CHAPTER 34

I existed in a void of pure darkness. Even opening my eyes was torture. I couldn't see anything, no matter how hard I tried.

There was no concept of how much time had passed. Days, hours – since I'd been ripped from the floor of my room by the gryvern's uncaring claws, flown beyond the window of Farrador Castle, and taken to this tortuous place.

My initial instinct was to panic as I slowly regained the ability to move. But I had to stay focused. It wouldn't do me any good to give in to the horrific thoughts that plagued my mind.

So, I focused on the details – the little I could discover, using my touch to get the answers I needed.

I was in a room of some kind. A box of four walls, a hard floor and a seemingly endless ceiling. My fingers instantly went for the iron bracelet that Briar had slipped around my wrist. I'd forgotten Briar's warning, attempting to remove it, only to find the metal growing tighter. My skin ached beneath its pinch, digging into my flesh until I felt the dribble of warm blood tickle my arm.

There was no light in this place. No glow beneath a door frame or flirting of daylight through shuttered windows. It was just a box of darkness. I had no real understanding of where it began and ended.

And it was cold, so deathly cold that my teeth chattered and skin peppered with bumps as shivers rushed over me. Even Berrow, where I'd felt the cold air as a familiar friend, wasn't as bad as this, the feeling close to unbearable. And I blamed the iron around my wrist for that. By cutting off my magic, it made me feel normal again. Human. That side of me that I had been most used to, which now felt like a stranger.

And no one came for me. Although it was impossible to grasp how much time had passed, I guessed it had been a while, from my starvation and overwhelming tiredness.

All I could do was wait. Get myself ready to face whatever was coming for me. I kept still, unmoving, and listened for some sign of life beyond this prison of shadow. But that soon made the echoing of my own breathing become unbearable to listen to; the smallest of sounds among the silence sounded terrible and loud.

I tortured myself, wanting nothing more than to stop breathing altogether, just to stop the sound.

But the worst of it was the darkness.

A promise Erix had made during my first day in Aurelia played over and over in my mind. The next time you find yourself in a dark room, little bird, just call for me.

I did just that. I shouted at first, screaming Erix's name until my throat felt as though it bled from within. My voice soon grew hoarse and sore, until I could barely whisper his name without being in pain. I pulled my knees up to my chest, burying my head into them to block out reality, still muttering his name over and over as tears dared to slip down my skin and soaked the ripped, dirty clothing that hung off me in tatters.

I woke to a new noise – a breathing that was not in sync with my own. My shoulders ached as I pushed myself from the floor, my heart thundering at the closeness of the threat. But still, I couldn't see anything, not even my hand, which I raised as a shield between me and the person that stalked in the darkness, the piercing heat of their gaze resting upon me through the shadows.

"I should thank you," Briar's voice hissed, so close that I feared to reach out another inch and touch her. But there was something about the traitor that seemed she belonged, cloaked in shadow, unseen like a predator stalking its prey. "It's been years of work to be accepted into the Guild. Yet all it took was a pathetic boy to stumble into a world he was not asked to return to. I have had many a target during my training, but never one as… simple as you."

"If you are searching for praise, you are looking in the wrong place." My voice cracked as I replied. I longed for something to drink, to ease the throbbing in my head and the fresh cuts that seemed to fill my throat with each swallow.

"Praise? I don't care what you think, but I admit I did come here to gloat." There was a shifting of feet across the floor, making me flinch. Briar laughed slowly as if she could see through the dark. "It's not common for an assassin to speak freely to a target once the task has been completed. Usually, you are stiff and cold by the time I get paid. This is a rare occasion."

"And did Lady Kelsey pay handsomely?" I needed answers, not that it mattered anymore.

"She has, for other jobs. But her hand has not been in her pocket for this one, nor the other attempts on your life. No matter how… pathetic they had been." Even cowering on the floor in an unknown place with a girl hellbent on murder before me, I felt relief that Lady Kelsey was not guilty. "Kelsey was merely a means to divert the attention from my current employer, someone who wanted your demise treated with efficiency and silence. Kelsey, like her family, is not known for those talents."

"And if I ask who wanted me dead all along, you will tell me?"

I could almost imagine the pout that Briar would have forced as she contemplated my question; from the huffing sound, she made, I could see it as clear as day within my mind's eye. "All will be revealed in time. It has been a rather busy couple of days since you were abducted in plain sight by the gryvern. You can imagine it would not be the smartest of ideas to come and visit you."

"Yet here you are…"

"Yes," she purred. "Here I am."

"And can I ask where here is? Or does it not matter if you are only going to kill me anyway. If that is my fate, you might as well tell me everything."

Briar sighed. "Did you not listen to me before, Robin? My employer changed their mind rather last minute. The plans for your future involve staying alive, do not ask me why. If it was my suggestion, I would have seen your throat cut days ago. You are valuable, I suppose, but only when the time is right."

"Oh, I do feel special." I forced as much confidence into my voice as I could muster, even though I felt nothing but the seedling of fear and weakness deep inside of me. Briar was unpredictable, she had proven that.

"You are currently in the domain of the Children of the Asp. A place I can now call home thanks to you. Do you know how many of my fellow Asps have tried to be inducted by completing the hit put upon you? All chose to rush and failed miserably. So many stopped long before they even reached you, attempts Althea had kept quiet to prevent you from worrying."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and the secrets Althea had kept from me. Had Erix known of these failed assassination attempts?

"If you had found out about the race and the multitude of Asps that longed to see you dead, you would never have looked to me as a suspect. Not silly, little Briar, who suffered the most to keep you safe. Sometimes it's not who gets to the finish line first who succeeds, but the one who is patient and waits. Slow and steady. And here I am, welcomed into a Guild I have longed to join for as long as I could remember."

"A guild of assassins," I repeated, taking in as much information as I could. "What would Althea think if she knew this side of you?"

"Althea is so blinded with her infatuation for me that she would never see me as a threat. That's what being an Asp is. We shed your skin to fill the roles in a false life. Althea, although a fun part of this role, is merely a bonus to the job. Anyway, who is going to tell her? You?" Briar's giggle ricocheted around the room. "With what is coming for you, I don't think you will ever have the chance to speak to her. And if you did, I would kill you before you got the chance, with a bounty on your head or not."

The threat was honest and true. I opened my mouth to respond, silenced by the outline of a face that presented itself a breadth from my own. Briar's snarl wavered in the dark, my eyes adjusting enough to see it. Her nose brushed my own, her breath sour as it washed over me.

"It has been lovely to see you again, Robin." Briar forced the sweet, meek voice that I had grown used to, her voice full of its childish tones as her features melted into a sincere and truly frightening smile. "It is awfully sad without you in Farrador. With the Passing terribly close, it seems that even Erix is giving up hope of finding you. And believe me… he has been searching. The berserker has almost torn down the castle in his attempt to find you. They all have. But don't worry. All good things soon become distant memories. It won't be long until that is all you are to them. To him. A distant and long-forgotten memory."

Briar slipped back into the darkness, leaving her words to stab into me. I was certain that the sudden silence of the room could pick up the cracking of my heart as it thawed like ice in summer.

I sat like that, knowing she'd left me. I felt alone again, with the dwindling wish of escape evaporating into the nothingness around me.