Page 67 of Fear the Flames
I can’t be here.
Not Imirath.
Not in the dungeon.
Not looking into my own cell.
The stones probably still have stains of my blood on it. I choke down the hot acid that burns my throat when the memories of the time I spent there resurface; the chains, the starvation, no light, the beatings, the begging for it all to stop.Go away, go away, go away,I chant in my mind as my repressed memories fight against the tight hold I keep on them. My transparent limbs start to shake and I break out in a cold sweat. The amulet increases its pulsing, and I try to reach for it so I can rip it off. I want to go back to Vareveth, but my hand can’t reach it. No matter how much I struggle against the invisible barrier, I can’t penetrate it. I scrub my hands over my face and run them through my hair. My limbs may be transparent, but I can feel the sensation of my nails biting into my palms.
I close my eyes and lean my head against the stone wall behind me.
This isn’t me anymore.
I am more than the memories that plague me.
The amulet took me here for a reason. I need to find that reason. I whip my eyes forward and stare into the dingy cell. I’m not the girl they locked up. I’m the woman that was forged from the bars I melted in my mind and welded into blades.
I unwrap my arms from my knees and stand on stiff legs. I shake out the tingling feeling in my hands while the snake unwraps itself from my left arm and slithers forward. My chin rises, and I surge further into the dungeon, never stopping in my tracks when I finally pass my cell. I’ve reclaimed my life, and I will not let my past render me from getting an advantage in the present. The darkness has befriended me in ways the sun never could, and right now, I truly am nothing more than a shadow. I’m not afraid of darkness because I’ve mastered it.
I am Elowen Atarah, and nobody will put me in a cage again—not my mind, nor anything else.
The snake leads me up the stairs, and I’m able to travel through the door without opening it. I used to take this path on the rare occasions I was allowed out of my cell. It was only when I fell ill from the conditions in the dungeon. They would move me to a room on the first floor with no windows. I also had to make an appearance in the throne room on occasion, but I was always blindfolded for that. A smirk crosses my lips—my father’s blood would be boiling if he knew I was here, unmasked and alive.
My nightmares conjured up images of what I thought the castle would have looked like, but all the images I conjured don’t match up to reality. In my head, I imagined a dark castle filled with tortured souls and barbaric decor, but the truth is much softer. I don’t focus too much on the decor, considering my main focus is remembering where I’m going, but flashes of gold, purple, and brown mesh together and create a warm atmosphere. It’s ironic that anyone on this floor would have viewed the castle as inviting while the heir to the throne was chained in a dungeon. A pretty cage is still a cage.
A chandelier the size of a boulder hangs from the ceiling of the next room I enter. The diamonds glisten and catch in the light as I walk further inside—it’s a ballroom. My breath hitches, and I dive behind a column when I see soldiers standing in front of a large staircase. But I’m unsteady on my feet, and the amulet tugs me forward. I’m in plain sight of the soldiers, yet none of them even look in my direction. I hold my breath for a moment, not wanting to make a single noise. I don’t know how this amulet works. I know I’m invisible but walking in front of several enemy soldiers isn’t exactly something one would do with ease—invisible or not.
I rush past the soldiers, who don’t even glance in my direction, and take the stairs two steps at a time. They split at the top, and the snake makes a sharp turn to the left. The amulet nearly chokes me as it swings my body to follow. The snake’s golden light burns brighter the faster we go.
I make several turns and focus on remembering every single one I take. Guards line the hallway, and I’m worried the amulet is pulling me because the magic is running low. What if the amulet leaves me here if the magic runs out before it shows me what it wants? My feet break into a sprint at the thought. I don’t stop until the snake stops in front of a door. The amulet stops tugging on me, but the pulsing has sharply increased.
I reach forward to push on the door, but the snake that guided me here hisses, and the snake around my arm tightens. My brows scrunch in confusion—why bring me through the whole castle to not go through the final destination? I glance around, and my eyes snag on symbols etched into the stone doorframe by the lock. They’re so small, most likely overlooked by anyone that passes this door.
The chain of the amulet burns against my skin, and the snakes circle around me until I’m submerged in a funnel of gold that rises all the way to the castle ceiling. My hand reaches up to adjust the amulet, but darkness surrounds me as soon as my hand brushes the ruby.
ChapterThirty
My body jolts forward, and I feel like I’ve awoken from a nightmare. I rip the amulet off my neck and throw it across the room. My vision is peppery, and my heart beats as if I ran to Imirath and back.
“What the fuck were you thinking, Elowen?” Cayden growls, kneeling next to me. His strong arms are wrapped around me, and I rest my head against his chest, unable to stay upright.
“I saw it,” I whisper, staring at the amulet strewn across the floor. Cayden stiffens at my words. My mind can’t fully grasp what just happened. I was in Imirath’s castle, the place I haven’t been in several years and have never intended to see again.
“What exactly did you see?” Saskia asks in a soft voice, kneeling on my other side along with Ryder.
“I saw Imirath. I was in the castle,” I tentatively say, forcing the words to pierce my veil of confusion. My eyes are drawn to my arms, but there’s no sign of the shimmering snakes. “I was invisible.”
“Are you sure it was Imirath’s castle?” Saskia gasps, but Cayden lightly tilts my head toward him before I can look at her. There’s nothing gentle in his eyes. I don’t blame him for being upset with me. The risk I just took could have been detrimental to our plans, but I also needed to do it for the sake of those plans succeeding. I stare into his hazel eyes and let myself calm down. I made it out of the castle. I’ve made it out before, and I’ll make it out again, but this time, I’ll make it out with dragons.
I push away from Cayden. If he’s hurt, he doesn’t let it show on his face. He just loosens his arms and lets me slip away. “What happened when I put the amulet on? Did you see anything?” I wonder if they saw the serpents or felt the amulet pulsing like I had.
“When you put it on….” Saskia tries to find the right words. “It looked like you dropped dead.” So that explains why Cayden was holding me; he probably tried to catch me before I fell. “Then you started crying out like you were in pain, and then you just went back to looking lifeless. Cayden tried to take the amulet off you, but it burned his hands. That’s when we concluded that it might harm you if we took it off,” she finishes.
My hands reach out and take Cayden’s bandaged ones in mine, tracing my fingers over the already fading burns on the exposed skin of his palms. The burns must have started to fade once I took the amulet off, almost like a magical warning to not pull me from the vision. His gaze rests heavily on me, but I don’t look away from his burns. Even though he’s annoyed with me, his fingers curl around mine, and warmth floods my cheeks.
I must have started crying when I saw my cell. That’s the only time I tried to fight with the amulet. “Oh gods, did anyone hear me?” That wouldn’t look good for us. Braxton knew I wasn’t feeling well, and then I started crying after the three of them stormed in here.
“We have runes set in place,” Ryder informs me.
