AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 5 - ILARA
“This is dreadful, truly dreadful!” Meegana held my hands through the bars of my cell as Beatrice nodded from behind her. Their surprise visit following my sorry excuse for a supper had been the most joyous thing I’d experienced in three days.
But given their expressions, they were anything but joyful. Still, a genuine smile streaked across my face.
Meegana shook her head, despite my demeanor, and tears formed in her eyes. “How can the king lock you down here? You’ve done nothing wrong, not truly.”
I shrugged. It just feltsogood to see someone I knew and cared for, and I gripped her hands even tighter through the bars before saying ruefully, “I did defy his command. I refused to marry Lord Arcane Woodsbury.”
Meegana grasped me harder. Despite her small build, her grip was sturdy and strong. “And I’m tomarry that vile Lord Waterline, and Beatrice is to marry Lord Brusher.” She shuddered.
“While I’m not thrilled at an arranged marriage either, Lord Brusher does seem the least despicable of the three.” Beatrice lifted her wide athletic shoulders. “But I still would rather not marry him,” she added with a sour expression.
“I’m sorry.” I squeezed Meegana’s hands one last time, then gripped Beatrice’s. “I’ll try to help you both find a way out of it, if I ever get out of here.”
“Oh, Ilara,” Meegana cried. “This is just dreadful!”
I forced a smile, but she wasn’t the only one concerned about my state. Through the bond, Norivun’s rage strummed toward me. He’d been like that for three days straight, yet since I was still locked up in the dungeon, I knew his father had found a way to restrain the crown prince too.
Meegana dabbed at her eyes. “Did you know that my wedding to Lord Waterline is in less then two weeks’ time, only a week after the crown prince was supposed to have married Georgyanna? Unlike you, I’m not eternally wed to another, so I’m not sure if there is a way out of it.”
“This is a dreadful situation for all of us,” Beatrice agreed just as a distant shudder shook the walls.
Meegana cocked her head and glanced upward. “Did you feel that?”
I frowned. “I did.” A tingle of heat flared on my inner wrist. My frown increased when the single petal—the mark that had disappeared after Norivun and Ihad obliterated the veil in Isalee—glowed on my skin, then began to throb. My eyes widened when another rumble came from above. “How odd,” I murmured more to myself than them.
“What’s going on up there?” a familiar female voice called from down the dungeon’s hall.
Beatrice groaned. “Ock, don’t look now, but it seems you have another visitor.”
I rolled my eyes when I spotted Lady Georgyanna Endalaver sauntering toward us. All of the prisoners whistled and made rude gestures toward her when she passed.
The Kroravee witch wore the crown she’d won in the second test, the gemstones glittering in the dim light. A lilac-colored gown covered her lithe frame, the bright and cheerful color looking completely at odds with the dark and dank dungeon.
“Well, look who’s here,” Georgyanna called. “I thought I saw you two sneaking down the stairwell.” When a third rumble shivered the stones around us, she reached a hand to the wall to steady herself. Some of her bravado faded before her spiteful expression returned. “If it’s not the biggest losers in the Rising Queen Trial, all together in one place.” She adjusted the crown atop her head and twirled a curl of her short silver hair around the glittering stones.
Beatrice made a sound of disgust.
“You wanna come visit me, pretty thing?” one of the prisoners called to her.
Georgyanna sneered in his direction, then gave himher back and flexed her wings. Despite her slight figure making her appear delicate, she was anything but. One only had to know her soul to realize her fragile exterior was all for show. The female held a core of pure malice and wasn’t afraid to use her affinities as weapons.
“What do you want, Georgyanna?” I asked in a hard tone.
“Isn’t it obvious?” She stopped before my cell. “I came to gloat. You’re finally exactly where you belong.” She gave Meegana and Beatrice each a pointed look. “Oh, and I just told your tutors that you weren’t to be found in the sitting room practicing your pianos as you’d been instructed.” She twirled a piece of hair around her crown again. “Best hurry along before they venture there and find you gone.”
“You’re such a witch!” Meegana huffed. “And this place is more like whereyoubelong. Perhaps you and Ilara should trade places.”
Georgyanna bared her teeth at Meegana while Beatrice gave me an apologetic look.
“I’m sorry, but we should go.” Beatrice squeezed my hands again. “If Georgyanna ratted us out, Meegana and I are going to get an earful. We were lucky to get away when we did without them noticing.”
“We’ll come again soon, though, just as soon as we’re able,” Meegana added.
Beatrice curled her lip at Georgyanna. “Sorry to leave you in such sorry company.”
Georgyanna flicked her pinky finger at them as they gathered their skirts.
