Page 153 of Taken By Shadows

“That seems an enormous undertaking. And Gallen’s mines too? After so many years, to finally find something. What did they find?” I hedged. I swallowed a dry lump as her eyes strained in their sockets. Either at my brazen questioning or my knowledge that the mines had been fruitful.

“Tymon told you.” Her eyes narrowed to sharp slits. “That husband of mine …” she trailed off like she was contemplating how she would take him apart later.

“The entire council is talking about the good fortune Tymon has had in Gallen.”

A look passed over Sapphine’s face that was disturbing, like a snake poised to strike. Sizing up her prey, wondering if she could swallow me whole.

“You seem to know a lot about my business, dear Imogen.”

“Not at all.” Serenity painted across my face as blatantly and heavily as any costume make-up. “But I would like to. I was informed that your family is wealthy. Instrumental in this city’s infrastructure.”

What was the harm in pushing? I had nothing to lose with her. There was hardly a friendship at stake here.

Sapphine stood at that and leaned over me. At first, I thought she might strike me; she looked so tense. But then her eyes fell on my empty cup, and she smiled as she plucked it from my hands.

As she turned, I sank a little deeper into the cushions of the settee.

“My family is the power in this city.” She spun. Or the room did. “In Gloriya. And Gallen. If we had our way, we would be the power in Hayden too. And every miserable town in between. The council will see it that way, too, one day. We might not wear a crown, but not all power in the Four Corners is gold adornment and titles.” There was a bitterness that soured her tone, a bite to every word.

A cloud of unease washed over me, and the paintings in the room all seemed to melt, their colours dripping past the frames.

I shook my head to clear it, but it did nothing.

She was above me now, her slight frame suddenly feeling more like a harpy and less like a bird.

“And … the mines? In Gallen … will help you do that?” My tongue was heavy in my mouth, and my fingers felt cold and numb as I reached for her. “What’s …What did—”

Sapphine’s hand swatted mine away.

“Aren’t you the intrepid little investigator? More than a pretty face for Kaedian.” Her smile grew wicked as she gripped the teacup still.

The tea. The sugar she’d added to mine. Just mine.

A wave of teal magic surged up and forced the air out of my lungs and slammed me into the back of the seat. My vision went soft and fuzzy.

Black spots danced across my eyes as I fought for air. Sapphine never touched me, just her magic. It was a barbed noose that tightened as she sneered.

“I don’t like you. I don’t have to have a reason, but you’ve given me many already. But asking about my business? My family? My mines?” She scoffed. “You would do well to remember who holds the power here. And you can tell Kaedian the same.”

A scream was smothered in my lungs as her magic forced its way down my throat. I tried to claw at my attacker, but my fingers were numb from whatever had been in the tea.

Before the roaring blackness took me the door crashed open, Tymon appearing and shoving Sapphine away from me. I thought I heard my name but then everything vanished under a curtain of immense darkness.

Chapter forty-seven

Iwas drowning in something soft and cool. It twined in my feet, around my ankles. Through my hair and around my wrists, and it would claim my throat and air too.

I woke with a start and sat bolt upright in a dark room. There was a breeze coming from a balcony door that hung ajar.

The sudden shift in my posture had me coughing from the sweetness of the tea still sticking to my tongue.

I was tangled in navy silken bedsheets. There was navy all around me. The bedspread, the walls and even the ceiling with its gold constellations …

My chest squeezed, and I clutched the fabrics around me. I was in Kaed’s bedroom.

In his bed!

I coughed again, and this time the door flew open, and Kaed was framed in it.