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Something inside me rose up, hungry to give in to my vengeful thoughts and follow through with it, just like I always had. When something punched me, I always punched back. Orstabbedback, really.
But look where it had gotten me. More importantly, look where it had gotten Nellie, Mother, Val.
My actions had put them in these dungeons. All three of them. And if I did something rash now, deep down I knew it would only make it worse for them, as impossible as that seemed. At least they were alive. At least they had hope that one day they might find themselves back in Teine beneath the baking sun, laughing as they lounged on the river banks with their bare toes in the water.
I closed my eyes and shoved down my rage. It would have to come out to play another time. Next time I made a move, I had to be certain it was the right one.
“Are you coming or what?” he asked.
“Coming where?” I snapped back.
I wouldn’t stab him, but I had no intention of being nice, either.
He chuckled. “The king has plans for you. And he’s ordered me to kill one of your loved ones if you make a fuss. We’ll start with Nellie here, if you’d like.”
“Don’t you dare speak her name.” Heart pounding, I took a step toward the door. Nellie gripped my hand, but she didn’t try to pull me back. She knew it was useless to do anything but go along with whatever Oberon had planned for us.
“Tessa,” she whispered.
“I’ll be back soon,” I promised her. “He won’t kill me. It’ll ruin his wedding.”
Oberon had gone to a lot of trouble to get me back. And I would find a way to make him pay for it.
Five
Tessa
The long walk down the corridor and up the stairs gave me time to brace myself for whatever might come next. I hadn’t been in the same room with Oberon since I’d stabbed him, but the shock of seeing him stand instead of turn to ash was burned into my mind. The utter relief I’d felt when I’d thought this world was finally free of him…
It made the weight of his continued existence press down on my shoulders so heavily that I felt as though my feet were being shoved right into the floor. Every single bad thing that had happened in my life could be traced back to him. And what was worse, he wanted to turn his cruelty onto the rest of the world.
The guard led me to the second highest floor where I’d once lived. For an entire month, I had been trapped in this place. The vines that crept along the stone blurred before me as the memories banged against my mind. I’d fought hard to block them out, even the ones where nothing terrible had happened. I’d spent plenty of time in silence, or just staring out the window at the mist-enshrouded mountains in the distance.
But those memories were laced with a grief so great I’d thought I might die. I’d lost the will to fight. Even breathing had felt hard. I never wanted to feel that way again, but I knew Oberon would do his damndest to take me back to that place again. He wanted to shatter me. He wanted to watch me curl up into a ball and mewl in pain, a mere creature beneath his boot.
He wanted me to be the one that burned to ash.
“Here we are,” the guard said when we reached the old bathing chamber I’d once used. Dread crept through me at the sight of the gold-plated tub. Steam curled off the water, transforming the room into a world of fog—or mist. But unlike before, Queen Hannah was nowhere to be seen. In her place stood two maidservants I’d never seen before. Both human, both young. Their heads bowed; they did not speak a word.
“What’s this?” I asked, turning to the guard.
“You’re the king’s betrothed, and the rules remain the same as they were before.” He smiled. “No speaking, except in your private quarters. This time, that’s your dungeon cell. So, shut up and get in the bath, mortal.”
I tensed. “No. I can’t follow that rule again.”
“You can.” He shoved me toward the bath, and my ankles twisted beneath me. “And you will. Because if you don’t, you know what will happen. We have three of your loved ones. How many times are you willing to defy us? Once? Fine. You’ll lose one family member. Twice? Three times? Going to sacrifice them all just because you refuse to play by our rules?”
I ground my teeth together. Without another word, I pulled off my dirtied fighting leathers and stepped into the tub, refusing to be embarrassed as the guard’s gaze tracked my every move. When his eyes lingered on the curve of my thighs, I didn’t react. I eased into the soothing heat and tried not to sigh.
Truth be told, the hot water soothed my sore muscles, my tired feet, my aching skin. I’d run myself into the ground trying to get back here, and a full night’s sleep had done little to help me recover. Back inside Oberon’s protective barrier, I was healing fast, but my ankle still throbbed with phantom pain.
The cocoon of the bath tugged at me, dragging my tired body away from the horror of my life, if only for a moment.
And then Oberon appeared at the door.
I felt him before I saw him. The tension was electric, and pinpricks of heat flared to life across my skin. But nothing about this heat felt warm. There was something dark and twisted about it, like it had been doused with poison before being lit. Like it would eat me apart if I sat too long beneath it. I stiffened in the tub and tried not to turn my head to look, but I couldn’t stop myself. With a shuddering breath, I gazed behind me.
King Oberon, the crimson one-eyed dragon, lounged just inside the open door with crossed arms, leaning against the frame. His twisting horns curled out of his head and his ember eyes glowed like a bonfire in the deepest part of the night. An onyx necklace glittered at his throat—the one that felt like the shadow of the god. He’d taken it back from me after knocking me out in the moment I’d feared would be my last.
