That had to be it. The prison. Down there.
There would definitely be guards at the bottom of this descent. Adira spun back toward the kitchen, soaking everything in. On the far wall was a hook with aprons and hairnets. She hurried over, quickly dressed, and grabbed a breadbasket from the center table. Then she started down the stairs, her heart rapid firing in her chest.
A guard at the bottom stepped into her path, puffing out his chest. “What are you down here for?” Her mouth fell open, but before she could continue, he said, “Dinner was hours ago. You can’t just bring food whenever you feel like it.”
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I lost track of time, and I know the regent will be furious if I don’t make sure the girls are fed.” Please let the girls be down here. “They need to keep up their strength.”
The guard stared down his nose at her, frowning. “Very well.” He stepped aside. “Next time, you better not be late.”
“Of course,” she said under her breath, quickly squeezing past him.
Odd that the extent of her luck seemed to be that the guards worked in shifts, so this one had no way of knowing that dinner had likely already been brought.
She tried to walk with purpose down the long, damp hall even though she had no idea where she was going. There were cells on either side of her, but none of them held her friends. When she reached the end of the hall, it split in opposite directions.
Great.
Stealing a glance over her shoulder, she confirmed the guard was not watching her, then peered down each path.
Someone said, “Pssst,” from down the left, so she turned that way, squinting into the darkness.
“Where are you?” she whispered.
“Here.”
Adira targeted the source of the voice and hurried over to the cell. Anastazie was inside, but no one else. “Where is everyone?”
“Is that for me?” Anastazie asked, motioning to the bread.
“Sure.” Adira slipped it through the bars, then held the basket at her side as she pressed her face against the bars. “Anastazie, where is everyone?”
The little girl shrugged. “You escaped,” she said. “Can you get me out of here?”
“I can’t. I—” Adira bit her lip. “Anastazie, Miss Balek is dead. If I’m caught doing anything else, a lot of people are going to die. But I am going to help you.”
The little girl’s eyes were sunken in, wide and filled with tears. “Help me then.”
“I don’t have much time.” In the distance, feet shuffled closer. “I just wanted you to know I’m here. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you safe. But for now, I need you to stay here and don’t try to leave, okay? I can’t lose you.”
Anastazie reached her arms through the bars and hugged Adira. “I’m scared.”
“I know,” Adira whispered, hugging her back and petting her hand over the little girl’s hair. “Me too.”
The distant footsteps clomped closer. “Aye! What’s going on down there?”
“Nothing,” Adira called, her voice breaking. “I just…I dropped something. I’ll be right there.”
She pulled back and slipped her hands to Anastazie’s, giving a gentle squeeze. “I’m going to do it,” she said evenly. “I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep you all safe. No one else will die because of me.”
She let go of Anastazie’s small hands. Although it killed her to abandon the girl like this, she ripped herself away and fled back the way she came, leaving a piece of her behind. Because, in the end, Anastazie was less trapped in that cell than she would be if she had to take Adira’s place.
Chapter 26
Alec’s grip on his sword tightened, but he didn’t make a move. What would be the point? This wasn’t some ravager or guard. It was the regent.
Dvorak glared, and his lip twitched. His gaze darkened, but instead of his body going rigid with anger, his shoulders slumped.
“You, Alec?” As he shook his head, Alec realized his expression wasn’t of anger, but of hurt. “I didn’t want to believe it could be you. After all I’ve done for you.”
Alec stepped forward, narrowing his eyes. “All you’ve done for me?”
The regent sighed. With a wave of his hand, the sword was pulled from Alec’s grasp. Dvorak leaned it against the corner of the room, beside the door. “I raised you like my own. I thought we were family. I should have known better.”
“You filled my head with lies from the time I was a child.” Alec grabbed a book from the shelf—didn’t matter which one—and shook it at the regent. “All the things I’ve done, the people I’ve hurt…because of you!” He sneered at Dvorak. “Some father.”
Dvorak snapped his fingers, and two guards appeared behind him. “Take him.”
The guards grabbed Alec by his arms, but when they reached the door, the regent spoke again, and they froze.
“You know, Alec, everything you have done has been your choice. I did not make you who you are. I chose you because of who you already were. I didn’t make you sacrifice your sister. I didn’t make you sacrifice your family or your land. All I did was see the great in you, the honor you had for your people as a whole. And somehow—” It sounded as though the regent’s voice cut out. “Somehow, that girl ruined you. Get him out of my sight.”
The guards jolted Alec forward again. He didn’t bother to fight. Fighting against the regent was useless. A near-instant death wish to even try. To overcome a man like Dvorak, you needed to outsmart him, not out-strength him. Alec had escaped once before, and he would do it again. Meanwhile, he needed to come up with a plan.
As the guards led him downstairs to the prisoner cells, he saw a figure in the shadows near the kitchen. Even shrouded by darkness, the lines of her face were unmistakable. He’d nibbled on that jaw. Kissed that nose. Whispered in those ears.
Adira.
But how? There was no way the regent had let her down there. The urge to yell to her overwhelmed him. He wanted to tell her to run, to hide, that nothing was as it seemed, that she didn’t have to do this.
That would only get her caught. He needed to keep his cool.
As her shadow silently shifted away, he trained his gaze forward to avoid drawing attention to her. The guards led him into the dark damp depths of the castle, down the long corridor, and locked him in a cell.
The shorter of the guards spit at him. “Traitor.”
Alec waited until they were gone before he started assessing his surroundings. Immediately, he recognized the person in the cell beside his. Anastazie.
He wrapped his hands around the bars separating them and whispered through the space between. “Hey.”
She peered up at him, then scowled. “At least someone got what they deserve.”
He shook his head. “It’s not like that. I’m trying to help Adira.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” The little girl crossed her arms and spun to face the other direction.
“Miss Balek’s dead,” Alec said, more to get her attention, even if it was a little crude.
The little girl sobbed into her hands. “I know.” She turned to him, wiping her sleeves against her cheeks. “Adira told me.”
He straightened, leaning harder into the metal rails. “How? When?”
“She was down here just before you came.”
“They let her down here? Why?”
Anastazie eyed him warily. “I don’t think we should talk anymore.”
“Anastazie, please. There’s a lot you don’t know, and if I don’t get out of here, Adira and all the rest of you will meet the same fate as Miss Balek.”
The little girl sighed. “She pretended to be a maid bringing down food. That’s all I’m telling you until you tell me what’s going on.”
Alec let his arms hang through the slats between the bars and rested his forehead against the cool metal. “Anastazie…”
“Tell me,” she demanded.
“Come here then.”
The little girl scoote
d over and leaned her back against the bars, and Alec slid down to the ground to mirror her. Then he revealed everything he had learned, and how he had wanted to warn Adira before the regent got to her first.
“Too late,” Anastazie mumbled.
“It’s not too late yet,” Alec said.
“Well, you’re not going to get out of here.” She slid her legs out straight in front of her small body. “They’ve blocked our magic. I can’t help you.”
Alec shook his head, his fingers playing over the edges of the sundial Adira had given him. “I’m not worried about that. I can get out. I can get us all out. It needs to wait until the right time, though. If I go now, they’ll only bring me back, and next time, there won’t be an escape.”
Anastazie spun toward him, and he looked over his shoulder at her. Her eyes were wide and rimmed with tears. “Please don’t make me wait, Alec. I need to get out of here now. I’m going to die here. Please.”
He placed his hand on hers. “Be strong, Anastazie. Trust me. I have a plan.”
A cackle sounded from down the hall, followed by the clop, clop, clop of dress shoes against concrete. “A plan?” Dvorak’s voice mocked. “Oh, do tell. And don’t leave out the part where you fight off hordes of ravagers to return from the Deadlands.”
He came to a standstill in front of Alec’s cell, tapping his finger against his chin. “You know, I had to ask myself: Was I being too easy on you because I saw you like a son? After all, we always banish our traitors. I thought, maybe if I let you live to see her die, it would break whatever spell she has on you. I wouldn’t have to put an end to your life then.”
Dvorak crouched so he was eye level with Alec. “But see, then I remembered the way you ruthlessly sacrificed your sister, and I was inspired. A leader makes no exceptions, and I intend to prove that.”
He straightened, dusting off his lapels. “Alec Kladivo,” he said evenly, “I hereby sentence you to exile.”
Chapter 27
Adira was staring out the window in her sleeping quarters, admiring perhaps the last sunrise she would ever see, when Nika arrived. Adira spun around, leaning against the windowsill with pursed lips while she watched the woman shuffle into the room. A white gown draped over her forearm as she bustled over to the bed.
She hung the dress on one of the rails of the canopy frame and turned toward Adira with a clap of her hands and slight bow. “Good morning, My Queen.”
“I’m not your queen,” Adira corrected.
“Not yet, but you will be by the time our day is through. Now come get dressed.”
Adira eyed the dress. That wasn’t the gown the doomed queens usually wore to fight the ravagers. That was the wedding gown.
“You brought the wrong dress,” Adira said, waving her hand toward the wretched thing with its high neck and long, lacy arms. “I need the fighting gown.”
“Oh,” Nika said, pausing, her fingers twisting together in front of her stomach. “I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That you won’t be fighting.”
Adira stormed across the room, stopping herself when she was so close to Nika that the woman cowered. “What do you mean I won’t be fighting?”
Nika stepped back. “I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s not my place. Now please, we should get you dressed.”
“What about breakfast?” Adira wasn’t hungry, but she needed time. She needed to find a way to talk to Alec and see what he knew, if anything. “Shouldn’t we eat first? I don’t imagine I’ll be eating in that dress.”
“Of course you won’t. We didn’t have time for breakfast with the last-minute preparations, but if you like, I can have a guard fetch something from the kitchen to bring up for you.”
Adira waved her off. “Forget it. I’ve gone without food before. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re sure—”
“I’m sure. All I want is to speak with the regent. Can you tell him I requested his presence?”
“I don’t think—”
“Is that how you treat your future queen? You expect me not to even speak to my husband-to-be?”
“It’s bad luck for a groom to see the bride on their wedding day.”
Adira rolled her eyes. “I suspect the regent won’t be happy to learn his maids are deciding for him what messages will and won’t be relayed.”
Nika raised both of her hands as if to calm Adira. “Yes, of course, you’re right. We’ll get you ready after you speak with him, then. That is, if he wants to speak with you.”
Adira crossed her arms, glaring at the woman until she turned and left the room. Then she turned back to the window and the city in the distance below. The rising sun cast the world in a golden glow that was far too beautiful for the reality of their existence. On the far horizon, a crowded forest of shadows and a distant sky heavy with storm clouds told the truth.
This was a broken world. Were all the sectors this far gone from what stories said the world used to be? They were all trapped here—Adira worst of all. Perhaps she’d been too unforgiving of the people. They were afraid. They clung to hope, however dark the path was that they believed would lead them to a safer future. They were products of the times they lived in.
Maybe they could change. Adira had. Maybe if she did this, as awful as the regent was, maybe it would be enough to bring back humanity in Sector One.
Sacrifice.
Alec had been the one to make her realize the important of her existence. He’d been the one to make her realize she was strong enough, that her magic was potent enough, that she didn’t need to fear being who she was meant to be.
These last few days, up until the regent found her, had been some of the best of her life. She was no longer the scared, alone, insecure girl that she used to be. In the end, she didn’t get Alec, but she did get a better version of herself and a family of friends from Miss Balek’s home that she still needed to get set free.
This was her future. What would be would be.
By the time the regent arrived, Adira hardly cared anymore to ask him the questions she had originally called him up to answer. She stood at the foot of the bed, her posture the best it’d ever been, helping her reach her full height—which had never been much beside Alec but nearly put her even with Dvorak.
Adira didn’t give the regent a chance to speak. As soon as he stepped into the room, she folded her hands in front of her and tilted up her chin. “If we’re to be wed, then I should say that will make us partners. There are a few things I would like to address.”
At first, Dvorak’s face pinched in, his eyebrows pulling together low over his dark gaze. But then, a wide smile broke across his lips, as though Adira’s sentiment amused him.
“While I’m sure you have some entertaining ideas to share, I’m afraid you don’t really grasp the situation,” he said. “I’m not marrying you because I care about what you think. Frankly, I don’t give a shit about your ideas. You’ve got one purpose to serve, same as the queens before you, and if you fail, you will be exiled as they were as well.”
Adira clicked her tongue, unwavering in the face of his assholery. “Oh, please,” she said, shaking her head. “Let’s face it. You’re not having me face the ravager because you already know my strength. You’ve got me shackled”—she raised her wrist, revealing the metal cuff piercing into her skin—“because you’re afraid of me. You know my magic is stronger than yours. Releasing me to fight the ravager would, what, put you at risk?” She grinned. “So, if you really care about this sector the way you claim, you will accommodate me, and we will work together to make things great again.”
To this, the regent laughed. As he stalked closer to her, he lowered his voice to a menacing growl. “You think I care about the sector?” His breath hit her face, warming her cheeks with his foul words. “The people—they’re idiots. I know you’ve thought as much as I have, if not more, that they deserve those walls to come down. They are lucky I care about myself enough to keep them up!�
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Adira scowled at Dvorak. “Do you even hear yourself? If all you care about is yourself, then what good is it marrying me? What good is an heir? Surely, you care about someone.”
Dvorak stepped back, staring down his nose at her. “And why is that? Tell me, why should I care about these people? After all, they only care about me because of what I can do for them. So then, is it so wrong that my feelings are mutual?”
His words were a punch to Adira’s gut. This was the man who taught Alec about sacrifice? No. This was the man who manipulated Alec’s selflessness to serve himself.
The regent didn’t wait for Adira to reply. “I need an heir to keep the people at peace, and I need your magic to keep their support. But don’t confuse things. I don’t need you. Just your womb. That is all it will take to secure my own position until my time is up.”
Adira scoffed. “You can’t possibly think you’ll get me pregnant. You’re sterile, you idiot! Why do you think none of the other queens produced an heir? Because you’re the problem. Not them!”
Dvorak grabbed her by her arm and dug his fingers into her flesh. “Careful,” he whispered. “Would be a shame for you to die during childbirth.”
She yanked her arm free and glared at him. “Is that a threat?”
The regent smoothed his hands over his lapels. “A threat? Why should it be? At least you would die with nobility. A legend. It’s certainly more than you deserve after hiding all these years.”
He turned to walk away, but he paused by the door. “You know, Adira,” he said without looking back, “you ought to think about how you conduct yourself in my presence. You’ve only managed to evade facing the ravager because I know you can control the runes. Should you end up exiled, why, I wouldn’t be able to remove your cuffs. It would be a danger to the sector. I’m sure you can understand.”
And with that, he left, leaving a very clear warning looming over Adira—if she didn’t play along—and successfully—she would indeed one day face the ravagers.
Origin: an Adult Paranormal Witch Romance: Othala Witch Collection (Sector 1) Page 18
