Chapter 78
Sana groaned, coming to and struggling against the rope keeping her arms tied above her. Her head pounded as if she'd had too much to drink, her throat was dry and the air around her felt hot and heady as if she'd been blindsided by Dante's aura again.
Come on, little flame. Wake up.
Sune said as he fluttered around her, picking at the rope binding her wrists.
Talk to me Sana!
"S-Sune?" she croaked, sliding her tired eyes, blinking a few times to clear her hazy vision. "W-what happened?"
I believe you've been drugged and someone has used some sort of displacement spell on you.
Sune huffed as his wings glowed while he used his antennae to burn through the ropes.
They've taken your dragon's breath and your dagger, little flame. I have to get you out of here before—
"How cute."
Sana's heart clenched at the sound of Aneera's patronizing voice as her blurry form came into focus.
Fear slithered down Sana's spine as her vision cleared and the realization of her surroundings washed over her.
The red clay walls, familiar damp smell of the storage room in the bellows of the Lightbourne estate drew tears to her eyes.
Her heart pounded as her eyes darted around the room.
The old dusty gardening tools in the old wooden barrel, the rusted shackles her father used to chain her to in the corner and the thick leather whips hanging in a neat coil on the wall.
This room was what her nightmares were made of and she never thought she'd ever be held hostage in this punishment chamber again.
"I've been warned about your little moth friend," Aneera said, giggling as she neared Sana and swatted Sune away from her. "Now I can't have this little bug ruining my plans."
"W-why have you done this?" Sana slurred, twisting her wrists against the seared ropes, trying to pull free, but her limbs felt weak from whatever she'd been drugged with.
"Why do you think?" Aneera scoffed, gritting her teeth as she swatted Sune away from her. "You don't deserve anything you've been given."
Keep trying to get out of the ropes while I distract her.
Sune said as he dodged Aneera's flailing arms and tugged at her hair, pulling her curls from her twisted coif.
Ember, I could really use your help right now.
Sana murmured, biting her lip at the pain of her skin chafing against the rope.
I'm trying...
Ember said, her voice garbled and muffled as if she were under a well of water.
But I can't seem to get out of this fog. What...has she done to us?
"I should be the one being doted on with jewels and pretty dresses.
" Aneera seethed in annoyance as she reached into the pouch on her hip.
"And now that I've got you where I want you.
I won't let anything stop me from getting the revenge I'm owed," she said with a sinister smile curling over her lips.
"Say goodbye to your stupid, annoying bug. "
She knows not what she speaks.
Sune growled as his wings and antennae glowed and sparked with a sizzling power.
Nothing can take me away from you, little flame. I'll keep you safe from—
Aneera held up her hand and blew a black cloud of dust at Sune, cutting his valiant retort short. Sana coughed, closing her eyes as the dust clouded her vision and took the moisture from her lungs further aiding to her waning strength.
"There." Aneera huffed. "What an annoying little thing that was."
"S-Sune?" Sana said, opening her eyes and her heart dropped to her stomach at Sune's limp form lying on the floor, the black dust peppering his body and his once vibrant black eyes were gray in a petrified state of.
..of death. "Sune!" She screamed, pulling against the ropes as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"What did you do to him?! What did you do? !"
"I killed him," Aneera said, matter of fact. "Just like all the other butterflies you tried to keep after father burned down that ridiculous sanctuary."
"W-why?" Sana said, tugging against the ropes as she dragged her foot along the floor, trying to reach for Sune to shield his body.
"Because." Aneera said, stopping her heeled foot over Sune. "You don't deserve to be happy." She snarled as she ground Sune's body into the floor.
"No!!" Sana screamed. "Stop this! Stop!"
"I'll stop when you're back where you belong," Annera said as she cracked a whip against the floor.
Sana's eyes grew wide and a shudder seized her limbs as Aneera laughed, striking the floor with her father's favorite punishment tool.
"Ah, yes. That got your attention, hm?" she said, striking Sana's legs with the thick leather whip, tearing the fabric of her dress and leaving a welt across her thigh. "I may have embarrassed myself in Asterfall, but I'm quite lucky that Lady Kieka and Lord Zehev see something useful in me."
"Aneera, I-I'm sorry for whatever I've done to you," Sana said, trying to dodge Aneera's strikes of the whip as she slashed her arms, legs and her stomach.
"Please!" She screamed as blood stained her tattered dress and dripped down her legs to the floor.
"P-please let me go. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. "
"You'll never be sorry enough, Sana," Aneera said, gripping her chin as she glared into Sana's eyes. "But...I'll let you go if you do something for me." She grinned, wiping a trickle of blood from Sana's cheek.
"Wh-what can I do?" Sana whispered.
"Oh my dear, sister," Aneera said, caressing her cheek. "You can renounce your engagement to Lord Rhyel, so I can take your place as his fiance and Lady of Darcanos."
A low rumbling growl vibrated in Sana's chest as Ember's low burning flame grew as if she were trying to break free of the fog that dampened her.
Ember seethed.
She won't. He is ours and she won't take another being I love from me.
"No." Sana whispered, glaring into her Aneera's smug eyes.
"No?" She laughed, digging her nails into Sana's cheek. "You don't have a choice, Sana. You will give me what I want."
"I will never give you that." Sana seethed as rage and fire pumped through her veins, clearing the fog from her mind as if the threat of Aneera taking Rhyel from her was the last straw.
She already failed to protect Sune from her. She wouldn't and couldn't fail to protect Rhyel from the clutches of her sister.
She is not our kin. She is not our sister.
Ember growled as her small flame burned bright, growing into the shape of a fiery phoenix and filling Sana's being with the strength and warmth of her essence.
Burn her, Sana. Show her who we are.
Flames sparked from Sana's fingertips. "I will never allow you to take Rhyel or Darcanos from me," she said as a deafening roar shook the foundation of the house.
"Wh-what...what was that?" Aneera said, backing away from Sana as she looked above them to the source of the threatening outcry.
"That." Sana growled as the flames crawled down her arms, burning through the ropes holding her prisoner. "Was my dragon," she said as her flames engulfed her body and spread like a river across the floor and crawled up the walls.
Aneera whipped her head toward her and Sana revelled in the fear that tainted her violet eyes. "You...you," she said as her hands morphed into sharp talons and golden feathered wings sprouted from her back. "You monster!" She roared. "I won't let you kill me like mother!"
"Then you better run, Aneera," Sana said, walking toward her, grinning as her flames danced over her skin. "Because I—"
Sana's words choked on her lips as Aneera held out a shining green gem. The energy emanating from the stone weakened her blazing fire as air choked from her lungs and white hot pain burned in her chest.
It's...it's a verdigris stone.
Ember rasped as Sana screamed, falling to her knees as the pain gripped her spine, seizing her limbs and arching her back in a petrified curve.
There you are...sweet, sweet, Erius.
A cackling voice whispered in her mind.
Sana...the wraiths...they're coming...
Ember whispered as if she were gasping for air.
The stone...it's...it's poison...and it's a...beacon.
"That's right," Aneera said, crossing the floor as she picked up a long sharp pointed trowel lying against the scorched wall.
"No one else could see you for what you are, but I always knew.
" She raised the trowel above her head with her violet eyes darkening to a sinister midnight.
"You're a freak and a dirty peasant. You should've died instead of mother. "
Aneera drove the sharp, rusted trowel into Sana's stomach and she let out a blood curdling scream as her sister drove the garden tool into the ground, pinning her to the floor.
Leaning down to her, Aneera grinned as Sana choked and gasped for air.
"And now I'm going to be the dutiful Lightbourne daughter and volunteer to take your place to keep our House's alliance intact," she said, pressing the handle of the hoe further into her stomach while Sana grunted, coughing up blood.
"Rhyel is going to learn to love me far better than you.
" She smirked, standing as she tossed the verdigris stone on the floor. "Good bye, Sana."
"N-no," Sana murmured, gasping as the taste of iron and the warmth of her blood filled her mouth as it drained from her stomach and pooled at her side. "R-Rhyel..."
Ember...
Sana called to the fading flame within her as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Please...don't leave me.
Her vision blurred on the fire consuming the walls and scorching the clay stone ceiling as a hopeless despair slithered around her heart.
She tried to fight. She tried to be strong, but it wasn't enough.
I'm s-sorry I'm...I'm so...weak.
A cold, creeping chill swept over her like death coming to claim her as a cloak of darkness clouded the fire burning above her. White hot pain gripped her spine and she garbled out a helpless whimper as glowing eyes appeared before her in a pale, hollowed out skull.
A long slim bony finger reached out from the mass of darkness, pressing it into her chest while the skull's mouth curled into a snarl as its glowing eyes ignited into a furious blaze.
"You must burn."
A/N: I know...I know! Illegal cliffhanger!
???? But Lordt I'm ready for some heavy ass karma to beat Aneera down and I was SO ready for Sana to fuck her up when she went all fire beast mode.
Fuck that verdingus gem or whatever that poison rock is called ?? I'm just hoping Rhyel/Kaladin comes through or Sana/Ember miraculously go beast mode again, but she's bleeding out with a trowel jabbed through her stomach.
...OMG I can't handle this story sometimes ??
Imma be real for a minute here, Little Bees. I've been daydreaming about this point in the story since I started writing it and this was NOT how me, Sana and Rhyel rehearsed it back then. I have the notes, the makeshift OUTLINE and this wasn't it ??
I promise it'll get better! ????