Chapter 10

Heat woke me from a dreamless sleep like an old friend I had sorely missed. The crack of logs in a fire fluttered my eyes open, discovering the dance of orange flames in a hearth. I was lying on my side, encased in wool blankets with my hands stretched toward the source of heat as if they had unconsciously sought their own warmth.

My hands were no longer a bruised blue from the frigid sea, but a healthy pink. It was the first time in weeks I'd felt any measure of warmth, and I soaked in it, reveling in the way my blood practically simmered beneath my skin.

"The alchemedis said you'd die if we didn't warm you quickly. Fortunately for you, we still need you alive," Delilah hissed above me.

Turning to look up at her, my joints ached in protest at the slight movement. My bones were made of lead, heavy from a recent glint treatment.

"Don't get comfortable."

Her presence was enough to smother any contentment found in basic human luxury. I sat up off the floor to spite her, pushing through the rigid lock of my muscles.

"Why do you need me?" I asked, but my tongue was thick in my mouth, making it difficult to speak.

The alchemist didn't care. She lowered into an armchair pushed near the hearth, silent for a while. "The Remni were powerful beings, akin to warriors with divine blessing, when the Saints fractured and passed down their remnants. As one of Chaos, you not only wield the same destructive promise as her, but you can access the deepest hell in the void. A place created by Chaos to grow her army, and you're going to open it for me."

Oblivion.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I muttered. "I've never... the thought alone is ridiculous!"

"Perhaps." She opened the book she carried with her everywhere. She found a tab and smoothed down the crease of the spine to hold it open there. "But that's what the next trial will determine."

My jaw locked, forcing me to slide the words through my teeth. "I'm not going through another one of your trials."

Her thin lips tipped into a smile. "You won't have a choice this time. If you're worried you'll hurt someone else, don't be. We won't need to motivate you for this test."

My fists tightened on the blanket still wrapped around my shoulders. As much as I wanted to blame her for what happened, it hadn't been Delilah who killed Sera's father. It hadn't been her who turned the third prisoner into vapor. My choices ended the lives of two people. My pathetic lack of dominion over my remnant, the thing my father had wisely silenced, even more at fault. I despised that part of me more than anything else in my body.

"What about the other prisoners?" I asked. "I saved them. You said they would be freed if I—"

"I said they wouldn't return to Hightower." Her features settled into a glare. "And I was true to my word."

"What do you mean? What did you do with them?" My question came out in a whisper, unsure if I truly wanted to know.

"Nothing. The watchmen retrieved your body before the tide rose. They were not forced back to their cells, as was promised."

"You left them there?" On the side of a damn cliff with no protection from the elements, no way to scale the side of the island. A seed of guilt burrowed into my heart. I had saved them only to prolong the inevitable. No one could survive the sea and the tempest weather surrounding the island.

She shrugged. "Did you think I'd give them a boat ride back to the mainland? They are free. That was the bargain we made."

Her apathy snapped something in my heart. The blankets slipped from my fingers—and I lunged.

My throws were weak at best, but my nails were still sharp. I threw myself on top of her, tearing at her face, her hair, anything I could get to. She flung her arms up in defense. A squeal of surprise left her as my weight pinned her to the chair, my strikes hitting their mark. Hands gripped my shoulders and flung me off her.

While they wrestled with my arms, my legs remained free. I kicked my heel into her nose as a parting gift.

I hadn't even seen the watchmen standing in the same room as us; they'd been so quiet. They shoved me to the floor, pinning my arms behind my back while my face was shoved against a coarsely woven rug. From a rat's perspective, I watched Delilah pinch her nose to slow the bleeding from her face. Her hair was torn from its usual bun, hanging limply around her scratched face.

"You bitch!" she shrieked. "You're lucky I need you whole and well or I'd cut you apart for that!" She stood and knelt beside me as the watchmen pinned me to the floor, snatching my matted hair to pull my face off the ground.

"But know this, you wretched creature," she spat. "Once I've gotten what I need from you, I will destroy you and your remnant and banish your darkness from the world. I know what your power entails now. I know your weakness." She pulled my hair tighter, making me wince. "Most important, I know that even a Remni of Chaos has her limits. You are not all powerful like I once believed. If I can drain you, I can kill you, just like your mother."

As if she'd planned it, all my fight ceased at the mention of her. "You... killed my mother?"

Her cruel smile returned. "Oh, I did something worse." She released my hair and shoved my head into the ground, striking my temple against the stone. "Throw her back in the cell. Make sure the alchemedis keeps her healthy. We need her strong for the procedure."

My mouth dried at her orders.

The watchmen complied, and they dragged my limp body with their searing gloves. They didn't release me when we made it to the stairwell, the entire descent, not even when their grasp brought tears to my eyes from the burn of the glint in their gloves.

One of them, my usual guard, Mike, took me by both arms and tossed me against the wall of my cell. I scrambled to my hands and knees before he shut the wall of stone behind him.

"Wait!" I cried. It was just him, the other guards had left, but all I could see was my last hope. I had sunken to rock bottom, seeking a watchman's help. "Please... I don't know what Delilah has planned. I know you work for her, but you don't have to. Nicolai Attano, he's my husband and he'll give you anything you want if you help me get out of here. Please, Mike—"

"Shut your deceiving mouth," he growled. "There is nothing about you worth saving, Chaos. Power like yours shouldn't exist in the world. The sooner Delilah takes your key, the better."

"Key?" I asked, but the question hardened his face. He slammed the wall shut without another word.

Alone, I crouched over my cot, pressing my forehead into the thin canvas. My fist tightened, pulled at the strands of Delilah's red hair still caught between my fingers. The cold had returned, a reminder of where I was. I had no friends, no allies, no one to help me here.

No one was coming for me.

But the crack in my heart had opened just enough to let something free. The darkness he spoke of, a churning cloud that filled me with wrath and rage and revenge. Delilah had taken everything from me, and I wouldn't let her have anything else. Not another damn piece, including whatever key he mentioned.

Soon after, the guards brought me my first meal. A real meal. The meat was still warm and salted, and I savored every bite. I'd eat their food, drink their tonics to heal. I'd let them make me strong, let them regret it later.

No one was coming for me. That had been a mantra replayed in my thoughts every day since I'd arrived here.

No one was coming. So, I would have to save myself.