Chapter 26
IZADELLA
Freezing water touches my feet and I curl in on myself.
The ground is covered in a light dusting of sand that grates on my exposed skin.
The tide laps at my legs and I frantically sit up.
It reeks of mold, rotting seaweed, and salty air.
Ocean water has slowly filled the dungeon.
I look up and see seaweed hanging at the tops of each of the doors and some on the stairwell.
They’re going to drown me.
Raw rage fills me, and I scream and scream and scream. Not to be rescued but to release some of the pain slashing me from the inside.
Rage at what Leon has done.
The lies he whispered on moonlit skin.
That he made me believe he actually loved me.
Agony that I will never see Nueena and Tavien again.
Tortured that Farren will think I abandoned him in Ellova after what he survived last night.
“Ellova’s grave, shut the fuck up,” Everett says, annoyed, outside my briny cell.
I snap my head in his direction. “How could you?”
He drinks from a golden chalice. “Do not take it so personally.”
Asshole. “Seems impossible not to.”
He only shrugs. “Think whatever you need to, Della.” He takes another sip of his drink.
I have one question for him. “You told Grayden you recognized Leon? How?”
Everett rolls his eyes. “I’ve been meeting with the king for months in secret.
Zilas never saw me, but I saw him. If I had known he was the king of Kalvorn, he would have been dead on sight.
It would have solved so many problems. Just like I saw you at the bazaar.
So many dark corners to hide in and watch. ”
My stomach twists at his dark smile.
“It was funny to listen to Grayden complain about you. This mortal jewelry maker with a family who wanted nothing to do with him. What I can’t figure out is why you were there.
It could not be for the coin. You have everything in Ellova.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you had access to the royal family’s treasuries. ”
At that, it’s my turn to grace him with a smug smile. “We all have our reasons for the choices we make. You just happen to choose terrible ones. And yes, I do have access to them.”
“Try to remember you are the one in the jail cell here.” He has the gall to be reading the novel I lent him.
“Are you seriously enjoying my book right now?”
He shrugs, turning a page. “I want to know how it ends.”
Delighted to spoil the ending for him, I bellow, “The hero solves the riddle, saves his brother who slew the serpent, and earns the maiden’s love, and together they win the war.”
The book snaps shut, and Everett throws it at me.
I duck even though I’m still bound, and it slaps against the slick wall, falling into the water.
My book is ruined, but it was worth it, and I snicker at the utter ridiculousness of it all.
The bottled-up stress of the past few weeks pours out of me, turning into cackling laughter.
“You won't be laughing soon.” He seethes.
“Everett! What are you even doing here? What can you possibly gain? You want the crown? I can promise you; it’s been a miserable experience.”
“I want the power the crown has,” he says in a haughty tone.
“You think Grayden is going to share power he doesn’t have? With you?” My laughter continues.
“You don’t need magic to have power.”
“Yeah, but it sure fucking helps, Everett. It really fucking helps.”
His smile is an evil, twisted thing. “Guess it’s pretty lucky we have you, then, isn’t it?”
I stop laughing at that.
He tsks. “Oh, not so fucking funny anymore, is it?”
“What is funny, what will give me endless joy, will be seeing Nueena rip you to shreds.”
It’s a glorious mental image. Her magic tearing him apart, Tavien’s flames incinerating what is left.
Revenge for taking me, revenge for his treachery.
“Nueena isn’t coming. When we left, she was a little preoccupied with the army at her doorstep demanding a king she didn’t know was right under her nose.
Zilas promised to leave and not come back if Nyvenah didn’t attack them.
He rode away with them. You know who else rode out just after the army left?
That servant girl with red hair on a Ellovian war horse.
A horse that looks suspiciously like yours.
Everyone in the command room saw you leave, chasing after your beloved healer, fleeing your home forever to be with him. ”
Panic rises faster than the icy waters. A broken “No” slips out of me.
Nueena thinks I’ve abandoned her? Abandoned Ellova? All to chase after a mortal man who has done nothing but lie to me?
No. No, she knows me better than that.
Everett murdered his closest friend. He cannot fathom a friendship like what Nueena and I have shared for over a century. He has lied to everyone. How could he possibly understand what it is like for someone to understand you as much as you understand yourself?
Nueena would never believe I’d run off to Kalvorn without telling her or without begging her forgiveness on my knees for risking the security of Ellova.
She would know how devastated I am, having unknowingly brought a possible enemy to our realm.
But what if she thinks I’ve fled in shame?
“And Zilas never loved you anyway. He was after the crown, so don’t hold your breath for him to care that you’re here either.”
Even if Leon did have real feelings for me, he thinks I’m safe with Nueena in Ellova.
The water is up to my waist, filling the dungeon.
The numbness spreading within me is not from the frigid waves but from one realization: no one is coming.