me. I always know when you’re lying.”
“It’s the truth. My blood would not kill him.”
He watches me for a beat and then turns away, walking back toward the shadows he came from.
“Please,” I beg. I scramble from beneath the sheets to my feet. I move forward, but not too close to him. “I will do anything, please just let her go.”
“Let who go?”
He watches me curiously, and something about his stare is so invasive that I wrap my hands around my middle. His eyes fall down to the movement, and his tongue flicks out to wet his lips. He closes his eyes and scents the air like an animal.
“I can feel how much he wants you, you know. It is unnatural. I wonder if he will keep you after the worlds have been destroyed.”
“What?” The word falls out as fear wraps itself around me at the thought that he may know about our bond.
He smiles.
“You are untouchable, that is why it is so hard. He will not allow a finger to be laid upon you. His want is so potent I can almost taste it. It is so sweet.” He flicks out his tongue as if to prove a point, and I cringe.
“Where is my sister?” I demand.
He dips his hand into the shadows and drags a person from the darkness. Willow. I take a step forward, but he wags his finger in the air.
Willow cries out, her face filled with bruises and cuts. The sight brings bile to my mouth.
“Adina,” She cries out, but he shakes her, and she falls silent once more.
“You will get her when the deal is done.”
“I will do what you want, just give her back to me.”
His face turns stony then.
“You do not demand of me, girl. You will get what I give when I see fit to give it.”
He wraps his hand around her neck and then squeezes. She cries out.
“Ok, please. Anything. I will do anything.”
“I want him dead…tonight.”
“I…can’t…I need more time.”
His eyes meet mine, and he blows out a breath.
“Pity.” As soon as the word leaves his mouth, he brings up his other hand and, without hesitation, snaps Willow's neck to the side. Her eyes widen before they remain frozen, and he drops her lifeless body to the floor.
A strangled scream leaves my mouth as I race forward, but something stops me from getting any closer. I fight against the restraints, my hands clawing at whatever stops me.
“Let me go! Get off me!”
“Adina.”
“Let me g—”
My eyes snap open, and my breath comes out fast and panicked. Strong hands hold me down as I fight against their grip.
“Adina.” The familiar voice calls to me, soothing the growing panic in the pit of my stomach. I turn to find the prince looking down at me, his eyes clouded with worry.
“Karius?”
He nods.
My eyes scan the room searching for the signs of Julian, of Willow’s lifeless body, but they are not there. It wasn’t real. The realization sends tears flooding down my face, and my body wracks with emotion.
“It was just a dream,” he whispers, and I don’t resist as he pulls me against him, his hand brushing against my side.
My head sinks into the contours of his solid chest, and yet it feels as though I fit perfectly.
I’m too tired to fight the pull, and instead, I let myself enjoy the warmth of it as I bury my tear-stained face into him.
My hands lay against his chest, pressed between us, and a sob leaves my mouth.
I feel the soft touch of his hand rubbing lines up and down my back, and something about it makes me feel safe, like I belong right here in his arms. I shouldn’t seek this comfort from him, but gods, I need it, and I take it without thought.
I can be mad at myself later, but for now, I sink into him.
“You’re safe,” he whispers, and for some reason, I believe him.
I lay there for minutes, hours…I don’t know. I let myself cry until there is nothing left but the shallow sounds of my breathing.
“Tell me about it.” His words carry no playfulness and no anger, just a gentleness that coaxes the words from my mouth.
“Julian was there.” His grip tightens for a moment, and I pause. “He told me that I had to kill you or…”
The words die on my tongue as I see the image of Willow’s lifeless body in my mind. I squeeze my eyes shut, but I cannot clear it away.
“He killed her, right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do.”
He leans back, pressing a hand to my chin and lifting until our eyes meet. He rubs the pad of his thumb under my eye, clearing away the falling tear.
“I will get her back.”
I shake my head.
“I don’t know where she is. I don’t even know where to start.”
“I will get her back.” He repeats.
“Promise?” I say, looking up at him.
He nods. “If I have to bring this entire court to its knees to bring her back to you, I will do it.”
He says the words with such conviction that I know he’s telling the truth. Feel it. And I hate him just a little less for it.
“Ok,” I whisper as our eyes lock in an intense stare. An emotion swirls within me that I push away. This doesn’t mean anything. I just want Willow back.
“Sleep, I’ll be right here.”
I let my eyes drift shut as his scent washes over me, a strange calm settling in as sleep begins to swallow me whole. At some point, he must have moved me from the floor to the bed, but the thought doesn’t bother me nearly as much as it should.
I stretch out my arm and find the other side of the bed empty.
Flashes of me in Karius’s arms assault my mind, and I wonder if he left to avoid the awkwardness of the morning.
I can't believe that I cried in his arms last night or that he saw me in that state.
My head throbs when I think of the images of Willow that filled my mind last night, her helpless frame mangled on the ground.
I sit up to shake the image, and my eye catches the glint of silver on his dresser, an orb of starlight hovering just above it.
I get out of bed and wander toward it. A gasp leaves my mouth at the sight of my mother’s dagger, and I have to suppress a cry at seeing it.
Beneath it is a note with small, scribbled cursive on it. I lift it to read.
Thought you might want this back, hopefully you won’t use it to stab me in the back.
I read the note several times before clutching the dagger to my chest, my eyes filling with warm tears.
I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that he did this.
Part of me had believed that he’d gotten rid of it the night he took it, but for whatever reason, he kept it.
And now he has given it back just when I need it.
I close my eyes for a moment and try not to get lost in the thought of the act.
He is only doing it so that I can keep myself safe, so that he doesn’t die.
A part of me toys with another idea that I try desperately to push away.
I lay the note and the dagger back down and make my way to the bathroom. It’s so much bigger than the one in my old room, and despite my initial anger at having to share the room, I cannot deny that it is far more luxurious than the one I was staying in.
I turn on the faucet, letting the water spill into the deep bath before adding the scented oils that are laid out beside it.
I grab a towel and hang it over the side.
I hurry back into the room and waltz into the wardrobe, surprised to find that more than half of it is filled with my clothes, all hung in the exact way they were in my room.
Did the servants do this themselves, or did he ask them to?
My mind reels with the possibility, but I push the thoughts away.
I pull out my training gear and a comfortable tunic and loose pants since I plan to meet Iza later so that we can do some more research into the creatures that attacked us.
I can understand why she wasn’t really looking into breaking the bond now, since there are far more pressing issues that we need to deal with.
It finally feels like I might stand a chance of finding Willow, and a small part of me is glad I told the group the truth.
Honestly, I’m not sure I could find her on my own.
I hurry back to the bathroom, turning off the faucet when the water is to where I want it.
I’m just lifting my top over my head when a knock sounds against the door.
I pause before making my way toward it. I swing it open, expecting to find one of the guards, but instead I find Celeste.
Her mouth forms into a scowl at the sight of me.
I knew she hated me back at the bloodhouse, but the rage in her eyes is different now. Stronger. Fiercer.
It is what you humans refer to as jealousy, Athriel says.
Good, she treated the people I care about like shit back at the bloodhouse, so maybe this is her comeuppance. I say gleefully.
“I’m here to see the prince,” she says, and something about the way she says it makes my blood boil.
“He’s out.”
She pins me with a stare that I’m pretty sure could kill if she wanted it to.
“Well, get out of the way so that I can wait for him. From what I remember, he loves being surprised.”