Page 55 of The Rose in the Shadows

“You like it in Athenia, don’t you? You’ve made friends.”

Instinct pushed me to lean away from his touch, to scoot further down the couch in search of escape. But his grip became a vice as I did and his eyes danced. He knew he was making me uncomfortable. He wanted to. With one hand still firmly planted on my thigh, his other reached to brush my hair back, away from my neck. Nausea pounded through my stomach.

“There are arrangements that could be made to ensure that no one ever takes you or your children out of this country,” he whispered, as his hand locked around the back of my neck and held me firmly in place.

“Perhaps those are arrangements we could discuss at a Council meeting,” I proposed through a locked jaw.

A Council meeting where other people would be present.

The Dragon only laughed, and I didn’t stop my flinch as I felt his breath hot against the hollow of my throat.

“This is my kingdom,” he reminded me. “I make the decisions. And no one, including you, can stop me. I’m. The. King.”

He punctuated each word by pressing his searing mouth sloppily against my throat. To make his ultimate point, his teeth nicked the delicate skin, and I couldn’t help but to cry out in a soft, helpless whimper. The sound only inflamed him on further and he bit down, hard. Magic rushed through me angrily, willingitself to be released, and I tore away from him, standing in a rush and grasping onto the flesh I knew would bruise.

Internally I clamped down on that power in me, knowing that losing control of it would only make this situation worse, but it sparked in protest against me. The feeling was surprisingly painful, and I slammed my jaw closed so tightly I was sure my teeth would crack.

He only laughed at my distress.

“See to your training,” he ordered, giving me his back as he returned to his desk. “I want those trials completed sooner rather than later. Ryla reports that you’re gaining a quick mastery of your powers. Be sure that you learn your history and combat skills just as quickly.”

Every fiber of my being told me to run, to flee from this room and find someone, anyone, who would stand up for me and say that what had just happened was wrong.

But I didn’t do that.

I only dipped to a curtsy before twisting on my heels and leaving the room with as much decorum as I could muster. As I left the Dragon’s chambers, I couldn’t stop the tears from falling down my cheeks, and yet, not a single member of my ten-man guard team tried to comfort or reassure me. Their gazes remained plastered ahead, avoiding me entirely.

No one asked what happened. No one even asked if I was okay. And it was so obvious that I wasn’t. They wouldn’t stop the Dragon from tormenting me. As he had reminded me, he was the king, and there was no one in the kingdom of Athenia who could protect me from him.

Chapter Seventeen

Nothing was going to stop me from getting out of this castle, getting to Mara, and securing that memory potion. After my meeting with the Dragon, I felt even more urgency to understand where and who I came from. I couldn’t know if that information would help me, but if there was any chance that I had someone in this world that cared for me, that wanted toprotectme, then I needed to know. I needed to find them.

The tricky part would be getting out of the castle.

After spending the rest of my day pacing and turning over the possibilities, I had finally devised a plan.

It wasn’t a particularly good one, but it was a plan.

So after my evening meal, after Nessira and Geia left me for the evening, I set to work. I donned a simple dress and tied a scarf around my neck to hide the reminder of what the Dragon had done. Then, I’d grunted my way through dragging one of the small ottomans from the parlor towards the window that facedthe gardens before opening the panels to let in the chilly night air.

“This is a terrible idea,” I muttered to myself before setting my sights on the ottoman.

It wasn’t hard to summon my powers. I was, after all, afraid, but I was also determined. I was getting out of this castle and finding out the truth of my past, even if it killed me. My emotions raged, and the magic responded instantly, flying in sparks down my arms and fingers. As I lifted my left hand, the ottoman followed, floating gently off the floor and out the window, where it hung patiently in the sky.

“Okay, step one down.”

I knew if I allowed myself any time to think through the next phase of this plan, I would never muster the courage to go through with it. So, without allowing myself time to panic, I climbed to the windowsill, threw one of my legs over the ottoman and shifted my weight onto it until I was sitting. For a moment, I marveled at my own accomplishment. I was seated on an ottoman that my powers were keeping afloat twenty feet above the ground.

“By the Gods,” I whispered. It was working. It was actually working!

The last step of my plan involved me gathering enough control to slowly lower that ottoman, with me on it, to the ground where I could then sprint off the property and into town to meet Mara.

As I set my intentions on lowering the ottoman, my power soared in a sudden rush. I struggled desperately to pull it back to me, but my control slipped and I gripped onto the seat as my decline picked up speed. It took everything in me not to scream as I hurled through the air and bounced roughly onto the grass below. The ottoman made a sharpthud, and I flew from it, landing heavily on my knee and rolling. For a moment, I laid onthe ground helplessly, nursing my wounds and thanking Hyrax I had even survived that.

But I had survived.

Which meant I needed to stand up off the ground and get back in motion before someone found me laying here.

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