Page 34 of Bound By Darkness

She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. I’d be able to complete two shifts of mining.”

“Ellia, you can’t,” I warned. I placed my fingers against her glistening forehead. “Gods, you’re burning up.”

“I didn’t know I lookedthathot.” She coughed once, a stupid smile still plastered across her face, revealing perfectly aligned teeth—a rare occurrence for someone destined to die.

“You’re being stupid.”

“You’re the stupid one,” Ellia shot back. “Whatever happened to your backbone? You let everyone walk over you like it’s nothing.”

“Life happened,” I grumbled.

“Maybe you grew old.”

My eyes narrowed. “Look. I came over here because youwere scaring the other prisoners, and they asked. I checked on you, so I’m leaving.”

Ellia’s hand rose, her thin fingers unable to latch onto mine from the moisture lingering across her skin like a thin layer of oil. “Wait,” she heaved. “Please stay. You’re the first person to talk to me here.”

Her eyes were glassy as they traced the black and blue bruise radiating from my cheekbone to my lower jaw. “I didn’t mean for him to hurt you. It’s just… I can’t stand letting them control me.”

I huffed a laugh. “You sound like a friend of mine.” She reminded me so much of Thalia.

Ellia’s face perked, the fog clearing from her eyes. “She must be one hells of a friend to have you.”

“I’m the lucky one. She’s not afraid to speak her mind.” A smile lit my face as the memories flooded back. “Once, she had her finger broken because she stole food from King Hywell’s storage shed to feed to a young boy.”

She gaped. “You… you were in the Armas prison?”

“Yup. Since I was thirteen. I spent a year alone before my friend arrived.”

“Is… is it true you can see the fortress from the prison grounds?”

“Yes. Sometimes they dragged me to the King’s garden to pluck his weeds. You could make out the fortress from there, too.”

“I’d give anything to visit a fortress. My Lord promised to take me when I grew older. Well, until I landed here,” Ellia said as she placed her hands on her stomach.

I rested my head on my cracked knees, the skin blistering beneath as Ellia stared at the stalagmites. I should have left… should have turned away when she was okay, but I found myself leaning into her story as she continued.

She yawned, her eyes turning waxy. The smattering ofdirt on her face bunched together, her nose wrinkling. “It’s a long story, but my mother hid me from my father. She said if he ever found out he’d produced a bastard, he would rather dispose of the evidence than live with the fact he’d created a half-breed.”

She clacked her teeth together. “Well, he found out what my mother had done. As punishment, he killed her in front of me and sentenced me here. He said it was an abomination I existed. That my human mother, a mere courtesan, managed to hide me.”

Her words struck a chord deep within my chest. Her father had also betrayed her. His blood and legacy. He’d turned her away. “How did you hide for so long?”

“My father, Lord Haville, traveled frequently. He… had many slaves. Another couple raised me on the property to protect my identity. They raised me as their daughter while I met my mother in darkness.” Ellia’s eyes drooped, her face contorting in a sheepish yawn. “What of you? How did you wind up… up at the prison?”

“It’s also a long story, but my father sent me away because I refused to be his pawn.”

The corner of Ellia’s lip rose slightly, a cheerful look for someone so close to death’s vices. “I knew you struggled like I did.”

My brows knitted together. “What gave you that impression?”

Ellia’s ring finger rubbed away the thickening sleep. “Your eyes. Your eyes are dull.”

The comment tore the fibers holding my strung-up heart apart as I reached into my pocket to thumb the necklace.

Blue shifted to me. “What’s in your pocket?”

“Nothing.”

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