Page 105 of Dreams and Dragon Wings
I retreat, unable to hide my disgust. I am too tired for these games. I should not have stayed up all night. But even after Rowan left, I still could not rest. I had to exhaust every possible trick I could think of that might enable me to weave Earth and free myself from my chains.
Unfortunately, every single one failed.
“Forgive me, Lord Malice,” I utter, doing my best to be bland, to ensure my personality remains firmly absent. “But I do believe I should go lie down now.”
“Good,” he agrees at once. “You look terrible, and I want you at your best for tonight.”
Dread pools in my stomach. Something tells me that I shouldn’t bother asking what is so special about tonight. There is a part of me that doesn’t want to know.
But there is another part of me thatneedsto know.
Wetting my lips, I cautiously ask, “And what is tonight?”
I hate the way my voice trembles around the words.
But I hate more the way Malice smiles at me in the wake of them. “We must celebrate our impending victory, of course. I thought we might have a party.”
“Oh…” Well, that isn’t frightening at all. There are far worse things than a mere party.
And yet the way he says it makes my skin crawl. My stomach twists.
There is something he is not telling me.
“Is that all then?” I press.
“Yes, that is all.” Malice’s smile deepens. But then he pauses, as if having just remembered something. “Oh, well, there is just one more thing.”
I retreat further, tripping over my chains as he stalks toward me. My hand catches against the stone wall, bracing myself before I can fall.
Drawing in a steadying breath, I lift my chin. I have no need to fear him.
He cannot hurt me. He cannot touch me.
When he slams into the invisible barrier between us, he snarls, flashing his teeth at me—more beast than man. “Prepare yourself for our wedding tonight, Lady Aurelia, for I grow tired of waiting.”
“Our wedding?” I gasp, horror claiming my thoughts. I can think of nothing clever to suggest as a reason for why we should postpone such a terrifying prospect. I can think of nothing to say at all.
Nothing beyond: “But… but Bene…”
“I need not wait for my nephew to die to make you my wife,” Malice explains as if I am a simpleton, each word dripping slowly from his lips. “He holds no claim on you. And besides…”
He sneers, looking at me as if I disgust him again despite all his talk of being attracted to me against his better judgment. “Do you truly think I would honor that claim even if he did?”
Chapter 33
Aurelia
Iforce myself not to cry as I race down thorny tunnels. There is no time to cry. There is barely any time left for anything at all.
But I must discover the secret my subconscious knows that I do not. There was talk of a gift the last time I was here—a gift that only I can bestow.
Some innate Jewel magic I have yet to unlock inside myself?
Could this possibly be the key I need to escape?
“Bene!” I scream to the green-tinged heavens.
Where has he gone? Where is the clearing I found the last time?
