Page 101 of Of Mercury and Mist

Her footsteps trailed away, and she quickly returned, handing him a container. He waved a hand over it before bringing it in front of my face. “Drink,” he demanded.

“No,” I said, but it was useless.

My mouth opened without permission, swallowing down the contents while he poured. I’d lost control of my body to the point I couldn’t choke or gag. I was powerless. Powerless to remove myself from the cage or stop the assault on my body or my mind. It was clear he’d drugged me, but I wasn’t certain it was solely from the drinks and food I’d ingested. For all I knew, when he’d sucked on my neck, he’d transferred an ethereal drug or other effect.

He released his hold, and I fell on my side, liquid sloshing in my belly. “You won’t be able to vomit it up so don’t bother.”

“You’ve been drugging me,” I accused him. "You say you want me, but do you really want someone you have to try and force to want you too?”

“The method doesn’t matter.” He whirled around and walked away, leaving me alone in a shiny cage in the middle of a large room.

The effects of whatever he was poisoning me with began edging in, bringing a fuzzy feeling to the corners of my mind that I fought off as hard as I could. Already, the meager light was starting to look odd, the beams dipping and twirling, seemingly melting in the kaleidoscope of my brain.

I was running out of time.

I tried each golden bar, wrapping my hands around the cool melting and tugging on the bars before twisting and turning, all to no avail. How he’d gotten me in the box was magic—there was no door, no entryway, and no visible latch.

He’d flick his hand and whatever he wanted bowed to his command, the power of the universe within his grasp. When I talked to the box, nothing happened. When I wiggled my fingers, no change took effect. It was just like Ethan sneered; I contained no magic.

Some humans must, or he wouldn’t have said it. How convenient it would’ve been if I were one of those lucky souls.

When I began yelling for help, the wraiths arrived. This time they screeched and threw themselves at me, the structure of the cage be presenting zero barrier to their trailing bodies and aerial assault. I found myself curled in the fetal position, my arms over my head blocking the drag of their tattered robes.

All of my senses were captured by the cry of the disembodied beings and the mania of the drugs and soon, it became too much. My mind started to shut down and I curled in on myself, the body doing what it could to protect my now fragile psyche.

Samuel was going to break me.

* * *

There wasno telling how much time had gone by, but I woke up to a bottle of water being tipped into my eager throat. The sun was streaming through a window, burning my eyes and I blinked.

“Good morning, Ashley,” Samuel said. Once the container was empty it clattered to the bottom of the cage.

He waved his hand, and an opening appeared before he dragged my stumbling body out. “Mandy, dress her. We have much to do.”

The woman took me by the upper arm and led me down a hallway to my original bedroom. The room I’d stayed in before all the shit got even shittier. Before I fully understood what I’d done. I’d gotten out of bad circumstances before, and I still had a smidgen of confidence I’d navigate this one as well. The only problem was I didn’t know where I’d go.

Samuel had once mentioned other Realms, and that had become my weak but hopeful plan—figure out how to get to one of them and start over. Stay low, stay to myself, start over. It sounded actionable on paper.

Mandy tore through my hair with a brush, and I let her. Whatever he’d given me this time had a sedative effect, so far. I wasn’t hallucinating and for that, I was grateful. Harder and harder, she pulled the brush through my hair, and I watched in the mirror by my side as my hair began growing puffier and puffier. I couldn’t bring myself to care, nor could I feel the pain I knew I should’ve been feeling.

“What did he give me?” I asked the woman.

“He gave you what you needed,” she replied.

“He can’t do that.” We both knew I wasn’t talking about the drugs.

She shushed me before she said, “You’ll appreciate it before too long.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask more questions, but the calming effect enveloped me fully, causing me to comply with her every directive.

After a few minutes, she’d transformed my curls into slick waves that tumbled around my shoulders, my hair parted in the middle. She held out her arm for leverage as she had me change into a black gown made of some type of feathers, the bustline sparkling with onyx stones. My hand rested on her shoulder while she laced up the stilettos gracing my feet.

“Put these on,” she said, holding out her hand.

She dropped dangling earring that matched the gems on my dress into my palm and I fixed them to my ears. “I look good,” I said, my voice soft and slow, while I stared at my reflection. I looked like I was going to a ball in a dark kingdom. The urge to ask what the fancy clothing’s purpose was sat on the tip of my tongue but every time I went to ask, I forgot and got caught up eyeing the soft plumes that feathered around me.

“You look like a queen.”

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