Page 47 of Bound to the Shadow Queen
I set her on one of the higher bookshelves in case she wanted to do just that while I moved to my desk. It was still mostly covered in books and spare parchment, but organized in a way that told me Mirelda had been here at least once since I left.
My fingers trailed the length of the phoenix feather in the quill. Was there a way to get word to my mother that I was alive. Not safe, necessarily. But alive.
And what would happen then? Would she come for me? Risk her life to take me back?
Did I want that? To leave this prison for one that was slightly larger? If this Dragon could break my bond with Draven, it would be one less shackle. One less chain, weighing me down.
No.Something sharp and visceral lashed out at the thought. I clenched my fist, ignoring the pull of the bond flaring through my ring.
I might never get my mana back, might never be able to help Winter like Draven so desperately wanted me to. But could I do some good for the Wilds at least? Kaelen’s vision for the future could be more than a fantasy.
Warm golden eyes and an easy smile flashed through my mind before they morphed into a colder, more sadistic version. Would I even be able to look at Kaelen again without seeing his twin?
I swallowed the thought, grabbing one of the books from my desk and walking wordlessly into the lavatory.
The bathroom was unchanged, the tub nothing like the natural baths in the Wilds. These were still inaccessible without mana. I had woken up cleansed of all the blood and grime that had fixed themselves to my skin in that cave. I didn’t need a bath, not really, but I was aching to wash off the phantom memory of my torture.
I met my eyes in the mirror, the face that looked far too rested for my weary soul.
It was like taking seven steps backward, back into the person who first arrived at the Winter Palace. Once again, I had no mana and no way to help the kingdom, no answers, and a husband who hated me.
Maybe I hated him too. Maybe we were always headed here.
Still, I saw the shadow of him sinking to his knees, felt the ghost of his fingers scrubbing the trauma from my skin, and the echo of grief returned, even though it didn’t make sense to mourn something you had never had.
He had never been mine, and I had sure as hells never been his.
I pushed away from the sink, grabbing my book and tucking myself into the chair by the barren fireplace in my rooms. I stacked up blankets as high as they would go, nestling Batty against my wrist and trying to soak up the comfort in her familiar presence.
But I couldn’t manage to chase away the cold.
My husband camebefore Amias could return.
This time, I was expecting him. The power emanating off him grew steadily closer until the door between our rooms swept open on an icy gust of wind. Glaring, I pulled my blankets around me tighter in my chair.
He froze when he caught sight of me. Was he, too, struck by an intense feeling of deja vu? How many times had he crashed in here in the days after our ill-fated wedding while I was in thisvery chair, freezing my ass off in the palace that reflected his tempestuous moods?
Just like then, I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing me shiver. Of course, back then, I had still had something to hide.
“Unless you’re here to unlock my shards-damned windows, feel free to leave.”
Draven stood like an icy statue in the threshold, his green eyes carefully assessing me.
“No,” he said flatly. “I haven’t come to aid in the escape of my own captive, though it’s a comforting look at your sanity to know how desperate you are to return to the people who have tortured you twice over now.”
I let out a slow, deliberate breath in order to calm my temper.
It didn’t work.
“How very like you to judge an entire race by the actions of a few sociopaths, when you tortured my friend, forced me into marriage, andput me in a cage,” I said through a bitter laugh. “I’ll admit that none of my options are particularly promising, what with being a Hollow-ish half-breed bastard, but it’s bold of you to assume that this one is preferable.”
A muscle feathered in his jaw. The corner of his full lips quirking slightly as he took a step forward.
“Yes, you were so enamored with them that they had to take you away in chains. Tell me, if the Wilds are so preferable to the palace, why were you hiding from them to begin with?”
I froze.
“No?” he pressed. “Then perhaps you’d like to tell me what this is.”
