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Faelor swallows thickly, tilting his head. “What do you think?”
“I think she’s honest, that she really does need help. There’s a look in her eye, something you can’t fake after you’ve lived in that…that place.”I shake my head. “I don’t think she’s a part of some elaborate scheme.”
“Maybe, but she might not need to be in on it to be a part of it.” Faelor twists his lips, pacing in front of me a long moment before turning back to me. “Asmodeus knows where the Luminaries are. He doesn’t need her to find them. He knows about dragons too, always has.”
“I argued the same, but just because he’s not selling us out, doesn’t mean he’s not going along with the king’s plan.”
“The king knows where the rebels are, though. It’s supposed to be off-limits to him due to the treaty.”
I give him a knowing look. “When has that ever stopped him from paying off others to attack the islands? The treaty is only good if both parties are willing to uphold it. The rebels aren’t supposed to set foot in the mainland, yet here we are. Asmodeus can’t tell the king no, all he can do is follow orders.”
“Don’t you think he’d warn us, though?”
My gut swirls. I want to say he would, but I just don’t know. “I’m not sure.”
“All the more reason to guard her door.” Faelor sighs, shaking his head like he’s unsure how we got here. Even though he’s been a part of it every second.
“All the more reason she can’t know what we are.” I arch a brow.
“I hate using the term beast. It feels wrong.”
“But it’s better than the alternative–for now.” Slipping into the water, the door clicks as he lets himself out.
Chapter 15
Calamity
Tossing and turning, I flip onto my back, my gaze drawn upwards to the rough-hewn stone ceiling. The dance of firelight plays across its surface, casting long flickering shadows. I’m not sure how long it’s been since I crawled into this bed, though it feels like hours have dragged on, the world around me suspended in a stagnant stillness.
Despite the quilt I’m curled up in, a bone-deep chill seeps into my marrow. The air grows colder with each passing moment, and not even the flames crackling in the lanterns or the fire devouring the oak logs just outside my door can calm it. My breath mists in the air, and I silently berate myself for not having searched the other rooms for something warmer to wear. Anything would have been better than this flimsy linen nightgown.
I push myself up, wrapping the quilt tighter around me, feeling something deep within stir. My beast. Hyde. I think that’s what I’ll call her. She deserves a name of some sort, and at least it has meaning.
“Sleeping usually involves your eyes being shut,”she says, her voice laced with a sharp edge, echoing in the recesses of my mind.
"Yeah, but it usually involves being warm and cozy too. Neither of which I am right now.” I can barely keep my teeth from chattering.
“Oh, please, we both know the real reason you’re not sleeping. Trust me, I know you dark secrets. Same mind and all. You’re worried about the nightmares… You don’t have to pretend to be okay, Calamity. Not with me.”
My chest tightens, so blatantly exposed. It's as if she's peeled back layers of my carefully constructed armor, revealing the raw, weak little girl hidden beneath it. A shiver runs down my spine, the coldness of the room suddenly more pronounced, more real. I grip the quilt harder, tighter, and the fabric crumples in my palm.
“You’re not alone. You never have been and you never will be.”
I swallow hard, trying to push down the lump that has formed in my throat. Her words, though meant to comfort, feel like a light shining on the darkest corners of my soul, corners I've fought hard to keep hidden. But she’s right. We share a body, a head space. I don’t need to wear a mask or filter my thoughts with her. If her knowledge of the stories I read as a child are any indication, she’s been through everything I have.
“Why now?” The flat, empty question falls from my lips, but it’s all I can get out. “After all these years… I was alone in that dungeon, begging any god who'd listen for someone to talk to. Why choose now to break the silence?"
“It wasn’t my choice.”
“Then whose was it? You literally live in my mind. How could anyone else decide whether or not you speak to me in it?” Ichallenge, my voice rising as I toss the quilt away, and leap to my feet.
I’m not sure why I’ve bothered asking. There’s only one person capable of doing such things… My palms are sweaty as they slide over my bare arms in a futile effort to create friction, but the cold might be the only thing capable of quelling the heat burning in my veins. It might be the only thing that can settle the anger bubbling up in my chest, so fast, so suddenly I could foam out the mouth at any second.
He controlled everything…
“The king…”she whispers. That’s no surprise to me.“The same way he suppressed you in the white room, putting me in control, he suppressed me when you left. Only it was different… Where you don’t remember much after falling asleep, I remember everything. I was present, just trapped, incapable of doing anything beyond watching our life go by.”
My fingertips brush against the column of my throat, drifting lower until my hand can rest over my heart. “It was the liquid hellfire wasn’t it? The green liquid he injected us with.”
