Frigid shadows curled around her shift, tugging incessantly as they wrapped around her calves.
"Eat—or I will force your jaw open and shove the food down your throat."
As if to back up his warning, the shadows rose over her flesh until they nudged her chin and jaw.
"Okay."
He waited before the bars, eyes black as pitch. "I do not trust you alone. If I leave, you may attempt to trick me.Eat," he ordered.
Slowly, she walked on her knees to the tiny stone tray of cold food. It had hardened into a clump. No eating utensils, as if he feared she’d try to use it as a weapon; however, at the present moment, Luella was more inclined to use it to hurt herself than anyone else.
She broke off a chunk of the bread. She closed her eyes as she took a small bite. It was flavorless, brittle on her tongue. It slid down her throat and filled her empty, aching stomach, assuaging a gnawing hunger she’d nearly forgotten about. The spikes dug in as she swallowed.
"Good. I am unsure why you seem to wish to die. This is not forever." Caliban waved a shadow-tipped hand to the cell. "You will stay here until you learn to obey me. This is the first step."
Luella looked up at him, fingers curling into the bread with anger. "What is the second, then? Torture?" Her words were bitter.
She was so tired she didn’t even stutter. She had lost it in the safety of the Isles, but she thought it would’ve returned by now—especially forced to endure this dark reality.
Maybe a part of her that had once been broken had healed so much that it was strong enough to never crack again. But she knew that only left other pieces of her vulnerable. What would be broken now? Her hand—would she ever be able to use it again? Had she replaced one burden with another?
"The second step is your magic. You need to learn to wield it. Have it bend to your will. But before that, your will needs to bend to mine." His eyes reflected the blue glimmer around them. She saw as they dropped to her chest. "That mark. I know what it is.Hehad you bound to him?"
"Vale did, yes." She loved saying Vale’s name in front of Caliban—it seemed to bother him greatly. "It was inked on my chest after I was named the Chosen for the Winter Solstice. You knew this already, did you not?" she challenged.
"I know much more than they ever thought I did." He pressed his face between two bars, and the image was frightening, his eyes crazed. "Caliban fought at first, until he learned to stop. Fighting is useless. I know exactly what to do to break someone and use them how I see fit. You will break, too. Don’t try to fight it. Give in."
She jolted back, dropping the bread. They’d known that Caliban wasn’t…Calibanany longer. But?—
"Do your Umbra know you are a god playing at a male?"
His lips turned up into a sinister smile. "My Umbra know. My shadows coil around their hearts. None would dare betray me."
The shadows around Luella tightened ever so slightly.
"And the rest suspect; though, they would never breathe a word about it, especially not in front of me. Outside Luna, I am merely a crazed King with profane fantasies, but that’s what everyone tells themselves. It is easier for them to believe I am a fae male, than to face the truth: I haven’t been a male in long, long time—centuries. You would have to be a fool to believe I am a mere male. I am a god, and you all will learn to bow before me."
Luella shrank away from him. "You—then itistrue—you are… the Tenebrae?"
"Stupid heirus. Don’t tell me you were happy to bury your head in the sand like all the rest. I’ve heard even my half-brother hasn’t been willing to admit it. I thought it to be rather obvious that Caliban is long gone."
She’d known, but that did not stop his words from making her dizzy.Thiswas the male she was prophesied to defeat. They were all doomed. She couldn’t fight him and win. He’d kill her in an instant. Then no one would survive him.
She remembered the way he’d screamed as he had been pulled into the darkness of the cave, shadows wrapping around him. The day it had all changed.
She felt sorry for him, in a way. What could he have become if he’d never been possessed by a god of darkness?
"I knew you weren’t Caliban. Vale does too. I know he does. He’s not foolish, but hopeful. He hoped that you were alive still, because if you were stillyou, then at least he would be able to reason with you." Luella stood, ankle throbbing as she slowly walked to the iron bars. The shadows didn’t stop her. "He’s loved you all this time, did you know that? Vale loves you, Caliban."
LuellaknewVale did, even if he never said it. The few times he’d spoken to her about his half-brother, his tone had turned melancholic, as if mourning the irretrievable.
She watched as the darkness in Caliban’s eyes retreated—a flicker of green emerged.
"Please—" Caliban broke off into a dark, twisted scream as he fisted his hair and pulled. "No! Shut up." His hand reached through the bars and tangled in the front of her shift, pulling her forward until her chest slammed against her bars, knocking the breath out of her. "Shut up before I sew your lips closed like a Temple Mother. Would you like that—being silenced foreverwith thread between your lips? I could even cut out your tongue. If you ripped the stitches free, you would still be silenced."
At the threat, she gasped. The image of the Temple Mothers was burned into her mind.
"Did you know it was I who demanded they take a permanent vow of silence? Any who serve the gods must remain silenced, so as not to share the corruption of me in comparison to my sister."
