Chapter 62
Carys
My arse has long fallen asleep, the sensation of pins and needles shooting down my legs and into my feet, turning into unbearable discomfort.
I can’t sit still. I’ve shifted countless times, trying to relieve the prickling sensation, but it’s no use.
The dull aching in my back has gotten sharper, and my arms are starting to tingle now.
I fear the others have left me here to rot.
As I shift again, the door slams, disrupting the silence as Briony and Eefa waltz into the tiny space. At least Iywan isn’t among them this time, but the wicked glint on Eefa’s face is unsettling.
“Missed me?” she asks, twirling on the spot. “I think I’ll stick to this body. It’s way more alluring than Lowri’s, don’t you think?” Her wink makes my gut curdle.
I don’t bother to respond as she leans back against the wall beside the door, propping her foot against it.
“Lessons first, translation later?” Briony asks. As if I have a choice.
I scoff at her. “First, I need some answers myself.”
“Alright.” Briony’s face is stern. “You get one answer to one question. Then you give me one minute of your full cooperation to start.”
I frown at her, considering the options. Perhaps it would be wise for me to learn to draw on my power, just not for the reasons they want. “Deal.” I gnaw on my inner cheek for a few beats, then ask, “What is this wristband for?”
“It’s a conduit.”
“What is a—”
“One. Question.” She says it firmly, but there’s no edge to her voice.
I bite back a brazen response and stare at her. She straightens, smoothing out the skirt of her dress. “Right, so let’s get started. Try to imagine your fire appearing in the palm of your hand. Reach inside yourself and find that energy.”
I frown in focus. “There’s nothing inside of me.”
Eefa scoffs from her spot near the wall. “You’re right about that.”
I glare at her.
Briony waves her hand with a heavy sigh. “Ignore her. Try to focus.”
My arms are fastened to the chair still, but my palms are face up.
I try my hardest to focus on the center of my palm.
Reaching inside myself, I search for any semblance of power, for that heat.
It’s there, glowing brightly inside of me, but when I try to grab a hold of it, it dances mockingly out of my reach.
Sweat beads on my forehead and slowly trickles down my face.
My hand remains cool, free of flames, ordinary.
I release a breath, and the tension dissipates along with that energy.
If disappointment had an embodiment, it would be Briony. Her narrow shoulders slump, her focus still on my hand. “Again.”
“I gave you one minute. You owe me another question.”
Briony sighs and, behind her, Eefa cackles. “You are terrible at this, Priestess,” Eefa says. “Tag me in.”
“Not yet.” Briony gnaws on her lower lip.
“I can go get Iywan …”
Annoyance, and something that looks surprisingly like sympathy, plays over Briony’s long face. She heaves another sigh and turns from me, walking toward the wall.
A brilliant smile stretches across Eefa’s lips. “At long last!” She steps toward me, aggressive excitement radiating off her. “You have three seconds to summon your powers. And I won’t ask nicely again.”
“That was nicely?”
She slaps me across my face, and it stings. I’m certain she’s slapped right over where Iywan last struck. “Summon them willingly or I’ll force it out of you.”
I huff out a sigh and I reach inside myself for that ball of energy. I call it forth to my fingers, but nothing happens.
Another blow from Eefa. “Again!”
Once more I try, and once more I fail. Eefa’s fist flies at me and, with a sickening crunch, pain flares in my nose.
I growl in frustration, tugging against my bonds, desperate to quell the pain.
“Stop it,” I grind out, my voice nasal. “I can’t do it.
I’m trying.” Hot blood flows unstaunched, dripping off my chin. My whole face is on fire.
Eefa lifts her hand again and Briony calmly says, “Enough.”
Eefa steps back with an annoyed grunt. But then she bends so that her face is level with mine and says, “Your face isn’t so beautiful anymore.”
I’m lost for words, but I hope my expression comes across as unbothered.
“I think it’s time to take things up a notch,” Eefa says to Briony.
Briony sighs and approaches me. “I don’t want to do this, but you’re not giving me much of a choice.”
I wince as she reaches for me, but when her hand connects with my cheek, the pain is quick and sharp before cool relief flows into my face. Warm drowsiness counteracts the cooling sensation, and everything fades away.
Drip, drip, drip.
My mind is slightly groggy as I come to. As much as I want to open my eyes, they’re reluctant to do so.
“Maybe the Zenith is wrong about her. Maybe she’s not the one.” Eefa’s voice.
My pulse quickens, my palms going clammy. My arse and back ache, and my arms are starting to chafe from the bindings anchored to the chair.
“She is the one,” Briony says.
“She can’t even summon a little bit of fire.”
“She’s never had to before, and her powers have been dampened for years. She just needs time.”
Eefa sighs heavily. “We don’t have time. The summer solstice will be here before we know it. If we fail, we’ll have to wait until the autumn equinox. Master Iywan would never forgive us.”
There’s silence for a moment.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
That incessant dripping has me alarmingly aware of how full my bladder is. I breathe through it, though when a few footsteps come my way, I hold my breath.
“She’s awake,” says Eefa.
As much as I want to continue pretending to sleep, I quit the charade. I’m back in my cell, except the chair from the torture chamber is now rooted to this floor.
“Welcome back, Your Highness. Let’s give the fire summoning another try, shall we?” Briony says with a too-cheerful smile.
“I can’t do it. I think we’ve already established that. I reach for the damn energy you keep talking about, and it rejects me.”
“But it is there?” Hope blooms in her icy blue eyes.
“I suppose so.”
Briony casts an I-told-you-so glare at Eefa, who crosses her arms and huffs a breath. Briony turns to me again. “Find that power and try again.”
I cannot find another way out of this, so I reach deep inside again, searching for that source of energy.
The heat grows stronger and stronger, the power surging beneath my skin, and I try to draw the energy to my palms. Suddenly there’s a blast of fire in my mind alongside Aneirin’s screams. My heart races, my body cools, and I clench my fist. I lift my head to Briony again and her shoulders slump.
Eefa cackles and steps away from the bars to strut toward us.
“You’ve had your turn, now step aside.” She pulls a dagger from her boot and crouches, holding the blade a mere whisper from my face.
I press my head back against the chair as hard as I can, my heart threatening to give out.
“Let’s see how high your pain tolerance is, darling princess.
” She touches the tip of the dagger to my cheek, and there’s a cool sensation at first, until the blade bites into my flesh.
“Eefa, don’t,” I hear myself say with a gasp.
“Oh, a command. How predictable. Maybe if you beg, I won’t do it.” Her vulpine grin makes my pulse skitter again, but I steel my nerves.
She will not get a plea out of me.
The blade bites deeper into my cheek as Eefa drags it slowly across my skin. I clench my jaw and fight the urge to whimper.
“Stubborn bitch,” Eefa coos. Her tone is confusing, almost affectionate. It makes me shudder. “Imagine what you can do with that power.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, pushing away the memories. Aneirin.
“Just summon the damn power. Prove what you’ve always wanted to prove. Be that warrior princess that Ellynne claimed you were.”
The sound of Ellynne’s name on her lips pulls fervent rage from my core. “Don’t you dare say her name.”
“El-lynne.”
She steps back, and though the cut from her dagger still stings, the memory of Ellynne bleeding to death in my bed hurts even more. “You’re a disgrace,” I say. “You deserved every bit of mistreatment in your marriage.”
A glint of amusement appears on her face. “Ah, the claws have come out,” she says with a grin. She taps the flat of the blade against her cheek, leaving a smear of my blood on her olive skin.
“Once I figure out how to summon my powers, you’ll be the first person that I burn.”
She laughs. “I’m looking forward to it, darling.” She sighs happily, a smile still on her lips. “She begged for your life, you know. Ellynne. Before I shoved my knife into her belly.”
Heat floods my hands, but it doesn’t go beyond that. I want to stick my fingers into her eyes and burn her from the inside out. I want her brain to melt and her flesh to blister and burst.
Briony suddenly stands at full attention, focused on something beneath me. Eefa’s attention shifts as well, not to me but to the shackles binding my wrists.
They glow bright orange with my own summoned heat.
I stare at the bonds in shock before I find the nerve to face Briony and Eefa again. Briony’s shoulders sag with relief, but Eefa’s chest puffs out.
She smirks at me. “Good girl.”
And again, my flame dies.