Chapter 74
Seventy-Four
Black Onyx
With all the strength I can muster, I clamber to my feet to face him.
He looks less like the Lord of Shadows and more like any other fae, but I know better than to blindly believe what I see. Reichardt taught me that.
“I forget how dark it can be down here.” The voice I haven’t heard since our second meeting causes my spine to straighten.
A blinding light bursts across my vision, so bright that it causes my ears to ring.
My eyes slowly adjust to a soft white glow illuminating the room from seemingly nowhere.
For the first time, I take in my surroundings.
The room is long, filled with empty cells.
They’re all small, nothing but a blanket on the ground and a sack of hay to lay one’s head down on.
Just like mine. My jaw clenches as I take it in, wondering how many innocent souls Daimon has trapped down here over the centuries.
But there’s something different about my cell. Glittering black bars surround me, unlike the steel-coated ones encasing the others. Mine shimmer against the light like onyx stone scintillating in the moonlight.
“You’ll find the prison you know is far less terrifying than the prison you don’t,” Daimon muses.
His words draw my attention back to him—to my father. My captor.
“You’re the one keeping me prisoner?” I snap, rage filling my body.
This whole time, I could only speculate where I was. Until Graylen came to see me, I hadn’t seen anyone else. But knowing he’s here—that must mean I’m in the Shadow Realm, not the Vale.
Part of me had wondered if he was on my side, but that curiosity slowly begins to die out. He’s been here the whole time and is just now coming down here.
I’ve woken up with scraps of food waiting just outside of the cage, yet have never seen anyone come or go. He’s practically let me starve in here—me, his own daughter.
With the remaining strength in my body, I lunge for the shimmering black bars. My fingers curl around them as I ram forward, teeth bared, a snarl ripping from my throat.
“Not the father you were hoping I would be?” Daimon huffs a laugh and takes a step closer, still just out of reach if I were to stretch my arms out. “My first lesson to you: hope makes you weak.”
“I don’t want anything from you,” I snap. “Unless it involves helping me get the people I care about back and letting me go.”
Ellerry’s face flashes into my mind, her free-spirited smile stretched wide as she jumps through the Mother Tree. Then Annora’s face, soft and serene as she helps me learn how to dreamwalk. And the countless others trapped after our failed trial.
“You brought us to this wretched place. What has Vidaris done to Graylen?” I demand. As much as I know my pleas will go unanswered, I have to try. “Let him go.”
He smiles sadly, an expression that almost looks genuine. But I don’t have enough hope in me to trust for a moment that there’s anything good within him.
“Don’t waste your breath on him,” Daimon mutters.
“You don’t understand—you’ve never loved someone,” I growl. “You’ve never watched the person you love be ripped away from you—watched them turn into someone else.”
His gaze darkens, the navy-blue of his irises deepening to a dark midnight color. “Careful,” he warns.
My nostrils flare, but I don’t push any further. My luck has all but run out, and if there’s any hope of getting out of here alive, then pissing him off won’t help.
He shifts on his feet, the color of his eyes softening to a lighter blue as he watches me. “Anisia will help you prepare for tonight,” Daimon continues, his voice now light as air. “I will be…elsewhere for the time being, but will come by when I can.”
His words are so…normal. As if he isn’t the ruler of a soul purgatory, as if I’m just a guest stopping by while on vacation.
I won’t give him the satisfaction of admitting curiosity about what’s happening tonight, so instead I hold his gaze, silently sending daggers from my eyes. But I wish I had my magic to cling to. Instead, it’s empty inside of my soul—like a string that has been cut, leaving me alone and broken.
“Illuminare,” he whispers.
A cool breeze brushes against my skin and rustles strands of my dirt-coated hair in its wake. My back prickles with the sensation of being watched, and I whirl around.
What once was a plain, empty wall behind my cage has been replaced with a simple black wooden door.
“Prodire, Anisia.” Daimon’s voice is hushed behind me, the language foreign.
The same prickling sensation itches up my back once more, this time from where Daimon is standing.
I swallow the twinge of fear in my gut and turn back to face him.
There’s no stopping the gasp that pushes past my lips when I see what’s standing beside him—who’s standing beside him.
Pitch-black eyes stare back at me, framed by navy string bangs and a pixie cut. But her ears are surprisingly round, the trademark sign of a human. Her skin is so pale and translucent that it’s almost blue in color. Thick charcoal rims her eyes, along with sweeping thick lashes.
The girl—if that’s what she could be called—smiles at me.
My face blanches at the row of sharp teeth, pearly white stained red. Like blood. Shadows billow off of her, surrounding her in a dark aura that I can’t look away from.
“Lunaria,” Daimon says sharply, snapping my attention to him. “This is Anisia. She’ll assist you in whatever you may need.”
I slide my gaze back to her, unease slithering down my spine.
“I’m here to help.” She gestures to the door behind me, her voice high-pitched and scratchy. “My room is just there, should you need anything before I retrieve you for tonight.”
Retrieve.
Being alone here might’ve been better. I knew what to expect and how to spend my time before. But now…it’s unknown. It doesn’t help that Daimon is planning something for tonight, and I don’t know what.
With a final glance at Daimon, I ask, “Am I to be your prisoner forever? Locked in a cage until you’re ready to hand me over to Vidaris?”
Daimon smiles, the expression the opposite of comforting. It doesn’t meet his eyes. “You are my guest,” he says simply.
I reach up and grip the sparkling onyx bars, tapping them lightly. “And these?” I tap again for emphasis. “You give all of your guests this type of room?”
Daimon’s expression remains neutral, but something unreliable flashes across his eyes. “A precaution,” he muses.
My nostrils flare as anger rises, heating my cheeks.
“Wandering around this castle would not be wise, lest you have an interest in meeting my other…guests.”
My eyes narrow as I sift through his unspoken words. There are other people here—maybe others trapped here like me. A surge of excitement fills my chest, and for the first time, I start to hope.
“I think you’ll find I’m more than capable of handling myself,” I grit out through my teeth.
Daimon’s eyes shift to my palm—the one with the freshly healed wound where I sliced it with Nightfall—a curious glint in his gaze. “I will see you this evening,” he responds, ignoring my comment.
Frustration swirls like acid in my chest as Anisia waves her hand in front of me—already muttering about the supplies she’ll need to gather.
Daimon fades into darkness down the hallway, not sparing me a second glance.
“Graylen,” I scream into my mind, desperate for him to hear me but knowing it’s useless. “Hold on for me.”
But my thoughts are only met with silence.