Page 79 of Unbetrothed

I startled.

Thwack.Something pierced the door. I tugged on Mamá’s silk gown. “Should we climb out the window? That’s how I got here in the first place.”

The ledge seemed thinner now that I looked at it from this angle. Anotherthwackripped me from my thoughts.

“No, I won’t see you fall in your haste.” Mamá cupped my cheeks. “Give me strength to do what I must.”

“What do you mean?”

She lowered her gaze. A tremor of fear trickled through her body and bristled up my back. There was a crack, and I flinched. A hole opened in the door.

Mamá straightened her back at the next hit on the door. The ax pulled out and landed again.

A bubble of fear bulged in my chest, and I spoke to it.Be at peace.A sensation burst in my ribs and oozed like the flow of blood rushing into a sleeping limb. Mamá’s tension seemed to be easing without me. She moved her lips as if she spoke silently, and her palms glowed a fiery red. The aura growing within her went beyond personal gifting.

I drew closer, straining to make out her whispers.

“All things hold together in you. Let me be willing to do what I must for my people and family.”She pulled away from me, nodding. “I dread personal encounters.”

An arm reached in and removed the plank barring the door. Lux’s face disappeared back into the dark stairwell. Mamá waited, her fingers splayed out in front of her face. She readied to fight. The door swung on the soundless hinges. Silence. A dark passageway gaped before us.

At once, Pedrozian soldiers flooded into our room and surrounded us. One soldier thudded to the ground. Then another. Mamá did it with a simple flick of her wrist, but more Pedrozians poured into the tight space.

I flung my arms up like Mamá, motioning my hands. I pictured the creature from the valley licking its chops. Every bit of the horror I had experienced trembled out of me. Mamá was on to something with this hand thing. I had better control of the invisible. Many soldiers hesitated to enter, but not Lux. Unlike the others, he got all the way through and grabbed my arm.

Mamá continued to flick her wrists, rivers of perspiration traveling the worry lines on her face. She started after me, but a soldier almost reached her. Crinkling her brows, she continued to knock out man after man—a mound of bodies formed at the door.

Lux and another fellow lifted me over the bodies. My legs fell. The soldier holding my legs had gone limp, but Lux clung tight. I flailed my arms and tried to drop to the ground, but Lux continued to drag me. More arms clawed at me, pulling me down the stairwell. I breathed short, quick breaths. Reaching for anyone or anything, my finger smacked into someone, and I pulled my throbbing finger back.

Sunlight poured in as they moved me out the stairwell, revealing the long corridor to the other watchtower. A soldier hoisted me over his shoulder. I reached deep within, trying to spread my gift like a current again, but the jostling and pain prevented me from any semblance of control.

A long line of red-coated men waited to get into the bell tower. It moved forward, but almost no one came down the stairs. Did Mamá kill the men, or would they recuperate? Maybe that’s why she needed strength.It’s best not to think of those things now.

Turning a corner, the burly man holding me ran through a maze of halls, passing paintings and statues I had forgotten existed. I twisted to get away, but the man’s fingers dug into my legs. We neared the balcony floor, where Papá gave announcements.

Suddenly, I imagined them throwing me off the front of the building, which sent another burst of energy racing through me. I rolled my body, hoping to catch him off guard. He lost his grip. I hit the floor hard and landed in a heap. The soldier’s boot knocked into my rib. Pain spread along my side. A short man took hold of my legs and continued to drag me. I twisted my hips, ready to race into a meeting room to get into the secret passages.

The burly soldier swept me over his shoulder again. I kicked and screamed. He raced into the balcony room with me pounding my fists into his back.

A line of Pedrozian soldiers stood against the wall in front of portraits of my ancestors. Himzo soldiers stood against the opposing wall. It seemed fitting that the Himzos would stand in front of my great-grandmother, Iris. She was known for constantly being on the move and also for killing a Himzo dignitary by mistake when she sneezed. It worsened political tensions. They didn’t believe us when we explained that it was a mistake.

The soldier unloaded me from his back and set me on my feet. Himzos and Pedrozians stood at attention, staring. I rubbed bruised skin on my arms and legs. Two other men lunged at me, throwing cords around my wrists and ankles. Panic swelled within my lungs, but I swallowed it back down.

The men whispered amongst themselves. Stray words likePrince Lux, new reign, anda shipechoed through the hall. My stomach cramped, and the cord bit into my wrists.Be brave, Beatriz.I squared my shoulders but wilted at seeing all my enemies’ gloating faces.

I whispered to the Ancient One, “Why did you give me my gift if it were to be so useless? I can’t do anything.” I inhaled deeply. My mind’s eye filtered an image of the sea in a storm. Water crashed against the shores and took with it anything it touched. I exhaled, “Is this the image I’m to use?” I licked my lips.Am I silly for thinking I am like the sea?

The force within me burbled out, reaching for anyone around. I dragged back a slew of gaiety. Then, I crashed another wave of magic, and it pounded into the soldiers. They couldn’t see it, but I knew they felt it. The moment I dragged away their joy, their foreheads wrinkled, and a frown settled on their faces.What good does this do?I didn’t know, but I needed to try something.

The double doors from the palace entrance opened, and the men snapped upright, chins up and chests puffed out. The door frame made Lux appear like a walking portrait. His sandy hair tousled around his face, and his potent eyes fixed on me. His boots knocked on the floor.

“Your mother fights well.” Lux chuffed and patted my arm. He continued to walk out the balcony doors. “Bring her out here.”

The same soldier who lugged me from the watchtower lifted me again in the exact same undignified way. It ruffled my pride, being seen by all the sneering faces. I lashed out an invisible whip at one man who guffawed. He jerked back, touching his cheek. I couldn’t take my eyes off the soldier’s crinkled face and the red streak marking his cheek. What in all Agata?

“We waited for your father,” Lux said. He pushed back wayward hairs from his face. “Your father will comply or lose his darling daughter.”

I gritted my teeth. “You said that you wanted me to go free.”

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