Bound Beauty

by Jennifer Silverwood

  The worst was Luanor Iceveins’s half-mad ramblings. “I know you’re confused, but all will be well soon. You don’t belong to him. You’re our queen now, and we’ll release you as soon as you’re unbound. Mother says you were fooled just as I was into believing his lies. This is what he does, Vynasha, never forget. He strips you of everything you love, everything familiar, and forces you to rely on him, until you forget who you were apart from him.”

  Baalor was there at her bedside through it all, whispering to her of his love, his hopes. “My father brought us through the mirror when I was a pup. We were promised a new life, but it was a lie. This world has only brought us pain and death, but you can change all of that, Beauty. When you claim the gate’s power, we can open the mirror. We’ll make this land what it always should have been, together.”

  I can’t be everything you all want me to be! She wanted to scream at them, to demand they let her wake.

  The pain that had started soon after Erythea’s promise and the howling in Vynasha’s mind increased as majik forced her blood apart. She might have born it willingly before Grendall had let her in. The rare lucid moments after were peppered with other voices vying for her attention.

  If anything, the majik worked more fiercely to rend her apart, and all she could do was cry and beg, Mother, please let this be the end. I can’t keep fighting them. Please let me come home.

  “Remember our cave, Ashes?” Ceddrych’s voice sounded young and old to her ears, but her sense of place and time varied of late. “I never told you this, but all those times you wanted to escape…”

  Her brother held her hand, and for a blessed moment, she didn’t fight the urge to scream.

  She felt nothing.

  “I told Tamyra I was humoring you because you were the youngest, and Mother’s passing was harder on you. But what I didn’t say is I needed the cave as much as you. It—looking after you—was the only good memory I seem to still have. You would think after all this time, and the fact I was older, I should remember more.” He pressed her palm to his wet cheek. “I’m sorry for all the ways I failed you, little sister. I should have been there. I should have stopped this from ever happening.”

  You couldn’t stop this any more than I could, she wanted to say.

  “Ilya’s convinced you’re almost free of that prince’s influence. Once she’s certain, Thea will let you go.” A lengthy pause, then a shuddering sigh as her brother turned away from her.

  “I know, Resha. We won’t stay much longer.” Another heavy pause, and then he added, “They what? Wait, no, don’t. I’m coming,” Ceddrych grumbled.

  He squeezed Vynasha’s hand, and then she was left alone.

  A chorus of beastly howls erupted somewhere in the distance, or was this another dream? The earth seemed to shudder beneath her, and her skin rippled with inky shadows come to life. The shadow was back in her mind again, spitting fury and promising violence if Vynasha would only release it. The longer they kept her under their blood spell, the weaker her resolve grew.

  Vynasha might have fallen back into oblivion, hoped to before the next round of torture began. She was unprepared for the sudden snap as a hand connected to her cheek.

  She blinked aware and, with a shudder, realized she could not only feel again but see. The howling was louder and definitely not her imagination. She shifted and winced. Her body ached where they had bound her to the bed.

  When did they tie me down?

  “Don’t, Aunty, you’ll make it worse,” a soft voice interrupted as a dagger flashed into view. “Now hold still. We don’t have much time.”

  Vynasha stilled as the spectre used her bejeweled blade to cut through the bindings. “I’m dreaming,” she gasped as Wyll’s sapphire gaze met hers.

  “’Fraid not.” Her nephew smiled crookedly, the motion tugging up the burned half of his beautiful face. Wyll had been the little boy she’d pulled from the fire, the only family she had had for years. The reason she had believed a lie and dragged them into this nightmare.

  “Wyll!” Vynasha caught his wrist—not a spectre—and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her nephew didn’t hesitate to return the embrace. She raked her fingers through his thick black curls, sobbing, “Wyll, I am so sorry. I should have never brought us here. This has been my fault, all of it.”

  “No, Asha.” Wyll squeezed her shoulders, pushing until she realized how much he’d grown. The set of his square jaw was decidedly older but nowhere near as ancient as his level gaze as he insisted, “They’re the ones who have wronged you. But now is our chance to make things right.”

  Vynasha released a shuddering breath and smiled as he wiped her tears away. “I wish I had brought you to the castle with me.”

  Wyll twisted as something shook the outer wall, his returning smile strained. “Take me there now.”

  Again, something thumped against the wall, and the ground shuddered far below. Shouts followed, and an unearthly wail pierced the night before Vynasha locked troubled eyes with her nephew. “What’s happened?”

  She knew the truth before he spoke, though that part of her was bruised and still bleeding. She wasn’t sure if she would ever be whole from what Erythea had tried to do. What Vynasha had helped train the child to do.

  “Your people have come for you, of course,” Wyll replied, his wry tone more reminiscent of Ceddrych than her timid nephew. Wyll shook his head as though seeing her thoughts on her face. “No time to explain,” he said as he pulled farther away.

  Vynasha rose with him and wondered at Wyll’s grin, as if he’d known she would follow. That she had been bound by blood majik, Vynasha understood. How, then, had she been freed? Her feet were already covered in sturdy boots. “Wyll, we won’t make it to the castle like this.”

  Her nephew ignored her struggle as he rose and supported her beneath his sturdy, wiry frame. His shoulders were level with hers now, and there was steel behind his voice as he urged, “They all see me as weak, but I’ve strength enough for this, Aunty. Let’s go.”

  WYLL OPENED THE front door of the Iceveins’ home to an empty path. Vynasha had half expected Grandmother or Thea at the very least, on their way down the stairs and outside. She sucked in a breath of fresh air the moment they passed the threshold. It was the first clear breath she had taken since her capture.

  A cold wind smattered her cheeks with sleet, and on her second breath, she nearly gagged on the scent of earth majik. It was thick and cloying like the blue flowers growing like vines about the cabin walls, sickly sweet like Thea’s had been, just like what lingered of the girl’s mother.

  Vynasha’s lip curled as she felt the prick of Nymwe’s invisible eyes watching their retreat from the windows and growled low. “Always watching, even from beyond the grave,” she muttered under her breath.

  Wyll squeezed her hand and tugged her off the path and into the woods. “This way, Aunty.”

  They walked without a pack, nothing but the crunch of boots in snow over uneven earth. The glowing torchlights from the village flickered, and Vynasha sniffed the nearer they drew. “Smoke.”

  Wyll tightened his grip and cast a worried glance for the village. He chewed on his lip, a habit picked up from her, no doubt, but made no comment as he urged her along.

  Away from the village they went, away from the chaos she could hear even now.

  Vynasha flinched as snarls and then screams echoed through the forest. “We should…” her voice failed as a beastly bellow rose in the night. A sharp crack of wood followed, then silence, and then the scent of smoke trailing between the trees.

  Vynasha’s damaged skin prickled, the faded burn scars reignited with memory. The children in the village had made fun of her and called her a witch.

  They were right.

  She was more of a monster now than she had ever been, and this spoke more for her transformation than anything. They named her witch, but now she was a demon in a land of nightmares.

  “Ashes,” came Grendall’s scream, a quiet whisper
against her ear. Vynasha twisted her head, seeking the source, only to meet Wyll’s sad blue gaze.

  “Aunty, I’m sorry, but we can’t help them.”

  Vynasha closed her mouth and tasted ash on her tongue. What could she say to that? Wyll had been injured far worse than she by the fire that had taken their family. Her self-pity and denial died before her nephew. Without provocation, Vynasha picked up her pace.

  Wyll continued to lead them deeper into the forest along some unseen path. All the while, Vynasha did her best not to cringe from the occasional screams and snarls behind them. The broken thing in her chest throbbed where the bond with her beasts had been.

  She should have recognized the small clearing Wyll guided them into. Too late she clasped his arm with her free hand. “What are you doing?”

  “I couldn’t have done this by myself, you know,” came Wyll’s simple reply as he turned a slow circle.

  No sooner had he spoken than two figures emerged from the shadows. Wolfsbane’s daughter slinked low like a predator as she approached them, her dark gaze shifting and pensive as she twirled her daggers. Vynasha had used majik on the poor woman the last time they’d met. The human girl wasn’t making the mistake of attacking first this time, it would seem.

  Resha signed something to Wyll, and he said, “I’m fine, really. Did he suspect anything?” A pause and then Wyll sighed. “Good.”

  Vynasha tried to pay attention to their conversation, but the second arrival to their unexpected party left her speechless. The curling horns were just as beautiful and strange to her as ever. Stranger still was her surprise. They had met in this place once before, after all.

  “Vedmak.” She breathed his name on a whisper.

  “Curse breaker.” The ebony-skinned male smiled enigmatically in return, his moonlit eyes flashing as he bowed his head. “I see Wyllem was able to remove your bindings without alerting the others.”

  “I should have known you had something to do with this,” Vynasha replied then frowned. “You aren’t the reason my beasts found their way here, are you?”

  Resha shifted slightly in front of Wyll and narrowed her gaze, but Vedmak’s smile only broadened. “Why, it was I who showed them the way all along, curse breaker.”

  She moved before she realized what she was doing. In two strides, Vynasha had curled her hand about the male’s neck and snarled, “Innocent people have died because of you.”

  Vedmak’s eyes narrowed as he replied, “No, not because of me. Had your prince acted as he ought from the beginning, the curse might have been broken.”

  Resha gestured, and an exasperated Wyll suddenly appeared beside Vynasha, tugging at her elbow. “We don’t have time to argue,” the boy urged. “This is our only chance. Please, Asha?”

  Vynasha sagged at her nephew’s words and released the other male with a grimace. The effort had taken more from her than it should have. “I’m sorry, Wyll. You’re right, we should leave.” Sparing a glance for Vedmak, she added, “You should stay back, help distract anyone who tries to follow us.”

  “And miss what is to come next? Not in a thousand turns of this world,” the male replied with a smile.

  This is not a game.

  Vynasha clenched her teeth, biting back the first reply on her tongue. “Fine,” she ground out, “come with us, then. I won’t be responsible for your fate.”

  Resha twirled her daggers in either hand as she stepped around them to take point, and Wyll urged Vynasha after her. But not before Vedmak’s soft laughter and words followed, “So you claim, curse breaker.”

  It shouldn’t have been so easy to slip away. No matter how many times Vynasha thought it through, she could find no explanation other than the distraction Vedmak had orchestrated. She wanted to ask him about the other mirror-folk, if they, too, had finally joined the fight. She wanted to ask Wyll about his time with Resha and Ceddrych. Instead, she was forced to rely on Wyll and occasionally Resha to navigate their journey through the Silverblud Forest.

  At least it’s not sleeting anymore, she thought.

  That they encountered none of the villagers or beasts told Vynasha one of two unfortunate truths. The first, Vedmak’s power was far beyond her ken if he had been able to mask their escape. Secondly, it was likely Thea’s blood spell had succeeded in cutting her bonds.

  “How did you break the blood spell?” she blurted.

  Resha jerked and glared over her shoulder at them, then shook her head before plodding ahead. Wyll’s hand tensed against Vynasha’s, yet he didn’t slow his pace. Vedmak trailed silently behind. She knew from the way Wyll glanced over his shoulder that the answer was tied to the other male.

  Finally, Wyll faced forward again and slowly replied. “Resha brought me to the village when Ceddrych found out what Wolfsbane did to you. He—Wolfsbane has been missing ever since.”

  Resha darted into the trees suddenly, but not, Vynasha suspected, without cause. Wyll did not attempt to call her back, only continued his tale.

  “After we came to the village, I overheard them talking about how they planned to get you back. They were angry and afraid of the curse, but they also sounded afraid of you, Asha. I didn’t like the sound of it. I didn’t like the idea of them taking you against your will, Asha. So I told Resha, and she brought me to see Vedmak. We sort of came up with the plan the other night.”

  Vynasha turned to glare at the horned male. “You mean it was his idea.”

  Vedmak ducked his head in acknowledgment with a dramatic flourish.

  Vynasha shook her head and caught Wyll’s nervous gaze in turn. “I’m not angry with you,” she said, bumping his shoulder. “I’m glad you rescued me. My very own knight, just like the old tales.”

  Wyll shook his head, but his cheeks colored in the soft moonlight. “I’m not handsome or strong enough to be a knight, Asha.”

  “You think I look like a princess?”

  The good half of Wyll’s face turned pensive in thought. “I think you look like the queen we need.”

  Vynasha’s smile twisted with his words. Grendall’s promise whispered at the back of her mind. “I want to make you my queen, Vynasha.”

  They continued in silence after this. Vynasha found she lacked the will to ask questions when she was uncertain she wanted their truths.

  Resha returned to them soon after, occasionally walking in the woods alongside them, sometimes behind Vedmak. The horned male moved like a spectre, and in truth, Vynasha occasionally forgot he followed. When he wasn’t in her line of sight, it felt as though he made her forget.

  No sooner had the thought slipped her mind than she heard the roar of a waterfall. Bile rose to the back of her throat at the memory of falling, of the life fading from her father’s eyes after. Of his words that had come too little and too late.

  He tried to tell me the truth about Mother. How did I forget this?

  “We’re going to the cave?” She spoke just as the moon faded in the light of the sun. Her legs burned from overuse. It had been some time since she had lived in the wild with Wolfsbane, after all.

  Wyll frowned, glancing first at Resha and then to Vedmak. It was the horned male who came alongside them and explained. “None of us may pass through the gate because of the curse and because we would be seen too easily by the enchantress.”

  Vynasha frowned. “You speak as if Soraya isn’t dead.”

  “Is she?” came Vedmak’s cryptic reply.

  The pounding of the falls increased with their steps. Vynasha didn’t know she was trembling until Wyll squeezed her hand and spoke low against her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay, Aunty. We’re almost there.”

  Vynasha bit her lip and thought of Ceddrych, the words she should have said long ago. Missed opportunities to tell him the truth of their father’s death. She had to believe Resha wouldn’t have left her brother behind unless she were confident in his safety. Vynasha didn’t dare think about Grendall or Thea.

  Instead she took one step and then another, watching he
r feet trace her nephew’s careful steps over increasingly slick rocks. They climbed single file as an invisible winding path led them up and still higher.

  She startled as Wyll squeezed her hand and drew her closer. “Before we go any farther, I need you to promise me something, Asha.”

  Vynasha nodded, stunned by the intensity of his blue gaze. The ghost of his departed mother was strong enough in the boy’s face that Vynasha nearly said so.

  “The others don’t know desperation like we do, Aunty. All they care for is this war, and it won’t end unless you do something to stop it,” Wyll insisted.

  “What are you saying?” she whispered back.

  Her nephew shook his head as if debating what to say. “Promise you’ll take me with you unto the very end? That’s all I ask, Asha.”

  Vynasha swallowed back the irrational fear his words inspired. “I promise.”

  “Best move on before anyone catches our scent,” Vedmak interrupted.

  Vynasha glared at the male but didn’t protest, only squeezed Wyll’s hand and spoke over the falls. “Let’s go.”

  Resha gestured from the path ahead, then disappeared behind a rocky outcropping. Wyll’s hand shook slightly in hers as he urged her forward. Vynasha squeezed in reassurance she didn’t feel back. They entered the cave behind the falls together, and Vynasha winced as a veil of majik fell over her almost instantly.

  Here the Wolv pack had fought Grendall’s beast form to claim her. Later, Vynasha had faced her father’s cursed form before tumbling over the falls with him. Only one of them had survived.

  She didn’t know she had been staring absently at the pounding rush of water until Wyll’s hand fell upon her shoulder. She jolted and turned to find his blue eyes—so like Tamyra’s—searching hers. “I’m fine.”

  Wyll smiled and pulled her under his arm to lead her deeper into the cave. They followed Resha’s torch. Vedmak hummed an eerie tune under his breath as he trailed their descent.