Page 96 of Drawn in Blood
“You found me,” Maeve whispered, bottom lip trembling. “I didn’t think anyone would ever find me.”
“Of course I did,” Ember whispered back, still gripping the little girl’s hand. “Are you ok?”
That was a stupid question, the answer evident by the purple and green on her wrists and neck and her almost translucent skin, like she hadn’t seen the sun in months.
Ember swallowed dryly. “I will get you out of here and get you home,” she said—no, promised.
Maeve gave her a small nod and pointed behind her, then over Ember’s shoulder to the cell across the hall. “I can’t leave without them,” Maeve said, standing taller than Ember remembered she could.
“Maevie, I’ll come back for them,” Ember replied, “but my only concern right now is you.” Ember didn’t even know how she would get Maeve home if shecouldbreak her out of the dungeon, let alone dozens of other children—Vala and Fae alike.
“I know,” Maeve smiled, “but they’re counting on me, and I won’t leave them. I can’t.”
Ember took a shaky breath—her sense of duty was admirable, something Ember respected and envied. This wasn’t the little seven-year-old that was snatched from her bedroom in the dead of night. This was a girl who had chosen to wield her fear like a knife, defending those who couldn’t defend themselves.
“Okay, well,” she thought out loud, “I’ll just get you all out and then we can…”
But she didn’t get the chance to finish her thought. Laughter—men’s laughter—echoed down the opposite end of the hall. Guards.
Ember’s eyes widened as she looked back at Maeve. “I’ll be back for you,” she whispered, “all of you.”
Maeve gave her a silent nod, and Ember tore off down the hall, past Aesira’s cell, and up the stone steps. She slipped out the wooden door, hearing it close behind her with a soft click, and snuck through the rest of the palace, out the kitchen door, and into the cold night. She didn’t even remember making her way back to the chateau. She just ran as fast as her tired legs would carry her. She burst through the front gate, not bothering to scale the wall back up to her room, and rushed through the front door, probably waking everyone in the large home.
She ran through the halls, throwing doors open and slipping across the marble floor, until she came to the small den in one of the back hallways. She flung the door open, damn near ripping it off its hinges, and barreled into the room where her mother was sitting in front of the fire reading.
Aoife furrowed her brow, closing her book slowly and setting it on the couch beside her. “Ember, what on earth,” was all she said.
Despite the chill in the February air, Ember was drenched in sweat. She felt the dirt on her neck, the way it scratched against her skin as she tried to rub it off her face. She probably looked crazy.
Shefeltcrazy.
“Mum, you can’t trust him,” she pleaded, desperately sucking air into her lungs as she closed the door quickly behind her. She rounded the couch to sit beside Aoife. “All of the children that have gone missing this year around the island, they’re all here.”
“How do you know?” her mother asked, brow still knitted.
“I saw them,” she replied. “I snuck back into the castle, and I know I shouldn’t have, Mum, but I saw the children all locked up in cells, so many of them chained to the walls with bruises and cuts all over them.” Her breath caught as she thought about Maeve and how the life looked like it had drained from those beautiful blue eyes. “Mum, he’s been kidnapping them, and he’s keeping them locked in the dungeons. We have to help them.” She was breathing so hard she thought she might pass out.
Aoife stood up from the couch, walking to the door and quietly locking it. “You weren’t supposed to find out like this,” she said, as she shook her head, rubbing the bridge of her nose. “I was going to talk to you before the ball, try and explain?—"
“Explain?” Ember cut her off. “Mum, what are you talking about?”
Aoife sat back down beside Ember, taking her hand in her own. “Your granda’ is sick,” she began.
Ember huffed. What did that have to do with anything?
“His magical core is weakened. It’s draining slowly, and it has been for years—longer than you’ve been alive. There are no known standard cures. The healers have tried everything.We’vetried everything.”
Ember stared at her mother, and a scared little girl stared back—a scared daughter.
“He found a cure,” she continued, “several years back, but it’s tricky. There are so many moving parts, so many steps that it’s taken a while to acquire what we need.”
We.
“That’s why he wanted the book,” Ember filled in the blanks, “and why he needed me to open it. There was something in it he needed.”
“He opened the book,” she replied.
Ember blinked. “But Rowan said he needed me.” The more her mother told her, the more confused she was by the events of the last year.
