by Abbie Lyons
“I barely had a choice,” I cried. “This place is monstrous. The way you yell at us, the way you punished me—”
“Silence!” Cobalt roared. “And you, Tarian. There’s no doubt that this is the final straw for you. My guardsmen and I have no patience for your disrespect. You’re disgusting.”
He strode over to us and spat on Tarian’s face.
“Fuck you,” Tarian growled. “You’re just sad you’ll have to kill off your favorite punching bag.”
“Silence!” Cobalt said again. But Tarian wasn’t silent at all.
“I am your prince. If you’d considered anything other than hustling away your shameful failure to stop everyone—everyone—in my family and court being viciously killed, then maybe you would have remembered that. Maybe you could have let me help you instead of using me as an easy patsy so that you could make it seem like it was case closed. But I am your prince. I’m all of your prince.”
“You’re no prince!” Cobalt countered. “Or have you not heard the news from the outside? You’ve officially been stripped of your title. You’ve got nothing. No inheritance. No claim to the throne. You’re just as pathetic as the rest of the criminal scum here. The lowest of the low. I’m going to take pleasure in seeing you dead.”
“That may be,” Tarian admitted. “And perhaps I won’t get out of here alive. But you know if you kill me, my legend will only grow stronger. Because one day the truth about my innocence is going to emerge. And when it does, everybody will know that you were responsible for the death of the rightful heir to the throne. All of Fae society is going to know what you did. If you strike me down, you’re sealing your future fate as a famous traitor. So go ahead. Kill me. I dare you.”
In one swift motion, Cobalt drew his sword and slammed the hilt into Tarian’s stomach.
“Take them away,” he said.
“No!” Delilah managed to shriek. “Not again! No, please!” The terror in her voice was real, pure.
Pure fear clutched at my heart. Two Azelorians sprang to Tarian’s side, yanking him to his feet, and another two were at my side before Cobalt held them back.
“No.” He motioned behind him. “Gage.”
There was a shuffling of boots. But no one moved.
“Where is Gage?” Cobalt demanded. “I order him forward at once!”
Still, nothing. I waited, not daring to move.
“He’s missing,” said another. “We don’t know where he’s gone.”
Cobalt’s face twitched with rage. My heart thudded. Gage missing? What could that mean? If Cobalt didn’t know where he was then...where could he even be?
“Fine,” Cobalt snarled. “I’ll take her myself.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
DID GAGE KNOW?
That’s the question I couldn’t help but ask myself as Cobalt and the rest of the Azelorian guardsmen escorted us to what I was expecting would be solitary confinement. It might explain why he’d always been so deferential to him. And though I understood why he might keep that information from me, I was still super pissed.
“Don’t you take me back there!” Delilah was screaming as she was dragged along. “You’re ruining my mind forever if you throw me back in there!”
“Shut up!” one of the guards screamed. “Your mind is already ruined!”
She let out a shriek. “That’s the exact problem with this place! You treat us like we can’t be fixed. I just want to be fixed! I just want to be better!”
My eyes were closed. I didn’t want to see the look on Cobalt’s stupid face. I didn’t want to see Delilah in tears. And I sure as seven hells didn’t want to see what they were doing to Tarian. From the sounds of it, the guards responsible for him were taking turns hitting him with their wands. He tried to stay silent to maintain a bit of dignity, but every few seconds he let out an involuntary moan of pain.
And I wasn’t just angry at Cobalt for being the worst Fae I’d ever met, or at Gage for not telling me about Cobalt’s double role as the warden. I was mad at myself for agreeing to go through with this whole half-baked plan. I’d had a bad feeling it might be doomed to failure, but I never expected us to fail so spectacularly. And even with Tarian taking the brunt of the pain, I was mad at him—he’d let his confidence get the best of him thinking we could do some sort of last-minute escape, and now the three of us were all going to pay the price for that.
I wanted to scream and yell about how fucked up all of this was. But I knew it wasn’t going to do me any good. It’d only result in more pain and torture.
But the thing I really couldn’t get out of my mind, as Cobalt dragged me along the hard concrete flooring of goddess-knows-where, was April. She was the reason I was here. And if I was destined to rot away in solitary confinement somewhere, that meant I’d failed her. My best friend’s killer was going to enjoy a life of freedom while my brain rotted away.
“I’m sorry, April,” I whispered.
“What was that?” Cobalt mocked. “Speak up!”
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I snapped back, for which I received a swift wand to the shoulder.
My eyes sprung open. We were making our way down a small stone corridor lit only by torches. But at the end of the tunnel, I could see a light. Only literal. Now wasn’t the time to hope for the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel.
I couldn’t stop myself from looking over at Tarian. His eyes were shut, but he was breathing, thank goddess. Meanwhile, Delilah had a deranged smile on her face that sent a shiver down my spine. This was going to be worst for her. She was already in a bad place mentally—more time in solitary might literally destroy any sanity she had left.
So many questions kept racing through my head. Where was Gage right now? Did he have a plan to save us? How much did the Fae Government know about what was going on in Enchanted Penitentiary? Were they aware they’d handed it over to a sociopath? Perhaps, though, they simply didn’t care what happened to criminals. I feared that was probably the case. After all, throwing me in prison without any sort of proper investigation had been totally okay with them.
Fuckers, all of them. This whole broken system.
As we drew further down the tunnel, I saw what was generating the light: a series of bright yellow portals lined along a dark wall. I was afraid of where those might lead.
“We’ve reached our destination,” Cobalt announced. “You guessed it! Solitary confinement for all of you. If I’m feeling generous, it’ll only be for a few days. But it could be weeks. Months.” He paused dramatically. “You might never leave, for all I care. That would make for a great example for the rest of the inmates. Think of it as doing a service. By punishing you, we keep the rest of them in line.”
The guards lined each of us up at a separate portal.
“Well, you two,” Delilah said, trying to sound as perky as she could muster. “It’s sure been swell knowing the both of you! If we ever get out of there, let’s do this again sometime, huh?”
Tarian’s eyes opened. “Warden. Cobalt. Whatever you want to be called. I hope you know this is the beginning of the end for you.” He turned to look at us. “Delilah. Emerald. We’ll be together again. Goddess willing.”
And in that moment, just before he was shoved through the portal, I could swear he winked at me.
The next thing I knew I was flying face-first through my own portal, landing in a sterile-looking room with white padding on the walls and floors, along with harsh, bright lighting. There were no windows, no furniture, nothing.
Just the thought of being in there for weeks already had me dizzy. Dizzy enough to lay my head down, and let the darkness take over.
“TEN!”
Dance floor. Crowd slowing, listening.
“Nine!”
The surprise. April. Turning my head to see her, my neck strangely heavy.
“Eight!”
Gone inside?
“Seven!”
“April?” Is that my voice?
“Six!”
“Four!”
Is this the surprise?
“Three!”
Where are we?
“Two!”
Why is everything so heavy? Heavy, heavy...
“One!”
Crack.
In front of me, the dance floor. Or what had been. Empty now.
Empty but for a single figure. Crumpled on the flagstones. Hair spread around her, limbs lying still.
Too still.
“April!”
I stand up, but I’m far from weary. I’m not drained or terrified; in fact, I’m super calm. Eerily calm.
Then a burst hits me, like a shock of light illuminating me from within, a high feeling, the highest feeling I’ve ever felt.
Do you know what it feels like to kill someone, inmate?
I can do anything. I have done everything. I am the goddess now. I am the one to whom the world bends in supplication.
Of course you do.
I am hard and cutting as a fresh gemstone. I’m crystalline and perfect and powerful. I’m a thing to be feared.
It’s a rush unlike any other. More powerful than any magic. You feel it ripple through you. It’s intoxicating and yet it sharpens your senses.
I WOKE UP WITH A GASP. Terror constricted my veins as the black reality of my situation settled around me. My skin prickled with guilt and the vestiges of adrenaline washing away.
If that vision was true, and was what had really happened that night, then maybe Cobalt’s words from the torture chamber were right. I did know what it was like to kill.
Did I kill April?
No. I knew I couldn’t have. I never could have if I were in my right mind. I had no reason to, for one thing, and I didn’t even know how to kill someone, as stupid as that sounded.
But...had I been in my right mind?
That last vision had felt like anything but.
I rolled onto my knees, and then to sitting. It was dark now in the cell; who knows how long I’d been out. My hand went, almost involuntarily, to my throat.
The heaviness I’d felt around my neck in the vision. Gia’s gift. The emerald pendant.
Clearly, stupidly obviously, that was what had changed. So much of why Gia had been there, how she’d known to find us, April’s reactions swinging wildly around...they just didn’t add up. And I’d ended up wearing that necklace.
Had it made me kill her?
Had I killed her at all?
And if I didn’t, then who did?
I balled up my fists. It was like I was back where I started. But not. Because now I knew exactly what I needed to do.
Whatever the truth was, even if it meant I was guilty, it was what April’s memory deserved.
I had to figure out what that necklace meant.
Also by Abbie Lyons
Hades Academy Series
First Semester
Second Semester
Third Semester
Fourth Semester
Fifth Semester
Sixth Semester
Free Prequel
Brothers of Hades: Raines
Enchanted Penitentiary Series
Prisoner of Fae
Captive of Fae (coming May 2020)
Bound by Fae (coming June 2020)
Free Series Starter
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“The truth was, I didn’t know why I’d been having the nightmares. Hades Academy was the only place that could fix me. And I was going to get myself back together if it killed me...”
Learn just what happened to Raines before he arrived at Hades...
Afterword
DEAR READER,
I so hope you enjoyed the first book in the Enchanted Penitentiary series. I love this world and I’m beyond psyched to share it with you.
If you have the time to leave me a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you review, that would make a huge difference. And be sure to visit my website and sign up for my mailing list so you can stay on top of all my new releases!
The next books in the series are coming very soon and available for preorder now!
Captive of Fae (coming May 2020)
Bound by Fae (coming June 2020)
Finally, I love hearing from readers, so don’t hesitate to reach out and say hi!
xoxo,
Abbie
http://www.authorabbielyons.com
