Page 106 of Drawn in Blood
She didn’t want comfort now. All she wanted to do was scream.
She moved to her mother’s desk, the mahogany gleaming in the orange sun. Anger rolled in her gut as she stared at the paper stacked neatly in the center—itineraries, invoices and plans that had been drawn up, Ember’s name speckling several of them. She swung her arm across the top of the desk, letting out a feral scream as everything clattered to the floor. Glass shattered as it hit the wall, and Ember felt herself not caring as tiny shards pelted her cheek and under her eye. Blood trickled down her jaw as she moved to the antique couch in front of the fire, ripping open the pillows and tossing several into the billowing flames. She flipped her wrist and sent a hex toward the wall, sending the pictures careening to the ground.
Her breathing was ragged as she looked around, but the rage in her chest hadn’t settled. No, it had only grown—expanded inside her until she felt like she was going to spontaneously combust. She walked to the desk again and rummaged through the drawers. Maybe there was a key to a shed with some AirWaves or brooms or?—
There, in the bottom of a drawer, lay an inconspicuous box with a rune carved in the top of it. She felt the lock give as she ran her fingers down the grooves of the carving and flipped the lid open. A satin cape was nestled in the box, starlight woven through the translucent material. She gasped as she clutched it in her fingers, holding it up to the light.
Gaelen’s cape.
She stuffed it in her pocket for safe keeping. Maybe she would free Gaelen simply to spite her mother.
The sun was creeping further past the mountain out the window, and Ember had the itch to be airborne. She neededto clear her head, to get away from the stuffiness of this house and the fear that had settled in her chest, and the only way she knew to do that was to fly hundreds of feet in the air and forget everything else existed.
She couldn’t do that, unfortunately. Her AirWave was back at the manor in Sigurvik, and she didn’t know if she would ever see it again. Maia was tucked in a stall beside Arlo, probably going out of her mind with worry, and Ember was stuck on the ground. She sighed as she ran a hand down her face, leaning on the window facing the mountains surrounding Torsvik.
The mountains.
She was out the door before she even truly realized what she was doing, heading out of the gate surrounding the chateau and toward the mountains looming in the distance.
The climb to the top felt like it took hours, every muscle in her body screaming with each step. She made it to the top, falling to her knees as she sucked in the air of the thin atmosphere. She ran her hands through the air, feeling the ward ripple as she ran her fingers along it. She could see the edge of the forest in the distance, just a small line of trees so far away it would probably take days to hike to. And though she couldn’t see it, she knew just beyond that was home.
Home.
Her bottom lip trembled. Would she ever get to go home again? She kept her hand against the ward as she steadied her breathing. It stung, the magic singing the palm of her hand, but at least she was feelingsomething.The air was beginning to warm in Torsvik, but up here, it bit into her skin and chilled her bones. She sat back against the frost-covered ground, wrapping her coat tighter around her body. She ran a hand through her hair, and one of her fingers caught on her earring. She hadn’t taken them out since Killian had given them to her, couldn’t bring herself to put them away and potentially lose them. Shewhispered the incantation to turn them on, to listen to some of the books he had downloaded for her. Maybe they would settle her, help her think. Maybe it would douse some of the fire that was rolling through her.
Tears pricked her eyes as the book played. How was she supposed to fake it? How was she supposed to pretend like this was something she wanted? She didn’t think she had it in her to even try to pretend.
Maeve and Theo’s faces flickered through her mind. She had to do it for them—had to figure out a way to play make believe until she and Rowan figured out how to escape.
Suddenly, the book stopped playing, and static crackled in her ears. She almost took the earring out, thinking maybe she had broken it somehow, when a voice she recognized came from the earrings, rattling in her head and shaking her bones.
“We’re coming, Starshine,” Killian’s voice echoed, sounding a million miles away. “Don’t give up on me now. We’re coming.”
She didn’t knowwhy she was going, why the wisp pulled to her the way it did, but before she knew it, she was standing in front of the castle, scaling the wall, and hopping into the courtyard below. She had questions that needed to be answered, and she wasn’t going to wait around and see if they manifested on their own. She snuck through the empty kitchens, down the hall and through the door that led to the dungeons. She inched down the spiral staircase, whispering a quiet, “Lux,”to light the way, and soon found herself in front of the cell door the wisp had led her too before.
“Do you know what I am?” Ember asked, barely above a whisper. She peered through the small crack in the door and watched as the woman moved closer.
Her silver hair almost glowed in the moonlight, and Ember had that aching feeling that she knew her from somewhere. She drew closer to the door, and the light from Ember’s orb lit up her face. Ember gasped.
She was beautiful, a goddess in the flesh. Even with her sunken cheeks and frail figure, she radiated an otherworldliness that took Ember’s breath away. Her hair flowed over her shoulders in wild, silver waves that seemed to have a mind of their own. Her eyes met Ember’s, and the lavender flecked with ash cut into her like a hot knife.
“You are what I am,” Aesira replied. “We are cut from the same star-soaked cloth.”
Ember let out a shaky breath. “You’re a Wildling,” she said—not a question.
The woman nodded, silhouetted by the moon shining in from the window.
“You’re the woman from my dream.”
Another nod.
“Why?” Ember asked, every syllable shaking as she spoke. “Why me? I can’t do what they all need me to do.”
“Your fate was written the day you were born,” Aesira replied. “You will save a great many people. You will lead nations to freedom.”
“I don’t want to lead anyone,” Ember said, as she shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I just want to be sixteen. I want to be a normal kid that goes to parties and stays up too late on Sunday nights. I want my biggest worry to be my final exams or what to wear on my first date.” Her chest shook as she bit her lip. “I can’t save anyone. I couldn’t even save myself whenit mattered most. I couldn’t save my father. I can’t do this by myself.”
“You were never meant to,” Aesira replied. “This isn’t a weight you can carry on your own. You need your family to lift it with you.”
