Chapter 93

Ellery

Over the next two weeks,life became something I endured instead of enjoyed. All the happiness I'd experienced with Ryker was gone, sucked from the world, and torn from my life.

I'd always known my father's death broke my mother's heart, but now I understood the true depth of what she endured every day. She'd somehow kept herself together after his loss, and I'd do the same.

That didn't stop me from spending a few nights in her room, curled up in her arms and crying. She never asked me about Ryker and the duke; she didn't have to.

She understood the story without ever hearing the details. I was a foolish idiot who fell in love with someone I couldn't have, and the duke had made sure of that.

She never offered me false platitudes or told me things would get better; she knew a broken heart didn't heal with empty promises. She simply held me, and while things didn't get better, her calm presence helped ease some of my sorrow.

Although I'd told him not to come back here, I kept waiting for Ryker to return. He never did.

I didn't blame him for not returning; I was awful. And he didn't even know how truly terrible I was.

Still, I couldn't deny that a small part of me retained hope he'd return; if he did, I had no doubt I'd break and tell him everything. That would be disastrous, but I'd give anything to see him again, take back what I did, and start again.

None of that could ever happen. The duke and my lies would make sure of that. This was the only path we could have trod together, but I still dreamed of different possibilities every night and woke with tears on my cheeks.

After two weeks, when I heard the thud of horse's hooves on the dirt road, my heart leapt with joy, but then the rattle of a carriage followed, and it sank again. The last time a carriage arrived here, it tore my life apart.

From where I stood with Scarlet and my mother, feeding the sheep, we couldn't see the vehicle on the road. We all stopped what we were doing and listened for it to go past the manor, but the rattle of wheels and the jangle of harnesses stopped.

A chill crept down my spine; this couldn't be good. I tossed the rest of the grain onto the ground and wiped my hands on my apron, but my mother seized my arm before I could leave the pen.

"I will deal with this," my mother said.

The sharp edge of her voice caused my eyebrows to rise. "But?—"

"Stay here."

Before I could reply, she released me and stormed out of the pen. She stalked up the hill toward the road.

"Don't mess with your mother," Scarlet whispered, and I managed a small smile.

"I should make sure she doesn't do anything foolish," I said.

Scarlet nodded, and the two of us tossed the rest of the feed on the ground before leaving the pen and closing it. My mother was already up the hill and out of sight by the time we finished.

The two of us walked together to the corner of the manor, and when we turned it, my whole world screeched to a halt. I didn't know who I'd expected to find there, though I'd feared it was the duke.

Staring at the carriage, I realized I would have preferred to deal with that asshole again than what sat in the road. The king's insignia of a lightning bolt, rain, fog, a tornado, and snow marked the side of the metal carriage with bars over its windows and door.

Hands grasped those bars, and faces pressed against them as amsirah peered out from their prison. Two men held my mother's arms as they dragged her toward the back of the carriage and the other guards who waited there.

She struggled in their grasp while demanding to know what this was about. They all remained stone-faced with their lips clamped together as they got to the back of the carriage.

I started running when my shock wore off and I realized they were trying to take her. Panic fueled me to faster and faster speeds as I raced toward them.

Dirt kicked up from under me when I skidded to a halt on the dirt road. The guards barely acknowledged my presence as one removed a key from where they wore it around their neck.

"Stay back," another guard commanded.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"King's orders," a guard said. "Don't interfere, or we'll take you too."

The threat didn't stop me; it was the knowledge that if they locked me up with her, I'd never find a way to get her free.

"Stay out of this, Ellery," my mother commanded.

I followed them to the back of the carriage, where the guard unlocked the gate. My mouth went dry and my chest constricted as they dragged her toward the stairs.

"Wait!" I cried. "You can't take her! She hasn't done anything wrong!"

When I reached for her, one of the guards seized my hand and yanked it down. "Back away!"

Inside, those already imprisoned scampered to the back of the carriage, where they huddled in the shadows. My mother couldn't go in there! She didn't belong in there! None of them did, but she really didn't.

"Mother!" I cried.

Her face was a stoic mask when she glanced at me, threw her shoulders back, and climbed the stairs. I winced when the door clanged shut behind her and the guard locked it.

"You'll need five thousand carisle to free her," one of the guards told me.

I blinked at him as I tried to process his words through my disbelief over what was happening. Within the shadowy interior of the mobile prison, my mother settled on a bench, folded her hands before her, and lifted her chin.

The guard might as well have said I needed a million carisle, because I had the same chances of getting five thousand as I did a million.

"For what?" I asked. "What do we owe money for?"

One of the guards knocked me back a step when he brushed past me to walk to the front of the carriage. Two other guards grasped the metal railings beside the stairs and climbed onto the steps.

"You'll have to discuss that with the king," another guard said before walking to the other side of the carriage.

"How can you take her when she's done nothing to deserve it?" I demanded.

None of the guards replied. I doubted they knew the answer, and they wouldn't help me even if they did. They didn't work for me, and while they should have felt some loyalty to the amsirah of this realm, they didn't want to end up in a cell either.

I hated them for their cowardice and compliance, but I didn't blame them.

Besides, I already knew why they were doing this… the duke. The king was doing the dirty work, but I'd bet my left arm the duke was behind this.

I'd done what he commanded of me and destroyed his son's heart. Now, he'd turned on me.

He'd made sure there was nothing I could do about it too, as Ryker would never forgive me for what I'd done. My mother was the one who would suffer because of it.

I would not let that happen.

As the carriage rattled away in a cloud of dust, I turned and sprinted toward the stables. Scarlet chased me.

I raced into the interior of the cool barn, where the familiar scents of horse and hay greeted me. Many were still out in the pastures, but some were already in for the night.

"What are you doing?" Scarlet gasped.

Throwing open the door to my mare's stall, a pang of regret stabbed me when she reeled away from my wild charge. We'd been together for twelve years; I loved her dearly, but I was acting like a madwoman as I flew at her.

Thankfully, Adira was well-trained and loyal as she settled herself enough to let me grasp her halter.

"Lery, don't you do anything stupid!" Scarlet shouted.

I pulled my buckskin mare from her stall, put her on the crossties, and grabbed my saddle. Adira shifted uneasily but didn't shy away as I saddled her faster than ever before.

Scarlet grasped my arm and jerked me around when I went for the bitless bridle. "What are you doing?"

"I have to know where they're taking her."

"Lery, you're going to get yourself in trouble!"

"What more can the duke do to me? He's taken Ryker and now my mother, but I have to make sure she's going to the palace and not the duke's castle."

I pulled the bridle over Adira's head, secured it, and released the ties. I gathered my reins and swung onto her back.

Scarlet rested her hand on my leg, stopping me before I raced out of the barn. "Don't do anything stupid, Lery."

"It's too late for that."

When I nudged Adira in the side, she leapt forward with a surge of muscles and power. She'd always loved to run, and I gave her free rein as she hit the road.

As we galloped over the road in pursuit of the carriage, I tried to figure out what I would do as I followed the carriage's trail of dust into the Revenant Woods. I couldn't see the carriage yet, but it wasn't too far ahead.

It was heading for the king's palace, which wasn't a surprise given the insignia on the side of the carriage. However, I was certain the duke had something to do with this. I had to make sure it didn't veer off and go to his castle.

I debated overtaking the carriage to try freeing my mother. I wasn't sure I could overtake it, even if I unleashed my lightning and I had no other weapons on me.

And if I did overtake it, I'd only succeed in making us both outlaws in this land—a land where we were trapped and at the mercy of those who sought to destroy us.

I had to come up with the money to free her, but I had no idea how. If I stole for it, the timing of the robberies and my arrival with carisle would be questionable at best and a death sentence at worst.

I could go to Ryker….

And what?

Beg for his forgiveness? Tell him everything and pray he didn't turn me in too? Create a bigger mess between him and his father?

My mind raced through my limited possibilities as I rounded a bend and the carriage came into view. It left the Revenant Woods to traverse the road leading to the palace.

I pulled Adira to a stop at the edge of the woods. She pranced as she retreated into the shadows while I watched the small prison rattle away with my mother inside.

Tears slid down my face as the carriage climbed a hill and vanished beneath the palace's portcullis. Once she was inside the palace, my options were more limited, but that didn't matter; I would get my mother back, and I would make all those who made her suffer pay for this.

I didn't care if I had to burn everything down to save her. I'd figure out a way to get her back, even if I had to unleash Hell to do so.