Chapter 15

The door slams shut,and the lock clicks from the other side. A lock keeping me inside. A lock keeping me from my sisters.

I want to scream out to them, to beg them to open the door, to free me, but I know Asha has probably already warned Emerin and Tahira to not let me out. Besides, with the commander standing guard, nobody is getting in or out.

I rip my hematite necklace away from my throat and throw it across the room. If I hadn't been wearing it, I wouldn't have been able to summon flames.

How could Asha do this to me? How could she lock me away like Grandfather did, after everything we've been through together? After all the promises we made to each other.

Pain clutches at my chest with an unrelenting grip. I raise my trembling hands, staring at them, as if they somehow hold the answers to the myriad of questions swirling in my mind.

Why did this happen to me? Why did I wake up in Lyra's body a summer ago? Why do I feel such a profound connection to Jasce?

Why. Why. Why.

Of course, my hands hold no real answers. They are just flesh and bone.

I failed myself when I conjured those flames and took the lives of those men. It doesn't matter that my only intention was to protect Emerin.

I still killed them.

Sadness pounds against my chest like a relentless drumbeat as I glare at the locked door, my hands tightening into fists at my sides. Asha has imprisoned me in this room, as if I'm some kind of dangerous beast that needs to be contained. In her eyes, I'm probably no different than the monsters she despises.

Asha's hatred for House of Crimson runs deeper than the ocean itself. And now that she's discovered I can wield their crimson magic, I've likely become just as despicable in her mind. She probably sees me as one of them, a traitor to our own house.

I am an abomination. A freak of nature. An affront to everything House of Silver stands for.

At least, that's how Asha must perceive me now.

But deep in my heart, I know the truth. I am not a monster. I am still Annora, the girl who loves collecting seashells. The girl who counts when she's upset and apologizes too often.

If I am to survive and thrive in this world, I must learn to harness and control Lyra's crimson magic. It is a part of me now, whether I like it or not. And I refuse to let it define me or shape me into something I'm not. I will master this power and use it for good, even if Asha and the rest of House of Silver will never understand or accept it.