Chapter 20
VALANCE
They took me and bound me and carried me back to the palace. Not as rough as they would a normal prisoner, but the shackles rubbed my skin sore, kept my hands and feet locked together.
I had myself to blame for that. Throwing my body around in a wild rage didn’t help my skin or anything else. Neither did my entire situation.
Maeve…
I wept and called for Maeve, not too sure I wasn’t trapped in a nightmare. My heart longed for me to be, to come out of it soon. Because I would never hurt Maeve. I would never slaughter a royal box full of people. Including the mayor, even if he grated on me. Never. That wasn’t me.
I wasn’t that kind of monster.
Only, I really was on my back in chains because it was the best position to keep me in while I raged. The blood all over me was as real as the chains, as the dizzy ebbing and flowing of rage and grief and an unknown toxin.
No one could answer me. The elves only told me they’d get me home safely. So I’d cried and begged for an explanation. Getting nothing.
I’d half-expected to be tossed into the cell next to Kormac for my crimes.
Crimes? I hadn’t done anything. This was shadow magic!
“I want to see my father,” I said as I was carried into the palace.
“Word has been sent to His Majesty,” a female elf told me. “But we must return you to your chambers for the time being.”
“I’m commanding you to take me to my father. Now.”
“Forgive me, Your Highness.”
Fury spiked everywhere. “Take me now before I take your fucking head!”
She didn’t respond.
These binds were too much. “Put me down! Now! Obey me! I’m your prince.”
They kept quiet and took me to my room.
By the time we arrived, I’d become a sobbing and pleading mess. Which fueled my anger further. I didn’t want them to see me cry. I didn’t want to whimper like Ren.
“He did this,” I said softly, my throat raw. “The sorcerer made me… He… Oh, Danu. Please. I have to see the king.”
The elves carefully placed me on the bed.
“Rest well,” the female said. “That is all you can do for now.”
“But these shackles,” I said.
“I’m afraid they must stay,” she said sadly.
Two male elves came in with three heavy silver chains. They moved quickly, strapping them around me and under the bed, locking them down with weighty padlocks.
Too stunned to struggle, I watched, scared out of my mind. “What’s happening?”
They didn’t respond.
“I don’t understand. I can’t… I can’t believe any of this.”
“A precaution,” the female elf spoke. “While we investigate.”
“You mean to leave me on the bed like this?”
“Rest well,” she answered and left, closing the door.
A strange calm fell over me. I stared up at the ceiling, still and quiet within and without. The moment brought emptiness, freedom from everything beyond my little cocoon. Just me and this room. At peace.
Until the peace shattered along with my heart.
Maeve was dead. By my hand. From some spell put upon me by the sorcerer. More tears. Both of my friends were gone. Brother and sister taken from me on consecutive days. It didn’t seem real. I prayed it wasn’t.
But the screams… I had no memory of killing anyone, but there were screams when I’d been lost in the strange, blurred nightmares. I’d touched them. Had I really been touching Maeve and the others?
I sobbed some more. “This can’t be happening. There has to be—”
Kormac! He would know. He would have the answers. If he didn’t give them up, I’d cut them out of him. Yes, he’d have to write them down with ink and paper, so no finger loss. I had to remember to aim low when I hurt him for the truth.