CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Nearly two weeks after the ball, my mind still wandered more often than it should have to Thom. I knew Anna would want to meet me at the market soon to chat, but she failed to appear at our usual meeting spot. Apparently the ball had swept her off her feet, too.
But something more important, more severe, weighed on me. Again and again, at the most unexpected moments, dread would weigh me down and I’d feel faint, only to be certain of my least favorite truth: Thom would soon be in trouble. And Lee was most certainly involved.
And there was nothing to be done about it.
Should I warn him again?
But by now, Thom knew of my first premonition—I’d laid out as much to him in my letter.
Yet he still hadn’t sought me out. Why not?
And what should be done?
Guilt prickled at my conscience as I tossed and turned beneath the starlight that snuck into my room through a small window. I heaved, the nausea within me so strong I would have called a physician if I hadn’t known it was my magic.
The gift I’d feared for so long, the one I was slowly learning to embrace, no longer felt like a whispered warning.
It felt like a command.
Now.
I dug my fingers into my cheeks, trying not to vomit. The world was swirling, my mind blank.
Now.
What was I supposed to do?
I leaned over the side of the bed and emptied the contents of my stomach onto the floor. My throat burned, my eyes watering with pain.
Fine. Now, I thought.
I forced myself to my feet, throwing a towel over my vomit with a moan. I washed out my mouth and stumbled out of the house and into the dark city streets toward the castle. The premonition, the dread, was so heavy that the earth seemed to sway beneath me as I walked toward the palace.
It would happen, soon. My soul cried out that what I feared would take place now, if I wasn’t too late.
I walked around the perimeter, slipping into the gardens through the orchard where David and I used to stroll hand in hand. My slippers grazed the dew-covered clover. I broke into a lurching run when I saw the pond in the distance.
My steps slowed when I saw figures already there.
There were three calmly conversing by the pond’s side. I tucked myself behind a bush to watch, the night darker than most as the moon was absent from the sky.
Their voices rose. One fiddled with a pair of spectacles on his face.
Thomas.
I stood, wanting to move closer. Suddenly, the largest man swung at Thom. The prince sank to the ground silently.
I clapped a hand over my mouth. Dizziness faded beneath a rising sense of panic.
Where was Caleb?
Should I scream? Would that only be worse?
The man hauled Prince Thomas over his shoulder and began striding toward the orchards.
Panic clawed at my throat. I thrust out my hands, drawing on the water’s force, begging it to rebel against gravity, to save the prince, to listen. Tension locked my fingers in place.
When I opened my eyes, the water was rising, and the two men were backing away. I swung my hands down, and the water pillar collapsed. The men started running. The one carrying Thomas moved slowly. Too slowly.
I diverted the water around Thomas, and it tugged at the men’s ankles, holding them back. The flood circled around them, forcing them to stop…
A black bag was pulled over my head.
I kicked and pushed, my assailant slipping into the mud.
I moved to pull off the bag, but strong arms encircled me, pinning me in place.
I reached for my magic, but the thread was nowhere, my mind too full of panic to focus.
When I tried to scream, they clamped a hand over my mouth.
The bag’s cotton pressed against my tongue. I couldn’t breathe.
When he let go, I gasped for air.
“Don’t,” he said, and at the voice, I stiffened.
It was Lee.