Page 98 of Queen of War and Ruin

What else can I do with it?

I glance at the door, then at the window. Sunlight spreads across the room, making the glass vials on the table sparkle. Sound floats in from everywhere; horses in the courtyard, laughter far down the hallway, that low murmur of indistinct voices like the ocean lapping against the shore. Only this room is silent.

The silver chain lies coiled like a snake. And I stand in the shadows, locked in this beautiful prison.

I need a way out. And I can’t use the door. Even if I managed to break the lock holding me in, I’m not foolish enough to think Varitan and Malrik would leave me unguarded. Knowing Malrik, he will have chosen guards who have a particular bone to pick with me, who will be hoping I’m stupid enough to try escaping. Guards who would be only too happy to beat me unconscious before dragging me back here. Or dragging me to the actual dungeons.

No, I can’t escape through the door.

Which leaves the windows.

I turn to the flood of sunlight. This plan is insane, even by my admittedly low standards. But it’s possible, right?

It has to be possible.

I grit my teeth and reach, slowly, toward the chain. Hair stands up on the back of my arm.

I can protect against the magic locked inside this piece of silver, sure. Varitan thinks someday I’ll protect him, although I’d sooner gnaw on broken glass. But can I use the magic trapped in this thing to protect myself? Say, against a fall from a window on the fourth floor of the palace? Enough to keep me from breaking both my legs, at least?

I grab the silver chain quickly, before I can change my mind. The metal burns my fingers; I almost drop the damn thing.

“Shit,” I hiss.

I shove the metal chain into my pocket. Even through the thick fabric of my pants, it makes my skin pull tight and my muscles twitch. I grit my teeth, then stalk across the room to the window.

These windows don’t open, of course. That would be too easy. I brace myself against the wall and curl my fingers into a fist. The strange energy trapped in the silver chain ripples through my body, hot then cold, making my gut churn and turning the back of my mouth bitter. I close my eyes, concentrating on the chaos pulsing through me.

If I can stop an attack, I can create one, damn it.

I open my eyes and stare at the window. And then I pull that horrible, buzzing pulse of energy out of the chain, and I push it forward. The glass ripples, bowing outward. For a heartbeat, I think it’s not going to work, it’s not enough.

And then the window explodes.

Glass rains down on the courtyard. Somewhere in the distance, someone yells. I watch the tiny crystal shards fall through the sunlight, down, down, and down, to the hard stone below.

My throat feels tight. I shiver as the chain’s strange energy twists through me.

There’s no way to know if this will work.

Sure, I can shield myself from Varitan’s attacks. But there’s a world of difference between getting slapped in the face and jumping out of a window four stories above a cobblestone courtyard. And I’ve already used some of whatever was in the chain to break the window. I have no idea what’s left, or what I can do with it.

I force a breath into my aching lungs. This has to work.

There’s no other way out, godsdamn it. And the longer I’m trapped here, the more reason Varitan has to threaten Lilias. What if I come up against something I can’t do, some strange magical trick Varitan expects but I can’t deliver? I don’t doubt he’d torture her. He’d probably enjoy it, sick fuck that he is.

But not if I’m gone. And, hells, not if I’m dead.

“Shit,” I mutter again.

I step toward the open window. A gust of wind ruffles my shirt and lifts my hair from my shoulders. I close my eyes, feeling for the angry hiss of energy still trapped in the silver chain.

There’s a creak behind me.

I hesitate. Just for a moment, less than a heartbeat. But it’s enough.

Something cold wraps around me and drags me backward, away from the broken window, away from the bright blue sky.

Chapter 51