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Get used to it,I snapped at myself.It’s better than the alternative.
If I returned home, I would end up married to the first suitor that my brother could hand me off to before word of my soiled bloodline got out. There wouldn’t be a courtship or any selection process.
No. As awful as this was, it was the best option.
Disheartened and depressed, I wrapped the chaffing, thin towel around my body and sat on the edge of the bed, trying to compose myself, forcing my mind to focus on the future.
Tomorrow, I’ll look for a job,I decided, but I wondered how I was going to manage that without using my ID.
I fell back against the musky-smelling covers and stared up at the water-stained ceiling, half-expecting it to come crashing down on my head.
The money I had wouldn’t cover a week on my own out here, even in this dumpster of a motel room. I had to find work somehow.
I can come up with some kind of story. Maybe I can pretend I’m a refugee?
Saint had talked about some members of his construction team who weren’t documented. His foreman had been kind enough to hire off-the-books. All I had to do was find a job that accepted a hard-luck story.
And change my appearance so I didn’t get recognized.
I sat up again, groaning at the insurmountable tasks ahead of me. There was so much to consider now that I’d left, things that had always been taken care of for me before. First my mother when we had lived in Goldhaven Palace, then Saint after we had left. And finally, Jace, when Saint had been unable to hide my abilities and keep me from being a target.
Or did Saint just put me in Goldhaven Palace because he didn’t want the truth about me to come out?
The betrayal cut deep, both from Saint and Jace, whose expression of disgust was forever ingrained in my head now.
My decision was made; I was doing this. I stood up to find my backpack, searching for a fresh change of clothes. My mind was set on the makeover I was going to give myself. I didn’t need anyone. I could do this on my own.
I wriggled into the black tracksuit, my long hair dripping over the velour.
The same chill from the street rushed at me again, and my skin prickled so hard, the hairs on my arms and legs ached.
I turned, expecting to see an open window, but there was no way to open the dirty glass behind the ugly, orange curtains. A harsh giggle filled my ears, and I whirled back around to confront it, but I was met with the empty hotel room again.
“Hello?” I mumbled, immediately thinking of the faeries at the encampment outside. A shiver of dread rushed through me. Anyone with an ounce of decent magical skills could get into this unsecure room if they wanted.
No wonder they hadn’t followed me. They’d been biding their time.
“Is someone here?” I tried to keep the tremor from my voice, but as the question hit the air, I could tell I was unsuccessful.
Another hollow laugh vibrated through the room, and I was thrown back, my body hitting the bed, back first. I gasped in shock at the unexpected attack.
“Stop!” I tried to sputter, but words were impossible to speak now, my lips glued shut with the effort. My eyes darted around the dingy hotel room as I struggled to understand where I’d taken myself.
Jace? Would he do this?
But as a sudden and overwhelming darkness took me, I sensed that this had absolutely nothing to do with the king. The entire room stank of sulfur, choking and consuming me now, the acrid bitterness burning my throat while I struggled to keep my eyes open.
Dark magic!I realized as I fought against the dying light.
The effort was futile, and I faded away with the black curtain, the female’s laughter echoing in my ears again. When it tinkered away, much like my consciousness, I heard her speak.
“Finally, Elix. We’re together at long last,” she whispered before I succumbed entirely to the obscurity.
Chapter 2
Jace
“You waited too long,” Cirilla said, shrugging her slender shoulders as if this were my fault. “I can’t find her now.”
