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But I wasn’t worried, since I wasn’t alone. Sy would be watching my six. And we had Killian, the other princes, and our friends.
28
Barbie
Ablink, and I found myself perched on a comfortable chair in a banquet room, a feast spread out in front of me.
Hunger roared in me, as did an acute sense of danger. For the first time, I didn’t descend on the food like a locust.
Something wasn’t right here.
My shoulder blades tingled, confirming my suspicion.
A memory flooded back, though foggy. The last thing I remembered was Killian and the other princes merging their powers to take down the legion. I’d thought I was finally in safe hands, but obviously I was wrong. I wasn’t out of the woods, and thus I was here. I scanned the hall lit by artificial light coming from the black marble ground that stretched far into the distance. The ceiling was open to the night sky, but there wasn’t a single star above. Black gemstones adorned three walls, a full glass door overlooking a dark lake.
I wasn’t on the Shades Academy grounds, as I was supposed to be after the battle.
Sy! I shouted. Sy!
She didn’t come, and I couldn’t feel her.
I stared down at my wrists. There were no chains like those mercenaries from CrimsonTide had used on me. There was no torque around my neck either.
Yet my link to Sy was cut off, as was my connection to my familiar. As I searched deeper to reach for them, only an empty echo returned. But then I noticed another link deep down, fluttering yet veiled. It took me a long minute to realize that it led to Killian. My breath caught in my throat.
I hesitated for a beat, then left it alone. If it was hidden, there must be a good reason. I needed to draw attention away from that hidden bond, so our enemies wouldn’t fix their eyes on it.
I regarded my wrists again. I had no chains on me, yet I couldn’t reach Sy.
I nodded an understanding of my situation. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I had been hijacked. My mind was compromised.
This wasn’t the realm that Killian created to dream-walk to me. This was a different place from a different time, fabricated by someone else. This banquet hall appeared more splendid than Shangri-La Paris, but only a single table was set, where I perched.
A variety of cupcakes, puffs, donuts, and fruits—all my favorites—packed every inch of the table. Whoever had brought me here was very powerful, and they’d studied me, knowing my undying love for food.
Hunger gnawed my stomach. I desperately needed to replenish myself. A voice in the back of my head urged me to take a bite and make myself feel better.
I picked up a puff, but before I inserted it into my mouth to quench my hunger, I spotted a slice of fruit between the cream filling. It wasn’t orange but something else. I narrowed my eyes, and my innate knowledge flashed.
Shit! It was ambrosia, food for gods and goddesses. There’d be a heavy price to pay for a mortal or an immortal who consumed it. I was neither. Ambrosia couldn’t harm me, as I had goddess blood, but there would be strings attached.
As I studied the fruit, my senses spiked, and my shoulder blades tingled again. Someone was watching me. The ambrosia offered to me was local, grown from the soil of the Underworld.
The mythology told the story of Hades, Killian’s grandpa, kidnapping Persephone. He offered her a pomegranate. She tried to be polite, so she ate six seeds. Fates showed up right after saying that she could never return to the land of the living.
Whoever offered me food had tried to trick me, as a slice of ambrosia could easily be mistaken as a slice of blood orange. Once I ate it, I’d never leave the Underworld.
I had a hunch who had set the trap, but she had no idea that I’d been training my mind since I was a child. Who wouldn’t when her father was a sadistic god? When I reached age seven, even the original god couldn’t penetrate my mind, my most-protected asset.
I had to give the queen credit, since it wasn’t an easy task to even bring me here. Now, I’d just wait, maybe even get some shuteye to preserve my energy.
One thing did worry me, though. No one, not even Pucker, knew that my mind was being hijacked. No one could help me if I didn’t get out of this. I’d end up in an eternal coma.
As I propped my feet on the table on top of the cupcakes and ambrosia while shutting my eyes for a fake nap, I felt pressure pricking against my mental shield. A force was trying to pierce my mind. The pressure kept increasing, and my head pounded in pain.
After a while, I caved in, weakened and compromised by the Seed of Heaven, and then my first shield was breached. I clenched my teeth as it dawned on me that the Seed of Heaven, the torque, and the chainlock were all connected. The druid might want to get his evil hands on me, but he’d received the tips about my perceived weaknesses from someone else, someone who knew my origin.
Had my father made a new ally? But he wasn’t one to share power. He was a conqueror and an eater of the world. He didn’t require allies, only slaves.
