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This is my fault. I’ve avoided these episodes for weeks by using the bloodstone and keeping my emotions under control. But the idea of losing Luri is too much to keep shoved behind a mental block, and knowing I might lose Kai with what comes next–if I haven’t already, combined with how pissed I am at him…It’s all too much.
I barely dented my soul power with the bloodstone earlier. It was enough to suppress this kind of reaction, but witches thrive and pull power from emotion. It can send it surging. And right now, my blood is humming with it.
“Alice,” Finn says again, grabbing my shoulders. Opening my eyes, I find a strange face staring at me, but it’s his voice that’s gotten me through this before. I latch onto it and hold on for dear life. “Say the spell.”
“You said it’s a last resort.” My jaw aches as I mash my teeth together.
“I know what I said. But you’ve also had a hell of a day. Say it. Luri needs you to say it.”
Glancing at Kai, I find his wide vacant eyes glued to the floor. He won’t even look at me… What fucking timing. As if the riff hadn’t split between us already. Well, that shit just spread wider than a whore banging out a Christmas special.
He’s realizing his princess isn’t everything he thought she was. She’s broken, holding on by a thread. And sure, I’ve barbecued a few lizard men in the past, but today I’vekilledmen. It wasn’t self-defense. I sought them out and took my revenge. And still, I intend to make a fucking statement with anyone else who stands in my way of saving her. He’s going to hate it, but add the fact that I’m clearly not in control of my power to the mix? He’s likely debating on whether his people were right about me.
Only I was in control… I was doing just fine until he pushed me. He locked me up in a fucking tower. Branded me all so I couldn’t help rescue someone I love. Yes, he planned to help, but it doesn’t take that away.Hemade me spiral and now there’s no changing course.
The question is, will he look at me like I’m a monster when it’s over?
I mutter the spell, sealing away my emotions for a bit, and as the veil lifts, I feel weightless. My lungs expand, inflating until they can’t anymore. My hands release and I can feel the blood dripping down my fingers, pouring from the wounds I made on my palms. They’ll heal.
“Better?” Finn asks, grabbing my chin and forcing my eyes away from Kai. Finn has always been intuitive.
“Much.” My lips tug up at one of the corners.
Kai crosses his arms, pressing his thumb to his lips. “You’ve been having her turn her emotions off?”
“No. This is the first. Desperate times call for desperate measures.” Finn says, letting go of my face and taking a step back. “I told you not to push her, so don’t blame me for this.” Kai’s amber eyes stare holes into my being, lingering longer than they should as I head down the hall toward the other wing.
“Well, most poisons that can be dried on arrows or swords take more than an hour to kill, so let’s go. No time to lollygag,” Finn says, jogging to catch up with me and clapping me on the shoulder as he passes. He stops at the opening of a small stairwell and ushers us through.
Winding through the circular, creepy as fuck tunnel, we dive further under Purgatory. Spider webs stretch and weave through the air, curving corners and filling nooks and crannies with nests. It’s as if this stairwell hasn’t been used in ages. How did they even get Luri down here? I’m certain she wouldn’t have fit.
My fingers skim over the cracks in the concrete walls as the smell of burnt lamp oil fills my nose. At the bottom, it opens to a wide hallway, lined with lit torches flickering and casting an orange glow on everything in sight. Our footsteps echo across the stone floors, but it’s the only sound in an otherwise deathly still space.
Closed doors line the walls, like a max security prison. Each with a small window near the top of the door, and a slot big enough to slide a tray of food through in the middle. This place is a labyrinth. None of the halls are straight. Some curve, others zigzag. Had I come down here by myself, I’d be lost for good.
“The halls change. It prevents people from escaping.” Finn says, leaning in to whisper the words. “If you don’t have one of the spelled stones to lead the way out, you’re never finding the exit.”
“In other words, when we find Luri, we need to steal a stone, too.”
He nods as we curve around one of the corners. A light casts through the hall from an open room, swirling like a portal, but more transparent. We step closer, peeking inside to find easily a few dozen men–guards and villagers–inside. They’re celebrating, chatting away, and drinking mead.
“It’s spelled. They knew someone was going to come for her. They’re prepared for it,” Kai says, standing way too close to my backside for comfort.
“They planned for me to try something.” I huff, reaching my hand toward the barrier. “Let’s see how well they prepared, hmm?” The moment my fingers reach the barrier magic, an electrical current zips through my body yanking a yelp from my throat.
“It’s a good thing they can’t hear us,” Kai scoffs. “There’s no way through. Not unless one of them drops the barrier. Had you waited two seconds, I would’ve told you that.”
My head swivels to glare at him over my shoulder. I take a huge sidestep to the left. “Oh yeah? Watch me.”
Opening my witch’s eye, I skim over the space to the side of the door, checking to make sure the barrier spell is only contained to the doorway. To my luck, it is. I lift my hands, like I’m trying to open an invisible pickle jar, and pretend to remove the lid. The wall explodes inward, creating my own doorway as rubble flies through the air, knocking into the men and crashing into walls. Screams waft through the space, trickling out from within the room as men scurry to their weapons.
I step toward the doorway, lifting my hand to test the air. No barrier present. A smile creases my lips as I seal the way I came in, preventing Kai and Finn from joining me. This will work much better if they’re not here to get in the way.
“Alice!” Kai snaps, bouncing back from the shock that just rippled through him when he touched the barrier. “What are you doing?!”
“Setting an example. I don’t give a shit whether they had your father’s permission or not. They messed with me and mine, and now they’ll become an example to anyone else who wishes to tempt fate.”
“My father is the king, Alice. You’re going against him.”
