Page 48 of Blood Weaver
He scoffed and flung my hand from his arm. “You’re already in hot water, Leila. Don’t push it,” he warned, adjusting his clothes as if I’d soiled them with my touch. “I’m doing this for Selene’s protection. Somethingyouclearly wouldn’t do.”
I furrowed my brows. “She doesn’t need your kind of protection. Controlling her movements won’t make her love you.”
His gaze whipped in my direction and he shot daggers my way with his glare. “Watch it, Leila. You are speaking to a prince.”
I snorted. “And what kind of prince lets someone from another nation control his army?”
His expression turned furious. If he could strangle me at this moment he would, although he was probably afraid touching me would get his hands dirty. “Guards!” he yelled. “Arrest this woman!” He waved me away as if I was nothing but a pesky gnat.
Guards swarmed in from all sides, but I was ready. Calling on my magic, I blasted them away. My brother’s eyes widened in shock, but it only lasted a moment. He slowly approached me and conjured his own magic—his blood magic.
I narrowed my eyes on his hand and stood still. I wouldn’t attack my own brother. Unfortunately, he didn’t have such scruples. Then again, he didn’t know I was his long-lost sister.
He directed a bolt of magic toward me and knocked me square in the chest. My body lifted and flew across the governor’s front yard. I fell to the ground with a crack I felt all the way to my bones and rolled to my side, where I coughed up blood. He’d blasted my vital points. This would take a while to heal.
Marcellus smirked and looked down at me disdainfully. “As if you’re a match for a blood mage.” He rolled his eyes and motioned for the guards to take me away.
15
They tossed me into Lomewood’s filthiest dungeon where scurrying rats were my only companions. I peered around my new cage, which was barely large enough to hold one person. The pain in my chest was severe. My brother had inflicted severe damage. The guards secured the cell with locks that were guarded against magic, and my hope for escape dwindled.
Ronan’s parting words to me were not to get captured or hurt, and that was exactly what I had done. I would laugh if the pain didn’t make even breathing difficult. I couldn’t think of a single way out of here unless I used my blood magic to free myself, but that was risky because in so doing, I would expose my true identity.
I dragged my body closer to the moldy stone wall and leaned my back against it for support, then focused all my efforts on controlling my breathing and redirecting the pain. However, Marcellus was an accomplished blood mage and the hit inflicted serious damage. I wouldn’t be anyone’s match for a while.
The day passed in a painful blur, each hour marked only by the guards who patrolled the dank corridor. For dinner, oneshoved a bowl of water and a piece of stale bread inside my cell, which I left untouched. The urine-soaked straw mounded in the corners of my cell was enough to put off my appetite, even if I wasn’t concerned about being poisoned.
Then, the person I least expected dropped by.
Caelan strolled in without any guards, looking like the victorious captor as he preened and strutted in front of my cell. He leaned against the bars and looked at me curiously. “How did you survive that fall, pray tell?” he inquired. “I know you’re a famed healer, but I can’t imagine the state I left you in would allow you to recuperate so quickly.” He grinned maliciously.
I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I bet …”
“I hope I didn’t hurt your feelings,” he said. “It wasn’t personal, you know.”
I shook my head slightly and gave a heavy sigh. “Listen, Your Highness, I don’t care what kind of issues you have with Ronan. I’ve tried to help you and you don’t want to believe me. So whatever is going on between you two, just leave me out of it.” I leaned back and tilted my head to the side against the wall.
Caelan fixed me with a shrewd stare. “You see, I find that hard to believe, Leila. You seem to beveryimportant to Ronan. I would even go as far to say he might bein lovewith you.”
I laughed. “You are dead wrong. Dreadfully so.”
“I mean,” he blew out a breath and clasped his hands over his heart mockingly, “the way he jumped over the cliff after you was just …soromantic. I’m touched, truly.”
Irritated by the direction my former friend’s line of questioning was veering, I decided to change topics. “So, what’s your plan? Keep me hostage until Ronan returns the lost princess to you?”
He shrugged. “That’s one option. But what I truly want to know is why you aren’t with Ronan now. Were you two lovebirdsseparated in the river? I can’t imagine him voluntarily leaving you alone.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Like I said, we’re not close,” I reiterated.
Caelan chuckled and shook his head, unconvinced. “No, if there’s one thing I know and admire about the Crimson Clan, is that those demons love once and it’s unconditional. Ronan never would have left you alone, unless …”
“Unless what? I told you, he’s not in love with me.”
He furrowed his brows. “No, I don’t think so. I think maybeyoudon’t lovehim, and you got away the first chance you could.”
I wanted to laugh at Caelan’s outrageous claim, but this situation was far from humorous. Instead, I stared back unflinchingly, hoping he would see his childhood friend beneath the layers of grime and praying he wouldn’t at the same time.
A sinister gleam twinkled in the prince’s eye, and he leaned forward as if he was about to divulge a juicy secret. By his sudden shift in demeanor, I was positive I didn’t want to hear it. “I would love to send you back to him … in pieces,” he added with a cruel smirk. “Why don’t we begin?”
