Page 164 of Once the Skies Fade

How could she expect me to save him when I couldn’t even free myself?

After being cooped up in the small cell, even for only a handful of days, my legs and feet fatigued faster than usual. Thankfully, they weren’t leading me to the assembly room on the upper floor; one more flight of stairs and I likely would have collapsed. Wherewerethey taking me, though? Where else could the Assembly possibly want to meet?

A door creaked quietly open, and I nearly tripped over the threshold as they led me outside where the sun warmed my arms. Closing my eyes, I focused on my other senses, desperate for any hints of what awaited me. No scent of hay or stamping hooves—meaning no carriage.

“Stairs down,” one of the guards warned quietly, and to my surprise, they slowed our pace to help me navigate the steps.

Gravel crunched beneath our feet, and I envisioned the castle grounds in my mind in a desperate attempt to map our movements. Continuing straight, we were obviously traveling down the long driveway. Through the hood, I caught the faint scent of decaying leaves and soil coming from the forest on either side of us.

When we finally turned, shadows engulfed us, chilling my skin. I scrambled to a stop and tried to pull my arms back to keep the guards from venturing too far into the forest.

“We can’t,” I said. “You can’t.”

The two guards on either side of me hauled me forward by my arms. Fingers pressed between my shoulder blades, nudging me to keep moving.

The fourth guard—who seemed altogether too nice to be doing the bidding of the Assembly—gently explained. “We would not enter your woods unprepared, Your Majesty. Keep moving. It’s not much further now.”

“It’s not like she cares about us,” the voice behind me grumbled. “If she had her hands free, we’d all be dead in that dungeon.”

I didn’t bother to correct him, because if I was being honest, I didn’t know what I would have done to them if I had access to my shadows.

The kind guard, though, did respond. “Careful how you speak about her. She could kill you yet.”

I didn’t hear how the other three reacted to that, because a new sound caught my attention: whispered voices and pounding heartbeats—a lot of them. I couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but underneath it all. The forest remained relatively still and quiet. With this many bodies gathered, the trees and vines should have been far more active. Instead, I could only catch the barest rustle of vine against dirt and the slightest creak of shifting bark.

“Ah, you’re here.” My stomach turned at Ursula’s pompous tone. All whispering died away, but a muted grunting persisted.

“Am I to stay in the dark then?” I asked.

Ursula cackled. “Of course not. Your reaction is half of the fun, after all.”

While she spoke, the guard worked to loosen the hood’s opening. It didn’t take long for my eyes to adjust to the dim forest light when the fabric lifted away. The Assembly—all six members—formed a semi-circle around me, with Ursula and Warren standing in the middle studying me with wildanticipation. The other four fidgeted uncomfortably but didn’t bother to protest what was happening either.

Warren gestured to the two guards still holding me. “Secure her.”

My gaze dropped to the forest floor, where two iron anchors had been driven into the ground on either side of where I stood. I didn’t fight as they disconnected the chains binding my hands and attached them to the anchors.

“Is this truly necessary?” Fern asked timidly, peering up at Ursula on her right.

Yuri chimed in, noting, “She was given her tonic, yes?”

Warren’s dark eyes continued to burn into mine as he answered, “The tonic only helps to subdue her powers and prevent them from going rogue when her emotions spike. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually stop her from using them.”

No one else spoke, though Fern and Yuri did offer me sympathetic looks––as if that was enough to garner mercy from me. No, I’d remember how they stood here and watched their peers attack me. No one would escape my justice.

The other advisors stood triumphantly, as if they’d already won, but chained or not, I wasn’t beaten yet.

Failure wasn’t an option.

Giving up wasn’t an option.

Dying wasn’t a stars-damned option.

Warren and Ursula glanced at one another, brows crooking and lips curling as they held some silent conversation. When Ursula gave an almost imperceptible nod, they pivoted away, watching me intently as they instructed the rest of the Assembly to step aside to reveal Isa’s limp form suspended above the ground by the forest’s vines.

Chapter 74

Matthias

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