Page 26 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
“Asher, I really think you should sit down. You look like you might be sick. I will go get King Xavier or Queen Mia. They should know you are awake.” With that, she rushed past me and whipped open the door.
Maybe it was wrong, and perhaps the old me would have hesitated, but I was no longer the female I had been crafted into. I had repainted the canvas, remolded the statue. The new me—the one with far less pity in my heart and a desperate need to save the ones I loved—had no qualms with reaching into Raven’s mind and forcing her to sleep. She hit the ground with a loud thud, deep red seeping across the ground from a gash on her head.
That was fine. She would be fine. It was fine.
Heart pounding, I made a break for it, leaving her sprawled out in the doorway. Every step seemed to ring through the entire palace, letting all know where I was, but I somehow managed to reach the long stairwell to the dungeons with no interference.
Taking them two at a time, I flew down the paths, winding through the halls until I came upon the line of cells I had known as a sort of home for the last week. For the first time, no fire burned in the wall sconces, the space practically void of light.
Passing each set of bars until I reached the final one, I found myself face-to-face with…nothing.
The cell was empty.
No. No. No. No. No!
“My flower, what is it you are doing down here?” Mia asked quietly. I wanted to burst, to shed my skin and free the evil within me that might finally end the queen. Anything other than simply stare at the cell void of a snarky and brave mortal prince.
But that did not happen. Of course it did not happen.
“Have you killed him?”
“Killed who? Asher, I wish I could make sense of what you are thinking, but I fear I might never understand. In fact, I am beginning to worry that whatever dark magic they attacked you with might be meant to turn you against me. To fill your head with these atrocious lies and steal you away.”
Scoffing, I gripped the bars in front of me and leaned forward, letting my forehead press into the iron. Magic slithered within my chest like a chained dragon wishing to take flight. As a last-ditch effort, I freed that darkness within me, wishing beyond reason that it would strike Mia. There, in the silence of the dungeons, I sensed the way it barreled into her mind, striking a golden garden of pure energy. There was no sign of the blackness that had been a sort of barrier in Haven, but with poison in my veins, my magic did little more than ricochet off the flower petals.
Mia shouted, the sound of her heels smacking into the stone floors as she stumbled back making me smile despite the failure.
“Asher! What is wrong with you?” Her screeched words made my ears ring, and maybe it was that loss of depth that suddenly left me unable to hold back. Not wasting another moment, I turned and ran at her. Our bodies hit like two realms colliding. Using my momentum, I forced her to the ground, watching with glee as her head smashed into the stone beneath us. “Asher, stop! You are hurting me!”
“And you have hurt me my entire fucking life! You have done nothing but hurt me, Mia!” I wrapped my hands around her throat, squeezing with all my strength as I lifted her slightly and then once more forced her head to snap back. A crack resounded just before blood began flowing freely from beneath her tangerine hair. “This is my thanks for a lifetime of pain.”
Mia did not fight me as I tightened my grip, my eyes wide and mind racing with all the good her death would bring. Perhaps it might even give me the peace I had endlessly searched for. I was willing to be a monster for such a thing. Refusing to blink, I watched and watched as her eyes grew wider, her skin turning a violent red before fading to a blueish tint. There was no time to wonder at why she was letting me kill her, only enough seconds to remind myself that she had to die.
“Asher, no!” The ordered shout came just before a body barreled into mine, forcing me off Mia and sending me sprawling across the ground. Every newly healed bone in my body seemed to ache as I caught my breath, the male now holding me down as he shouted for help.
Through hazy and watering eyes, I looked up to find Sterling above me.
Chapter Thirteen
Asher
Sterling was not only alive, but he was there above me, breathing heavily with those green-flecked eyes darting between my own. I could do nothing but stare up at him, so baffled by his presence, his action, that I was frozen in place. The sound of Tish talking as she ran to Mia was but a muffled and distant whisper. Sterling did not leave me, did not cower or run. He remained atop me, gasping for air just as I did. When he finally spoke, it made my heart shatter.
“What have you done, Asher?”
What had Idone? What hadIdone! No, what hadshedone!
“Sterling, if we want to get out of here alive, then she has to die. She will imprison you again if we do not end her now,”I hissed, squirming below him. His hands grabbed my wrists, pinning me to the ground. A wave of nausea rolled through me, the memory of Theon masquerading as Sterling while he violated me flashing behind my lids like a play of horrors.
“I have no idea what you are talking about. I woke up a week before you did, so maybe I have just had time to adjust, but you need to calm down.” He looked away from me, and I found my own gaze turning the same direction. Vision clearing, I caught sight of Xavier standing over Mia as she was healed by Tish. His pale face was even more void of color than it normally was, his black waves tied back at the nape of his neck. He wore all gold, the long layers seeming too warm for summer.
Was it still summer though?
“I am taking my wife to her chambers. She is clearly not well,” Sterling asserted, not giving Xavier the chance to demand my punishment before he leaned back to a crouching position and scooped me into his arms. I clung to him, unsure why other than the fact that I did not wish to be banished to my low level room.
Sterling nearly ran through the dungeons, making quick work of the stairs as well. He only slowed when we had reached the shining gold hallways of the palace above, a deep breath of relief skating across my cheek. Though I was fine to walk, Sterling did not set me down. That protective and possessive grip on me seemed to call attention to his words from before.
My wife.
