Page 159 of Once the Skies Fade

“The rest of her family died easily enough. She will too.”

This pulled another laugh from deep in my chest. “If you truly believed that, then you wouldn’t be fleeing across a fucking sea.”

Graham’s scoff gave way to a low growl, a hint of fear sparking in his expression, but he said nothing.

“No. You’re scared of her.”

“Don’t be?—”

“And you fucking should be.”

Chapter 71

Calla

Isa still hadn’t come for me.

Granted it had been only a handful of hours, but that was longer than I’d expected from my best warrior…my best friend.

What if she betrays me like Graham did?

The thought pinched my heart.

How many betrayals could someone endure before the pain charred their heart and they decided to burn the whole world? Of course, at this moment in this iron room with nothing but a bucket in the corner, I couldn’t do anything—let alone destroy everything. Stars, I could barely use that damned bucket with these iron gloves on my hands.

Ursula hadn’t said how long I would remain here, claiming my trial was still being debated by the Assembly. Whether that debate was to determine the date of said trial or to have a trial at all didn’t matter much to me. The one consolation I had was the shocked hurt that had played on Ursula’s face when we arrived in the dungeon to find the door to Matthias’s cell open and the room empty.

Ursula had screamed at the guards holding my chains, as if they could have possibly known what had happened when they’dbeen with her arresting me the entire time. It had been Sera who had blurted out a single word from her cell down the hallway.

“Graham.”

Graham.

The bastard.

I spent the first hours in the dungeon wondering where Isa was, how Matthias was doing, and what I would do to Graham when I finally got a hold of him.

I simply needed Isa to get me out of here.

Until then, all I could do was wait.

After the pair of guards left with my empty supper plate—and I recovered from the humiliation of having to be fed by them—I settled myself on the floor and counted the rivets on the cell door until exhaustion finally claimed me.

At first there was only darkness, but just as disappointment kicked in, the void around me faded slowly until I was surrounded by the forest once again. I wasn’t near the edge of the forest as I had been in that last dream. Instead, I was kneeling in the mud and leaves, the rhythmic pounding of a horses’ hooves pulling my gaze over my shoulder, where my horse’s tail disappeared into the trees.

“Matthias?” I queried the stillness, my voice so meek and pitiful, I cringed. Pivoting onto my backside, I brushed the muck from my hands as I surveyed the forest.

Please be here. Please be here.

How were these bonded dreams supposed to work anyway?

They seemed highly inefficient and pointless—no different than mediocre, single-minded dreams if I couldn’t call to him to meet me. I hated waiting.

Waiting in my dream.

Waiting in the dungeon.

Heaving a sigh, I slammed my palms back into the dirt to push myself to my feet when a hand appeared before my face.

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