Chapter 33
CHAPTER
It was agony—absolute agony that pulled Vaasa from her vision of Ozik. The magic in her body twisted like chains around her organs, yanking in every different direction.
Get up, a voice snarled in her mind.
Her eyes flew open. She was lying on the smooth mausoleum floor, her fingers digging into the stone steps, coldness seeping into her bones.
If she hadn’t known better, she would think she was still in the prison.
That everything until now had been some twisted, torturous dream that Ozik had sent her.
Reid wasn’t real.
Melisina had never come.
There was no way out.
But it was still the mausoleum she stared at.
The necklace lay inches from her hand. She must have collapsed.
Her head was fuzzy, and it pounded with the increasing pain of whatever her connection to Ozik caused.
She sat up, rubbing at her temples, taking in her surroundings once more.
She stared down at the necklace on the floor, at the stark black stone in the center.
It was the same stone. The same piece of raw gem that she had just seen in that vision. Set in a different chain and pendant, sure, but the same anchor.
The creak of the mausoleum door opening caused Vaasa to tense. The statue of Andrej still guarded the room, yet there was movement just behind it. Something stirring in the shadows.
That movement forced her instincts into action, and Vaasa gripped the necklace and stuffed it into her pocket. The moment it no longer touched her skin, magic flooded her system once again. Vaasa gasped, pulling the dark tendrils back into her body with a heaving effort.
Footsteps echoed on the stone floors, and then a figure came into view. Dark hair and menacing gray eyes highlighted his attractive face, his mouth turned into a grimace.
Lord Karev.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” he said, tilting his head in that predatory way of his. “I was surprised to hear you were visiting your family’s mausoleum when so much commotion was happening in the city.”
Vaasa stood, her legs only slightly wobbly beneath her, and her magic hissed a warning in her ear. The cords that bound her to Ozik tugged again, and his voice whispered in her mind, Do not let him know of your power.
Vaasa almost lost her composure. You… can hear me?
Pay attention, he hissed.
Lord Karev started up the stairs that split the platforms of the mausoleum in half, his menacing grin growing wider as his eyes devoured the fear that certainly showed itself on Vaasa’s face.
Heart pounding, she considered the ways she could take to escape.
He blocked the stairs, but she could jump from platform to platform if she kept her balance.
She stepped carefully to the side, traversing the top level, trying to casually open a path to the exit.
He followed, blocking any chance she had. “Before we go, I have a few questions.”
Get out, Ozik said in her head.
Without hesitating, Vaasa bolted across the platform nearest her and jumped to the one below, careful with her weight distribution so she didn’t slip on the slick floors.
Lord Karev sprinted to the same side of the mausoleum, no sarcophagi in his way, all the levels below Dominik empty of burial monuments.
“A quick little heiress,” he purred, jumping up to the next platform and closing in on her.
Vaasa turned and ran the other direction, leaping for the stairs as her only final option. She took them as quickly as she could, the skirts of her black dress threatening to tangle around her legs, and she saw the exit. Sprinted for it—
Lord Karev jumped into her path.
Vaasa’s heart thudded in her chest, and her magic lurched in her stomach. She skidded to a stop. He was too close. She didn’t stand a chance of escaping him, not unless she let loose her magic. It was an irrevocable decision to reveal her power—
The moment of hesitation cost her.
Lord Karev’s hand whipped out and curled around her neck. Vaasa tried to scream, but he squeezed tighter, pressed harder, until he cut off her airway.
If there is any trust between us, let it be now, Ozik’s voice rang in her mind. Do not use your magic. He will kill you if he knows you are a witch.
Panic sliced down her spine, and Ozik’s words echoed in her ears like the chiming of a clock.
Lord Karev pulled her against his chest, his free hand fisting in her hair and cranking her head back so it was pinned to his shoulder.
“You’ve been keeping secrets, haven’t you, Heiress? ” Lord Karev snarled.
Vaasa’s lungs screamed for air. Her body locked up.
She clawed at his wrists, her nails digging into his skin.
His hiss of pain came low as a sticky wetness trailed over her fingertips—blood.
He kicked the back of her knees and she crumpled, waist slamming into the platform nearest her.
Her ribs screamed in pain, but his grip on her throat was lost, and she sucked down air.
Then he was on her, her arms locked against her body as he settled one knee on either side of her hips, baring his considerable weight on her lower back to keep her in place.
“The new warden of the prison had some interesting things to say about one of his inmates, someone your sentinel seems to visit often,” Lord Karev said in her ear.
“Why don’t you tell me what you know about Icrurian magic? ”
Vaasa’s stomach turned over on itself. She used any last ounce of self-control to keep her power contained.
The new warden of the prison, put in place at his behest—of course.
It was a misstep. An utter miscalculation not to assume the next person in charge of the prison would quickly discover Amalie and her connection to Vaasa.
She thrashed what she could of her body, but Lord Karev fisted his hand in her hair again, pulling until a sharp pain spiraled across her scalp and she cried out.
“Did you know that Reid of Mireh was arrested this morning?” Lord Karev asked. “You’ve been playing me like a fucking fool, letting him masquerade as a salt lord all this time.”
Vaasa stopped breathing of her own accord. Those words sunk claws into her, rattled her bones. Reid of Mireh, arrested. That was where Roman was. She was sure of it. Bile crept up Vaasa’s throat. She was going to vomit.
It was over. Any leverage she had, gone.
Calm, Ozik willed her. Keep calm.
Ozik knew.
“Listen to me very closely,” Lord Karev said, emphasizing his words.
“You have feared for your life ever since Lord Vlacik’s death.
The moment you saw Reid of Mireh, you came to me like a good little heiress, and I summoned the city guard.
You are going to watch his execution with a smile on your face, and in the name of strengthening Asterya for this war, we are going to appeal to the church for an expedited wedding.
And then you are going to tell me every single thing you know about magic. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” she sputtered, her voice cracking.
“If you ruin this for me,” he warned, low and deadly, “I’ll hang you from the Sanctum myself. You and I could have been allies. I want you to remember that the next time you think about double-crossing me.”
Vaasa stayed absolutely still, and to her relief, Lord Karev’s weight lessened on her. He loosened his grip on her hair. His fingers left her scalp. Magic filled her body like a well, and she choked it back.
She should attack him. Kill him right where he stood.
Vaasa rose from the smooth floor, shaking, and measured the space between them, wondering how many steps it would take to reach him, how much power would be necessary to choke him the way he had just choked her.
Yet all that came was measured breath as her mind spun.
Worked. As she did her best to survive this very moment as unscathed as she could.
If she let out her magic, she had no choice but to kill him, and there wasn’t a soul in this city who would believe she hadn’t done it.
Not when it was only her and him in this mausoleum.
They were looking for a reason to burn her at the stake.
The city thought too much of her, the nobles too focused on the rumors they’d all whispered.
Power twisted in her gut, the cords that bound her to Ozik growing thicker, more menacing.
They hummed with her rage. It all mixed in her body, the oil and the mist, the two power sources seeming to come alive.
She felt him there at the other end, felt his power as if she could wrap her hands around it and pull.
As if it was hers to wield.
The door creaked. Vaasa whipped her head to the entrance. Roman sprinted in, looking more frantic than Vaasa thought possible. She held her ground, the fog of rage swirling in her mind.
His sword was drawn, and he looked between Lord Karev and Vaasa.
“Don’t worry, Sentinel,” Lord Karev drawled, his voice echoing through the stone chamber, far sturdier than before. “She turned in the Icrurian scum herself. She’s been safe in this room with me while we waited for the city to clear.”
Tears pricked at Vaasa’s eyes, but she didn’t say a word. She just stared at Roman. His gaze dipped to where she touched her neck. “Reid of Mireh was working with others,” Roman confirmed, only speaking to Vaasa. Delivering a report not to the lord, but to her. “I’m told they fled the scene.”
Sachia. Melisina. Koen. Vaasa couldn’t dare ask for clarification. Only one thing was clear: Lord Karev had orchestrated the arrest. He had somehow put it together.
She’d been a fool to believe two Icrurians could stay hidden in this city for long.