Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The attempted escape
blythe
As the sun set, the heat pulsing through my veins quickened. I wasn’t going to make it to Abby’s by nightfall if I didn’t find a way out of this room.
Snake had left me hours ago, and from the clamouring sounds coming from under the door, I could only presume he was preparing for another one of his so-called parties. One where he’d parade me around and perched me on his lap like something he owned.
It was always the same string of events, just different nights.
I slipped from the windowsill, my gaze locking on the door across the room.
It was stupid to even think I could leave that way.
There was every chance it was locked, and if it wasn’t there were most certainly guards posted on the other side.
But perhaps I could use some Sapphire charm and talk my way out into the hall.
Then I could somehow make my way down to the kitchens.
Having blue hair didn’t help either. I’d be spotted from a mile away.
With a sigh, I silently glided across the floor, shoeless and in a gown that left little to the imagination. As I reached for the handle I hesitated. Opening it would invite attention. Attention that I didn’t want or need, but the only other way out was the window.
The gold handle was warm under my fingertips. I twisted it, and was pleasantly surprised to find it shifted under my hand. I sucked a breath into my lungs and pulled the door open.
Boots scuffing stone, and metal clinking greeted me. I pulled the door wider and almost regretted it. Heat from the hall pressed all around me, accompanied by the usual stench of something off.
A guard to the left lifted the corner of his top lip. “You’re not meant to be out here”
I squared my shoulders, trying to act like everything was totally normal. “I need a maid.”
“Snake said no one in or out,” the guard replied flatly. “Besides . . . what for?”
“Are you as dumb as you look? I’m the king's pet, and he likes it when I look good for him,” I folded my arms across my chest. “I need someone to help me dress.”
The guard to my right snickered, drawing a glare from the other.
“Does it look like I have time to fetch you someone?” he grunted.
I looked him up and down, fighting all the words I wanted to say. “I could go myself if you’d prefer?”
He huffed. “Not a chance.”
Hope was dwindling by the second.
I clasped my arms behind my back, swaying my hips and took a step towards him. “It wouldn’t take me long, and it could be our little secret?”
“No.” His top lip curled again as he shifted, filling the doorway completely. “And you don’t ask again.”
The answer was so final. I could feel it in my gut. There was no getting past without being harmed or someone alerting Snake.
The second guard reached around the door and grasped the handle, slowly closing the door and I had no choice but to step back into the room.
“We’ll send a maid at our earliest convenience . . . your highness,” he mocked with a toothy grin.
I bit the inside of my cheek, fighting the tears. I wanted to rip their eyeballs out. I wanted to scream, I wanted to destroy Snakes room and set it on fire. But none of that would get me to Abby's.
The door clicked shut, sealing it.
I stood there for a moment, staring at the wood like I could burn a hole through it.
My gaze shifted, drawn—inevitably—to the window, even as the bindings across my wings pulled tight with the movement, a quiet, constant reminder that whatever freedom lay beyond it wouldn’t come easily.
The fading light bled through the glass in streaks of gold and dying orange, painting the stone floor in something almost beautiful, something that didn’t belong in a place like this.
For a heartbeat, I hesitated. The drop beyond it was far enough to make my stomach turn, and even if I made it down, there was no guarantee I’d make it past the outer grounds unnoticed.
But hesitation was a luxury I couldn’t afford.
Not tonight. Not when every second pulled me further from Abby’s, further from the only chance I had left.
If I didn’t get there before nightfall . . .
I couldn’t let the thought take hold. I crossed the room in quick, uneven strides, my bare feet whispering against the cold stone as I reached for the latch.
It didn’t move. Of course it didn’t. A bitter breath slipped past my lips as I tried again, fingers tightening, twisting harder this time until the metal bit into my skin.
Nothing. The window remained stubbornly sealed, unmoving, as if the castle itself had decided I wasn’t leaving.
“Come on,” I muttered under my breath, more plea than command.
I glanced over my shoulder, half-expecting the door to burst open, for Snake to already be standing there watching me unravel.
But the room remained still, thick with that same oppressive quiet.
I turned back to the window and braced one hand against the frame, using the other to work at the latch again, more forceful now.
My nails scraped uselessly against the metal, slipping, catching, the faint sting grounding me just enough to keep going.
It shifted.
Barely.
But it shifted.
Hope flared, sharp and dangerous. I leaned into it, pressing harder, my breath growing uneven as I forced the mechanism to give inch by stubborn inch.
The metal groaned in protest, the sound far too loud in the confined space, but I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t. Not when I was this close. Not when I could almost feel the outside air waiting for me on the other side.
“Please,” I whispered, though I didn’t know who I was begging to anymore.
With a final, desperate push, the latch gave way.
The window jerked open, and a rush of warm air swept into the room, lifting the edge of my gown and dragging across my skin like freedom itself.
I sucked in a breath, stepping closer, leaning out just enough to see the drop below.
The dry ground stretched beneath me, shadowed now, the last of the light slipping away beyond the castle walls.
It was far. Far enough to hurt. But not impossible.
If only I could use my wings.
I closed my eyes and braced my hands on the edge of the stone balustrade.
“Going somewhere?” The voice slid through the room, low and unhurried, and everything inside me went cold.
I didn’t turn. Not immediately. My fingers tightened on the edge, knuckles whitening as the fragile thread of hope I’d been clinging to snapped clean in two.
Of course the guards would have alerted him.
Slowly, I opened my eyes.
The last of the light clung to the edge of the horizon, warm against my face, cruel in its promise. I held onto it for a second longer than I should have, breathing it in like I could take it with me, like I could carry a piece of freedom into whatever came next.
Then I turned. Snake stood just inside the room, the door closed behind him, his presence filling the space in a way that made the walls feel closer, tighter.
He hadn’t rushed. Hadn’t even looked mildly inconvenienced.
If anything, there was a quiet sort of satisfaction in the way he watched me, his head tilted slightly, like I had just confirmed something he already knew.
“You almost made it further than I expected,” he said, voice smooth, measured. “I’m impressed.”
“Not far enough it seems,” I said, though the words came thinner than I wanted them to.
His mouth curved—not quite a smile. Not anything kind.
I wanted to run.
My fingers tightened on the stone behind me. There was no time. No clever words left to buy me space. No version of this where I talked my way out of it.
If I stayed, I’d be his forever. If I jumped . . . pain, risk, maybe even True Death. But at least it would be mine. The decision came sharply, cutting through the fear before it could root too deeply.
I moved, pushing off the balustrade, turning in the same breath, my body already committing to the fall before my mind could catch up—wind rushing past my skin, the open-air calling . . .
A hand closed around my arm.
Hard.
The force of it wrenched me backward so violently the breath was torn from my lungs, the world snapping from open sky to stone and shadow in the space of a heartbeat. My shoulder screamed as I was dragged back over the ledge, my body colliding with the floor in a tangle of limbs and fabric.
I gasped, the impact jarring through me, but there was no time to recover. His grip tightened, fingers biting into my skin as he hauled me upright, close enough that I could feel the heat of him, the steadiness of his breath. A stark contrast to the chaos tearing through mine.
“Careful,” he murmured, almost gently. “You might hurt yourself.”
Rage flared, sudden and bright, cutting through the fear.
“Let go of me,” I snapped, struggling against him, even though I knew it was useless. Even though every attempt only seemed to amuse him further.
His grip didn’t loosen.
Instead, it shifted—firmer, more deliberate—as he drew me back into the room, away from the window, away from the last sliver of light still clinging to the horizon.
“I can’t have you breaking before the evening begins,” he said, tone so indulgent it made my stomach sink. “Not when I have guests to entertain.”
I’d been so close. And now there was nowhere left to run.
“Fetch me chain,” Snake said calmly, not even looking away from me. “Something that won’t break.”
The words didn’t land all at once. They slid in slowly, like something cold seeping beneath my skin, until the meaning settled and my stomach dropped.
No.
“No—” The word tore from me before I could stop it, sharp and raw as I twisted against his grip. “Please—don’t—”
His hold only tightened, a feral grin dancing on his lips.
Boots scuffed beyond the door. Metal clinked faintly in the distance.
My breath hitched, panic surging now, hot and choking, clawing its way up my throat as the reality of it closed in around me.
“No!” I cried, the sound breaking as it left me.
Snake snatched my jaw and forced my gaze on him. “It seems your timing was rather . . . unfortunate.”
My stomach dropped, and I froze.
“What do you mean?” The question came out thin, uneven.
A slow smile ghosted across his mouth. “I’ve been informed there’s a certain redhead wandering my city.”
The world tilted.
“No,” I breathed, the word barely there.
“He’s not very subtle,” Snake continued, voice smooth, almost amused. “But then, I suppose desperation rarely is.”
Nik.
Relief hit first, sharp and overwhelming, enough to bring tears to my eyes. He came. He actually came. My chest tightened painfully, something fragile and desperate cracking open inside me. And then panic followed.
Nik was in Oscuro, coming for me, and Snake knew about it.
A broken sound caught in my throat as the full weight of it crashed over me.
“He won’t rescue you,” Snake said, almost gently. “But I will enjoy watching him try.”
Tears burned my eyes, spilling down my cheeks, blurring everything as my chest heaved. The hope that had sparked only seconds ago twisting into something dark and unbearable.
“I fucking hate you,” I spat at Snake.
He laughed then. “I know . . . and I don’t fucking care.”