AVERY “ I never said I would tell you anything, Princess. ” She picks up the cup again. I huff, leaning back on the couch. She is a hard nut to crack. “ So it means we can’t work together. ” I nod after pondering over it for a second. “ There are some things that only Leister can tell you, Princess and I won’t take that away from him but when you are done…and you want to leave… ” She trails off and frowns. “ You will help me find a way out? ” I stroke the back of my hand with my fingers as I wait for an answer. “ I will point out the way. ” She agrees at last. “ I won’t help you but I will tell you where you should head. After that, everything will be up to you. ” “ That’s fine by me. ” I clasp my hands together. “ but I won’t leave alone. I will take my helper, Renee with me. ” “ I don’t mind. ” Her soft eyes land on my hands before she looks up. “ but if you get caught at that time, Princess, you should pray that you die before Leister finds out. ” I shudder. Just the way sh
AVERY It doesn’t take me long to realize that I am no longer in the confines of the castle walls, but drowning in the black lake I saw on my way in. Until my head remains above the water, I have belief that Aleister will be able to feel me in time and come to save me. But when my face dunks underwater, I lose that belief quickly. I hold my breath, writhing around to free myself of the ropes. The pathetic lack of strength in my limbs angers me, then horrifies me. I can feel the patch loosening on the wound in my back. I shake worse than before, moving around in the water, trying to see something in the pitch black. In the cold water, the warmth of my blood tricking down my side makes my head spin. Shortly after, I am out of breath. The pressure behind my eyes, and under my jaw increases so much that my mouth almost opens in the water to suck in a desperate breath. In my silent attempts to break free, I sense a slight brush of scales on my ankle. My heart hammers in my chest, due t
ALEISTER~A little while earlier…“ What’s wrong with you? ” Draven yells. The pen drops from my fingers as an intense pain erupts in my chest. I place my hands on the edges of my desk and stand up before squeezing my eyes shut. “ Leister— ”“ Where is Avery? ” I grunt, still reeling with the mind-numbing agony.It feels like someone is trying to carve my heart out of my chest. “ I left her with Agrona. Why? Is something wrong with her? ” He asks worriedly and comes to my side.‘ Did Dustin feel the same when he was drowning? ’ Her sad voice sounds in my head.Shocked, I push myself straight and look down. What’s wrong with her?The pain spreads to my throat as if something is trying to claw at my windpipe, cutting off my air supply.‘ If only Aleister had not taken my strength and tried to render me helpless… ’ She whimpers again in my head before her words drown behind the piercing pain.A force pulls me out of the office and pushes me in the direction of the Lake. She is in pain
AVERY I can never understand the change in Aleister’s mood. One moment, he is cold. Another, he is warm. Then, he is cruel before becoming like this…too clingy. I cringe as he suffocates me by hugging me tightly. I wanted to argue with him and curse him some more, but he looks like he came back to life after experiencing a horrifying death so I don’t know what to do with him. In the end, I can only struggle to breathe as I stay plastered to him. “ This is so unfair. ” I grumble under my breath. “ I should be the one acting like this. Not you. ” “ It’s not my fault that I can feel your emotions. ” He sighs, tightening his grip over me. If I didn’t know better, I would think he is trying to kill me by breaking my ribcage but his heart thumping against my ear tells me he is truly panicked. “ How can you say it’s not your fault? You marked me and brought this upon yourself. ” I huff, unconsciously placing my hand over his back. My hand moves on its own, patting his back softly. He s
AVERYMomentarily, I forget about the cold. Aleister carries me to the familiar hall where women mostly gather instead of to my room.When we enter, the witches rise and form lines on either side of the hall, bowing their heads to the King who has emerged suddenly.Smugly, I watch the hateful glances the witches throw my way from under their lashes. They must hate me right now. I just love it. Agrona steps down from the stairs and stands in the middle. Her eyes take me in, then lift to Aleister’s face.“ My King, is there something wrong? Why is the Princess drenched and shivering? ” She feigns concern for me and hurries towards us.I roll my eyes internally while applauding her performance. She always appears so kind no matter what. “ Can you stand? ” Aleister ignores his favorite woman and looks at me instead.For a second, I blink up at him. His brows furrow, awaiting an answer from me.“ Will you keep holding me if I can’t, My King? ” I smile innocently.“ I will have to sit you
AVERY“ You exposed your audacious lie, Princess! You were not kidnapped from outside your room. ” Her widened eyes narrow as she yells at me. I nod. “ of course, I was not kidnapped from there. But how do you know that? ”The satisfaction she was about to feel dissipates as she realizes her mistake. The desire to protect her precious Agrona made her desperate and got her caught. “ I heard witches are not as intelligent as they pretend to be, Tracy. Now, I believe it. ” Anger burns in my eyes as I scoff. Agrona starts. “ Princess, please show consideration. First, you accused me, and now Tracy— ”“ I apologize, Agrona. I didn’t intend to accuse you. I know you didn’t kidnap me but to make Tracy confess, I had to do it. And now that we have our culprit, you need to step away! You should not protect someone who tried to kill me if you are not involved in this! And if you are, tell me now so I can break your hands for trying something like this with me! ” I snap, forgetting the niceti
AVERY In the next moment, I realize the grave mistake. Darkness leaps for the figure standing in the distance until it covers all of him. I blink, stumbling another step back and desperately trying to find him in the fog. An ear-piercing scream sounds in the silence of the hall. It grows in volume, becoming soul-wrenching. With a wild heart beating in my chest, I break out into a sprint to reach him. The darkness appears around me like a cold entity, trying to trap me into the same spot but I pass through it until I am standing right behind Aleister’s imposing figure. I come to an abrupt halt when I catch sight of the scene before me. Agrona is nowhere to be seen. But Tracy and the group are still there. They are on their knees, clutching their heads and screaming at the top of their lungs. Their eyes…have lost color, turning into a familiar black that I saw in Darksin’s eyes. My breath comes out in labored pants. Shock renders me immobile. Slowly, I lift my terrified gaze to
AVERYI wrap a blanket around myself and settle down on the bed. Draven insisted that I take a bath and change my drenched clothes to avoid catching a cold so I listened to him and did just that. But now he is eerily quiet and it’s driving me crazy. I look up at him to find him staring down at his palms as if he is lost in deep thought.“ It’s time you tell me what happened out there. ” I am so done with his silence. It’s not helping at all.He picks his head and throws me a pointed look. “ It’s better if you ask Aleister. ”“ And when do you suggest I do that? ” I wonder, folding my arms across my chest. “ I can walk out right now, you know. But you don’t think it’s a good idea. ”“ If you want to die, be my guest. ” He scoffs sarcastically.I sigh, shifting my gaze to the closed door. The thought of that dark fog appearing from the cracks is still haunting me. I swallow, forcefully changing my line of thinking to my time here.Today turns out to be yet another never-ending day in