Chapter 23
CHAPTER
Vaasa’s hands shook as she held a glittering black wall in front of her.
Her magic was more solid than she had yet seen it, able to take on shapes and forms at her command.
It reminded her of what she’d seen Romana do, and something about that created a fissure in her.
Her chest constricted. The thought of her coven was a knife in her gut.
They had shown her only pieces of this, so careful not to push her too quickly, and Vaasa longed for that consideration.
Melisina was here in Mekes, yet Vaasa couldn’t run to her.
She held Ozik’s gaze from across the greenhouse. Nothing but spite and malice fueled her now. She had to be stronger, to become this man’s worst nightmare. With each second that passed, the fury in her gut grew larger, more violent.
A hole in her wall of magic appeared, smoking at the edges, the magic losing its hold. Ozik growled in frustration. “Whatever it is you are thinking about, stop.”
Vaasa tried to push it all away, but the more she denied her anger, the stronger it became.
It crested. Her muscles tightened, and she let out a pained gasp, arms dropping so she could double over.
The wall disintegrated into smoke and spread out from where she stood, hovering above the floor like fog on the water, crawling up the ocean-facing wall of the greenhouse and clouding it momentarily with black.
She took a sharp breath.
“Enough for today,” Ozik said, disappointment apparent in his voice.
He dismissed her magic in the room, absorbing it with ease back into his outstretched palm.
She slumped, staring out at the churning sea, grateful this part of the greenhouse looked over the water and was positioned so that no one else could see inside.
A knock at the door drew her attention.
She turned to see Roman step in, and then her heart leapt into her throat.
Amalie.
“Your recent efforts are noted,” Ozik drawled as he walked to the door. “Today not withstanding.”
Vaasa could barely move, her eyes greedily drinking in the sight of her friend.
No longer chained, her olive skin was unmarred, her brown hair clean, her body seemingly well fed.
Roman softly let Amalie go, though iron still glinted at her wrists.
There were two bracelets there, one on each wrist, though her hands were no longer bound.
They must stifle magic, just like the chains, just like the rope Dominik had tied Vaasa up with.
They had to, otherwise Amalie would have struck.
Vaasa stepped forward, but Amalie locked eyes with Ozik.
Ozik moved perceptibly slower.
Suddenly, rage leaked through the room like a scent in the air, deep and strong.
There was a twisting to Amalie’s face that Vaasa again didn’t recognize.
That softness, the ease and grace with which Amalie had always held herself, was absent.
It was beyond a sense of resentment for a captor; what wound between Ozik and Amalie felt… older. Ancient, even.
“Come now, Roman,” Ozik instructed, sidestepping Amalie to reach the door. She turned, watching him with unblinking eyes. “Let the women have their privacy.”
“Sire—” Roman started.
“I said now,” Ozik repeated.
Roman held Vaasa with his gaze, unflinching. True concern marred it. “I’ll be just outside the door.”
“Do you believe I would harm her?” Amalie spoke.
Vaasa’s knees threatened to buckle. Amalie’s voice was the same as she remembered it, no longer hoarse. Everything about her seemed… comfortable.
Roman didn’t bother to answer the question. Instead, he slipped out the door and shut it.
Amalie looked at Vaasa with a small grin. “I don’t think he likes me.”
“Amalie,” Vaasa whispered.
Amalie ran. Vaasa leapt forward and threw herself at her friend, the two colliding in an embrace that immediately brought tears to Vaasa’s eyes. She pulled Amalie as closely as she could. “Tell me you’re okay,” she begged. “Tell me they haven’t hurt you.”
“They haven’t hurt me,” she assured. “Every other day or so, that guard or Ozik comes to ensure I’m fed, bathed, and given fresh clothing.”
“They do?” Vaasa asked.
Amalie pulled back and met Vaasa’s gaze. “They do.”
Ozik was caring for Amalie? And Roman was helping? Relief and anger intertwined in Vaasa’s body; on the one hand, it meant Amalie was cared for. On the other, it meant Roman had far more access to Amalie than he’d let on. Why hadn’t he mentioned this?
Vaasa ran a finger over the iron bracelet, but since Ozik had taken her magic, she felt nothing, unlike in the prison beneath Lord Vlacik’s knife. “They’re in the city,” Vaasa whispered, taking Amalie’s arm and leading her deeper into the greenhouse. “Reid, Koen, and Melisina. I found them.”
Amalie’s brows rose.
“We’re going to break you out,” Vaasa said.
Amalie pursed her lips. Ever so quietly, she said, “I know.”
What? Vaasa’s brows slammed together. “What do you mean?”
“Veragi told me,” Amalie murmured. “Or, at least I think it’s her.”
“The goddess has spoken to you?”
Amalie nodded. “This is the third time in my life I’ve heard her voice in my mind. Perhaps it’s nothing but an illusion of my own making, but…” She shook her head in disbelief. “She told me to be patient. To bide my time. That help was coming.”
Vaasa’s mind reeled. Veragi, the goddess of witchcraft herself? The deity from which Vaasa and Amalie were granted their magic. “If I’ve learned anything in the past year, it’s that plenty of the unbelievable is possible,” Vaasa said.
Amalie sat down on the bench beneath the olive tree, the sage green of the leaves in such complement to the shades of brown in her hair. “Are you safe?” she asked.
“Me?” Vaasa took the spot next to her. “It’s you I’m worried about. I’ve tried to sneak to the prison, I’ve—”
“Don’t,” Amalie told her. “I don’t know how much time we have, and I…” She let out a small breath. “You need to find a way to kill Ozik, not spend your time fussing about me.”
Vaasa dragged a hand through her hair, sitting as comfortably as she could. Ozik could walk in any moment, so she kept her voice low. “I haven’t figured that out yet. But I found a note from my mother. It was meant to be paired with a necklace, but I think my brother hid it.”
“A necklace?”
“My mother said it was the only thing that could protect me. That I shouldn’t unite the pieces, because the cost was too great.”
“What does that mean?”
“I have no idea.”
Amalie let out a small sigh. “If I hear her voice again, I’ll ask. Maybe Veragi will know.”
Something like hope rose in Vaasa. The voice of a goddess—could it be true?
And if Veragi could speak to or through Amalie… Vaasa thought of Ozik’s red eyes and shuddered. Perhaps only a goddess would know the answers about how something like that worked.
“Tell me everything you can,” Amalie said. “I don’t know how or why I keep hearing her, but perhaps there’s something she wants me to know.”
“Everything?” Vaasa asked.
“Everything we have time for.”
Vaasa took a deep breath, this invisible weight lifting off her. Honesty, her mind whispered. And so she quietly uttered the truth.
That she had made a deal with the devil in order to keep seeing Reid.
That she was tugging on the cords of Roman’s affection to gain access to Amalie.
That she was becoming the very thing she had always hoped to never be—
That the darkness was starting to seep its way back in.
Shame tightened her throat, but when she met Amalie’s eyes, it dissipated to that small sense of self-forgiveness that her coven had taught her to embrace.
She could not hate herself when they loved her.
Truth bubbled from Vaasa’s core as she began to speak every twisted detail of her current situation.
And with every word, her exhaustion lifted. Her fear. Her pain.
Amalie placed her hand upon Vaasa’s, and for the first time since arriving in this city, Vaasa felt strong.