When I look back up, the king’s proud smirk burns into my memory. He may not have gotten me to unleash my power, but seeing me like this seems to be victory enough.
“What happened?” Kane asks quietly over the sound of my sobs.
“He killed her.” My voice cracks as the image of her head being cut from her body replays in my mind. “He’s going to kill everyone, isn’t he? Everyone I love.”
“I’m so sorry,” is all Kane says. It’s all he can say. He and Slader tried to warn me that the king would find a way to break me, and he has.
How long until it’s Amaya or Emeric?
That is, if they even survived the attack on the Sector.
I haven’t allowed myself to go there mentally for the past two months, but now I can’t stop the flow of thoughts. There’s a very real possibility that everyone I love is already gone. I’ve tried to block out the negative thoughts, knowing they’ll destroy me, but I can’t ignore them any longer.
Even if by some miracle my friends made it out alive, their lives are still in danger. As long as I’m alive, he’ll just keep killing everyone I care about until there is no one left. I’ve tried to hold on to hope for as long as I can, but there’s only one way this ends.
I pick up the piece of stone I’ve spent the past month sharpening. Originally, I was planning to use it against Orien, but it would be useless. The king would have an army of guards on me in the time it took me to unlock my cell.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to The Mother and to Agatha. “I wish I could’ve been stronger.”
I press the sharp edge of the stone to the inside of my wrist, cutting through the skin. The pain is excruciating, but it’s nothing compared to the pain I would feel if I had to watch another person I love die.
The blood slowly drains from my wrist onto the cold ground next to me. Eventually my head begins to spin, and I close my eyes, embracing the peace that is waiting for me on the other side.
When I open my eyes, I expect to see a glow of white light or my mother’s face, but instead I’m met with three stone walls and a row of steel bars. I look back down at my wrist and find the wound completely healed. It’s as if it had never been there to begin with.
“No!”
“No, what?” Kane asks.
I didn’t even realize I had said it out loud. I walk over to meet him, sticking my arm with dried blood through the cell bars. It doesn’t take long for him to understand what happened.
“Oh.” He turns his back to the wall, leaning his head against it. “I should’ve told you. He’s thought of everything.”
“What isthis? What did he do?”
“He knows people like you and me would rather die than help him, so he had his witch, Athea, cast a spell that prevents us from harming ourselves or each other.”
The realization slowly sinks in as I slump to the ground.
He’s taken everything from me. My father, my home, Meeka, Agatha, my freedom, my friends.
And now he’s taken away my choice to die.
The walls surrounding me seem to close in as whatever hope I had left slowly vanishes. There’s no escaping. I’m bound to this nightmare that has become my life, and the horrors I have been trying so hard to hold off are now inevitable.
There’s nothing stopping the king from using me as a weapon now.
Chapter 2
“Reign, what’s going on? What’s wrong?” Kane’s voice sounds distant, muffled like he’s calling me out of a deep sleep.
The stone beneath me is damp with my sweat, and my hair clings to the back of my neck and shoulders. It takes every bit of my energy to crawl to the bars of my enclosure.
I lean my head against the cold steel, welcoming the icy metal against my burning skin. Kane’s silver-grey eyes meet mine, and the look he wears is the same one Amaya wears when she’s unable to help me.
“My power,” I huff out between breaths. “It’s built up too much.”
I’ve never gone this long without using my powers, and it’s become too much for my body to hold. Itneeds a way out, but with the power dampener stopping it, it’s suffocating me from the inside.
