Page 135 of Embers of Ruin

He reaches for the ancient book, tucking it beneath one arm as though I’ve already given him everything he wanted.

A cruel smile twists his mouth as his crimson eyes gleam. “Then perhaps we will all learn together.” His gaze drifts over me with unsettling interest. “Though I do wonder how your body reacts to magic through the chamber. I shall test it.”

My mind blanks as horror washes over me. “I’m going to fucking kill⁠—”

He holds his palm out and a bright spark of crimson shoots straight toward me, passing through the glass as if it’s not there, hitting me square in the chest. My eyes go wide, and every limb freezes. In my mind…

I am screaming.

His magic is so painful that I want to claw at my skin to tear my flesh off. It feels as if my body is on fire, and thousands of small needles are stabbing me. My mouth is open, but no sound comes out. I try to raise my hand, but I can’t move it. I can’t move anything.

THORIN!

THORIN HELP ME! FIND ME!

Find me. Find me. Save me. Help me. Thorin. Help. Thorin…help.

Malveris releases his hold on me and I hit the ground hard with a loud thud. Malveris looks pleased with himself and gives me a hateful smile, turning on his heel before I can catch my breath, which is fortunate for him because my response would have been vulgar and deeply satisfying. But I can’t breathe. Or I can—it’s just taking a lot of effort to drag in breaths.

When the lights finally lower, I lie on the glass floor and stare at the warped ceiling. My reflection stares back, silver hair spread around my head like a halo I never asked for. The cage hums softly, pleased with itself, feeding on panic, grief, fury, whatever pieces of me it can reach.

My wrist pulses once, weak and faint, but undeniably real. Heat floods beneath the mark, and with it comes something so sharp and vast it steals what little breath I have left. Fury.

I know immediately it isn’t mine. I know what my own anger feels like. This belongs to him. It’s raw and terrible, vast enough to devour stars. I press my hand over the mark and close my eyes. Somewhere, far beyond my reach, the Shadow King knows I’m gone.

And gods help these rebels when he finds them. I hope he makes them suffer.

CHAPTER 30

LYRA

The crack is gone when I wake. For several long moments, I lie motionless with my cheek pressed against the cold glass floor, staring at the place where I could have sworn the wall fractured sometime during the night. The white surface glows with the same sterile light that has surrounded me since I arrived, flawless and untouched, as though the cage has quietly repaired itself while I slept.

I push myself upright anyway, unwilling to trust my own eyes anymore. Perhaps I imagined it. That possibility feels increasingly likely. Malveris keeps returning with his ridiculous questions, the cage never stops humming beneath my feet, and my memories drift through my mind like smoke, slipping away whenever I reach for them. If I am slowly losing my mind, at least it would explain why nothing in this place behaves as though it belongs in the same world I do. The thought sinks into me, cold and heavy, feeding the fear I’ve been trying not to name.

I climb to my feet and begin another slow circle around the chamber, dragging my fingertips along the smooth glass wall. Every step sends a faint pulse beneath the floor, subtle enough that I might have dismissed it a few days ago, but now I notice everything. Every vibration. Every shift in the humming beneath the glass. Every tiny inconsistency that might reveal a weakness. I search for seams, imperfections, anything that suggests this prison was made by hands rather than gods.

I find nothing.

Closing my eyes, I reach instinctively for my magic. Before the familiar warmth has time to bloom beneath my skin, the cage responds. The hum deepens until I feel it in my teeth, white light surges through the walls, and the golden current inside me simply... disappears. It is stolen before it can become anything at all.

I release a slow breath through my nose.

“Wonderful. How many times am I going to be captured in one lifetime?”

The glass, unsurprisingly, has no opinion.

Footsteps echo somewhere beyond the wall. I recognize them now. Malveris never hurries. He walks with a quiet confidence. I don’t bother turning around immediately. If he enjoys making me anticipate his arrival, he is welcome to enjoy it alone.

“You should eat, Cursebreaker.”

His voice glides through the chamber with the same calm certainty that accompanies everything he says.

I glance toward the untouched tray resting near the wall. Bread. Fruit. Water. Enough to keep a prisoner alive without offering the smallest comfort.

“If you’re concerned about my health,” I sneer, “this is a strange way of showing it.”

“You misunderstand.” His hands disappear behind his back as he studies me through the glass.