Chapter 29

29

Vega's eyes opened, and panic twisted her gut into a thousand knots. Her last memories swirled in her head, where a splitting headache took hold. Having Junie inside of her mind was a feeling she never wanted to experience again. It was like someone tied her to puppet strings and did whatever they wanted while she had to sit back and watch. And then Flavia's manipulation…

I killed Flavia.

Bile pooled at the back of her throat. Vega jumped to her feet. Her vision blurred from the quick change in positions, but she didn't stumble, only searched for the power inside of her to ground herself.

Focus.

The panic made it hard to feel the electric pulse that had become second nature to her since returning to Tolevarre.

"Fucking focus, Vega. Fuck." She kept her voice low as her eyes scanned the room. There was nothing special about it—no hints as to where she was. The walls were a deep green, the flooring sturdy planks of dark brown wood. It didn't creak as she walked across it. No pictures hung on the walls, and there was minimal furniture. She knew she was in Aeris, that much she could remember from before Junie got her hands on her, but she had a sinking feeling this might be the home of someone she wasn't ready to meet.

Vega kept calling on her powers, scared when nothing bubbled inside of her. "No, no, no." Tears welled in her eyes as her panic turned to fear. The enemy had taken her, and now she had no way to defend herself.

The hollow feeling inside was unwelcome. She hadn't had her abilities back for long, but after having them returned and then stolen from her so soon, Vega felt empty.

There was a door on the far wall. Vega sprinted to it, her footsteps echoing through the room, and she jostled the handle. It didn't budge. Her heart rate spiked as dread crawled through her body. There were no windows, no exit.

I'm trapped.

Vega wouldn't turn her back to the door, leaving the only out she had in her sight. The suit she'd been dressed in was torn, and half of her left sleeve was ripped off. A new brand on her forearm caught her attention—it was a small circle with an X through the middle, its edges spilling out of the sides like it had bled through. Vega ran her fingers over it, and when they reached the center of the X, the mark burned her. She hissed, jerking her fingers away.

This new brand had to be why her powers weren't answering when called, why she could no longer feel the tingle underneath her skin.

Vega took a breath and tried to talk herself down. It's okay. They will come for you. They always come for you. She hoped she was right as her chest tightened. Vega wanted to cry, realizing she might be in the most danger she'd ever been in, right at this very moment.

She didn't want to break down, scared of how that would make her look. She knew who would walk into the room next. It had been fifteen years since her sister laid eyes on her, and regardless of her memories being wiped from her head, Vega knew Marlena would be eager to see that she'd won… again.

Vega wanted to show no weakness. As badly as she wanted to fall to the floor and bawl her eyes out, she didn't. She stood, her back to the wall for what would end up being hours until the door handle turned. Her eyes felt heavy, and a large bruise was beginning to form around her left cheek.

When the door opened, it wasn't the blonde sister she'd seen in pieces of memories. It was Bridger. The scowl on her face couldn't have been more definitive. "Where is she?" Vega asked, rolling her shoulders and faking confidence.

Bridger held a hand over where his heart would be—if he had one. No one with a soul could act the way he did. "It's always about her," he said, his smile sharp, showing off his perfect set of teeth.

How can someone so rotten be so fucking handsome?

"You should be used to being second best. You're the one who traded me in for someone so nasty." Vega's back stiffened as he got closer to her. He reached out and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him, directly into the eyes that she thought were much darker in the witch's cottage. In the new light, she could see swirls of copper around his irises.

"You shouldn't speak about what you don't know, Kitten."

Vega spat in his face. She took advantage of his eyes being closed and shoved him as hard as she could. He stumbled but didn't fall, his feet too quick. "Call me that one more time." Vega stared him down, and if her powers weren't being kept from her, her fingers would be dancing with those blue sparks she'd become accustomed to.

Bridger wiped the spit from his face and prowled back to her when the door swung open with a loud bang. The voice that came through was one Vega had heard in all of her nightmares.

"Hello, sister." Marlena's smile spread across her face like wildfire. Her graceful walk came to a stop beside Bridger. She rested a perfectly manicured hand on his forearm, the touch so delicate Vega couldn't help the feeling that welled inside of her gut. There's no way. "Have you been having a good time with Bridger? He hasn't done anything to get himself into too much trouble, has he?"

Vega backtracked, taking a large step away while she took Marlena in fully for the first time. The dress she wore was the color of blood, a rich satin fabric that hugged her curvy waist in places Vega only hoped to thicken up. Her bodice was tight, pushing her breasts up to make them the center of attention. Her hair was up, wrapped around her head in a braided coronet—seated atop the beautiful braid was a thin halo made of black iron.

A crown.

Simply banded and dark as coal.

The color of her eyes made Vega feel like she was looking in a mirror. The blue was the color of water frozen by winter's chill. Marlena's matching set bore right into Vega's, sending ice down her spine.

Her sister stalked towards her. "Am I as you remember?" Marlena asked, looking down at her. She had to be over half a foot taller than Vega in her heels. "Oh, that's right. You can't." Her laugh was eerie, high-pitched in all the wrong ways.

"Do my memories make me too powerful?" Vega retorted, her stare turning as cold as her core felt. She clenched her jaw tight to keep her teeth from rattling. Marlena was every bit as terrifying as she'd expected and more gorgeous than anyone could have prepared her for.

Vega noticed the hint of a smile Bridger tried to hide. She couldn't wait to wipe that smug look off his face. One day.

"You've never been more powerful than me, no matter what those little friends of yours have said, what lies they've gotten you to believe." Marlena's smile faltered an inch. "But there is a reason I brought you here this time instead of ordering you to be killed like all the lives before." Marlena began to circle Vega, examining her like a cow up for slaughter. "There's information I need from you, and you'll need your memories back in order for me to get what I want."

Vega kept her eyes on Marlena, trying to hold back her shock. "Am I as you remember?" Vega didn't falter when she realized she'd thrown her sister's words back at her.

Marlena reached out and grabbed Vega by the nape of her neck, coiling her fingers in her hair. "Funny," she sneered while tightening her already unyielding grip. Vega gasped, pain radiating up the back of her neck and into her skull. A jolt went through her body, darker than her own electric shock. It forced her eyes open, her gaze locking with Marlena's. "You'll learn quickly that I don't like your cocky attitude." Marlena gave Vega a shove, and she tumbled to the floor.

She let out a gargled moan when bone snapped, her wrist giving out and sending her hurling to the hardwood floor, where her head hit with a crack.

Marlena's heeled footsteps echoed through the empty room. Vega's eyes landed on her boots first before dragging up her body. She cradled her newly broken wrist against her chest, gritting her teeth to keep the cries of pain back.

Do not let her see you cry. The voice inside her head was stronger than she was right now.

Vega kept telling herself to stand tall, but if this was just the beginning of her torture, there was no way she'd last more than twenty-four hours.

Marlena knelt down in front of Vega, a sneer painted on her lips. "You won't be so tough when I lock you in the dungeons and torture you for days on end. I want you to beg for death so when you finally decide to tell me what I need to know, you'll break. You won't have the hope you've been holding on to for fifty-five years."

"I can't imagine what I did to make you hate me so much." Vega breathed through the pain.

She was ready to feel whole again. There had been an ache in Vega's chest since the moment she woke up in Tolevarre, a missing piece of herself that still left her feeling hollow and lonely.

Marlena's gaze made her feel insignificant. "You'll remember eventually, and when you do, I want you to cry for the forgiveness I'll never give you." Marlena backed away from Vega. "Lock her up, Bridger."

I should have stayed on Earth.