Chapter Eighteen
The pain hummed through every fiber of my being.
The zirilium I still couldn’t control very well wanted—no, demanded—an out.
I didn’t have much time left.
For better or worse, the putrid smell surrounding the outskirts of Neokell finally hit my nose after flying since early that morning. I held back a gag, though part of me knew this was a good sign.
It meant we were close.
I’d only been here twice before with Father, but not a single detail could ever escape my mind.
Instead of the pain, I focused on the way Zaina’s form moved under mine. Each beat of her wings, each inhale of breath matching my own. We’d always been synced like that—griffin and rider. And tonight, she seemed to understand my sense of urgency.
I just need to make it to the camps…
In the sky behind me, I could faintly hear Valenia and the griffin she supposedly borrowed from the royal stables, Dax. I had told her to stay behind, that going to the camps was something I’d needed to do alone, but alas—there she was, disobeying direct orders.
I had a feeling that wouldn’t be the last time she would do so.
Once I noted the mountain peak that told me I’d arrived, I directed Zaina to dive—without warning Valenia. I could hear her shout from behind me, but the wind and sky swallowed up whatever she said as Ziana’s black wings tucked in, our forms free falling together toward the earth below.
Just above the tree line, Ziana’s wings flared out, halting our descent and carrying us forward, over the thick stone wall covered in spikes and into the heart of the encampment.
Fortunately, I’d remembered to have Hugo dose me with the alychite nullifier before I left Hollis.
I’d only been there twice with Father, so the process wasn’t all routine just yet.
Valenia, who seemed to be taking her job as my Right Hand very seriously, had gotten a dose, too, since she almost never left my side.
Thanks to that nullification, my zirilium still simmered in my veins—unlike the abilities of the prisoners kept inside the camps.
Ziana landed near the soldier’s barracks, which was blessedly close to where the worst of the prisoners were held.
And that was exactly where I needed to be.
Handing Ziana’s reins off to the closest guard, all of whom were standing straighter now that they’d seen who had just arrived, I headed for the dungeon doors.
The doors opened to a stairwell that went straight down into what would have been pure darkness if it weren’t for the gift of Northern sight.
I heard Valenia racing to catch up, and I looked back just as she was swinging the doors closed behind us.
If I hadn’t known better, I’d have said she looked rattled to be there.
“Move faster,” I hissed to her, my veins and muscles feeling as though they were being burned from the inside out.
“My king?” a guard asked as we made it to the bottom of the stairs. I grit my teeth, my hands curling into fists at the sight of not one, but two soldiers down there.
From the corner of my eye, I caught Valenia looking my way. Seeming to somehow understand the pain I was in, and maybe even why, she straightened her spine and stepped forward.
“Dismissed, soldiers. Wait on the other side of the doors, up the stairs,” she demanded, her voice assuming the authority I had bestowed upon her.
The two guards exchanged a glance, but when I didn’t interfere or correct her, they obeyed. Slowly departing, I couldn’t ignore the way they stole looks at me. Maybe I looked worse than I had assumed.
I bared my teeth in warning as they passed.
Once their steps quieted and we heard the echoes of the doors up top being firmly shut in place, I was on the move again, though in a more sluggish manner than I’d care to admit.
Valenia, taking initiative, headed straight for the doors the soldiers had been guarding and flung one open for me to cross into the dungeons.
The smell was just as strong down there, but that was the least of my worries at that point.
Most of the fae being held down there were huddled in the back of their cells, curled in on themselves, likely trying to stay warm.
Torches were placed between cells, out of reach of prisoners, but the light glinted off the alychite cell bars in a way that had my temples throbbing.
I was almost out of time.
I came to a sudden stop, one that made my head spin, as a prisoner became brave enough to stick his leg out through the bars and into my path—all in an attempt to trip me up.
“Valenia,” I said through gritted teeth, summoning her to my side with a single breath.
When she’d taken her position beside me, I motioned toward the prisoner to my left—the one that had tried to stumble me.
“Grab him and follow me.”
She did as I ordered, quickly acquiring the keys to that cell and dragging the male by the dark alychite chains behind me.
By the time I made it to the end of the long hallway, I had nearly collapsed in on myself.
So close…
At the end of the corridor laid the torture chamber. When we stepped inside, the smell of old and fresh blood alike was so strong, the stench from before was barely noticeable. All six surfaces in the rectangular room were made of stone inlaid with alychite.
No wielder would be breaking out of there—not without the nullifier.
Behind me, I heard the door slam shut after Val and the prisoner—who was actively resisting and whimpering for mercy.
That word alone made me see red.
Valenia hooked the male up to the chains hanging from the ceiling, so that he stood on the tips of his toes, his arms stretched out above him.
He shook like a mouse—one that had just realized it was checkmated.
And if he was the mouse, then I supposed that made me the snake.
Unable to utter a word through the pain, I sunk into a crouch, my muscles spasming and limbs shaking. I was vaguely aware of Valenia attempting to check on me, but I sternly pointed to the door without a word.
And only when she finally left, only once it was just myself and my prey, did I let my hold on my zirilium loosen.
But in giving my abilities an inch, they swiftly pushed through the grip I’d thought I had on them. They burned through my body, starting at my core and down my limbs, until bright streams of fire erupted from me.
I could feel the flames lapping over every inch of me, though not a single hair on my body was singed. I could only imagine what I looked like.
I supposed I likely appeared as the sun—the same one who had cursed me with these gifts when the moon had neglected me altogether.
I didn’t realize I was screaming until I couldn’t anymore, and with that burst of energy having taken the edge of the pain off, I got to my feet and approached the prisoner—who seemed to have already soiled himself.
I didn’t need blades of any kind tonight, like I had with Ezra.
No. Tonight, I would gain my control back, piece by piece.
No matter how many prisoners I had to burn my way through.
***
Their screams had been like a balm to my aching muscles.
Their begging had been like a bandage that held me together.
And their tears? Those had only fueled the power I felt simmering inside.
Four male prisoners laid in various parts of the chamber, their forms too still to mean anything other than death.
The first prisoner looked, objectively, the worst—third-degree burns covered the entirety of his body.
I’d barely touched him before the fire covering me had leaped to him—and engulfed him.
Compared to the three that had followed, his death had been swift.
He had begged for mercy, after all.
I sat there in the center of all my destruction, my white and silver wings wrapped around me as though they could block out the voices circling in my head.
I’d taken these prisoners’ lives.
Four of them.
What was I becoming?
Stronger, a voice reflecting Father’s echoed through my mind.
A monster, a voice that sounded—to my horror—like my twin’s whispered in my thoughts.
“Shut up,” I mumbled, digging the heel of my palm into my temple.
The pain and pressure to my head wasn’t a large enough distraction, though, the words monster and stronger circling the inside my skull.
“I rule you,” I reminded the voices that haunted me as I tugged on my hair.
These prisoners were Southern. They are the enemy. They are evil. I didn’t do anything wrong. I had to.
I repeated these five sentences in a soft whisper, over and over, until it was all I could hear echoing in my brain.
Slowly, I released my hands from my head and placed a palm on the floor. I couldn’t seem to tap into the earth to bend it to my will just yet, but it didn’t completely elude me, either.
I could feel Valenia pacing back and forth just outside of the door. I wasn’t sure what her life had been like before vowing herself to me, but she seemed… sensitive.
It was something we’d have to work on.
After some long moments, she finally approached the door. She knocked as she cracked it open gently, keeping her eyes downcast. We both knew she’d seen what I’d done tonight. She had been the one to bring me the other three prisoners, after all.
“My king? Might I enter?” she requested, her mannerisms refusing to be shaken.
Gingerly, I folded my wings back against my body and nodded, not uttering a word. My throat was still a tad raw.
My Right Hand came and elegantly positioned herself on the floor next to me, not seeming to care about the drops of blood seeping into her maroon riding leathers, the silver accents reflecting the dim light in the room as the alychite bars had earlier that evening.
She hadn’t had time to change out of her riding attire once we’d arrived.
And she wouldn’t have a chance anytime soon, either.
“How are you feeling now?” she questioned, her voice giving away none of the anxiety she must have felt in order to cause her to pace just a moment before.