Page 118 of The Princesses of Ruin
Zane glows with teal light. “Why would he do that?”
“Alyse informed me when they arrived that something was wrong. He’d been acting strange, speaking to her coldly—much more so than she believes she deserved.
“I think the mask has magically merged with some of his skin, and it’s consuming his face. I’ve never seen an urictsa do anything like this before, but I can only assume this close to his brain, it may be affecting his thoughts, possibly even his motor functions.”
I don’t want to leave you, my love,Alyse blares from the front of my mind to the back.
“Don’t touch her,” I say, trying to push Adrik’s hand off the mask, off Alyse. I don’t know how she got in the mask, but I want her this close. I want her with me, in me.
Cold copper clamps onto my wrist, then another.
“This would’ve been a lot easier than drugging him,” Alastair says.
“Yes, but I don’t think he would’ve allowed us to chain him if he wasn’t already subdued. The mask is…integrating into him.”
I search for Alyse, but she’s gone. There is no more voice in my head. No presence.
She’s gone. I want her back.
“Who’s gone?” Adrik asks.
“Alyse,” I say, looking up into his dark face. “Why did you make her go away? I want her back.”
I’m shoved against the chair and something icy spears into my shoulders. I can’t lean forward, and my legs are stuck. My body won’t move!
“You’re restrained for your own good, brother. Try to stay calm. I’ll work as fast as I can,” Adrik says.
There’s pressure at my temple and my eyes cross, going dark. My lungs burn. I take a gasping breath, but it’s so restricted. I can’t get enough air.
“We need Scarlett. Her dagger,” someone says.
There’s a terrible noise in my ear, a wailing. I taste vomit at the back of my throat, but I swallow it down.
The door slams and I open my eyes. Adrik is holding my face. Bloody clothes surround us on the table. Someone with red hair approaches, a blade brandished.
Adrik takes it and moves toward my face. I try to jerk away, but I’m restrained. Why is he doing this? Why is he going to kill me?
“I’m not killing you, brother. I’m saving you.”
Sharp agony slices through my face, ricocheting around my head and draining down my spine. The searing intensity of helplessness moves in a wave up my body to my face, and I know I’m screaming now. I can’t stop screaming. It’s the only thing I can do. It’s the only thing she can do.
She doesn’t want to leave me.
Some part of me doesn’t want that, either.
Please, just let it end.
The faintest whisper of Alyse moves through my mind.“Be still, my reaper.”
I see her. She’s holding my head in her hands and there’s so much love between us. I fold into her embrace. This is what I want. Not the power of the mask—though it has served me well. I want her. I needher.I’ll die without her.
I’ll die without you.
You’re just a mask. You were never supposed to be alive.
You and Adrik made me so. And now you abandon me.
I’m sorry this is the way it is. I can’t be with you always. I don’t want that.
