Page 160 of A Palace of Smoke & Mirrors
“You’ll see why I’m doing this,” Wrenlock promised, sounding like he was trying to reassure himself more than hewas me. “I know you will, and when you do, I’ll be waiting for you.”
“Your promises aren’t worth anything to me.”
“Please, Aura. I know it’s not the City of Light. I know it’s not High Queen of Faerie, but if you come with me, you could be my Queen.OurQueen. You could have the Court of Rebels to yourself, and I would worship at your feet. Aura—”
“Go away,” I commanded weakly, my eyelids fluttering as they waged a war on my exhaustion. “Go after them. At the very least, make sure they don’t hurt her again. You owe me at least that.”
“Find me,” he stressed, his face torn even as he glanced behind him. The forest was empty and quiet with Elera and the rebels already making tracks away from us.
Fuck yourself,I thought, but I kept the sentiment quietly tucked away in my mind because I needed him to prioritise my unicorn even when I wasn’t watching. I needed him to keep her safe until I could equip myself to take her back and kill every last one of the monsters who had taken her from me.
And from Lucais, who—
The thought was a knife to the stomach. I couldn’t finish it. I held myself together with my arms locked around my waist, feeling like I’d unravel into a pile of string if I took pressure off the space around my left rib where the bond had gone quiet and still. I pressed my pointer finger against it, feeling the tension flicker faintly inside my flesh and bones.
If he was already in the dungeon, he was surrounded by iron.
Lucais wouldn’t be able to hear me. He wouldn’t be able to feel me, either.
I tried to suck in a breath of air, but it was so sharp it felt like broken glass as it went down. Holding myself still instead,I searched the forest for any trace of life—anything beyond the slow death of my own heart knocking to be let out of my chest.
It wasn’t until long after Wrenlock had disappeared into the trees that I allowed my knees to buckle and the vertigo of my unravelling curse to win. The forest floor was littered with tiny stones and jagged rocks that dug into my flesh as my body crashed onto the ground. I braced my hands on the dirt in front of me, my fingertips curling into the earth as I forced myself through a series of deep breathing exercises that did nothing to placate the panic.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bringing my fists to my chest as my heart screamed through an impossible pain. It tore through me—mind, body, soul, and bond—until I couldn’t take it anymore.
Folding in on myself, I rocked back and forth on my knees, and I whispered into the devastating silence.
“Tommy. Tommy. Tommy.”
The End
