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A scream rips from my throat. Though its incoherent to my ears, my magic understands the spell-wordquatir.
My shield explodes. Aether devours the holy fire. Golden and violet ash scatter through the darkness. The shock wave is powerful enough to throw back Ahelin and her priestesses. But I don’t have the strength to take advantage of it. The explosion used up every remaining drop of aether in my veins, and now I don’t have the strength to pull any more from the air.
I drop to my knees, exhaustion weighing on me like an anchor. Father’s staff rolls from my fingers and clatters onto the stone floor. I know I must get up and fight, but an invisible force pushes me down. My limbs refuse to obey.
“Seize her!” Ahelin shouts.
I struggle to my feet. It’s a battle that costs me even more strength.
The priestesses grab my arms. I shake them off and desperately call on my magic. There’s no answer. Until I rest, there will be no more casting spells. I kick at the priestesses and manage to throw a few of them off me. But there are too many. They come at me from all angles.
Light blooms in Ahelin’s hands, and she sends golden chains spinning toward me. “Alsila.”
I try to lunge away, but the priestesses hold me in place. The light wraps around my legs and coils upward, squeezing tighter and tighter. Then I can’t so much as kick at the priestesses.
Ahelin retrieves a set of golden manacles from the dungeon’s far wall and marches toward me. I try to pull my arms away from the priestesses, but it is no use. I can do nothing but watch as she approaches.
“Her wrists,” she says to the priestesses holding me.
They pull my arms in front and roll up my sleeves, exposing my wrists.
Ahelin opens the manacles, slots them around my wrists and then clicks them in place. The markings glow with golden light. Though little aether remains in my blood, I could sense that which lies in the air. Now I’m cut off from it entirely, and the air is devoid of magic.
“Put her in that cell,” Ahelin instructs, pointing to the cell beside Natharius.
I scream and kick, but it does nothing to stop the priestesses from shoving me into the cell. They slam the door shut behind me.
“What should we do with this creature?” one priestess asks, peering at Zephyr who’s huddled in the very far corner of Natharius’s cell.
“It’s a harmless thing,” Ahelin says. “Take it out of the dungeons and give it to the younger priestesses to look after with the doves.”
The priestesses glance at each other. None of them seems to want to step inside the cell and pass dangerously close to Natharius, who is sitting to the left with his back against the bars. When it’s clear no one will volunteer, Ahelin sighs and marches into the cell. She doesn’t so much as look at Natharius as she strides past him, but the Void Prince lifts his head and wrinkles his nose.
Ahelin crouches in front of Zephyr. He covers his head with his wings.
“Come now, little one,” she urges.
Zephyr doesn’t stir. He remains frozen in place.
“It will do you no good to stay in here with this monster.”
Natharius seethes at that.
After considering her words, Zephyr lowers his wing enough to reveal one crystalline eye. His attention flickers between Natharius and Ahelin as he weighs his options.
“You will be well cared for,” Ahelin continues, holding out her hand.
Zephyr lowers his wing a little more and looks back at me. As much as I hate to admit it, Ahelin is right. It will do Zephyr no good to rot down in these dungeons with us. He deserves better than that.
I give him a quick nod, and he unfurls the rest of his wings. He tentatively climbs onto Ahelin’s hands, and up onto her shoulder. Pain shoots through my heart at the sight, but I tell myself this isn’t a betrayal. I failed Zephyr by getting us all caught.
He looks back at me as Ahelin strides out of Natharius’s cell, and I force myself to meet his eyes, though it hurts. Zephyr is all I have left, and now I have lost him too.
The High Priestess shuts Natharius’s cell and places her hand over the doors, conjuring a ward of light magic. She does the same to mine. I don’t look at her and draw my knees up to my chest.
I know I must be strong, but it’s hard when defeat weighs so heavily on my shoulders.
“You two,” Ahelin barks as she leaves the dungeons. She gestures to two of the priestesses. “Guard both of the prisoners with careful diligence. I will send replacements to take your posts in the morning. You are not to set foot outside of the dungeons until then. Is that understood?”
