Page 264 of The Wishing Game

She stares at me for a moment before she doubles over in laughter, the sound of her voice hitting the stones and causing the echo to reverberate in the entire cave-like structure.

"Human? Did you say human?" She cackles, a dry, sharp laughter that lacks any trace of amusement. "No human could bear to touch the sphere, let alone destroy it."

Her expression sobers.

"Stop. Lying. To. Me," she shrieks. Her hair breaks loose of that tight bun it was confined to, tendrils of it slithering in the air like Medusa's serpents.

"I'm not lying," I whisper meekly.

My eyes widen with shock, and my heart pounds in fear as I watch those tendrils coil around and move as if they have a life of their own. She takes a step forward. I take a step back.

I am cognizant I have nowhere to run. She has control of the exit, and at present she does not seem in the least inclined to let me go. Good Lord!

"Where the hell are you, Ze? Why did you need access to my mind if you can't be bothered to answer when I call?"

My legs tremble and I can barely keep myself upright. Far from the severe but distinguished priestess from before, she now looks like a raging witch ready to commit murder. Are priestesses even allowed to kill people? Or humans? I'm not sure I want to find out, though.

"Did a son of Tenebreis send you? You are not a demon from what I can tell," she says as she comes closer to sniff me. "But only someone related to the Sons of Tenebreis would have the ancient writings of Tartareia etched onto the skin."

"What?" I whisper. "Ancient writings of Tartareia? What do you mean by that?"

She leans back, studying me with her shrewd gaze.

"You really don't know?"

I slowly shake my head, my lips trembling with fear.

"This," she says as she brings her nail against the dark etchings on my skin. "It's the ancient script of Tartareia. I may not be able to read it, but I've seen it before in old scriptures." She pauses. "No one outside of Tartareia would be able to decipher it, which begs the question... Why wouldyouhave it on your skin?"

"I don't know," I whisper. "I truly don't. I was told someone in Aperion might be able to give me more information..." I attempt to explain, but she has none of it.

"If that is true, why would you have this talisman, too?" she asks as she holds the pearl between two fingers. "I can sense the vile energy coming off it. It is so strong it's making me ill." She scrunches her nose in disgust.

"It was a gift, nothing more..."

She cuts me off as she presses her fingers tighter against the pearl. A loud cracking sound permeates the air as the pearl snaps under the weight of her force.

My mouth hangs open in shock as I watch bits and pieces of the pearl fall to the ground before the priestess flings the chain of the bracelet away from her. She glances down at the debris, scowling as she further steps on the bigger pieces with the tip of her shoe, effectively turning everything into dust.

"Hm." She frowns. "Maybe I was wrong," she muses to herself as she creates a cloud with her hands, lifting the dust off the ground and analyzing it in front of her. She must find no fault with it because as she snaps her fingers, the cloud dissipates, together with what was left of the pearl.

"Odd." She frowns. "Nevertheless, it does not erase the fact thatyouare suspicious. To break the Elegian Sphere... I must consult with the Psyche Supreme..." She speaks to herself, deep in thought. "You are coming with me to see her," she suddenly decrees.

If before I might have been afraid of her, seeing her destroymyproperty just like that snaps me out of my anxiety-ridden state. A hot, velvety rage envelops me as I stare at the broken chain of the bracelet, lying forlorn somewhere in the back. Tears stab at the back of my eyes as I move past her, getting to my knees to pick up the gold band. Ze might have given this to me with an ulterior motive, but he did forge it personally for me.

"You had no right," I mutter, a tear falling down my cheek. "That wasmine."

She raises a lazy brow at me, her lips trembling with amusement.

"I had no right? Who do you think you are?" She laughs at me.

My sight grows heavy as tears of anger stream down my cheeks. Without thinking it through, I run toward her, ready to tackle her. If I hadn't been so blinded by my rage, I would have realized I'd never be able to lay a blow against her considering the discrepancy in our powers. Before I can reach her, she smirks, throwing me in the air with the wave of a hand.

FIFTY-FIVE

Isqueeze my eyes shut, bracing myself for the impact with the hard stone wall. Yet instead of pain, I only feel a warm embrace as arms hug me from behind.

"You did well, little human," Ze whispers in my ear.

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