Chapter 23
KALLIE
The warmth of the candles licked Kallie's skin, yet her fingers grew cold despite the heat surrounding her. She tried to remain calm. She tried to breathe, but the air in the room was stifling, suffocating, and all-consuming.
Mistake , a voice in the back of her mind screamed.
Mistake.
Mistake .
When she had awoken, she had been moved to a new room with two strangers. Kallie had tried to get answers from two women, but they had ignored her. When she tried to use her gift, she found herself utterly drained.
One of the women sat in the darkness, her sharp black nails tapping along the wooden arm of the chair.
Click.
Click.
Click.
And even though the woman sat in the shadows, not saying a single word, power oozed from her fingertips.
Meanwhile, the second woman with striking white hair glided around the room, placing crystals between the candles encircling Kallie. With a swift brush of her hands, she declared, "We're ready."
The hairs on Kallie's arm stood on end as the woman cloaked in darkness nodded.
"Ready for what?" Kallie asked, looking between the women. She shifted on the hard metal seat beneath her, and the restraints around her wrists and ankles dug into her flesh.
The white-haired woman finally turned to look at Kallie then. Her piercing black eyes narrowed as if she were peering into Kallie's soul. The woman's eyes were the darkest hue Kallie had ever seen, as dark as the pits of the Beneath.
Kallie couldn't help but wonder how her manipulation would affect them.
Would the haze of her gift look like a cloud sweeping over the night sky?
Or would the darkness consume it and swallow it whole?
Even though Kallie knew her well had been used up, she tried to test her theory and reached for her gift, pulling at her core. But as Kallie felt for the source of her gift, there was a wrongness that coated her veins.
She was not merely empty but completely closed off from her power as if it wasn't even there.
"Do not think about using your mind tricks on us, Princess," the white-haired woman said with a satisfied smirk. "They will not work here."
Kallie stared at the woman, panic coloring her face and heating her cheeks. She scanned the room.
There had to be a way out.
There was always a way out.
She pulled at her restraints, but they didn't budge, only rattled and dug into her flesh.
The woman with black eyes stepped closer to her, a haunting look glistening in her gaze. She brushed a hand across Kallie's hair. "This will only hurt if you fight it."
"Fight what ?" Kallie demanded, tugging on the restraints again. "What are you going to do?"
The woman dragged her nail across Kallie's cheek before tipping her chin up. Then, in a soft, chilling voice, she whispered, "We're going to set you free."
"Unhand me!" Kallie roared, shaking and fighting against the bindings. "You do not know who you are messing with. He will come for you! He will come for you all!"
"No can do, Princess," the woman said, releasing Kallie's chin and taking a step back. "You see, your friends have reason to believe your mind is not your own."
"They are not my friends," Kallie hissed, already knowing who the stranger was referring to.
The woman shrugged and grabbed a torch from the wall. "Makes no difference to me what you consider them. Either way, Domitius has dug his claws into your mind, and we intend to release them once and for all."
"You have no idea what you are talking about!" Kallie screeched as the metal cuff dug deeper into her skin, rubbing it raw. "My father has done nothing. My father--"
"--is not the man you think he is," the older woman said, standing from the chair across Kallie. She took a step forward, and the light from the torch kissed her face, illuminating her features.
The woman's eyes were nearly white, and the flames bounced off her raven-black hair. She wore a gold crown with black and translucent crystals woven through the metal. A single emerald stone dropped from the center point and sat against the woman's forehead.
Kallie's mouth hung open, speechless. It was not just some stranger who stood in front of her. It was Cetia Perseianes, the Queen of Tetria. She recognized the crown and the queen from her years of studying the seven kingdoms.
"Domitius has manipulated entire kingdoms into believing a lie," the queen continued, her voice calm but assertive, refocusing Kallie's attention, "beginning with you. As you are very well aware, he is not your birth father, and yet he has somehow convinced the seven kingdoms that he is. Do you know how that can be?"
"His blood is of no concern to me. He is my father in every other right," Kallie spat.
"Ah, so you don't know. Yet you do not question it? You are not at all curious?"
Kallie's hands rolled into fists, her nails biting into her palms.
The queen cocked her head ever so slightly. "If it was anyone else in any other circumstances, I would agree with you about the importance of blood, or lack thereof. But the truth is a precious thing, my dear. Do you not wish to uncover it?"
"I already know the truth," Kallie argued.
The queen tsked, shaking her head in dismay. "I've been told that you desire power, yet you dismiss the ability to gain knowledge. My dear, if you wish to be powerful, if you wish to rule, it would be wise to learn the power of knowledge."
Kallie's brows twisted as she recalled Tessa, the former queen of Frenzia, saying the same thing to her. Knowledge might have been powerful, but what Cetia claimed was a treacherous lie. And yet...
While Kallie knew Domitius well, she couldn't help but admit that she didn't know everything about him.
He hadn't told her that he had taken her from her parents as a child.
He hadn't told her that she had brothers.
He hadn't told her that she was to marry Rian because of the knowledge Frenzia possessed.
What other secrets, then, could the King of Ardentol be harboring?
"You want power, Princess?" Cetia asked. "Then it is time you stop letting the men around you dictate what you do. It is time for you to step out of the shadows."
The other woman stood beside the queen and held out a wooden bowl. Kallie squinted at it as the queen dipped two fingers into its contents. Then Cetia stepped forward, her fingers dripping in a white liquid.
Sweat coated Kallie's skin as Cetia stretched out her hand.
Kallie's breathing picked up, and her heart pounded against her ribcage, threatening to break through it. Kallie trembled against the chains. She pushed against the wall blocking her gift, but it was no use.
The queen drew a line down Kallie's forehead, the liquid freezing against her warm skin.
Cetia's searing white eyes fell upon Kallie, and panic rose in Kallie's throat as the queen leaned down in front of her.
This is a mistake.
Fight it.
Fight it.
Kallie tugged at the restraints. She pulled, she screamed, she roared. The chair rattled beneath her. The rope burned around her wrists and ankles like a fire singing her skin--hot, searing, and piercing.
Kallie's attention flicked to the other woman, whose pitch-black eyes bore into her with an intensity that threatened to consume her.
The woman stepped outside the circle of candles and crystals that surrounded them. She cracked her neck, the sound thundering in the silent room. Then, she dipped the torch into a water basin, snuffing out its flame and blanketing them all in a sea of darkness.
Cetia placed her palms on either side of Kallie's face, calling her attention back to her. A flicker of movement flashed in her peripheral.
"This will only hurt for a moment," Cetia whispered.
The younger woman knelt on the floor and twisted her hands above the candles in an unfamiliar gesture.
All around her, flames stirred to life, twirling and dancing around the room, rising and falling as they swept across the small space.
And like a moth to a flame, Kallie fell into them as a scream ripped through her throat. But Kallie knew no matter how loud she screamed, no one would rescue her.