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“Then let me put her back in the prison world. She’ll listen to me.” Tears brim my eyes, clouding my vision. I can’t lose her. If she goes back, then I at least know she’s alive. She survived there just fine before. She can do it again.
“No. I’ll do my best to convince them to let her go back, but it’s coming down to a choice. One I can’t make any other way. If it comes down to you or her, I’m sorry, but I’ll be the one to do it before I let them anywhere near you.”
My eyebrows scrunch as I gasp. What? Me or her? What does this have to do with me? As if reading my mind, he huffs, propping his hands on his hips.
“They think you’re a threat since you’re bonded. One of them demanded you be thrown into the realm of monsters, too.”
“Because she’s my familiar?”
He nods with a long, exaggerated blink. “You share characteristics, and they already fear you because you were spellbound. They view you as a wild card and even though we know you’re not a risk, they don’t believe me. My father won’t let them hurt you, but with her, his hands are mostly tied.”
I can’t even look at his face. The only clear thought I can form is telling me to run, to go find Luri and take her to the border. To keep her safe. As much as she likes to grate my last nerve, I won’t lose her.
Flicking my wrist, I mumble the spell beneath my breath. Magic shoots from the floorboards, creating ropes of power. They shackle around his ankles and wrists.
“Alice,” he growls, flexing and straining against my power.
“I’m sorry,” I say, brushing my knuckles over his cheek. “But it’s clear where they stand and I have to–” I don’t even finish the sentence before he breaks free. I jolt backward, but I’m not fast enough. His hand brackets my wrist in a hold so fierce I know it’ll bruise. Having emptied my power, I’m still rebuilding my stores. I’m nowhere near strong enough to fight him, not this way.
“If you won’t listen, if you won’t stay in the fucking castle, then you’ve left me no other choice but to ensure it. You’ll be training here with Finn from now on.”
Inky black soot creeps across his arm, slipping onto mine. “What the hell!?” I yank harder as it travels up my arm and disappears beneath my t-shirt sleeve. Pain tears through my shoulder as magic scores my flesh, sinking to the bone. It feels like someone is writing their name with a hot poker.
“Stop! Stop it!” I jerk in his grasp, trying like hell to pull myself free, but his fingers are like vices, unwavering and made of steel. “Kai! You’re hurting me.”
Finally, he lets go and the smell of singed flesh wafts up my nose. What the… “What the fuck did you do?” I shove against his chest, wrenching the collar of my t-shirt over my shoulder to find two black snakes twirling around a rose stem. A tattoo. A brand. I meet his steely gaze. No… It’s a prison sentence.
“Try to leave the castle and it will burn.”
“Youbranded me?!You fucking asshole!” I slap my hand, the one attached to my good arm, across his cheek, enjoying the sound it makes. The reddening handprint welts, and I wish it hurt more. Kai barely flinches, but instead of getting mad, he takes a step back, linking his hands behind his back.
“Do what you need to, but you put yourself in this. You didn’t give me a choice.”
“I did? Me? How the fuck did you even brand me? I’m immune to hell flame and fire.”
“That’s because it’s not hell flame, little witch. It’s magic. Nothing will physically be harmed, and the mark will come off when it’s removed.”
Tears stream down my face as my heart shatters, leaving an empty void in its place. Still, I don’t whimper, I don’t drop to my knees and beg. No. I laugh. “That’s it, then? You got me. You know what? You’re worse than the whisps. At least they don’t pretend to want what’s best for you. I’m never going to be good enough. And even if I was, you’re still going to find some reason to keep me locked away.”
He turns, ignoring my rant. So, I say something he can’t let go through one ear and out the other. “I am not your mother, Kai. You can’t lock me up and take me out to play when you feel like it. I’m a human being and the one thing I can call family in this fucking world is about to be murdered and I can’t do anything about it because you’re terrified I’ll end up like her!”
Slowly, he turns, his arms limp at his sides. As his face comes into view, I can see the tears shining, waiting to fall. “Maybe you’re right, but I’d rather you hate me than end up frozen in time inside a glass coffin.”
He reaches for the doorknob and rage ripples through every part of my body, filling me up until I want to burst. Until I want to detonate. The tricky thing about witchcraft is that it’s fueled by emotion. My magic rises to the surface as my hands ignite with flames. Now it comes? Not five fucking minutes ago? Power gushes through me, ready and willing at my fingertips. But it’s too late. The brand will constrict me to the castle grounds, and I won’t be able to undo it.
“If she dies, don’t come back,” I say, looking at the floor. He’s won.
“I have a meeting to attend.” His voice is cold as he yanks the door open and disappears into the hall.
The moment he’s gone, I scream and the flames burn brighter, flaring out around me into the stagnant air. The castle rattles and the air electrifies as I drop to my knees and bury my face in my hands.
10
Alice
How long has it been? What, two, maybe three hours since Kai marked me? Since he damned me to lose one of the few things keeping me sane…
I pace around the castle, and through the gardens around the back. Occasionally, I wander too far, testing the barrier I’ve been confined to. There are no shimmering force fields, no markers. Only the zap and the searing pain in my shoulder every time I venture too far.
