Page 59 of The Court of Secrets
“It’s close enough to I love you too, I guess.” He half-smiled and stood, glass in hand, and walked behind me. He leaned down, tickling my neck with each breath. Running his fingers down my chest, he smirked against my neck. “We have a little bit of time before we need to go down to the library.”
A knock sounded at the door, jolting me to my feet. Blaise almost dropped his glass.
“Hello!” I called, my voice sounding unlike my own.
Adius walked inside. His fear-filled eyes met mine. “Your Majesty, excuse the interruption, but it’s Morgana.”
***
Decrepit skin and sullen eyes morphed my friend, my mentor, into a thing I didn’t recognize. I wouldn’t have known it was her at all if it wasn’t for her long brown waves, and fingers covered in silver rings.
“Morgana,” I whispered. My fingers gripped the stony ledge next to me. I steadied myself, and my gaze flicked to her staff, which remained perched against the wall.
Blaise stood in the doorway, scratching the back of his head, and Adius stood a little in front of me. Two other guards stood outside, keeping watch.
“Are you still in there?” I asked when she didn’t answer.
She whipped her head around, and I stumbled back. Catching myself before I fell, I couldn’t hide the gasp that left my lips.
She spoke, her voice drying at the ends. “He will come.” Ancient runes lay in her wrinkled palms. Her face was still scarred from the torture inflicted upon her after I’d fled. I could see them under the decay the necromancer had brought upon her.
“Morgana,” I said tentatively, reaching my fingers into the air between us.
“Don’t.” Her orb-like eyes flashed with warning. She walked to her altar. I wondered how she still managed to move. She appeared as if she’d crumble into a pile of dust and bones at a moment’s notice. I craned my neck to look at what she was doing, as did Adius.
She chose her cards, holding them with the glinting silver on the back. Four cards: a love gained, another lost, death, and one traitor.
“Are they for me?”
She didn’t look at me. “You need to leave. It’s no longer safe for you here. I’ve kept him away for as long as I could, Winter, but he’s not far under the surface. He’s turning me inside out, until I submit to do his bidding.”
Bile bit my throat. “No.”
She dropped her cards and balled her fist. She quickly released it, but I noticed the gesture, as did Blaise, who was eyeing me.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked her, hoping my wise friend was still with us.
“Take my staff.”
Adius looked to me, and I nodded. “Keep her in this tower room. Have a guard watch her.” Tears trickled down my cheeks as we walked away from her.
“It’s for the best,” Blaise whispered as I reached the door. I pushed past him.
Anger shocked me into action, forcing every nerve on fire as I hurried down the spiral staircase and into the winding hallway. I could hear the others calling after me, but I was far too furious to talk to them.
“You.” I growled at myself and flexed my fingers. I could feel him moving inside me, like a spirit bottled, rattling to get out.You may have brought her to the edge, but I will kill you.I didn’t need to say the words out loud. He knew how I felt and what I thought, but the adrenaline needed to be spent.I will ruin you.
Cold pricked my fingers, then my toes. What began as a gnawing pain in the pit of my stomach grew until I was retching and shaking all at once. I felt hands on my arms and my back. He was pushing to get out, harder than ever before, but I wasn’t going to let him.
My skin hissed as old wounds reappeared. Stars filled my visions. I couldn’t catch my breath when more wounds appeared, from my time trapped in the cage in Berovia. The sun-blistering bars had caught my skin several times a day until I was numb to the pain. My mouth dried, and the necromancer accessed another memory, another way to torture me.
I tried to suck in a breath, but my chest tightened as I did, not allowing air to pass. Panicked, I grappled my fingers into the skin of those who tried to keep me down. I felt as if I were drowning, falling through layers of ocean until I couldn’t see light anymore.
I was going to die. I was sure of it. He brought me to the edge of torture and kept me dangling until I couldn’t breathe, scream, or cry anymore. I crumpled to the ground, and he relented. A cool breeze danced over my bare arms and neck. Sweat beaded my forehead, and my eyes burned.
Blaise’s face came into my blurred vision. “Love.” Worry aged his youthful face. His lips were set into a hard line as he tried to get me to speak. “I said get me the fucking physician.”
I didn’t know who he was shouting at, but I didn’t care. His fingers found mine, and I winced when he touched them. The wounds, they were real.
