Page 116 of Madness of Her Mages

My heart slowed to a dull thud, a wave of nausea rolling through me, and then the thick, musty air became stagnant, pressing down on me as if I was underwater. I opened my eyes, and the world tilted and then went still. Lady Veronica and the guard were like frozen blocks of ice, their mouths hung open, their unseeing eyes facing forward. I slipped the keys off the guard’s belt, cursing that I had forgotten to watch which one opened Felicity’s cell. After three tries, I found the correct key.

My mate and brother stood in the cell, their features frozen. Felicity and her mates were sitting on the bench. A rat was stuck on the ledge behind them, a hunk of moldy bread in its mouth.

I moved Shiri first. She was easy, as light as a feather. I dragged her stiff body out of the cell to the end of the hall, cursing the keys as I struggled to find one that would fit. I finally opened the lock and dragged Shiri inside, holding her under my arm while using my other hand as a torch. I gagged when I was immediately hit with the stench of rot. An emaciated old man with shredded wings and a long, scraggly beard that went past his knees huddled on the floor in a puddle of piss. I cursed our queen for her treatment of Marius. In that moment, I realized that not only did I no longer admire and love her—I loathed her for her cruelty. How could I have been so blind all these years? Careful not to burn her with my flame, I leaned Shiri up againstthe wall like moving a plank and then retrieved my brother. He was much heavier, his wings jarring against the doorframe as I struggled to drag him out. I had to use both my hands, so I navigated inside the dark cell using only a pale shard of light from the hall. After they were in the cell, I closed the door, careful not to lock it in case we needed to make a hasty escape. I closed and locked the door to Felicity’s cell and returned the keys to the guard. Then I leaned against the wall again and breathed out a shaky breath while closing my eyes. I’d done it! I’d stopped time! Now how to start it up again. My eyes flew open when I heard Lady Veronica groan and gasp.

“My head hurts,” she said, rubbing her temples.

I didn’t respond as I closed my eyes again. I had no idea how I’d restarted time, but I was grateful it worked. I was suddenly hit by a wave of fatigue. Slouching against the wall, I let out a groan. My little magic trick had drained too much energy. Damn. How was I supposed to stop time again?

Shiri

FELICITY GAVE ME Aquestioning look as she sat between her two mates who were still chained to the wall. Steffan and Geoffrey didn’t bother looking at me as they hung their heads in their hands.

Nikkos stood at my side.

“Why did you follow us?” Felicity asked.

“Um.” I looked over my shoulder, squinting between the small barred windows. Any moment and Drae would stop time. Until then, I knew I had to stall. “Are my fingers supposed to burn when I’m using blue magic?” I asked her.

“Sometimes.” She shrugged. “It depends on the strength of the spell.” She paused, her eyes narrowing. “Is that all you wanted?”

“Yes.” I looked over my shoulder again.What’s taking him so long?I projected to Nikkos.

Give him a moment,he answered.He has to prepare.

“I never thanked you for saving my life,” Felicity said to Nikkos. “I was in too much shock.”

Nikkos laughed. “So was I.”

Steffan and Gregory shot up, looking at Nikkos with slackened jaws. “You saved our mate?”

Nikkos shrugged. “It was nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing,” Felicity said, wiping moisture from her eyes. “Malvolia wouldn’t have shielded me when the temple came crashing down.”

Steffan visibly swallowed, his chains rattling while he clutched Felicity’s hand. “If we ever get out of here, we will make it up to you,” he said to Nikkos.

“We have a lot to atone for.” Felicity nodded, giving me a pleading look. “I was wrong about you. I’m sorry.”

Before I could answer her, I blinked and suddenly I was in a completely different cell, dark and dank with the most horrible smell imaginable. I covered my mouth and nose while my world tipped. Had Drae done it? Had he stopped time and moved me into my father’s cell?

Nikkos,I called to my mate through thought.Are you in here?

Yes,he answered as he produced a flicker of light. He stood across from me in a filthy cell. He crossed the distance to me, his light revealing mold on the walls. I pulled away from the wall, gasping when something wet and sticky leached onto my shoulder.

Flora?

I gasped, searching for the origin of the gravelly voice. And then I saw him, nothing but skin and bones huddled in a corner beside an old wooden bench with a dirty sack for clothes, tattered wings that hung down his back like limp curtains, and a beard that went down to his bony knees. He turned to face me, and I clutched my throat when I saw the tattered blindfold over his eyes.

Flora?he called through thought again.

I jutted a foot forward, wincing when I stepped on something sticky. “No,” I whispered as Nikkos took my hand and led me across the floor. My gut roiled when I spied an overflowing bucket of feces in one corner of the room and a dead rat in the other. “I-I’m Shiri,” I said as I knelt beside him, grasping his bony shoulder, wincing at the feel of his paper-thin skin. “Her daughter.”

His jaw dropped, revealing a mouthful of rotting or missing teeth. “My child,” he rasped, his dirty fingertips roving over my face while his beard dragged the ground. “You look just like your mother,” he said, though he hadn’t removed the blindfold. “Are you safe?”

I struggled to speak through a constricted throat. The blindfold probably concealed the horrors beneath. I had no doubt my father was blind. “I am.”

“And what of your mother?” His fingers traveled down my shoulders, my arms, before he squeezed my hands. “My brother? Your sister?”

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