Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
When the realm stopped turning around us, bright sunshine streamed across my face.
We stood atop a hill, and in the distance, a forest was visible.
Golden leaves, which shimmered into deep blue and magenta colors when the cool breeze hit them, covered the forest’s large trees.
Pastel-colored clouds filled the sky, and the sun shone in abundance.
And standing menacingly atop the hill, right behind us, the supernatural prison waited.
A heavy cloak of magic was suspended in a dome over the entire grounds, like a low-lying, hazy mist. Inside the dome were a series of solid walls spaced apart from one another.
The actual prison appeared to be three stories tall and constructed from jagged rock. The natural gray walls rose from the land and looked thick and impenetrable.
Not wasting any time, Kole led me toward a gate where two guards waited. Both had slightly glowing skin, letting me know they were Nolus fae.
When we reached them, the short guard with bright-red hair held out his hand. “Credentials?”
Kole showed him the signed paperwork supplied by the Imperial Council. “I’m Warrior Swordwielder, and this is Princess Primelle Manafold of Mistvale Kingdom on the Silten continent. We’ve both been cleared to enter the prison today.”
The guard eyed me head to toe. “Ah, yes, we were just informed you would be arriving to question a prisoner. Both of you will need to be scanned. Place your hand here.” The guard held out a strange-looking device that reminded me of the crystal spheres used at inns to catalogue one’s background.
Kole placed his hand on it first, and a lash of magic wrapped around his wrist and held him in place. Out of nowhere, a voice came from the device and stated, “Pass. Kole Swordwielder, Imperial Warrior on the Silten continent.”
The guard hummed, and once Kole was relieved of the device’s magic, he held it out to me. “Same to you, Your Highness. Place your hand here.”
For a shocked second, I realized he just addressed me as royalty, but I automatically did what I’d watched Kole do, and the same sounding voice soon stated, “Pass. Princess Primelle Rose Everline Manafold, third daughter to the king and queen of Mistvale Kingdom. Approved to enter for an interrogation today only.”
The redheaded guard nodded to the other guard, and together, they inserted keys into locks on opposite sides of the gates. With precise movements, they turned their keys simultaneously, and the wards shuddered. On my next blink, a doorway materialized through the thick magic.
The redhead nodded ahead. “Next checkpoint is ahead. Have your credentials ready.”
By the time we were actually inside the prison, a female guide had been assigned to us.
I was glad to finally be done with their security checks since the last checkpoint into the prison had made my skin crawl.
It’d involved stepping through solid rock that was temporarily liquefied, and if one didn’t move quickly enough through it, the rock would reform around you.
When our guide had told us that horrifying fact, I’d shuddered, but one thing had become incredibly clear to me.
Between the warded dome, thick rock walls, multiple checkpoints, and magical doors that only revealed themselves if one had the required substance to activate their magic, it was abundantly clear that this prison was a fortress.
It was no wonder that I’d never heard of anyone escaping it.
And even more worrisome, Verin was considered dangerous enough to be locked within it.
Our guide marched us down a hall and stated, “Prisoner 9,982 is waiting in a conference room for your interrogation. And please ignore any strange sounds you may hear. The prisoners here can be quite deranged, and more than a few like to howl. And of course, don’t be alarmed when the walls shift and move.
That’s part of our security process and is nothing to fear as long as you stay in the room I’ve assigned to you.
Your particular conference room is immune to the shift, but if you were to leave right before a shift occurs, you may end up in a portion of the prison you’d rather not see. ”
My heart thumped painfully. “The walls move?”
“They do,” Kole replied, and I could tell from his tone that he was trying to reassure me, something our guide did not seem inclined to do. “This prison was warded and crafted from ancient magic. Magic from the time of the gods. It moves to its own rhythm.”
“Indeed,” the guide confirmed. “Our spellcasters can strengthen the magic, but they cannot alter it.” She gave me a brittle smile. “But that’s also why you should feel so reassured that Prisoner 9,982 will never break out of here. Our prison has never been breached. Now, I shall leave you to it.”
She gestured to a door, and we entered a room. Seated at a table, already staring daggers at me, Verin waited.
Heart thumping, I pulled out the chair across from her, having to arrange my clothing to do so. The eggplant gown seemed rather garish in a prison, but it was too late to rethink my wardrobe choice now, and changing would have only delayed our visit here even more.
At my side, Kole sat too, and I stopped fiddling with my gown’s fabric and met Verin’s challenging stare. The servant, who I always thought was so meek and eager to please, glared at me as though she wished me dead.
“Hi there, Princess,” she sneered. “Nice dress. Aren’t you looking the part.”
Kole growled low in his throat. “Watch yourself.”
Her lip curled at him. “Or what? You’ll lock me up in prison?” A laugh bubbled out of her, sounding entirely deranged and chilling.
I shuddered and struggled to understand how the fairy sitting in front of me was the same one my aunt and I had entrusted to help care for my uncle.
“Do you know why we’re here, Verin?” I asked, doing my best to keep my tone cool, but it was hard. Everything about her and this place made my skin crawl.
“Perhaps looking for answers on how to save your dearest uncle?” Her lips downturned in a fake frown. “Although, I imagine it’ll soon be too late for that.”
My insides hardened at how easily she spoke of hurting Timith and not caring in the slightest about what she’d done to him. Just as fast, Kole inserted a key to the cuff on my wrist and released it.
The glowing bracelet fell away, and I automatically rubbed my wrist. I had no idea if he did it for show or if he truly believed the cuff worked on me, but whatever the case, Verin would know what releasing it meant.
Her eyes widened, and I let a stream of my magic out and made it obvious what I was doing. Naturally, my magic was undetectable, but with Verin, I infused tingles along it and let my magic probe her inner psyche.
She flinched.
I tilted my head, my voice turning syrupy sweet. “I’m here because I’m going to read your mind, Verin. I’m going to enter your brain and figure out exactly who is behind this all. Then, I’ll use the Stone to save my uncle.”
Her nostrils flared, but I got to work since time was ticking.
Despite my bravado, pulling the information from Verin’s mind proved harder than I thought it would be. Since she was aware of what I was doing, she tried to fight me and struggled against my magic, but with magic-suppressing cuffs upon her wrists, she was utterly defenseless.
Not that it would have mattered if she’d had a Shield in place. I would have just shred through it.
But I soon dropped the tingles along my magic and turned my ability entirely unfeeling. I concentrated on what I was doing, but sweat began to bead upon my upper lip, and I struggled to access anything useful from Verin’s mind.
Normally, my magic slid easily into a fairy’s brain, and if I wanted to, I could rifle through their memories, listen to what they were thinking, and learn what they were planning. It was incredibly intrusive, violating, and one hundred percent unethical.
But with Verin, it was different. Each time I tried to access anything from the former servant that wasn’t entirely trivial—such as what she had for breakfast or what potion the guards had forced her to ingest that morning—I encountered a block.
It felt as if a steel wall was in front of my magic, and no amount of probing did any good. The block wouldn’t move.
But I was able to confirm one thing despite the block. My parents were right. The same fairy who’d put the block in Verin’s mind was the same fairy who’d hired assassins to kill me when I’d been a child. Whoever it was, they were back.
Frustratingly, though, I couldn’t identify them, but I knew it was the same fairy. For some reason, the block allowed that vital piece of information through.
“It’s like their taunting us,” I said quietly to Kole. “I can’t uncover who it is, just that they’re one and the same.”
Before us, Verin was entirely lost to my magic.
I’d removed her perception of hearing. It wasn’t like Ironcrest magic, though.
Her ears worked just fine, but I’d flicked a switch in her brain that processed those sounds, so even though our words entered her body, she didn’t hear them.
It was just one more terrifying aspect of my forbidden magic.
Kole frowned and leaned forward. The energy in his aura grew.
“It’s almost like they want me to know that they’re back,” I said, and a terrifying chill spread through me.
A low growl came from Kole, and his nostrils flared. “That’s the same conclusion the Council reached. Otherwise, that information likely would have also been concealed by the block.”
“So they want to scare me.” Lips pursing, I concentrated again on the wall in Verin’s brain and was determined to find a way around it.
But the block felt thick and heavy. Impenetrable.
With my magic ratcheting higher, I imagined that my power began to drill through the block, like a hot needle piercing skin. Very slowly, my magic burrowed a tiny indent into the wall, barely scratching it, but I’d penetrated it slightly.
Taking heart in that, I burrowed more.
An ear-piercing scream abruptly tore from Verin. Out of nowhere, she began convulsing in the chair.
Gasping, I withdrew my forbidden magic entirely, sucking it back inside me so fast I felt lightheaded.
“Verin?” I staggered to my feet.
The servant’s eyes rolled back in her head, the whites showing. Foam began to spill from her mouth, and I raced around the table to help her.
“Stop, Prim.” Kole was in front of me before I could touch her. “This could all be an act.”
“It’s not an act, Kole!”
The door banged open behind us, and two guards raced inside. They were at Verin’s chair, pushing us out of the way, before I could blink.
Wild-eyed, all I could do was watch. One of the guards flicked a potion into Verin’s foaming mouth. Nothing happened.
“She’s breaking,” the guard said to the other. “The block is fragmenting her mind. You must have been about to breach it,” he said to me. To the other, he snapped, “We need a healer. These reviving potions aren’t touching it.”
The second guard tapped something on her wrist, and a flurry of sparks emitted from the device. “Prisoner 9,982 is suffering from a lethal mind fissure. Revival potions aren’t helping. Send a healer. Now.” Her device clicked off.
“Oh Gods, what have I done?” I gasped and stumbled backward.
I would have fallen if Kole hadn’t been right behind me.
His hands gripped my upper arms, steadying me, but all I could do was watch in horror as Verin emitted a single ear-piercing scream.
Just as fast, her neck made a horrific crack, then bent at an unnatural angle.
Silence filled the room.
Verin collapsed in her seat, her limbs still, her cries silent.
My hands flew to my mouth, my eyes widening in disbelief.
Because the servant who’d lived in my aunt and uncle’s home for months, who I’d once believed had only endeavored to do good in the realm, was dead.