Page 38 of Shadows of Ruin

Clink.

Thud.

It felt like days since I had seen anyone other than a Royal Guard shoving half-moldy food through the small bars. I didn’t know whether to be worried or mentally preparing for another round of torture from Andras. Chains could mean any number of things.

Things I didn’t want to think about anymore.

Lying in the corner of the cell, I left my back to the door, uninterested in seeing who stood before me. The metal tray scraped along the stone as it settled through the slot. Gentler than on any other occasion.

“Ian,” a soft, delicate voice whispered.

Her voice faltered and cracked as she said my name. Yet I didn’t move. I wanted to, but my limbs ached, the soreness of my body weighing me down.

“Ian, get up.” Her voice was a little stronger this time.

Groaning, I rolled to lay on my back as I twisted my head toward the cell door.

Kalliah.

Pulling every last ounce of strength from the Fates themselves, I forced myself onto my knees, gripping the wall like it would provide any sort of assistance.

“If you know what’s good for you,” Corbin spat, “you’ll walk over here and pick up this gracious meal.”

I flinched at the sound of the man I’d trusted with my life. With Lana’s life. What happened to one of my truest friends? How could he have turned so vile so fast?

Slowly, I pulled myself into a standing position and shuffled the short distance to the cell door, leaning on the wall the entire time. Panting, I waited for one of them to speak again.

A few moments later, Kalliah broke the silence. “Ian, you have to agree to work with Andras. It is the only way you stay alive. Lana is gone—vanished. Your loyalty to her and to the dead king will get you nowhere.”

“Be reasonable,friend,” Corbin sneered, barely giving me a moment to process that Corbin wasn’t the only one who had given up on Lana. “Andras has taken over the palace. The dark ones answer to him. He is set to be the next ruler of Brookmere. The queen is locked in the eastern tower along with this traitor in chains.” He nudged Kalliah, and she banged into the cell. My hands clenched into fists at my side. “And if rumors serve true, the queen is refusing to speak. Andras will marry her, or he will have no choice but to find Lana and claim her as his.”

Everything turned red. My vision shifted, and fire boiled in my veins at Corbin speaking about Andras claiming Lana so casually.

I lurched for the cell bars. “You disgust me,” I spit at him. My body protested the sudden movement. I barely recognized my gravelly voice.

Laughs from the shadows sounded, and two additional guards came into view. “You’re right, Corbin. He’s so easily riled when she’s mentioned.”

Corbin grinned, but Kalliah said nothing. I noticed the chains around her ankles and wrists. Those were the sounds I’d heard. Not chains for me, but chainsonher.

Yet she still insisted on siding with Andras?

“Kalliah, what happened?”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly before she shook her head.

This couldn’t be happening. After all we had been through. For everything we had set out to accomplish together and for the two of them to turn so quickly destroyed the hope I remained clinging to. A soul-crushing pain flared in my chest.

“He’ll never find her if she does not want to be found.” The sentence took far too long to speak with my still-healing ribs from last night’s “entertainment.”

Corbin snickered. “She has nowhere to go. Nowhere to run. Without you or any of her other friends by her side, she will have no choice but to come crawling back. Begging to be saved.”

I shot my arm out, grabbing him through the bars, smashing his face against the cool metal. “Howdareyou speak about your princess that way. She called you a friend, and this is how you repay her kindness?”

My heart beat erratically, my cheeks flushed in anger. I could not believe the words coming out of his mouth.

“Ian,” Kalliah said sternly, “take your food and think about what I said.”

The guards grabbed her by the shoulder and started forcing her back down the hall.

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