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But even as she struggles, chaos magic surges in the room, brightening the lights and causing them to flicker dangerously. She claws at my face, trying to stop me from doing what I must do. Yedina is a problem that I’ve had to take care of for a long time now; I just didn’t have the heart.
Now, it’s either her, or Laura, and the choice is easy.
But even as I sense my imminent victory, tightening further and feeling the bones of her neck grind together unnaturally, her eyes flit to the wall behind me, and a stray hand comes up, dripping with dark energy.
I feel more than see the bolt leave her fingertips.
The world slows as two things happen at once: Yedina’s neck finally has the good sense to snap, stealing the light from her features. And Laura—the bolt shoots straight into her chest.
I drop the corpse and whip around to see Laura go limp, even as the shackles finally release her. I catch her before she hits the floor, staring at the dark, uneven mark between her breasts that burrows deep into her heart.
I clap my palm over the mark in an attempt to draw the poison out. “No!”
And while I fight for Laura’s next breath, Yedina’s words continue to haunt me. You could have everything…
…or nothing at all.
57
LAURA
Everything around me is dark. It’s the deepest, pitchest black that I’ve ever seen. But it isn’t scary. I feel warm, comfortable as I float through the vast expanse of nothingness. I can’t tell how long it will stretch on for, but I don’t mind. I could stay here forever, floating on this inky river.
And then there’s a buzzing that fills my ears. The river is still nice enough, but the noise is jarring. I look around, trying to figure out where it is coming from. But it’s dark, and I can’t see. Eventually, though, I begin to piece together.
It’s coming from me.
I lift one hand to my ear, trying to make it stop. Nothing helps, until I sink down to the bottom of the river. The noise finally fades as I drown beneath the jet-black water. It’s thick and fills my lungs. I can’t help but wonder why I’m breathing it in. Don’t I know that this is drowning? But somehow, even though it’s thick and viscous,
I can breathe easy.
And then, there’s a pressure in my chest. A squeezing sensation that pushes down hard. The jelly whooshes out of my lungs as I fall out the bottom of the river and into the sky.
Waking comes slowly.
Sensations begin to creep in, at the edges of my eyes, that tell me I am coming back to life. But all I can focus on is the feeling. Like I am covered by clouds, cottony and soft. Such a wonderful feeling that I just want to lie here, drifting.
As the sleep begins to recede and my brain restarts, I realize that I’m not up in the sky. There are no clouds. There’s a bed beneath me, and blankets above. But my eyes are so heavy. It’s like they are sealed shut. I just lie there, stubbornly, not wanting to open them. How did my throat get so dry?
My mind is too restless to stop, and it won’t leave me suspended for long. It pulls me into wretched lucidity. As it does, everything suddenly comes back to me in a rush.
A woman with long red hair who appeared and took me by surprise. She hated me. She was going to kill me. She took me away, kidnapping me from Reg’thorek’s home. The feeling of tight shackles holding me up against a cold wall. But they aren’t there now. Even with my eyes closed, I can tell that. I’m in a bed. What happened?
Like being doused with cold water, I recall the way that she threatened me. She wanted to cut me, to ruin my face.
I squint my eyes shut tighter, as if I can block it all out. It doesn’t feel like I’m in danger, but I’m not sure I want to open my eyes and find out. If I just stay here, I can pretend that everything is fine.
But I need answers. I can’t stop thinking about it until I check for myself. I tentatively lift one nervous hand to feel my face.
I’m all in one piece, I notice with relief.
That evil demon woman hasn’t cut me up like she had promised.
My eyes fly open. I recognize the veiled canopy. It takes only a second to realize that I’m in the comfort of my bedroom.
I’m safe. I’m home.
Tentatively, I stretch out one leg, and then the other. One arm, and then the other. Everything seems to be in place, working the same way it always has. But there’s a pervasive discomfort, a stiffness that echoes through my body and reminds me of what I’ve been through. But, besides that, I feel mostly unchanged.
