Page 149 of Bound By Darkness

A hand wrapped around my mouth, silencing my sentence as darkness enveloped me from head to toe. A scream left my lips as I raised the dagger around me, the sound muffled as I reached for anything I could get on my attacker.

Was it a rebel? Had they already infiltrated the camp?

“Thalia?” Fin’s voice rang out. “Thalia!” He yelled, his voice drifting farther and farther away from the tent I’d wound up in.

I sent my elbow flying backward, but a rough hand caught it, stopping its path in an instant.

“Shh, it’s me,” a familiar voice spoke as the hand covering my mouth lowered.

“Oh my gods. I almost stabbed you,” I hissed, shoving the dagger into the sheath at my thigh.

Kaydn rolled his eyes. “You weren’t even close with that terrible form of yours.”

“Shut up,” I said as I glanced around the room. “What are you doing in here anyway and why did you grab me like that? Let me go get Fin?—”

“I foundsomething.”

“You… found something?”

He pointed toward the table at the back, an oil lamp propped beside some pages covered in ink.

Even with the light, it was hard to see in the room as if darkness itself clung to the walls. I could barely make out Kaydn beside me as I inched over to the table, my eyes scanning over the scribbled words.

“What are these?”

“Battle plans I found in Iyanna’s room,” he said. “She’s the traitor, Thalia, like you suggested.”

My eyes skimmed over the pages. These were battle plans and directions on how to dismantle the ward. It was perfectly written in ink.

“How did you get these?” I asked as I leaned over, my hands resting at my sides.

“After our… fight I went for a walk around the camp. I happened to overhear her talking to someone in her tent.”

Kaydn’s voice grew slightly distant as I stared at the pages.

“I waited until she left and found these on her desk. I didn’t know what to do so I snatched them up, storing them in here until I found you. You’re the only one I trusted enough to show.”

My eyes roamed over the pages as I read over the details. “Why not Fin? Why drag me in here?” I asked as my hands skimmed over the pages.

Ink blended together, smearing the words as my fingers brushed against it. My eyes stared at the fresh ink staining my fingertips. “You said you found these the day of our fight, right?”

“Yeah. Is something wrong?”

“Nothing,” I blurted as I examined the pages further.

The ink was still wet.

My heart skipped a beat as I examined the pages in depth. This wasn’t Iyanna’s writing. She’d never rush something sointricate. But as I stared in the dim lighting, recognition grew at the handwriting.

Hishandwriting.

Panic seeped into my bones. This was Ivan—Kaydn’s handwriting. I took a step back from the table, my arms falling behind me.

Click.

Cold pressed against my wrists, locking them into place against the small of my back. Screeching sounded within as the darkness slammed behind another set of iron doors. I was in prison cuffs. The same prison cuffs I’d been stuffed into for eleven years. The same prison cuffs designed to lock my casting. My breathing quickened.

I was in prison cuffs again.

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