40. CHAPTER 40
Aveline
When the guards came to give me my next dose of medicine, they found me lying on the cot.
I was utterly still, an arm thrown over my face.
I wiped sleep from my eyes at the sound of their approach, feigning fatigue with a heavily lidded gaze.
I unfocused my eyes, staring absently at a spot on the floor.
“When was the last dose?” One of the guards asked. “She still looks pretty out of it to me.”
The guard’s feet shuffled. “Eight this morning. I gave it to her myself.”
I had no idea what time it was now. If I had to venture a guess, it was somewhere around noon. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.
By the time I woke, the sun would be setting on Myros. It would make it all that much easier for me to escape onto the streets unnoticed.
I could see the guard shrug out of the corner of my eye. “Order are orders, I suppose.”
The guards rifled for the keys to the cell. When they finally opened the iron door with their gloved hands, I didn’t move.
The first guard grasped my shoulders, forcibly holding me back against the cot. I allowed him to. He propped a finger against my jaw and opened it. The other guard stood over me, an amber bottle with a dropper in his hand.
I gripped the guard who held me against his forearm, bracing myself. He allowed four drops to fall onto the top of my tongue, and it took every ounce of my self-control to remain motionless.
Bouvardia, ghostbloom, and a hint of lyndworm.
Just as I suspected. Perfect.
The guards had ensured the last dose had gone down by checking my mouth, and I was sure they would do the same now.
I quickly moved the liquid under my tongue.
I let my head fall to the side as it sat there, absorbing into my blood stream directly.
Tincture taken under the tongue bypassed the liver entirely, allowing it to be directly absorbed into my blood stream.
Not only did it work faster, but it wore off faster, too.
I could feel the effects of the poison immediately. What little magic I had sensed rising to the surface of my skin was now pressed back down into the darkness. My eyes were heavy.
I swallowed back the remainder of the liquid.
When the guard propped my mouth open, the elixir was gone. Satisfied, they left me there.
But my hand wasn’t empty.
When the guard leaned over to administer the tincture, I had slipped the hand that hadn’t been bracing against his forearm up, up, up, grasping the key he still had dangling against his breast pocket.
I slid the key beneath me as I turned onto my side, suppressing the smile that itched to rise to my lips and feigning a cough at the acrid taste.
It wasn’t until their footsteps retreated, the door closing at the end of the corridor and slamming shut that I allowed myself to smile.
Men were easy to play…they never paid close enough attention.
It was all too easy to pilfer the key while they were focused on the poison.
The normal dose was given every four to six hours. This dose would run through my blood in two. Now…I only needed to wait.
By the time two hours had passed, I could feel the strange magic simmering beneath the surface of my skin once more.
I rose from the bed, knowing that another guard wouldn’t be along for hours yet.
I might not have been the strongest fighter or the best with a dagger and sword, but I was clever.
I would be remiss if I couldn’t admit that Queen Dyata and I had that in common.
I rose, silently padding to the cell door and wrapping my arm around the iron, inserting the key into the lock.
It sprang free without so much as a peep and I pocketed the key down the front of my soiled gown, between my breasts.
I could only hope that it was a master key that opened every cell door, though I doubted I would be that lucky.
I took off in the wrong direction, away from the corridor that would lead me up and out of the castle. I descended the moist, grimy steps of the prison to a lower level, scouring each cell for my mother.
It wasn’t until I was another two levels down that I found her, chained against the wall of her cell.
My mouth opened in shock at the sight of her.
Her onyx hair was plastered to her forehead with sweat, her elegant frame thinner than I had ever seen.
Her eyes were pressed closed. If it weren’t for the slow and steady rise of her chest, I would have thought she was already dead.
Her skin was pale, stretching over her bones in a grotesque way. While I had been in Gothryn earning favor at court, she had been here. Forced to endure torture in the dungeons at the hands of Queen Dyata.
I rushed forward, slipping the key into the lock.
It didn’t fit.
I pushed and pushed—twisting it this way and that—but the lock would not give.
“Godsdammit. Mother! Mother!”
She did not rouse at my calls. I wasn’t sure if there were guards on this level, and I didn’t want to draw any more attention than necessary.
I had no weapon. No poison. Only my wits…and that would only get me so far with physical barriers in place.
“Mother!”
She stirred, her chapped lips cracking open as her heavy gaze met mine. She tilted her head, as if she didn’t believe what she was seeing. The Ashbourne royals didn’t know anything about poisons…they were likely giving her hallucinogens without even realizing it.
“Do you have a hair pin? I have a key, but it doesn’t fit in the lock.”
Her chains were so tight she could barely raise her arms to feel around her head. She came up empty, shaking her head once.
I cursed, desperately searching around us. But there was nothing of use. I needed to go back up, find something I could use or find the key itself, then return.
But I didn’t want to leave her. Not even for a moment.
Guilt rose up the back of my throat. She didn’t deserve any of this. She was only suffering now because of my actions. Because I had dared to fall in love with a prince. I had created this entire mess, and the only one to blame was me.
My eyes filled with tears as I gripped the bars before me.
“I’ll be back. I promise.”
Her cracked lips turned into what I could only describe as a smile.
As I turned back toward the staircase that would lead me up, a great heaving boom stopped me in my tracks. The walls of the prison shook violently and I lost my balance, falling to my knees on the uneven dirt floor.
Before I could gather my bearings, the sound echoed once more. Rubble was loosened, falling from the ceiling in a hail of rock and rubble. I raised my hands above me to protect my head.
“What the—”
As I ventured to stand once more, the earth itself shook. My feet were taken right out from under me as the left side of the prison caved in. I swore, the plume of ensuing dust obscuring my vision.
I couldn’t leave her down here. The prison was collapsing and—
A cry rent the air that raised gooseflesh along my skin, a chill running up my spine as my face turned skyward.
The ceiling of the prison had been torn off—the cells above that I had occupied mere moments ago flung through the air as if they weighed nothing.
I sent a silent prayer up to Nytherion, the goddess of life, to protect the prisoners as my heart sank.
The sudden sunlight blurred my vision, my eyes blinking rapidly as they adjusted to the burning light.
Dragons.
Another cry rent the air and I stood, rushing toward the caved in portion of the prison to scale the wreckage. It was the only way out now.
My gaze caught on a quiver and bow pinned among the rubble by a heavy boulder. It must have been in one of the rooms above. Or perhaps it belonged to one of the guards.
I reached down to grasp it, needing to be armed as chaos consumed everything around me.
I sent a silent prayer up to the old gods once more for having bestowed upon me the only weapon I could truly yield. I pushed with all my might, dislodging the rock and allowing the bow and quiver to free itself.
A hand cut off at the elbow was still wrapped around it, fresh blood still coating the sleeve. I leaped back with a yelp, dropping the weapon and the hand still attached. It cascaded down the mound of wreckage, coming to a stop on the floor of the dungeon.
With a heavy swallow I scaled my way back down. I hesitated for only a moment before separating the dead man’s curled fist from it. I needed it more than he did.
I strapped the quiver to my back and grasped the bow. I turned back toward the mound, steeling myself to begin the climb once more. The remainder of that soldier’s body was somewhere among the rubble, and I prayed that I didn’t encounter it or uncover it as I climbed.
The prison might have been broken open, but my mother remained chained to the wall of her cell. She still couldn’t get out. I scaled the rocks as quickly as I could.
I was out of breath, a frustrated groan ripping free from my throat as my chest heaved, the skirts of my dress tangling around my legs.
A crash sounded from behind me. I turned sharply, my mouth falling open. Portions of the castle had been dropped from above, trapping my mother and any other prisoners below.
I needed to stop this. Needed to find out what in the seven hells was going on.
As I searched the skies above my stomach dropped, realization settling deep in my bones.
Not dragons.
Dragon.
Only one.
Sorin had come for me.