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His somber vow lingered between us. Tonight marked the first step in our most unexpected alliance.
CHAPTER27
Rhys
The clawsof despair threatened to tear what remained of my battered spirit as I lay chained in unrelenting darkness. I had long lost all track of days and nights spent wasting away in this wretched tomb. My singular motivation for clinging to each ragged breath was thoughts of my beloved Seraphina, though I feared she must assume by now that I had abandoned her without cause or explanation.
When my mind conjured her gentle smile or musical laugh, my bleak reality receded temporarily. I could almost imagine her soft hand cradling my face, her lilting voice soothing away fear and doubt. But always the fantasy ended, leaving me again in fetid blackness with only the skitter of unseen things for company.
Surely Seraphina hated me now for missing our long-awaited union, thinking I had spurned her love so callously. That notion hurt worse than any physical torture my vile captor could devise. But I could not abandon hope of seeing my goddess again to explain all. I would find a way back to her, or die trying to escape this nightmare. If only my efforts had not failed so spectacularly already...
My thoughts turned bitterly back to my first reckless bid for freedom, what seemed eons ago. After long waiting motionless for my mysterious jailer to grow complacent, I had taken advantage of a routine guard change to make my move at last. My natural gargoyle strength allowed me to tear free of the chain binding my wings. Launching skyward, I had nearly cried out in relief, freedom so close I could taste the crisp air beyond these cursed tunnels.
But my exultation was short-lived. Wards etched into the ceiling stone flared violently the moment I passed beneath, their ancient magic immobilizing my wings and sending me plunging earthward again. I lay in the rubble, stunned and gasping, easy prey for the swarm of guards alerted by the magical tripwire. They showed me no mercy, repaying my defiance with ruthless blows until darkness claimed me.
When awareness returned, any last defiant hopes had burned to ash. My wings were pinioned brutally now behind my back, denying even the temptation of flight. And my ankles were fettered to a pin driven deep into bedrock, allowing only a few shuffling steps either way from where I lay. Further chafing showed the unyielding strength of my magically reinforced tethers. I was well and truly caged, with no obvious means left to slip through these inescapable bonds.
That failed escape attempt had revealed one grim truth, however—my captor was no hapless amateur, but someone ancient, cunning, and steeped in long-forbidden magic. Their resources were surely as bottomless as their capacity for cruelty. Against such an entity, what chance did one cursed prisoner have?
But enduring torture and isolation had only hardened my resolve. I refused to grant my tormentor the satisfaction of breaking my stubborn will, nor abandon all thought of deliverance. Seraphina yet lived and breathed somewhere far beyond these oppressive stone walls. And that knowledge alone lent steel to my spine and purpose to my days. I swore to myself that we would be reunited, or I would die fighting. She was my guiding star, and I followed where she led unerringly.
In the silent days since my first failed bid for freedom, I had studied my cell sporadically through the gloom, searching for any weaknesses my captor had overlooked. The featureless room seemed immune to tampering or escape, but there had to be some flaw my eyes simply could not discern in the dark.
Today, my watching was interrupted by echoing footsteps and guttural voices—the changing of my guard detail. I tensed instinctively as the iron door scraped open, but the syllables of their gravel language held no particular menace. Likely, just two more of the faceless and interchangeable thugs my mysterious captor employed, along with boundless other resources.
I kept my face turned away, feigning weary indifference to disguise my racing thoughts. Escape was futile with these brutish guards actively watching me. But their arrival presented an opportunity to continue gleaning precious clues about my jailer and where I was being held. Information was the most powerful weapon I could arm myself with at this stage.
Halting my scheming mind, I focused on their conversation, straining to catch any useful thread in the harsh, gravelly language. Though no scholar, I had made some strides in deciphering this guttural speech over interminable days of listening. Any detail might prove valuable, even just the origin of the guards stationed here.
As the lumbering pair took seats just outside my cell door, I shifted slightly, wincing as though in pain. Perhaps some small talk would shed more light on my predicament. The guards were simple, but valued what little authority they had over me. Their pride could be exploited.
“Water,” I rasped. Never showing weakness before these thugs, I had refused their sustenance, relying only on occasional moldy bread. But today, I would make an exception to glean anything useful about this hated place.
The pair muttered in surprise at my uncharacteristic request, but soon one stumped off to fulfill it while the other remained standing stony guard. I eased into a crouch, head deferentially lowered to avoid provoking him. My role was that of a humble prisoner, cowed at long last. Little did they realize my mind never stopped plotting and assessing, spinning a web to entrap us all.
When the first returned, I didn’t have to feign my desperate gasps gulping down the brackish water in their bucket. Pride was meaningless against mortal needs. I emptied the vessel to the guards’ clear satisfaction before forcing out the local dialect words for gratitude. The simpletons chuckled and preened at this submission. Good—their vigilance would relax further.
“How long… have I been here?” I grunted next. The brutes exchanged glances, smugly debating whether to enlighten me. These moments were a rare entertainment in the tedium of guard duty.
“A quarter cycle of the moon now, demon,” the stockier one finally answered, baring crooked teeth. My gut twisted as I struggled to convert moons into some coherent unit. Nearly a week in this abyss? That meant graduation was close at hand. Gods, the end of my days loomed closer than I thought. Rage and despair clawed my heart, but I schooled my face to stillness.
“Is my home far?” I rasped next through a sandpaper throat. Any clues about my location could aid escape. My spirit clung desperately to that vain sliver of hope still. The guards just laughed at my weak probing.
“Past the Great Hills, creature. Let that knowledge torment you.” Their sneering words doused my flickering optimism like water upon flames. The Great Hills were a vast stretch of hostile terrain. Crossing such a wasteland alone and unaided was impossible—flight, unimaginable under my dire conditions.
My head sunk, all careful plotting slipping away beneath crushing hopelessness. There truly was no redemption from this endless nightmare I had been hurled into. I was doomed to waste away unseen in fetid darkness.
The guards’ guttural laughter faded along with their heavy footsteps, leaving me blessedly alone again with my despair. Even maintaining a stoic façade seemed pointless when all roads led to the same bleak outcome. I had failed utterly to protect my love when evil snatched me away on our wedding eve. Whatever false comfort Seraphina eventually found in another’s arms, I could not even begrudge it. Her fate could not be tied anymore to mine, not when black oblivion gaped inevitably ahead.
CHAPTER28
Sera
The cheerful dinof the crowded dining hall faded into background noise as I picked morosely at my dinner. Days had passed since discovering the hidden account of Rhys’ curse, yet I felt no closer to unraveling its sinister knots. Time was swiftly bleeding away, the Starry Night Ball fast approaching. When the fated hour tolled, Rhys would be sealed forevermore in stone if I could not free him first.
Oddly, I had not seen Lily for several days now. Her absence nagged at me, making me even more uneasy. I needed my dearest friend’s sage advice and strength now more than ever. But Lily remained frustratingly elusive, with no explanation for her sudden distance. I sighed, adrift in confusion and worry. Somehow, I had to break this curse... if only I could determine how.
My brooding thoughts were interrupted by a light touch on my shoulder. I glanced up sharply to see Cassius hovering over me, his expression unreadable. Unease prickled under my skin. We had established an uneasy truce, but old habits of mistrust died hard.
