Page 110 of The Chaosweaver's Daughter
Nothing happened.
Heartstone.Enough of it to cut off her magic. Her pulse vibrated as a wave of fear propelled by the complete loss of power rushed her system, tightening her chest.Time to face this head-on.
When Nes peeled open her drowsy eyes, it didn’t take long to adjust to the gloomy room. But wherewasshe? And, furthermore, who wasthatstanding by the fire? Her heart’s fluttering strengthened to a deep pounding, and she willed it to quiet down. The cloaked figure still hadn’t noticed she’d awoken.
Some kidnapper.He held a fire iron in his gloved hand as he stoked the small blaze. A long blade hung from one hip, and from the other, a large canteen. It looked... clunky.Interesting fashion choice.
The man shifted and almost looked at her, but he didn’t. She caught a glimpse of his profile, fully masked in a dark, crusty material that shielded everything save his eyes.
Nesrina lifted her left arm, enough to make out what was going on with her throbbing limb. A long, angry-looking wound marred the inside of her wrist. Her right was the same. It looked like someone had sliced her open, then done a poor job of cauterizing the wounds.
Narrowing her eyes at her kidnapper, she studied the fire-poker in his grasp, then allowed her gaze to drop to the ground as she rolled, noiselessly, onto her side. Dark, glossy droplets—her blood—trailed from her cot to the stranger’s feet.His canteen. Ew.Had he collected her blood?Grotesque.
It was easier to see from her new angle. She seemed to be in some half-abandoned shack. Tattered curtains on the room’s single window were drawn, blocking out most of the light, but mote-speckled beams snuck in there and from the room’s single door. Small pinpricks peppered the walls where daylight entered through the half-rotted wooden planks.
At least the fireplace still works.She supposed she was somewhat lucky, in that regard. Without the fire, her kidnapper wouldn’t have been able to cauterize her wounds, and Nesrina would likely have bled to death. If he was a powerful firebearer, he’d have done a better job, so if he had fire magic at all, it wasn’t strong. What magic did her captor have? And more importantly, why had he cut her open? Had he been trying to kill her, then... felt bad about it?
The mysterious man startled. He stepped to the single window and peeled open the curtain using the tip of the sooty fire iron.
What’s got into you?Nes listened closely. Past the sound of the crackling flames, she could make out distant barking.
Before she could feign sleep, or being passed out, or dead, the abductor was facing her, firelight brightening the side of his terrifying mask.Shit, shit, shit, shit.
The man began to draw his sword before apparently thinking better ofit. He re-sheathed the thing.
“Are you going to kill me?” she rasped, voice so weak she sounded like a stranger.Oh, shut up, Nesrina!
He didn’t speak, only stared at her from pale brown eyes, listening.
The barking sounded like it was drawing nearer, but she couldn’t be sure. It could as easily have been a trick of the wind.
Her kidnapper shook his hooded head. His blasted crusty mask didn’t move an inch. In a rough and falsely lowered tone he said, “I should.” Turning away from Nesrina, he glanced out the window for a second. “It matters not. You’re fucked regardless. I have everything required.” He patted his canteen.
Ew.
“The runes will reveal the truth, and the true king shall wear his crown.” The man’s sandy eyes bore into hers. “I’ll have time with you again. As much as I’d like.” He burst into laughter, half an octave higher than his deepened voice.
A cacophony of barks and howls interrupted his gleeful chortles—the dogs were closer than before.
Her abductor startled and lost his grip on the fire poker, letting it clatter to the floor. He attempted to posture menacingly, a poor coverup for his faux pas.
With that, the man abandoned her, taking off, sunlight blinding her before the door banged closed behind him. Less than a minute later, Nesrina heard a set of hoofbeats thunder past and disappear.
She waited a moment longer, the occasional half-distant bark echoing through the quiet. Then she attempted to sit up, and though dizziness washed over her, she was eventually successful. Her collar had no hinge she could find—fitted in an endless ring. His mask was bark.An earthshaper.Weak, but determined, she stood and shuffled to where her captor had left the fire poker behind.Idiot.
Her heartstone beads were hand faceted, Kas had said. That meant it was chippable. It would be risky, but she had to try to break through it. Her kidnapper could return at any moment. She needed to free her magic.
After a round of deep, steadying breaths to help rid her vision of thosepesky stars, Nesrina slipped the hard tip of the iron up the side of her neck, beneath the collar. The shackle fit perfectly in the wedge between the point of the poker and the hooked piece that peeled away from the shaft. Bracing head against the wall, she levered the base of the fire iron away from her body, then back again.
Metal ground against stone with a teeth-shivering crunch, and the blunt iron point threatened to pierce her skin each time she swung her arm up. The heartstone pulled bruisingly tight against her neck, but she could hear it grinding away, slowly but surely.
There was a crack as a piece of stone chipped away, and she tried yanking the collar free, but it held firm. Employing a new technique, Nes tilted her head to the side as far as possible andthwackedthe stone with the fire iron. Metal clipped her jaw, and she nearly screamed, hissing through the sharp pain. Her body threatened to give out, but she didn’t stop.
Pressing the tip of the iron where the stone had chipped already, she pushed in as hard as possible—and lost her grip. The metal flicked off, missing puncturing her by an inch, as a snap rent the air. With a crack, the collar fell away from her neck.
Gasping, Nes dropped the poker and turned back toward the narrow bed. The sheets were stained dark, still damp with her blood. She hadn’t been there for long, and her captor could return at any moment. He implied he wouldn’t be killing her. But could a kidnapper really be trusted?
“Could you make a person?”the prince had asked her once.
