18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

J esper and the king had ignored me since they barbed my magic inside of me. That was three days ago. I was thankful that I did not have to pretend to care for them any longer.

The king of Cerithia was equally as silent as we rode through a darkened forest in the carriage on our way to the meeting of the kingdoms. I stared out the small window and wished they had let me ride on my horse instead of sitting in this painful silence. The letters I had shoved into my trousers practically burned against my skin with every bump on the road.

I was sure I could get these letters into the hands of someone who would care. When I asked what kind of meeting this was, I was ignored. So, I kept my mouth shut. The king had made me take off my cloak and leave it at the castle, stating that he wanted everyone to see the colors of his kingdom on my uniform. In reality, though, it was so they could see that I belonged to him.

My jaw clenched tightly as the bumps irritated the magic barbs winding around each of my wrists like a bracelet. They wouldn’t stop bleeding, and my skin burned and itched badly.

I perked up when I saw a white castle in the distance after riding for nearly a day and a half. We were visiting a new kingdom, and I thought it would be exciting to at least see something new. There was snow on the ground here. The bare trees were covered in frost, making the boughs bend downward toward the ground. It was stunning, even if the air was too cold and there were no flowers. The cold instantly made me think of Haden.

The town surrounding the castle was charming, with its lovely cottages and a light dusting of snow. The fae here stood and watched as our carriage passed by, most with light hair and bundled in large clothing. I took in their happy faces as they walked the stone streets. They appeared to be happier than Cerithia fae.

My fire magic didn’t seem to enjoy the cold temperatures, but gods, this place was beautiful.

My breath was visible in the carriage due to the drop in temperature. Snow flurried around us, and I couldn't help but smile. It felt like a dream.

“The kingdom of Akecia,” the king said, breaking the silence as our carriage rounded the front entrance. The Crimson Castle, with its black stone, was always stunning, but this castle, with its dominating white stone, was a close second. My mouth hung open as I craned my head back to admire the grand building. Snow fell on my face, and I closed my eyes, savoring the peacefulness of this place. I didn't know what awaited me once I entered through the doors.

My cloak would have been nice in the cold winter air, but we were ushered inside before I was done admiring outside. I stood to the side of my father as a man approached us. He wore all white with an icy blue crest over his heart on his robes. I shook my head—a perfect target.

“King Luren and Prince Jesper, welcome to my home. We were all sorry to hear your father has become more ill, Jesper.” This was their king?

His hair was white as the snow outside, but he was only my age, if not a few years older. His beard was large but trimmed nicely. His dark eyes turned to look at me, and he stepped back slightly at the sight of me.

“Thank you for hosting, King Sybrien.” Jesper bowed. “Are the others here?”

“Yes, we are all ready to start.” His eyes shifted to me again, and confusion filled his expression. I tried to give him a small, reassuring smile, but he turned away from me quickly. “Follow me.”

He headed down a long hallway. Everything was so... white. Silver also adorned some fixtures, but the castle definitely reflected the snow outside. It was not decorated with expensive things like the one in Cerithia. It was somewhat more modest, even though they could likely afford to decorate it expensively. The king of Cerithia followed King Sybrien first, then Jesper, and then I walked behind.

We made our way across the grand floor of a beautiful room and towards a large set of double doors. The guards on either side pulled them open as we approached. Discussions that had been going on ceased immediately when we walked in. My eyes instinctively landed on Cassius first, like they could sense him before I registered it. His eyes were black as they immediately dismissed my presence.

I would be lying if I said my body had no reaction to seeing him. Something bloomed deep in my stomach at the sight of him. My darkness practically purred when I glanced at him, which only confirmed that I made the wrong decision by choosing my father. The King of Crimson stared at me with a deep crease in his brows. Then I saw Haden, Kace, and Zade standing by them as well. I looked away from them quickly before my feelings could show on my face. Emotions immediately stirred in my chest, making my darkness swirl.

Wisp chose this time to make her appearance again. Or maybe she had come with Cassius. She swirled around him in her pretty, dark green color, happy to see him. His hair moved slightly at the breeze that she made, and his eyes finally found mine. I still didn’t understand how he was the only other fae who could see her.

I was actually thankful that the magic barbs were on at that moment because my darkness would have left me at the sight of them. Knowing what I did now, I realized that I should have gone to Crimson with Cassius when he asked me to.

I was almost ashamed for him to see me like this, with my face still cut and bruised by the guards that held me down the other night. My eyes shifted to the others grouped here. All five kingdoms were in attendance. My heart was beating so loudly that I wondered if they could all hear it. Maybe that was why all of them were staring at me right now, not because of my black eyes and glowing swirls on my arms.

My father sat in a chair next to Jesper and pointed for me to stand next to them. I did as I was told. My eyes immediately shifted to Cassius again as he whispered to his father. Then I met Haden’s eyes as he stared openly at me, frowning as I stood stoic. The king had drilled it into my head this morning that I would be on my best behavior. My darkness was clawing at my chest, wanting to go to Cassius. It was painful.

King Sybrien stood and held his arms up, calling attention to him. “Thank you all for coming to this meeting of kingdoms. Today, we are here to discuss the rising violence between Crimson and Cerithia in hopes of deterring them from the path of war. To hopefully find a peaceful solution, so that we may all stop losing men and resources.”

This made all the kings nod their heads, except for Luren and Jesper.

“If the Crimson kingdom concedes the land they stole from us, then we will consider not declaring war,” King Luren spoke.

“Land that we took back because you broke the peace treaty between us in order to steal it in the first place,” Crimson’s king answered back. “We will do no such thing. It has been nearly three hundred years. It’s time to move on.”

My eyes shifted to Cassius when his black eyes flickered at me. He held my gaze without any sort of emotion, his cold indifference shielding whatever he was thinking. It made a shiver run through me.

“We will give you the land,” Cassius said, making his father pause. My father’s interest was piqued. “You can have the land if you give me Thea.”

My darkness vortexed inside of me at his offer. But it wasn’t upset; no, it was happy. It wanted my father to hand me over. My eyes were locked on Cassius. I could feel his longing for me as he watched me.

“Thea belongs to me,” my father snapped. “The only way she will go to Crimson is to put an end to your bloodline. If you want to continue this war talk, then so be it. You will not, cannot, win against Cerithia's forces.”

“And what of Kizar and Cerithia’s war?” King Sybrien asked.

“It’s done,” Jesper spoke. “We have come to a mutual agreement fit for both kingdoms.”

The other kingdoms were clearly surprised by this information. Whispers spread like wildfire through the men. I could feel Jesper touch my hand and went to pull away from him, but he gripped me to the point of pain. Cassius’ face finally broke from cold indifference at seeing the touch. Anger now coated his handsome face. Jesper pulled me down so he could speak to me.

“If you make a scene, I will destroy Exile and everyone still in it.”

My chest tightened, and my mind was slowly retreating from all the hateful comments I wanted to spew at him.

“What agreement?” someone called out.

“A marriage bonding our two kingdoms in power,” King Luren smiled directly at Cassius and the Crimson Kingdom. “Jesper and Thea are to be wed soon.”

Crimson’s king stood up from his seat and glared. It was just then that Cassius’ shadows burst from him, and he headed straight for Jesper but stopped before reaching him. Disgust filled me at the declaration. I did not want to marry Jesper. Turning toward him, he gave me a look filled with warning.

“You cannot be serious,” the King of Crimson snapped. “That’s low even for you.” He was so angry that it caught me off guard, but I saw him looking at me with pity in his eyes when he said it.

Meanwhile, Cassius’ anger filled the entire room we were in. My darkness fought to escape when it felt his emotions. All the kingdoms frowned at the scene unfolding. Cassius closed his eyes tightly, as though he were trying to compose himself. When he opened them again, they seemed to be staring right at me.

Jesper pulled me into his lap and wrapped his hands around me. His mouth brushed my ear as he chuckled so softly.

“Look at Cassius right now and tell me that isn’t worth all of this.”

Cassius looked devastated.

“He may have stolen you from me, but it's my bed you will sleep in, my surname you will take, and my children you will bear.”Like hell I would.

“You make it sound as if he cares about any of that,” I replied. Jesper’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t respond.

I tried to stand, but his arms gripped me tighter into him.

“If you make a scene, you will lose everyone in Exile,” Jesper hissed at me. It immediately doused my fight. “That’s right, Thea, Sybil, and the twins can be saved if you put on a good show.” I didn’t fight him. “Good, now kiss me,” he whispered.

I turned toward him but paused.

“Or I’ll send my spy to slice off Cassius’ head, then the rest of your little friends over there.” I knew Cassius would have Jesper in pieces before he could do anything. But I still had to put on this show because the safety of others depended on it. I now had a reason to behave, and that reason was to get back to Exile.

I leaned forward and crushed my lips to his. He gave me a low moan of approval and deepened the kiss. This felt so wrong. I didn’t even close my eyes as Jesper kissed me—all for show. He pulled away, and I turned forward. My blood bond caught fire as soon as my eyes landed on Cassius, and I had to smother the flames on my sleeve. Cassius’ eyes were closed tightly as his shadows swarmed around him. His hands balled into fists at his sides as he turned from us. I could see the rapid rise and fall of his shoulders. His father was saying something to him.

“We heard the prince of Crimson is also in the works of a marriage,” the King of Cerithia smiled directly at me. “Princess Flora of Falgon?”

My eyes shifted to Cassius, but he didn’t look at me. My heartbeat echoed loudly in my chest as I waited to hear if he was marrying someone else willingly.

“Cassius does not wish to be married at this time, and we in the Crimson Kingdom value choice and free will.” He was clearly making a jab at my father. “Why are you starting rumors of Cassius looking for a wife?”

“You value weakness, King Ryland,” he snapped back, but said nothing about the rumor allegations.

“I’ll marry Thea,” Cassius declared loudly. “Should we ask her if she’d rather marry me or Jesper?” He snapped viciously at my father. “I would tread very fucking lightly if I were you, Luren.” There was an unspoken statement that passed between them. His declaration made my stomach clench tightly.

“You disrespect me by using my first name,” my father hissed.

“You are not my king, and even if you were, I don’t respect you enough to ever address you formally. In fact, there is only one royal member in your family I respect, and that is Princess Thea.”

Gods, his words were affecting me. My cheeks burned as everyone seemed to be watching me. I tried to shield how I was feeling.

“She is not a princess,” my father snapped. “At least not yet.”

My father’s jab made Cassius take an angry step toward him, but he seemed to realize what he was doing and stopped.

“So, you’re saying that you will not declare peace with Crimson? Do you want war?” King Sybrien asked.

“Nobody wants war! The choice is not ours. Crimson can still concede our land back to us and admit their wrongdoing. We will give them a little longer to change their minds before we go to war. But if we do declare war, then we will expect the other kingdoms to make their alliances with us or with the heathens of Crimson.”

“This is not our war,” the King of Falgon scoffed. “You would make enemies out of all of us but Kizar?”

“If you do not stand with Cerithia, then you will fall just as the prophet spoke.” All the kings’ eyes shifted to me. “Thea has made her decision, and that is to fight for Cerithia and Kizar.”

I wanted to scream that I didn’t choose them.

“We are to believe that this woman is capable of all this destruction?” Falgon’s king looked at me with skepticism. “She has taken a beating from someone, obviously, yet she can kill us all with a single flick of her wrist. I don’t believe it.”

Jesper pushed me up so forcefully that I stumbled in front of them. I now stood in the center of the circle as the leaders of the kingdoms looked over me like I was nothing spectacular. Except for those from the Crimson Kingdom, who all looked like it pained them to see me like this.

“You want a show of Thea’s magic?” Jesper asked as he glared at me.

They all hesitated.

“Of course, Thea won’t hurt anyone. Right, darling?” Jesper demanded a verbal reply.

“Of course,” I said. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. Well, except Jesper and my father, that is. Even with Cassius so close, I didn’t feel the urge to hurt him anymore.

"Alright, Thea, darling, show them why they should fear you,” he smiled. I could only stand there and look at him like he was an idiot. Did he not remember I was in magic-barbed cuffs? “Thea?” he said, irritated.

I lifted the sleeves of my Cerithia captain uniform and showed my magic barbs. Jesper stood and came over to me, unwrapping them with more force than necessary. As soon as they were off, my fire mist shot out of me without permission, knocking Jesper back forcefully. It did not like to be contained like a caged animal.

“We thought you would all feel more comfortable knowing she was barbed,” Jesper lied through his teeth. “If you harm me or your father, I have guards on standby to slaughter every last one of them,” he whispered as he gave my cheek a soft kiss. Jesper sat down and nodded for me to give them some sort of show.

I rubbed my sore wrists for a moment, then did as he asked. My fire mist snaked across the ground toward each king, but it didn’t touch them. Instead, my fire mist rose up and around each of the kings so that only the five of them and I were in my trap. All their eyes widened with fear, except for the King of Crimson. He smiled proudly at me. I lowered my fire wall and saw that all the guardsmen had weapons drawn at me. I ignored them as I pulled out Haden’s ice magic from deep within me.

I let it seep out of my hands and freeze the flowers in the room before moving to the guardsmen’s weapons. They froze instantly. It was then that I felt Cassius’ shadow magic surfacing around me, and I let it. Dark swarms of shadows grew and surrounded me in a black tornado, making my hair whip around at the force of it. My eyes met Cassius through my shadows, and his sadness nearly floored me. I turned away from him, and my eyes met King Sybrien. My healing magic hummed in my veins like it could sense that he needed it, but I didn’t do anything about it yet. I don’t think they wanted me to heal others. Instead, I closed my eyes and felt my invisible tendrils of darkness move throughout the crowd of men in here, looking for new magic to pull from. I smiled when I felt the first one.

I thought I was pulling shapeshifting from Kace, but instead of turning into the small animal I had seen him become at the trials, my body instead morphed into a large bird, and I shot up to the ceiling of the castle room we were in before dropping back down as myself. I needed to pull as much magic as I could from those around me while I had the chance. Using the excuse of showing off my powers was a perfect cover-up for it. The more I pulled, the more I collected inside of me. My darkness called out to me to keep taking. Take. Take. Take. Power. Power. Power. I closed my eyes and found my next magical victim quickly.

Looking around, I focused on a guard from Kizar staring at me in horror. I smiled at him as his elite magic pumped into my veins. As soon as I had made contact with him, though, a pulse shot out of me, radiating throughout the room, stopping everything in its tracks. The fire, the shadows, and even all of the people had stopped moving completely. I looked around us at everyone, frozen in time as I walked to him.

“You have elite magic.” He looked at me with terror as I spoke it.

“They do not know. I will be killed.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” I assured the guardsmen of Kizar. He immediately bowed to me. “How long does this last?” I asked.

“When I do it, I can only hold it for fifteen seconds at most. This is longer than anything I can do.” He stood and looked around at everyone, running his hand through his dark hair. “It only freezes this moment; outside of this room, everyone will be moving at a normal rate.”

“What a wonderful gift.” I smiled at him, my compliment taking him by surprise. I then moved away from him and unfroze the room. Then I played with this new magic again. I refroze everyone but kept my focus on keeping King Sybrien with me. He looked around the room as I walked toward him.

“What the fuck did you do?” he asked, as he tried scooting away from me like I was going to murder him. “Get back, Thea.”

“You’re sick.” I could see the sickness under his skin and in his blood. Just like I could with Leer’s wife. I could sense death close to him too. My comment made the king freeze. Did he know? “You’re dying.”

“I have been for quite some time,” he sighed and relaxed slightly. Knowing this news made me sad for a man I did not know. “Only my wife and I know, so how did you find out?”

“I can see it.” I pointed to his neck. “I can heal you, but you must not tell them what I’ve done. I don’t think they want me helping potential enemies.”

“Why would you even offer? My kingdom will never stand with Cerithia or Kizar. I am an enemy. I am on Cassius’ side, always.” I admired the truth from him. Even though I was his biggest threat, he didn’t hide his distaste for me and Cerithia. The honesty of others is what I missed most about Sybil. She had always given it to me, even when I didn’t think I needed to hear it.

“I am not a monster,” I sighed. “Do not declare a side today. Hold off if you can before siding with Crimson.” I grabbed his hand, and he tried to yank it away but stopped when he felt the healing swirls of orange and red as they moved into his skin. His eyes widened in shock as my magic did its work. When I pulled my hand away, tears filled his eyes.

“I feel…normal.”

“It’s gone.” I smiled, and he looked over my face.

“We were all hoping you would side with Crimson, Thea. Cerithia and Kizar will only take more and more. You picked the wrong side.”

“So, you choose the right one and stick with Crimson. I will not slaughter innocent men and women for greed. You have my word.”

I walked away from him as I unfroze the room. Everyone looked at me, none the wiser, not realizing that their world had just stopped. Cassius’ eyes, however, narrowed on King Sybrien as silent tears streamed down his face before shifting to me for an answer, but I gave him none as I pulled the next magic to me. Once it was mine, I reached in front of me, and light shone brightly from my hand, creating a small, floating orb. I grasped it and stretched it wider, like I had seen Rosaline do, then stepped into it, only to appear across the room a moment later.

Jesper smiled at me like he was proud of me, when in reality, he should fear me. I sensed more power and pulled in two other types of magic that were looming in the air. I stopped for a moment when I became disoriented. At first, I thought it was too much magic pulling at the same time, but then I heard them. Voices were speaking loudly into my mind, seeming to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once. I pulled out of that magic instantly. I looked around and found the guard I had pulled it from. He was standing next to the king of Falgon. Once again, I froze everyone in the room except for him. He raised his weapon, and I stopped.

“What magic did I just pull from you?”

He stilled.

“I don’t have magic,” he growled.

“You have elite magic.” I raised my eyebrows at him. “The voices.”

He lowered his weapon and frowned at me.

“That’s magic? I thought… I thought I was losing my mind. I shut them out. I thought they were all coming from my own mind.”

“Is it someone else's thoughts, maybe?” I questioned.

“If it is, I don't know how to use it.” His eyes stared at me oddly.

“Tell no one you have this gift. It will put you in danger,” I ordered. He nodded in response. I unfroze the room again and made to show my other new power. I lifted my hand, and all the loose metal in the room rose up into the air. I let it hover for a moment, then I dropped it, causing a resounding crash to echo throughout the room.

Then I reached out and pulled the last magic I could sense in the room. I looked at the servant standing in the corner where it came from. She had elite magic. I released her powers and filled the room with butterflies and flowers before making it smell like rain and night. Illusion magic could mess with the senses. I could do so much with this one that I didn’t show all its glory.

Finally, I turned toward Jesper and felt exhaustion cloud over me. Too much magic and energy were being used. I was now running out of time to use the magic I had acquired. I couldn’t miss out on the only chance I had to make a difference. I looked at Haden and swept my arm out so that the whole room froze again, everyone but him. I took a step toward him, and his sad eyes glanced around before landing on me. I was getting weak; this magic was draining me too quickly.

“You were spying on me in the woods. Why?” I glared at him. “Did Cassius send you to hurt me?”

Haden’s face fell at the accusation.

“He would never hurt you.” His face scrunched with disgust. But he had hurt me.

“Why?” I demanded.

“To make sure you were alright; don’t worry, I let him know how well you were doing while having a date with Jesper.” His anger and disgust caught me off guard.

“You don’t know what you saw,” I said with a frown. The magic still pulsed inside of me, but I knew it was fading. I needed a minute to gain enough energy to use it once more. Quickly, I returned to where I had been and unfroze the room. Haden glanced at me oddly.

“Is that enough of a show?”

“Yes.” Jesper smiled proudly and stood with the magic barbed cuffs. The sight of them hit me like a hammer, and I instantly froze the room, crying softly. All I could think of was heading back to the loneliness of Cerithia. I turned and walked to Cassius. His face was set in a hard, unforgiving expression as he stared at where I had been standing.

“I don’t understand why you would do this to me. I don't want the pain and confusion of loving you anymore.” I leaned my forehead against his hard chest and sobbed. I didn’t want to be this monster. My fists rested against his chest too, and my blood seeped onto his uniform from my wrists. Rain and forest filled my lungs, making me relax when I should be repulsed by him.

“Help me understand all of this."

I could pull his dagger from his sheath and kill him, but I wouldn't…because I still fucking loved him. I reached up and ran my fingers across his cheek. As soon as our skin made contact, though, memories hit me so violently that I fell to my knees as they flashed through my mind. But none of them were new. No, they were memories from our time during the trials.

A moment later, I heard the room bustling again. I hadn’t meant to stop the magic from keeping them frozen.

I glanced up from where I was kneeling and crying to see Cassius’ golden eyes locked on mine. He looked at me, kneeling and crying at his feet, then to where I had been before returning to me confused. I dropped the dagger on the floor, the noise ricocheting around the room.

I froze the room again quickly, but Cassius blinked at me. Reaching into my trousers, I grabbed the letters. It was now or never. I reached out, and he took the letters from me with confusion plaguing his features. I ripped them from his hand and shoved them into his shirt to hide the letters from Jesper and my father.

“Lavtan…” I started to tell him, but the magic started fading away. The noise of the room cut off my sentence."Forgive me." I wanted to apologize for not going to Crimson with him when I had the chance. I knew it was right now. Cassius and Della had been right, I needed to understand the secrets of Cerithia before I could truly see what was going on.

“My love,” he whispered so softly as his shadows swept out and caressed my cheek gently before I was yanked backward by my arm.

“That’s enough magic fun for today, darling.” Jesper wrapped the barbs tightly around my wrists again, making it nearly impossible to hold in the pain it caused. Blood dripped from my wounds as he yanked me up. He hugged me so tightly that it was crushing me, but to others, it looked like a loving embrace.

“I guess another punishment when we get home will be in order since you think you can use magic without permission,” he hissed, so only I could hear. This time, he slid his hand over my cheek and gripped the back of my neck, as if he might kiss me.

“Please stop,” I begged quietly.

“You should have thought about the consequences before disobeying me. What did you say to him?”

“He was frozen too,” I confessed quietly as Jesper pulled my face to his and kissed me softly.

“If you tell everyone here whatever pathetic declaration you had for Cassius, I will lessen your punishment,” he whispered to me.

No, he wouldn’t. I looked past him to the ceiling above me and waited for someone to step in and save me from this monster, but they wouldn’t. To them, he looked like he was proud of me and giving me praise.

“I’ll take my punishment,” I answered back.

“You see how no one came to help you, Thea? Because no one gives a fuck about you,” he laughed into my ear. I’m sure it looked like he was giving me a very long hug to everyone else in the room.

“I didn’t expect anyone to save me,” I whispered.

“Oh, but you hoped he would,” he said back. “And that ends today. You will become my wife and belong solely to me.”

“I know.”

Silent tears fell out of the corners of my eyes as Jesper pulled me to him for a kiss, making a spectacle out of it. Fear trickled into my mind as I thought of what he would do to me later, what my father would do to me, but I said nothing else because he hadn’t threatened Exile again and I didn’t want to remind him.

“Cerithia and Kizar are now allied and will fight against anyone who does not declare loyalty to us. Thea only showed a fraction of her abilities to you all. There is no way to defeat her,” the king of Cerithia spoke as he stood. “I hope you all think this over seriously.”

Jesper turned me so my back was pressed into his chest and forced me to look at Crimson.

“This is the last time you will ever see any of them,” he whispered in my ear. “Alive, at least.” Jesper released me. “We hope to see all of you at our wedding,” Jesper called out to the room.

I could see the king of Crimson saying something to Cassius as shadows swarmed dangerously close to where Jesper and I stood.

Haden looked at me in a way I couldn’t understand. Cassius stared me in the eyes before closing them tightly in defeat.

Jesper then proceeded to drag me through the castle by my wounded wrists. Before we walked out the front door, Cassius’ shadows swept over my face with a gentle touch.

The gesture calmed my frantic heart. But it was short-lived because Jesper tugged me forcefully into the carriage and then kicked me when I tried to sit on the bench. I fell back to the floor and didn’t move.

The ride back to Cerithia was silent and tense. I tried to push the fear I was feeling away, but it wouldn’t let me be. Maybe the gods above would show mercy on me and end this suffering. I didn’t dare to sleep the whole ride home. Fear wouldn’t let me close my eyes. As soon as the carriage stopped back at the castle, Jesper grabbed me by the throat and tried to drag me inside, but I shoved him and started running. I was too weak to get far, both from using magic and not sleeping.

Jesper tackled me to the ground a moment later. I swung my arms frantically to get him off of me, but he grabbed them and pinned me down. His blue eyes were void of any sort of emotion as they looked at me in hatred. I still thrashed under him, yelling and crying to be let go.

“You will never embarrass me like that again.” He grabbed my jaw so tightly that I thought it would break, making a painful sob tear through me. I couldn’t let him take me into the castle. A surge of terror had me headbutting him. Jesper fell from me, holding his bleeding nose, as I stood and started running again.

It only took a moment before he caught up to me. He grabbed my wrists again and hauled me over his shoulder with little effort. He walked past my father, the queen, and my half sisters, who all looked like I was getting exactly what I deserved. I pounded on his back and kicked my feet, but it was for nothing.

I was still crying when he led me to a part of the castle I had never been to before. It was cold, and the air felt heavy and wet.

Jesper opened an iron door and tossed me onto the stone floor without regard to my safety. I landed with a horrible popping sound around my wrist, causing me to yell loudly in pain. Jesper moved around the room, doing something for a moment, before grabbing my wrists and tying them together, then to an iron circle embedded into the wall.

He straddled my legs as he ripped my Cerithia uniform open. My instincts started kicking in when I thought he was going to touch me against my will. My darkness expanded inside of me so much that it caused physical pain in every fiber of my body.

“If you move, this will hurt worse for you,” he growled as he pulled a knife out. “What should I carve into your flesh? This blade is special, Thea. It has just enough poison forged into it to make you weak and not think clearly. It will make you more manageable for the rest of our lives.”

I twisted and turned, but the sharp sting of the knife had me calling out into the darkness. I stopped moving as best I could, but he did slow strokes of the knife into the flesh of my stomach. When I thought I would pass out from pain, he turned me over and cut me there too. The punishment felt like it went on for hours. The cutting had been the worst part, but the times when he got bored with that and administered hits and punches weren’t far behind.

I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness. Would I die? I had to be bleeding too much to survive this. I didn’t want to survive this. After what felt like forever, my swollen eyes watched Jesper walk out of the cell I was in and lock me in it.

"Now, every time you see yourself in the mirror, you will remember how fucking useless and pathetic you are. I want my face to haunt you in those moments so that you won’t ever make this mistake again.”

Then he was gone, and I was left in the cold darkness to suffer alone. Always alone.