Page 41 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

“Clearly,” Izzy continued, “there’s some kind of similarity or connection between the Trasqo Market and Earth. But the Trasqo Market is not Earth—not exactly.”

“Okay?” I drew the word out, turning it into a question.

“I think he had to go through the Trasqo Market to buy us from Roland in the market because maybe Ivrael’s magic doesn’t work on most of our world. On Earth.”

“Yeah?”

“And if his magic is failing as much as you think it is, then he’ll have to let loose of you a little.” She glances around the room. “I mean, this place is huge. And he left you in here all night while he went…who knows where?”

“And the ribbons didn’t cause me any trouble at all.”

“Exactly—even though in the market, you couldn’t get more than a few feet away from him.”

Gobsmacked, I stare at her with my mouth hanging open. “That never even occurred to me.”

“Of course it didn’t,” Izzy says smugly, “because I’m smarter than you.”

I roll my eyes.

I’ve spent the last year of my life longing for my sister, unable to bear the thought that I might never see her again. Crying myself to sleep night after night because I feared I might not be able to save her.

How did I ever forget what a pain in the ass she is?

“That means,” I say, deciding to ignore her smartassery for now, “if we can get out of Starfrost Manor without setting off the power on these ribbons, then figure out how to get back to Earth—and stay out of the Trasqo Market once we’re there—then maybe he won’t be able to use his magic on me at all.”

“Exactly!” Izzy says triumphantly.

Of course, the fact that he supposedly paid Roland in cursed coins makes me think there might be a problem with this theory…

But at this point, I’m willing to try almost anything when it comes to escaping Ivrael’s control, so I push that thought to the back of my mind. Besides, I don’t want to pop any bubbles Izzy can find it in herself to imagine right now.

“Anyway,” Izzy continues, “unless Ivrael wants to keep you next to him twenty-four seven, he’s got to let up on whatever power he’s using to control your bindings. Even now, if he’s really in the room across the hall, then he has to have already loosened that control. If his suite is even half as large as ours, you’d be in agony from being this far away from him.”

Living in Ivrael’s domain for the last year has scrambled my mind even more than I realized. But now, as Izzy finishes her statement triumphantly and leans back with her arms crossed, a smug smile curving across her lips, I have to admit that she’s right.

I’ve been buying into the Icecaix belief—or, at least, the belief among Ivrael’s servants—that the duke was barely one step shy of all-powerful, second only to Prince Jonyk.

I have not been asking enough questions.

“You know,” I say thoughtfully, “it just occurred to me to wonder why Prince Jonyk is the ruler here.”

This time, Izzy is the one to blink in surprise. “He is? You mean, there isn’t a king or a queen or something?”

I shrug. “I never asked. But Jonyk is the only Icecaix ruler anyone ever mentions.”

“I think it’s time for both of us to start learning more about this place,” Izzy says.

“We just have to be careful,” I remind her. “The Icecaix can be vicious.” The memory of the two creepy Icecaix nobles who drugged me floats to the surface of my mind.

I shove the thought down, unwilling to follow that memory into the intense yearning I’d felt for Ivrael before it had worn off.

“In the meantime,” I continue, “we should start trying to figure out how to talk a firelord into helping us get out of here.”

“The dragon dudes? Sure. Preferably one that isn’t in cahoots with your duke,” Izzy adds.

“He’s not my duke.”

“Mm-hmm.” Izzy smirks, and I have to force myself not to reach over and pinch her leg like I used to when we were kids, and she did something obnoxious. “I think it wouldn’t take much for him to be your duke.”

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