Page 49 of Scourged

Even in the dark, the glowing, brilliant forest green hit him like a hammer, knocking the breath from his lungs and nearly sinking him to his knees. The only things that kept him standing were his shadows at his back, pushing him toward the cell door,and the vicious creature tearing a hole in his mind. He could feel it pushing in, desperate to take back the control he’d somehow wrested in his mockery of a nightmare.

Andrian stared at the woman. She stared at him. His hands shook, clenched into fists.

His shadows wrapped around his wrists, pulling them into the pockets of his trousers. His fingers grazed cool metal.

He withdrew the keys. The woman did not break her gaze from his.

Still guided by his shadows, Andrian selected a thick skeleton key from the ring. Inserted it into the lock of the cell door. Twisted until the lock clicked.

The woman did not move as he stepped into the cell, his shadows pulling him with renewed desperation.

The creature in his mind lurched forward, and this time nearly reached him. He couldn’t stop from staggering forward, from dropping to his knee, pain fracturing up his leg as bone made impact with the icy stone. His palm landed beside his knee, bracing himself in the darkness.

There was a soft movement, a subtle shift in front of him. The woman stood from her cot, wearing nothing more than a short pink dress made of shredded lace and tulle. She didn’t flinch as her bare feet touched the cold ground. Andrian gritted his teeth and lifted himself up, staying in his half-kneel as she took a few more cautious steps toward him.

His shadows tugged his hands again, their urgency palpable. He could almost taste the fear—if shadows could feel such things.

His fingers moved to a new key. A small key, black and delicate. What could it possibly open, if he’d already opened the door to the woman’s cell?

But his eyes snagged on the woman’s wrists. On the delicate black and gold bands encircling them, the foulness permeatingfrom them forcing his shadows to retract, cowering beneath his skin.

His fingers tightened on the small black key. The woman stiffened. Her eyes, somehow just as familiar in the dark as his own, darted down to the cuffs, then the key gripped in his hand, before rising to his face.

Despite the urgency raking down his spine, despite the evil screaming, biting, and tearing at his mind, he couldn’t stop the breath rushing from his lungs. If he hadn’t already been on his knees, he would’ve fallen to them all over again.

Even bruised and cold and dirty, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. Perhaps his memories were limited, but he was confident he would never see anyone more perfect for the rest of his life, even if the Goddess herself returned to the earth to walk among her people.

Fuck, for all he knew, this was that goddess, and he was about to set her free.

He raised his hands, extending the black key to her. She stilled, for just a heartbeat, something unreadable flashing through those hypnotizing green eyes, before reaching her wrists out to him, palms up.

The key holes were there, nearly invisible. With shaking hands, tremors caused by her and the effort it took to hold back the force that was almost there, mere minutes from snatching back control, he pushed the key into the hole in the cuff on her right wrist. The snick was silent, but that was all it took. The cuff fell from her wrist, landing on the floor with a clatter. He repeated the movement on the other side until both cuffs were on the floor. With a disgusted look, the woman kicked them viciously out of her sight. They clanged against the bars of her cell.

Andrian barely heard it. He was fading, whatever barrier that had granted him this reprieve weakening. Staggering to his feet,something primal urging him to get far, far away from this place before he lost control. He lurched to the cell door, stumbling through, turning back once. Just for one final look at that perfect face, broken confusion written across the features of a goddess.

Her mouth opened as if to speak, but before any words could slip past her full lips, he’d launched into a sprint down the hallway, clawing his way back up the stairs and scrambling down as many winding hallways as he could.

His heartbeat thundered and his breath rasped as he collapsed into a pile of freshly fallen snow outside the castle, the darkness of the beast taking him back once more.

He remembered nothing of that day.

Chapter 19

The clouds floating in the sky high above Ciana’s window mirrored the way her thoughts floated through her mind. Partially formed, mostly fleeting, and never sure if they would lead to sun or rain or snow or a thunderstorm.

Thank the gods she at least had wine to keep her company. She took another long sip from the glass of mulled red—she’d been craving it since meeting Beva—the bite of cinnamon warming her tongue against the lingering winter chill. She swirled her glass; this winter had lasted longer than most. The cold should break into the early hints of spring soon.

Which meant Mariah had been gone for almost two months. Two months vanished into mist and they had no more idea where she might be than they did on that terror-filled morning when she’d gone missing.

Ciana could handle thinking about all the other issues plaguing them. She didn’t mind stewing over the pirates’ arrival, or the flickering magic, or the way Sebastian had beenfuriouswith her after learning she’d disobeyed him and ventured into the city with Delaynie.

She couldn’t handle thinking about her best friend. Of where she might be. How she might be suffering. Some thoughts were too dark for even the most tormented of minds.

Sighing heavily, Ciana leaned back on her comfortable cream suede couch, legs propped on the gold and marble coffee table. A fire roared in the hearth, but since Ciana was nothing if not a constant contradiction, her balcony door was also slightly ajar, a cool breeze blowing in from the Bay of Nria. Ciana’s rooms were one of the few in the palace that faced the city and the Bay.

She was one of the first to notice the black sails creeping in on that terrible morning, and was often kept awake at night by the sounds of the battle along the coastal cliffs, the crashing of stone striking waves.

It was quiet today. They’d landed a hit last night, and the pirates still retreated. Their reprieve wouldn’t last long, but the pause was appreciated.

---