Chapter 10
Two young boys ran before me, laughing in a sunlit field.
I blinked and they were gone, replaced by a young horse prancing around me in elegant circles.
Another blink and I stared at hands wrapped in strange tendrils of shimmering smoke.
Blink. I stood on the edge of a familiar field, horses snorting softly as they pawed at the dirt.
Blink. Howling winds whipped around me, and I stared at the ground miles below.
Blink.
The earth cracked open before me.
Blink.
Black emptiness.
All alone.
I woke with a start, everything I had seen blurring until it faded completely, the details of what I’d experienced disappearing.
Loneliness consumed me. I understood the hollow ache in my gut but had never felt it so strongly before now. The emotion wasn’t mine at all, yet it screamed through my entire being.
I lay on cool stone, a light sheen of sweat covered my entire body, making me shiver. The ringing in my ears and throbbing in my blood had ceased, replaced by a vibration in my hands.
The lamp. It came from the lamp.
Like a heartbeat, only faster.
I had to get out.
The impulse washed over me with sudden intensity. I struggled to get up, my feet tangling in my stupid skirts. Why had I not worn pants? When I finally freed them, I stood on wobbly legs.
In my haste to grab the lamp, I had dropped the torch, so it burned down to an ember a few feet away. I reluctantly released one hand from the warm metal to collect it, lightly blowing on the end to restart the flame.
Then I climbed back down the pillar steps.
When I first reached the top of the pillar, I was close to exhaustion, now I was strangely reenergized and moved faster than I thought possible, given the fatigue of my limbs.
An impulse pounding through my body urged me to leave this place.
I leaped down several steps at a time, rushing to the cavern below.
I needed to get out.
In no time at all, I was jumping off the fifth step from the bottom. I landed unsteadily but still managed to keep my feet as I burst onward to the steps leading out. The urge to leave this place consumed me. My mind, my body, everything focused on that one inexplicable need.
Get out.
Adrenaline pumped through my veins, fueling me to go faster.
Get out.
The torch slipped from the hands. I didn’t dare stop to retrieve it.
Get. Out.
I repeated the chant, racing through the dark, until a soft-white glow appeared ahead.
The exit.
I sprinted, gaining even more momentum. Almost there.
I burst through the archway and stopped so suddenly I collapsed to the ground, my legs giving way to exhaustion. I gulped clean air greedily, my chest heaving. A deluge of cool relief washed over me, and I closed my eyes to bask in the heady sensation I couldn’t explain.
My breathing significantly calmer, I opened my eyes to several crossbows aimed my way. The guards behind them shifted on their feet, some with wide eyes and open mouths.
I clutched the lamp to my chest desperately. Protectively.
Mine.
It took me a moment to realize I was shaking my head at the men, denying them access to the small trinket.
Terym approached, ordering his guards to stand down, and they lowered their weapons.
“Give it to me.” His voice was barely above a whisper, but his hands made grabbing motions, which oddly reminded me of a toddler who’d lost their favorite toy.
I gripped the lamp tighter as he neared, the thrumming vibration sinking into my skin.
The lamp was mine.
He couldn’t have it. No one could have it.
Mine.
“Adelia!” The king’s bark shocked me back into awareness.
What’s happening to me?
My mind had spiraled out of control. Irrational. I was being irrational.
The lamp wasn’t mine. It was his, King Terym’s. He needed it to break the curse. I should give it to him.
My mind willed it, but my arms wouldn’t move.
Give it to him.
I forced them forward, every single part of me rebelling against the movement. It was wrong.
Terym reached out, blue eyes sparking with victory. There was a light sizzle when his fingers grazed the warm metal, and he released a pained cry, yanking his hands away and cradling them.
I snatched the lamp back to my chest and closed my eyes. The humming vibration settled against my racing heart, soothing the inexplicable fear of the lamp being taken from me and sending a call deep within my soul. I couldn’t bear to part with it, not now that it was in my hands.
“My king!”
My eyes flew open at Captain Gensen’s alarmed shout.
He rushed to Terym’s aide, inspecting his hands, then pulled a cloth from the nearest saddlebag to wrap them.
His movement exposed the large red blisters covering Terym’s fingers.
The lamp had burned him when he touched it, like he had placed his fingers over a roaring flame.
“We must leave at once, my king. You need a healer.”
At Terym’s nodded agreement, Gensen ordered his men to their horses.
A guard gripped my elbow tightly and dragged me to the mare who usually carried me.
The brutish guard shoved me toward her, and I stumbled into her side.
Luckily, she was a calm beast and didn’t startle.
I missed Pierce, he wouldn’t have been so rough with me, but he stayed behind to protect Eleanor.
“Get on,” the brute grunted.
Still unwilling to release the lamp, I braced my joined hands on the saddle, doing my best to leverage upward. With no strength left in my legs, I hung awkwardly. No amount of maneuvering would get me onto the mare’s back without releasing the lamp.
I refused.
The brute took pity on me, grabbing my feet and pushing me high enough I could swing my leg over the saddle.
Not caring enough to be embarrassed, I clutched the lamp close to my heart again, the thrumming beating in time with my racing pulse.
With a loud sigh, the guard grabbed my horse’s bridle, then mounted his horse and led me through the forest.
I couldn’t explain my strange behavior. I didn’t understand it. The only thing I was sure of was the need to keep the lamp close. No part of me wanted to let it go. I would hold it forever if that’s what it took. Because I had fought for it, earned it, and no one else could have it.
Because it was mine.
Sensing the king’s eyes on me the entire journey back to camp, I didn’t turn to meet his gaze, scared to see what reflected there. I had defied him, and I dreaded the consequences of that. I prayed whatever he decided he would leave Eleanor out of it.
Without the nervous anticipation which filled me this morning, the trip back to camp passed quickly.
The sun startlingly bright when we left the sheltered darkness of the trees.
The scent of braised meat hit me as the canvas tents came into view, and my stomach rumbled.
I barely touched the small platter Wista had provided before we left, unable to get anything down with the knots twisting my stomach over what the day could’ve brought.
After the long journey to and from the strange cave, along with the hundreds of steps I climbed, I was ravenous.
Though, I suspected it would be a while before I ate.
Soldiers, servants, and stable hands rushed toward us upon arrival. Gensen barked several orders, and one of the boys scurried away to fetch the healer he’d called for, then Terym was helped from his horse and led into the camp.
My current keeper lifted me from the horse before I had a chance to even attempt dismounting.
Gripping my elbow in his rough hands, he dragged me to follow the king and his men.
I stumbled the entire way, my leg muscles spasming, and a heavy lump settled in my gut.
Whatever was about to happen would surely change my life forever.
Nothing would be the same after this; an intrinsic part of my instincts sensed it, and there was no way it could be stopped.
The king’s usual guards stood sentry at the tent’s entrance, nodding to the brute who dragged me inside as we passed. He pushed me into the armchair I’d admired last time I was here before storming away. I curled into the soft fabric, huddling around the vibrating lamp I still clutched close.
The king sat at the head of the expansive table, a healer tending to the blistered skin of his hands. Only the small murmurings of the healer and Gensen’s pacing steps could be heard, his concerned eyes intent on the healer as he worked.
The healer was binding the king’s hands in white cloth when the lords of Torglea’s five territories made their way into the tent.
A sour-faced man dressed in green entered first, Lord Beatus from the Southern Territory.
He sat at the table with his arms crossed, beady black eyes set on the king, his knee bouncing under the table.
Lord Orcan, who sat to Terym’s right, was next.
Harkin helped a frail Lord Kheal through the entrance and onto another seat before he took his own.
His gaze lingered on me for a moment, then his freckled face flashed a small smile before his attention settled on the king as well.
Lord Zyome was last to arrive, his tunic worn and ruffled, the once bright-yellow fabric stained a dirty-mustard color.
The reclusive lord staggered in with hunched shoulders and immediately grabbed a carafe of wine and a goblet before slumping into the chair closest to me.
He poured a glass and downed it in one go without looking at anyone.
The stench wafting from him made it clear it wasn’t the first of the day.
Surprisingly, it was Lord Kheal who broke the silence when the healer left, his soft voice betraying the fragility of his age. “Was this trip a success, my king?”