Page 57 of The Fate of Eternity

My fingers wind their way into my hair, clinging to the messy braid as I will the pent-up strain to fuck off, but I get the feeling I won’t be so lucky. Not anytime soon. My self-loathing has reached new heights and there’s nothing I can do about it.

There’s always something that can be done, Addi.

I push the thought from my mind. I’ve been programmed to fight, to take the hard road if there’s hope waiting at the end ofit. But right now, sinking in the inky black water and letting it consume me feels less painful.

“Your thoughts are giving me a headache.”

I startle at the statement as my gaze whips to the cell to my left. The woman straightens her legs, slumping back against the wall, and tilts her head in my direction.

Her ears aren’t pointed, which makes me think she’s not a mind fae, but I’m acutely aware of my ears, so I don’t want to assume. Yet I can’t see how else my thoughts would be causing her distress. I also have my own mind magic gridlocked so no one can see into my head. It’s one of the first things my father taught me, and I need that ability now more than ever.

I’m aware I’m just staring at her, but she doesn’t falter under my gaze. Her hair is a chestnut brown, swept back off her face in a neat bun at the base of her neck. Her eyes are as rich as her hair, but there’s no light behind them, like she’s given up on many things before she got here.

“My thoughts?” I finally manage, keeping my voice even as I peer at her, and she shrugs.

“I’m familiar with internal pain. It’s drifting off you in waves.”It always takes one to know one.I nod, not bothering to summon a response, but that only seems to encourage her more.

Shifting, she turns to face me, crossing her legs as she laces her fingers together. “Get it off your chest. It always makes me feel better.” I’m shaking my head before she’s even finished, which makes the corner of her mouth tip up in amusement. “Built like a fortress, huh? I used to be like that. Now, I’m free.”

“You don’t look free,” I retort, pointing at the bars, and she snickers.

“In here,” she replies, tapping her temple like she knows something I don’t, and she’s right. I’m lost in my mind. I don’t know anything. I hum, not sure what she’s seeking from me, but she doesn’t leave me guessing for long. “Once upon a time, Iwas a small girl, idolized by my family and loved deeply by my brother, mother, and father. Everyone of importance thought I walked on water,” she muses, a flash of something in her eyes before it quickly diminishes. “Some might say I abused that with them, used it to my advantage, played them, but I was just a girl, you know. No one wanted to rein me in, so I did what I wanted when I wanted.”

“Sounds like fun,” I murmur, wondering what it would have been like to grow up without the pain of being a fae girl. Considering who my father is, we were hiding more than most of our kind. He sheltered us, slowly letting us venture deeper into the small village we took refuge in, but not beyond that,neverbeyond that.

I am and always have been, however, treated like royalty among my family. Between the three of us, we hold each other on pedestals, which isn’t all that healthy, I’m sure, but the love we have for one another is unbreakable. I can understand the pull of that feeling. I’ve felt it myself.

“It was excellent until it wasn’t.” I can’t tell if she wants me to ask, to let her delve deeper into her past, but it seems she doesn’t need the prompt. “I overstepped, winding up trapped at their mercy and against my will.”

“In here?” I ask, and she shakes her head.

“No, this is nothing in comparison,” she states, a ghost of a smile on her face before it quickly disappears. “I was banished, likebanishedbanished.”

I know that feeling. Well, kind of. I saw my father, that was bad enough. “That must not have been nice.”

She scoffs. “Some may say I deserved it, but I’m not some.” A darkness creeps into her eyes, leaving them almost entirely black as she gets lost in her thoughts for a moment. With a single blink, she’s present again, eyes meeting mine as she sighs. “I spent almost twenty-five years encapsulated in a crystal.”

“A crystal?” I repeat with a frown. How is that even possible?

She hums, pressing her lips together with distaste before she sighs again. “There were once magically infused crystals known as ‘the kiss of death,’ that were made entirely from amethyst.” My heart rate spikes, but I keep my features neutral. I know what she’s talking about, but she doesn’t need to know that. “Before they were banned, they were used to basically immobilize magical beings. The only way for such a powerful item to work was to use the soul of another magical being to fuel its power.”

My eyes widen. “So the crystal worked by the soul tethering the magical being’s powers?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around it, and she nods, her smile growing wider.

“Exactly that.”

Holy fuck.

I gulp, shaken by the memory of the very stone that was embedded into my flesh not so long ago. “It’s a good thing they banned them then,” I murmur, while also wondering what someone could do that would warrant such a punishment. Having the crystal embedded into your body is one thing, but to have your soul held captive in one of them feels like a whole new level of consequences.

“It is,” she confirms, eyes locked on me, and it almost feels like she’s searching for something—something that would prove I know all about them, but I tamp my emotions down. “So, what has you in here?” she asks, sensing the connection dissolving between us.

I shrug. “I did something I shouldn’t have,” I admit, and she cackles with amusement.

“Haven’t we all? But it must have been a doozy; otherwise, you wouldn’t be here.”

I look at her, like really look at her, and consider the conversation she’s offering. I don’t want to boast. I don’t want tobe glorified by another criminal, but I also understand what she means about getting things off my chest.

The chances of ever seeing this woman again are very unlikely, and that’s if I make it out of here at all. With that, I take a deep breath and answer her. “I killed someone.”

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