Page 55 of Realm of Wind and Vines
Anger flickers in Imar’s blue eyes, and he yanks against his ice bonds. “Fuck you. You think you can torture me into betraying my clan leader? You underestimate my strength, Shadow of Death.”
“Torture you? Why would I waste time and energy torturing you,” a vicious smile curls Draven’s lips as he jerks his chin in my direction, “when I can just haveherchange your entire personality instead?”
Summoning my magic, I straighten from the wall and walk out of the shadows with my eyes glowing. “Remember me?”
All color drains from Imar’s face.
I let a cruel smile settle on my lips as I advance on him.
Just like most people, Imar believes that I can change someone’s emotions so much that they become an entirely different person. And… well, to be fair, Icanactually do that now, since I can create permanent emotions out of nothing and just force them into people’s chests. But anyway, the point is that Imar has always believed that and has therefore always treated me with a level of wariness. When I registered for the Atonement Trials, he barely took his eyes off me once he learned that I had emotion magic. So I knew that simply seeing me with glowing eyes was going to create a spark of fear in his chest.
And it sure did.
I quickly latch on to that bone white spark of fear that appeared in his chest when he saw me, and then I begin increasing it rapidly.
“No, wait,” Imar blurts out, and yanks hard against Isera’s ice shackles again. “Don’t. Don’t?—”
I shove more magic at him, increasing his fear even more.
“Please,” he stammers. “Please, don’t change me. I like who I am. Please, don’t make me?—”
Bracing my palms on his forearms, I lean down over him with that cruel smile still on my lips. “After all the shit you put us through in the Atonement Trials, do you really think I would show you mercy now?”
He thrashes in his seat. My magic keeps pouring into him, intensifying his fear, until he is yanking so hard against his restraints that the chair wobbles even though I have my palms pressing down on his forearms.
The power I have over his life right now makes a dark sense of craving burn through me. I drink in that absolutely intoxicating mix of fear and pleading in his eyes while I keep increasing the strength of my magic. I’ve never held this kind of ruthless authority before. It’s making me feel drunk on power.
“Please.” Imar’s frantic gaze snaps to Draven. “Please, I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t let her change me. Please, don’t let her change me.”
A smirk spreads across my face as I turn my head and glance back at Draven over my shoulder. My heart skips a beat when I find him watching me with both desire and hatred in his golden eyes. When my gaze meets his, he starts slightly and then quickly shifts his attention to Imar instead.
“Do as you’re told,” Draven replies. “And I might ask her to back off.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll do whatever you want!” He yanks against his restraints again. “I’ll send a message to Gremar and ask him to come to the Golden Palace.”
And he sure did.
Half an hour later, Imar has sent an emergency message to Gremar, and we are hauling his unconscious body across the grasslands and towards the Golden Palace outside the city.
Orion casts a glance at Imar’s unconscious body, that Galen is carrying slung over his shoulder, before he shifts his gaze to meand gives me an unimpressed look. “I could’ve broken him faster.”
I snort. “Sure you could.”
“And speaking of ineffective uses of our limited time on this world,” Orion continues, his eyes narrowing as he slides a suddenly suspicious look at Isera. “Why are we using the main entrance instead of the secret path that leads straight to the heart of the castle?”
“What secret path?” I ask, frowning at him even though his gaze is still fixed on Isera.
“It’s a design feature present in both of our castles. With the exact location kept secret from the masses, of course.” Challenge creeps into his suspicious stare as he holds Isera’s gaze. “As a descendant of the Seelie Queen’s second daughter, you should know that much, at least.”
“Of course I do,” Isera replies smoothly as she levels a look of challenge back at him. “But I’m not about to disclose the location of it to three dragon shifters and the ruler of an enemy court, am I?”
He holds her stare for another few seconds, suspicion still swirling in his eyes. Then he clicks his tongue and presses his hand to his chest in an overly dramatic gesture. “Enemy? You wound me, little viper. And here I was, thinking that you trusted me.”
Tension crackles through the air as they hold each other’s gaze in silence. Then, to my surprise, both of them let out a short huff of laughter that is barely more than an amused snort.
Behind their backs, Alistair and I exchange a quick glance.
That was close.
