Page 3 of Mirror of Malice
“It was Driscoll’s idea,” Jillian said, smiling. “When the guards were doing that construction on a new cell. You were sleeping, and Driscoll suggested that to celebrate your twenty-seventh name day, I should swipe some tools off them and try to cut a hole in the wall so you could see me. I’ve been working every night for weeks while you’ve been sleeping.”
Twenty-seven. I was twenty-seven years old, and look what I had to show for it.
My mouth dropped open. “That’s amazing. It’s so good to see your face. I’ve missed you so much.”
“Oh, your hair.” Jillian pointed.
“What? What’s wrong with her hair?” Driscoll asked.
My hair had been my pride and joy. Long, silky, and black, reaching down to my waist. I’d often donned elaborate hairstyles that always drew the attention of the earth court. Now, I didn’t know what it looked like, but I could only imagine. I patted theknots and tangles self-consciously. “I can fix it when we get out of here.”
Jillian’s green eyes settled on my face. “We’re not getting out of here, Liliath. How can you still think that’s going to happen?”
“Because...” I huffed. “Because I just know it.”
Jillian bit her lip. “We’ve been stuck here for so long.” Her voice was quiet. “Everything we love has been taken from us. The only reason Driscoll and I are still alive is to punish you. We’re just pawns in her game, and sooner or later, we’re going to have to admit defeat.”
My chest tightened. It was true. The queen spared them, put them in cells on either side of me, knowing it would kill me that my two best friends had been imprisoned because of me, that they’d been sentenced to the same fate as me.
“Jillian, we are celebrating Liliath’s name day,” Driscoll said, an edge to his voice. “Maybe stop talking about how we’re going to be stuck in here forever and ever.”
Jillian ignored Driscoll. “I don’t have your eternal optimism, Lil. Jasper isn’t coming for you. And he’s definitely not coming for us.”
Her words stabbed at my heart. “No, don’t say that. He’s going to find a way to rescue me.”
“It’s been two years,” Jillian said. “When are you going to realize that he doesn’t care? Tell her, Driscoll.”
I paused, slowly turning to face the opposite wall. “What is she saying? Have you two talked about this?”
The silence from Driscoll was deafening. Well, there was the answer to that question.
“We might have had a few conversations when you were sleeping,” he said. “Which I thought were private.” Annoyance filled his voice.
I turned back and Jillian forced a smile. “Driscoll’s right. It’s your name day. Let’s drop it.”
I crossed my arms. “No. Let’s not.”
“Well, this is nice,” Driscoll said.
What they were saying couldn’t be true. I pressed my back into the stone wall and sank onto the straw-covered ground. A mouse skittered across my cell, sniffing, turning its beady little eyes on me, something like pity shining in them. Even the rodents felt sorry for me.
Jasper and I had been betrothed since I was three years old. He wouldn’t abandon me. He loved me. I loved him. Yes, it had taken him time to come rescue me, but that’s because breaking into these cells, this castle, was a huge undertaking.
The depressing castle grounds spread out below, a maze of dark hedges rising up, stretching all the way to the blackened iron gates that surrounded the grounds. The trees, the grass, the vines, everything reeked of death. Plump gray clouds littered the dark sky, the moon blotted out. It never shone anymore. I shivered as another cold wind rattled the bars.
Vines stretched out over statues, fountains, and stairs, writhing like snakes. Once upon a time, this had been my favorite view of the kingdom. I’d stand on my balcony and look over the bubbling fountains, the statues of former kings and queens, the beautiful sculptures and blooming trees and bushes.
Now, it was a reminder of my failures. I’d failed my people in so many ways, but I would do better, be better, and fix everything. If I ever broke out of here.
We’d seen what happened to those who tried to sneak onto the castle grounds, watched person after person get their necks snapped by vines, get their bodies broken by tree branches, get eaten and crushed by tree roots, get suffocated by bushes. My stepmother had turned her earth magic, the very earth we were supposed to protect and nurture, into a weapon.
That was why it was taking Jasper so long to come rescue me.
He had to plan everything very carefully to ensure he could survive the queen’s deadly obstacle course. And then there was the fact that he’d have to breach the castle, find his way to me. That was no easy feat. Surely Driscoll and Jillian could understand that.
“I’m sorry.” I felt a hand on my shoulder, and nearly jumped a foot in the air. I looked up, Jillian’s hand poking through the little square she’d cut. “I shouldn’t have said all that.”
I sniffled. “No, it’s understandable. And I’m so, so sorry I got you both into this.” I stood. “But you have to keep faith.Wehave to.”
