Page 30 of Sky of Thorns

These people in this castle are asinine. I’m supposed to just believe them because of a vision? For all I know, he’s not even a real seer. How am I supposed to know what qualifies him as one? How am I supposed to gaugeanything?

“I have been looking for you for a long time, Sybil.” Kieran’s head tilts to one side, studying me with curiosity. “Countless days I wasted, waiting for visions of potential shifters in Shadowvale that could grant the queen the amount of magic she needs. We tried everything from wolves, tigers, and bears to rare exotic shifters. Sometimes even entire families of a specific kind of shifter!” He shakes his head in disappointment. “All of them useless, merely able to turn the clock a couple of months back, and they would never last more than two or three uses. We knew, of course, that we needed a unicorn. The only known shifter able to tap into the well of magic deep and long enough to truly grant the queen the gift of time. Were it not that your kind is so hard to come by these days, I would have found you as a young colt if it weren’t for your parents.” I stop frozen, unwilling to process what I just heard. My stomach cramps up, bile rising in my throat. Countless shifters lost their lives. Entire families are dead for this madness. Just like my family…

“What do you mean, if it weren’t for my parents?” My hands clench and I bare my teeth at him.

“I saw them, in a vision, traveling home from delivering the Queen’s baby. We meant to intercept them before they reached Kallistar and prevent the heirs’ birth. I had foreseen its demise as a stillborn, but your blasted mother arrived early.” A muscle ticks in his jaw.

I remember that week. The babe wasn’t due for another month, but my mother said she felt an intuition from the goddess and convinced my father to leave for the capital a month early. Her last letter to me was that the queen of Kallistar went into labor a month early and, had she not been there, they both would have died in child labor. Tears prick at the corner of my eyes, threatening to spill over.

“You were supposed to be with them,” Kieran says.

“What?” I break out of my memories and face him once again.

“In my vision, the three of you were to travel to Kallistar. After the birth, your parents planned to finish your enrollment in Nova Esther.”

“Why didn’t they take me?” I grab the front of his robes, demanding he tell me. I have to know.

“That, I do not know. Mother’s intuition? Luck?” He pulls out of my desperate grasp and runs his hands down the front of his scholar’s robes, straightening them. “All I know is that upon her death, your mother prayed for the Goddess’ protection and you were blinded from my sight until one day, shortly after your twenty-fifth birthday, you were suddenly there. My vision revealed a young unicorn shifter wasting her life and talents in a poor village. You have the power to change Craeweth as we know it, love.”

My knees buckle, hitting the hard stone floor as his revelation of my parents’ sacrifice to protect me. This kingdom, these people, they are all sick and twisted. How can I change anything when I can’t even help myself? I stand numb, reeling in his revelations, and before I can say anything, his eyes take on a milky white hue again that eclipses the iris and pupil. He immediately shakes his head, his eyes returning to their regular piercing gray, and sighs, running a hand through his tidy, short, dark hair. “Unfortunately, I have to cut our first encounter short, I’m afraid. There is a matter I need to attend to. I promise, I will make sure your next meal is not contaminated.”

Moments after the queen’s seer returns me to my room, Alice appears laden with a tray of food and a hot pot of black tea. As promised, the food contains no trace of valerian, poppy, or any other discernible substances. I cautiously pick at the food, debating if there is some trick to my senses, but hunger wins. Pacing myself, lest I lose the contents of my stomach after fasting for days, I pick up a chicken breast, taking small deliberate bites before washing it down with a cup of hot tea.

After finishing my meal, leaving only bones and dregs, I lay on the bed, exhausted but full, staring at the dust motes dancing in the air above me. Tears stream silently from my eyes as I reflect on the countless shifters who have tragically lost their lives within this castle. The weight of their losses leaves me feeling hollow, but something else is slowly warming up my chest. Next to the little spark of magic I have left, a new sensation takes form.

The need for revenge.

Sybil

Thesoundofscratchingawakens me from my fitful sleep full of nightmares. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I glance around the room, but nothing is amiss. No light filters from behind the thick curtains, and last night’s fire has burned down to embers. It is too early for Alice to be bringing me breakfast. Running my fingers through my hair, I try to detangle the knots from my tossing and turning.

My heart clenches, tears lining my eyes, as an unexpected memory of my mother surfaces—a vision of her combing my hair as she tells me about her upcoming trip to the palace to aid the queen’s delivery. “It will only be a couple of days, my little healer,” she said to me as she hugged me goodbye. I begged her to stay but the last thing she said to me the day that everything changed was “The Goddess will watch over you,” and I saw them leave for the last time. I brush the tears angrily from my face and slide out of bed, the cold of the stone floor biting into my bare feet. Making my way over to the window, I move the curtains, push open the glass, and lean my arms against the sill.

White flakes land and melt against my face as a gust of wind whistles through the small opening. The first official sign of winter. I have given up counting the days they have kept me locked in this room, devising a way out, while dreading being summoned again by the queen. It has been days since the last time I have been taken out of this room, since that brief moment in the garden where I felt the sun and breeze dancing along my skin. I have not seen a single soul save for Alice and I thank the Goddess for this mercy. My power slowly grows inside me, but my body feels weak. I was lonely in my village, but nothing compares to the endless cycles of days in this tower.

And the stupid prince… I don’t know if I care about that anymore. Everything is too chaotic for me to remotely consider Aramis in any capacity.

Scratch. Scratch. Scratch.

I turn and face the door, but the hallway beyond through the small window is cast in darkness. “Hello? Is someone there?” I hate the pang of hope that rises in my chest.

Who would come and rescue me?

“Great. It’s probably rats,” I mumble to myself, shivering involuntarily. Rats brought nothing but disease and trouble. Letting out a deep sigh, I turn back to the frosty window and extend my hand outward.The scent of pine and winter air wafts in, filling my nostrils. I watch as the delicate snowflakes softly brush against my skin, creating a cold, tingly sensation and hear the muffled sounds of laughter and chatter coming from outside down in the courtyard.

I peer out at the land, slowly becoming blanketed in a soft white. Servants quickly race across the grounds like tiny ants from where I watch in the tower. A few guards exchange blows in the practice yard. Even if I could escape through the window, I’d never be able to climb down the side of the tower.

Again, I hear a scratching noise, followed by a metallic thump. I walk cautiously to the door, drawing on my power. My forehead tingles as my horn manifests. I have yet to regain enough power for a full transformation, but if they come for me, I am not going down without a fight. Pressing my body against the smooth wood of the door, I push up on my toes and peer through the barred window, but I am met with only the darkness of the stairwell.

“Great. It’s rats, or I am losing my sanity.” I lean my cheek against the door, inhaling the stale scent, when something cold and metallic shoves against my foot.

“Ow!” I step back and glance down at the antique brass key that has slid under my door. “This can’t be…”

I kneel on the cold stone as I slide the key towards me. The metal is cold as frost bites into my delicate skin, but I clutch it to my chest before peering under the door. Two familiar beady eyes stare back at me through the crack.

“Lemon! You sneaky rascal!” I quickly slide the key into my side of the door and turn the lock. I don’t realize I am holding my breath until I hear the click of the metal and the door swings open with a deep groan. I lean forward and scoop my ferret up in my arms, crushing him against my chest. Kissing his soft head, tears flow silently down my cheeks.

“I thought I’d lost you forever. Where have you been hiding?” I hold him before me and look into his eyes. He cocks his head to the side, his only response. Glancing around the room, I realize that if I want to escape, I need to go now before Alice comes with breakfast. The sky is already turning shades of purple and pink.

---