Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
Sabina
Fear squeezes around me, and my breathing quickens. I take a few steps back, then bump into something. The room is completely obscured in shadows, blotting out all the light. This isn’t anything like it was with Brevan.
I shake out my hands, then close my eyes. Brevan said the magic can show when emotions are heightened. So I breathe, and work to calm myself.
Icy tendrils slither against my skin and ruffle the fabric of my dress. I can feel them moving and flowing like living things. They brush against my face and tangle in my hair. My hands ball into fists, and my jaw tightens as I resist the urge to bat them all away.
The shadows when I’d been with Brevan frightened me, but I had him with me. This time, there’s nobody else to anchor me. I’m on my own. That thought used to terrify me, but instead, my chest expands and I feel a sense of control. This magic is mine.
I will the air to clear, the slithering wisps to subside. Goosebumps rise along my arms as the shadows brush across my cheeks with a gentle caress.
It’s so different from the magic I thought I received. This isn’t waking the dead or having them invade my mind with their thoughts. That’s a horrific power I don’t want. A gift that I can’t use. What good is creating walking corpses?
Caiden controls shadows. But apparently, I do, too.
My eyes snap open, and I stare into the darkness. I’m more like him than I realized, aren’t I? But that doesn’t mean I have to use the magic the same way as him.
Shadows could be useful. This is a gift I could eventually master. Relaxing my hands, I reach into the void, calling the shadows to me. My chest grows warm, and I lean into it, embracing the feeling as if I’m greeting an old friend.
This isn’t the same feeling I get when my other magic flares. That sensation is twisted and dark and frightening. The shadows don’t feel dangerous.
They begin to ease until I can see the sunlight from my window cutting through the darkness. I summon the dark tendrils, calling them to me with curiosity instead of fear.
To my surprise, they respond, swirling around me, slithering up my body, wrapping around me like an affectionate snake.
Someone pounds on my door and the shadows dissipate like smoke, the room returning to normal as if nothing strange happened.
The pounding sounds again. It’s intense, frantic. I hurry to the door, then throw it open.
Juliette lowers her hand, then barges into my room. Brow furrowed, I turn to Nate. “She said you’d want to see her.”
“Yes, of course,” I say.
“Do you…is she alright?” he asks.
“I don’t know.” I glance over my shoulder to find her pacing the room, wringing her hands.
I thought she was away with her new lover and wasn’t expecting to see her anytime soon.
My insides twist, anxiety making me uncomfortable.
I’m still unsure around her. I told her I forgave her, but how do you ever truly forgive someone for causing a friend’s death?
Especially when all the others offered to help me once they discovered who I was despite what happened to Katherine.
Juliette didn’t turn her in as a rebel because she believed in the kingdom, she did it to save herself. And now she’s in my room, seconds away from what appears to be a complete breakdown. I shove away all the unknowns. She needs a friend, and I can be that for her.
“I’m here if you need me,” Nate says.
I nod to him, grateful for his support. After I close the door, I cross to Juliette, then grab her hands, clapping them between mine. She stops moving.
“What is it? What’s wrong? When did you get here? Are you hurt? Did something happen?” The questions pour from me, and I force myself to stop.
She stares at me, her gaze unwavering and intense. “I came as soon as I found out. I swear, I didn’t know. They never told me. I had no idea. If I’d have known, I would have told you. I would have stopped them…”
“Juliette, breathe. Slow down. What did you find out?” I keep my voice calm, but my pulse is racing.
“They’re dead. They’re all dead.” Her voice is high pitched and laced with panic. “Every single one of them. All of them.”
“Who’s dead?” My thoughts go straight to Brevan, then Caiden. Panic claws at my insides.
Screaming, desperate and wild, cuts through the air, as if whoever made the sound is in the room with us. I run to the door and throw it open.
Charlotte is on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. I crouch down and pull her into my arms. “What is it? What happened?”
“He’s gone. He’s gone.” She’s shaking as she sobs, her whole body limp against me. The sounds she makes are pure sorrow, a kind of grief I recognize in my soul. The hairs on my arms stand on edge.
“Oh, gods, Charlotte.” I stroke her hair as tears roll down my own cheeks. I hope it’s not what it sounds like. That I’m wrong. I know in my bones that I’m not. I hold her tighter. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Juliette collapses next to me, tears streaming down her face. She’s mouthing words I can’t hear, but I’m almost certain they’re more apologies. Somehow, this is connected. She’s feeling guilty for Charlotte’s pain.
Guards come rushing down the hall, and I give Nate a stern look. He understands and orders the newcomers to maintain their distance.
Charlotte is a heaving, shivering, inconsolable mess. She buries her face into my chest, her hands gripping the fabric of my skirts like a small child might do. She’s not present right now, I know that much. She’s somewhere very far away, locked away by her own grief.
I push back the hair that’s in front of her eyes, and when my fingers make contact with her skin I gasp.
Images and emotions flash in my mind. Walking down a long hallway, eager and happy.
Moments of bare skin and hot breath. Lips against my neck, eyelashes fluttering along my cheeks.
Male laughter and rough hands sliding up my body.
But it’s not me. It’s Charlotte. It’s her memories.
I try to pull myself out of them, but I’m trapped, unable to tear my fingers away from her temple.
The elation and joy are torn away as absolute terror and devastation replace it.
The man’s eyes roll into the back of his head, his body convulses.
There’s screaming. I think it’s Charlotte, but it might be me.
His lips turn blue, then black as spiderwebs of dark veins spread across his cheeks and down to his neck.
He’s convulsing and blood runs from his mouth and nose.
Then he goes still.
I’m shaking him, screaming his name. Then I’m screaming for help.
Someone pulls me from him and throws me to the ground. They’re yelling, and I’m running.
The memory fades, and I’m sent tumbling back to reality with a devastating, crushing sensation that has me gasping for air, my body trembling.
Someone is behind me, holding me while I hold Charlotte.
“Empress? Empress, can you hear me?”
I look around, the world coming into focus.
Guards surround us, all of them staring at me with looks of concern or fear.
Dark shadows swirl around me, wrapping themselves around Charlotte, cocooning her, cradling her head.
She’s no longer making any sounds, but she’s staring at nothing, eyes unfocused, too distraught to notice anything.
“Empress?”
The strong arms holding me are comforting, the voice calling me is confident, showing no fear.
“Yes. I’m alright. Help me up,” I instruct. “Someone please bring Charlotte to my room.”
Nate releases his hold on me, and the shadows around Charlotte begin to dissipate. He stands, then directs a pair of guards to lift Charlotte.
“Where’s Juliette?” I look around frantically, trying to find her. Several guards are gathered in a group, some of them kneeling while others stand. My heart falls into my stomach.
I step toward Juliette but sway. Nate catches me. Without a word, he helps me make my way to the crowd.
“What’s wrong with her?” I demand.
A pair of guards part, letting me in to see Juliette on the ground. Her lips are black. Streaks of black spiderweb across her face and down her neck.
“No.” I drop to my knees and reach for her, pressing my fingers against her neck. “What happened? Who did this?”
“She collapsed, Your Majesty,” one of the guards says.
That’s when I notice the black lace ribbon tied around her wrist. “No. No, no, no.” I shake her. “Juliette, wake up.” I look around, as if someone will tell me this isn’t real. As if they have an answer for me. “We need a doctor. Poison antidote. Whatever we have on hand. Bring it all!”
They stare at me for too long, unblinking, unmoving. “What are you waiting for? I need any antidote we have in the estate here now!” I point to a guard near Juliette’s feet. “Find a doctor. Whoever is closest, then also whoever is the best. Get them here.”
Shadows billow up from my hands, floating around Juliette. The guards scramble back, a few of them racing away, hopefully doing what I asked.
“You have to remain calm, Your Majesty. Your magic is coming in; you don’t have control yet,” Nate says.
“Deep breaths,” one of the other guards says. “It helps.”
I’m sorry, Sabina. I’m so sorry.
Chills run down my spine.
Please forgive me.
I sit back on my heels, taking my hands from Juliette’s cooling body. Her corpse is talking to me. She’s dead. It feels like the ground gives out from under me, and I’m floating in nothing. How is this possible? She was in my room, she was here, and now she’s not…
I tried. I didn’t know.
“What didn’t you know?” I whisper.
She doesn’t answer.
“Juliette?” My voice cracks. “Juliette? Can you hear me?”
I lean closer, then reach for her. “Please, please say something.”
“Empress, you shouldn’t touch her,” someone says.
I’m not listening to them. The dead in that village wouldn’t stop talking. They were overwhelming to the point I couldn’t make out any of the words. “Please.”
A pair of guards grab me and lift me from the ground. I kick and try to free myself, but they pull me tighter.
“Empress, she could be infected,” one of them says.