Page 71 of Hearts Lost

ITHRONEL

SO FAR BELOW

Stars, I feel awful. My head throbs like it’s been split apart, my mouth tastes bitter and metallic, and something prickly is jabbing me in the cheek. I shift gently, my body creaking in protest. The jabbing irritation in my face subsides; now, something scratches my neck instead. There’s an animal here too, something lurking in the shadows and watching me with interest. Just in case I turn out to be food.

That thought sends a thread of alarm through my aching muscles, and I snap my eyes open. Straw. I’m lying in a pile of straw, surrounded by stone walls.

Odd. I try to swallow, but my mouth’s gone dry. The animal withdraws, annoyed that I’m now behaving less like food, as fear pulls low and tight in my gut. My eyes trace the rough stone all around me, then climb to the narrow slits in the high walls that let in the unmistakable blue-green light of glowsoft orbs.

This is a cell. It has to be a cell. I’m locked up somewhere. My breath trembles as I pull it over my lips, although of course, what was I expecting? Hadn’t I betrayed the Kingdom of the Fall? Didn’t I deserve to be locked in a dungeon?

But— My mind stumbles, and I pull myself up to my knees. Straw tangles in my hair and catches in the folds of my dress. I’m still wearing the dress that had been waiting for me in the palace when I woke up, that oddly elegant dark red velvet gown that I’d worn to meet with King Galan’s magicians.

Yes. I had met with Galan’s magicians. That part hadn’t been a dream, the meeting where I’d told Lythienne and all the king’s magicians how I’d activated the weapons. And the magicians hadn’t acted like they’d wanted to lock me up. In fact, Lythienne had said—

“Tomorrow,” I whisper.

My voice rustles the air in the cell. Lythienne had said we’d pick up again tomorrow, but without Rowan and Arryn, because they were going back to the World’s End. I’d walked with them to the palace gates.

And I’d met someone there. My heart sinks in my ribcage as the memories return. I’d followed a strange, gaunt man through the twisting streets of the Crystal City until we’d reached a massive building that was only slightly smaller than the palace itself.

My chest pinches at the memory. I’d felt like I was shrinking as I walked through the gardens and approached the massive marble doors of what had to be Aloserin’s family estate. Aloserin had told me he was royalty on both sides, he’d said he grew up on an estate, but somehow there was still a difference between hearing it and seeing it for myself. Somehow, when it had only been the two of us and the shifting strangeness of the void, I hadn’t felt the vast gulf between our lives. Somehow I’d been able to pretend it didn’t matter.

I twist my hands in my velvet skirt and remember the bitterness I’d felt as I’d climbed the stairs toward the massive marble doors of Aloserin’s estate. Had I honestly expected the man who lived here to greet me when I woke up in the palace? To take any time whatsoever to visit me?

Stars, I was so far beneath him. The distance between me and Aloserin was greater than the barrier between our worlds. And I was an idiot for letting myself get attached, for mixing friendship and sex. For breaking my own rules.

My eyes sting, and I press my palms against them, trying to breathe. Trying to focus. Because the many obvious barriers between me and Aloserin are not the problem right now. The problem is that I’d gone into Aloserin’s estate, and now I’ve woken up in a star-damned cell.

I blink, then sit up straighter. Because there’d been slightly more to it, hadn’t there? I’d entered the massive marble doors of Aloserin’s estate, and then the strange, skeletal man had led me to a sort of sitting room. And he’d given me a glass of… something.

My stomach turns at the memory. He’d called it wine, the liquid in the glass he’d given me. He’d said it was a family specialty, and he’d seemed very keen on watching me try it. I remember bringing it to my lips, trying to ignore its faint metallic odor, and taking a sip. Then another, as he watched. And then the world started to go soft around the edges.

“Son of a bitch,” I whisper.

Aloserin poisoned me? I mean, that much was obvious. I’d been invited to Aloserin’s estate by someone who was presumably a servant, I’d had some weird, metallic-tasting wine, and I’d woken up in a cell.

I groan and let my eyes slide closed once again. Just how many ways does Aloserin have to knock a girl unconscious? And why didn’t he use his sleep magic this time? Did he not want to touch me again? Did he not even want to see me?

A hard knot forms in the back of my throat, and I try to swallow it. Stars, I need to get a hold of myself. I force my eyes open, make myself come to my feet, and brush the straw off my velvet dress, which is now looking somewhat worse for the wear. Twisting my fingers together, I pace the narrow little room.

Maybe there’s another explanation, I tell myself as some spark of desperate hope flares deep inside my core. Aloserin teased me about dungeons in the void. Maybe this is some sort of sex thing?

I sink my teeth into my lower lip and stare at my dismal surroundings. Wow. If this is a sex thing, Aloserin’s really going for authenticity. There’s a nasty bucket in the corner of the room that I’m assuming is the toilet and the pile of straw that I woke up on looks years old. Plus, it’s cold in here. I shiver and run my hands over my arms. No, there’s nothing sexy about this room, although my mind unhelpfully supplies the thought that Aloserin could make this hot. That man could make anything hot.

More than hot. Aloserin could make this place feel comfortable. With his smile, his laughter, his dry sarcasm, and the way he listens like he really wants to know what I’m about to say, Aloserin could make this place feel almost like home. Like he did in the void.

I clear my throat and shake my head. Thinking about Aloserin’s smoldering sex appeal is not helping anything. At all.

There’s a wooden door set in the stone wall. I walk over to it, then hold my breath, listening. Nothing. I raise my fist and tap the wood, sending a hollow knock booming through the cell.

“Aloserin?” I call. “Are you out there?”

Still nothing. Memories of the void filter up in my mind, bringing a bitter taste to the back of my mouth. Fish, he’d said as he’d held my wrists together behind my back. If it’s too much for you, say fish.

“Fish,” I declare to the empty room.

No response. I turn to the door and scream.