Page 35 of Court of Secrets and Flames

Terror floods me, and I brace for impact.

Before I hit the ground, the scene shifts.

Now, I’m inside a cage, and beneath me is a bed fit for a queen. Other luxuries surround me too. Colorful silk gowns, elaborate feasts, all the books I could ever want. But the bars leave no doubt that I’m a captive.

Leaping to my feet, I race for the door.

I try to turn the handle, but it refuses to yield.

Locked. Then I pound on the metal, but no one answers.

Trapped.

Panic bursts inside me.

“Hello? I need out. Someone open the door.”

Only the oppressive quiet answers.

My building frustration crescendos into impotent fury. I pound on the door, harder, louder, my pleas for a walk morphing into a chant of willful defiance.

Where is the guard? Is he there and just ignoring me?

“Open this door. Now!”

I hammer on to the drumbeat of my mounting anger with aching fists.

Silence.

As I batter the door in vain, numbness creeps up my arms.

From outside the cage, I hear my mother’s voice.

“It’s for your own good, Lark. It’s the only way to keep you safe.”

Mocking laughter echoes on all sides. A familiar voice whispers in my ear. “Did you really believe you’d ever be free?”

I whirl. “Sterling? Sterling, help me!”

He shakes his head. “When will you learn? Sterling isn’t my name.”

As I grab for his arm, he steps back and vanishes.

“Sterling?” I sob. “Knox? Don’t leave me here!”

Someone giggles. “Buried alive, unearthed to die.”

“O-Olive?” I spin and scream. Olive’s body is covered in black char and oozing, raw flesh. Dirt fills her mouth, choking her.

Before I can get to her, she disappears.

Suddenly, the walls start to press in. They steal the air from the room, suffocating me.

Energy hums beneath my skin as my magic blazes to life like a phoenix rising. “Never again.”

With a surge of will, I unleash my anger. Flames erupt from my fingertips. Bright tongues of fire dance to the rhythm of my pulse.

Flames rage up the walls like starving beasts. The fire obeys my every thought, a living entity summoned by my wrath. It climbs higher and higher, devouring everything in its path with ravenous delight. Smoke thickens and curls.

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