Page 60 of Turret

I felt furious and embarrassed I’d been so easily manipulated. My guilt sharpened, bringing with it my familiar insecurities. I’d spent my entire life believing I was a useless princess, and the moment I’d attempted to do something to help my people, I’d only made everything worse.

I took several deep breaths in an attempt to smother these unproductive feelings. What was done was done, but not all was lost. While we remained within the tower, Mother couldn’t implement her plans.

“How did you escape?” If I had any hopes of thwarting Mother, I’d need more information. I was certain she’d provide it; gloating was one of her favorite hobbies.

“The magic is far too complicated to explain in detail,” she said, her focus no longer on me but on her reflection in the broken mirror, as if she couldn’t get enough of seeing herself finally free. “My prison was enchanted to keep me inside…unless the glass should break, and with it the curse keeping me bound. But breaking the mirrors wasn’t all that was required. If it was, Drake would have been freed from his own glass prison the time it cracked. Breaking the mirror needed to be combined with magic so that I’d have the power to force myself through the broken opening. Stealing the tower’s powers finally gave me enough magic to succeed where he couldn’t. For that, I thank you for your cooperation; I couldn’t have done it without you.”

I frantically searched her words for anything that I could use to stop her but found nothing. It was clear by her sinister grin that she’d chosen her words carefully, leaving me no means of thwarting her.

I swallowed the lump lodged in my throat. “What are you going to do now?”

“You have no right to know my plans, not when you failed to cooperate and had to be tricked into helping your ownmother.”

She looked at me in disgust, similar to the way she always had when she wanted me to feel entirely useless. But whereas before her disapproval would have held great power over me, now I was beyond its reach—I didn’t need her approval to see my own worth.

“Though I was coerced into helping you, the truth remains that I’m responsible for freeing you, so it’s only fair that you keep your end of the bargain.” I fought to keep my voice steady. If she could at least help Quinn…

My heart sank at her cold, unfeeling laugh. “Why should I waste my precious magic onyour guard?”

My breath caught. “But—you said—you promised—”

“I never had any intention of helping him,” she said. “It’s your own fault for being gullible enough to believe otherwise.”

I stared in disbelief. Mother had always been cold and unfeeling, but this—

She noticed my deepening hurt and rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter whether or not he’s healed. He’s only a guard, far below your royal status and not worth the effort. It’s far better to make an advantageous match—there are three Bytamian Princes still available, and one from Lyceria, if it comes to that. I would love a hold in either of those kingdoms, particularly the prosperous island kingdom.”

The old Gemma would have nodded demurely and accepted Mother’s dictates—but I was no longer that princess. I now had a future I was willing to fight for, a purpose of my own creation rather than the one Mother wanted for my life, and nothing could take that away from me. Even if she forced a marriage between me and a Bytamian prince, she couldn’t force me to become her puppet.

I lifted my chin. “You no longer have any control over me. I am not the same Gemma you locked away in this tower three years ago.”

Her look became conniving. “Perhaps not…but Idohave a means of gaining your cooperation. I’m sure you’d be much more willing if it meant protecting the man you loved.”

Fear gripped my heart in an unyielding vise. No, not Quinn. I’d willingly offer my compliance if it meant I could protect him. The fact Mother knew this was my greatest weakness and meant to exploit it only escalated my anger…along with my desperation to stop her.

But what could I do? I was powerless while trapped in a doorless room, with the tower as my only companion…one whose powers were all but drained. Who were we against Mother and her magic…magic that didn’t even rightly belong to her?

Scarlet light glowed within Mother’s palm. She cradled it for a moment, almost admiringly, before it flickered out. She frowned with a disgruntled look. “My magic is weak. Breaking free took a greater toll than I expected. I’m in need of more.”

Her attention turned to the nearest wall. I stepped back and pressed myself against the stones, nearly completely lifeless despite our being in a room where the tower’s powers had previously been the strongest. Only the very faint glimmer of warmth assured me the tower was still alive…but only just.

Mother reached out to stroke the wall. “The tower is weaker than I thought, yet I’m in need of more power. Is there even enough to take?”

Despite my heartache for the dying tower, relief washed over me at her words. I’d rather the tower be lost forever than unwillingly used for Mother’s evil purposes.

Her frown deepened with each stroke of her hand…until an idea lit her cold, dark eyes. “Unless…it’s possible that it’s only thesurfacemagic that is all but out,” she murmured to herself. “Surely there is more trapped within the stones. A magical entity such as this tower surely has more than what I’ve been able to take. I sensed it possessed great power when I chose it for my curse, and with as much as I’ve already usurped, surely I haven’t taken anywhere near all of it.” Her lips curled up. “Yes, I’m certain the powers are still there…and no matter how deeply they’re buried, so long as they exist, I can extract them.”

I felt another pulse from my friend, firmer than the first, but rather than the tower’s usual warm reassurances, this one was distressed, as if Mother had guessed the secret it’d been fighting to hide in an effort to protect its magic from her. My panic rose; if she succeeded in stealing it…then she’d be unstoppable.

I watched in horror as Mother regathered the scarlet magic in her palm and placed her glowing hand on the wall, pressing it against the stones as she tried to penetrate the tower. I felt each of its frightened shudders against my back, but even midst its distress, I sensed its resistance as it fought to keep its powers back…but Mother was stronger, slowly sucking them away.

I didn’t consciously make the decision. My desperation to protect one of my dearest friends and stop Mother urged me forward to push her hands away, breaking her contact with the wall. “Stop!”

Her dark gaze snapped towards me before her look became condescending, as if she were putting up with a toddler’s tantrum. “Stand aside. This doesn’t concern you.”

“You can’t,” I managed, my throat clogged with tears. “The tower is my friend.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course you’d make friends with a pile of stones. They’re notalive, only a source of magic. What good is it trapped within its walls? Power is meant to be used, and I mean to do just that.”

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