I wasn’t surprised to learn that Aunt Arianna was involved in this. She’d wanted to get rid of me ever since I moved in with her, but I thought Uncle Christopher liked me. I couldn’t believe how wrong I was. There was absolutely no one I could trust.
Suddenly my foot cramped. I gasped, clutched at it, and started rubbing, but I had to change my position. I moved ever so slowly, adjusting myself behind the armchair, but it was a futile attempt. My shuffling had created a noise.
Oblek whirled around, his hand on the hilt of his massive sword. “Someone’s here.”
I moved backward, but there was nowhere to go.
I was trapped.
Christopher rushed over in the blink of an eye, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me up from my crouching position. “Don’t you know that it’s bad manners to eavesdrop, young lady?” His floppy gold hair was a mess; he was fuming, and his glasses were steaming up.
“What have we here?” Lord Oblek fixed his one beady, black eye on me with a scrutinizing glare as he came toward me.
“It’s the girl you have been searching for, my lord,” said Christopher with a thin smile on his reddened face. He pulled me along toward Oblek, clutching my arm with his bony fingers, which bit into my skin like needles.
“You’re hurting me.” I tried to pull my arm free from his grasp, but he didn’t let go.
Oblek crossed his arms across his chest. “So, it seems your work has been done for you, Christopher. She has been delivered to us of her own accord.”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m not a package to be delivered anywhere. You have the wrong girl. I don’t even know you.”
Oblek smiled. “Ah, but I know you, Aurora Firedrake.”
“What nonsense. That’s not even my name. I’m Aurora Darlington,” I insisted. “I told you, you have the wrong girl.”
Oblek ignored me and spoke to my uncle. “She has a strong likeness to her father—the same dark hair and green eyes of the Firedrakes. She is definitely the one. I don’t know how she managed to stay hidden all these years, but she is Azaren and Elayna’s only child. I am sure of it.”
My mind reeled with the implications of this revelation. I longed to know who my real parents were, and this person seemed to know them, however dangerous he looked.
“Let go of my arm,” I growled at my uncle, trying to twist out of his vise-like grip.
He just laughed at me and held on tighter. I had to do something, I had to get away from them. I punched my uncle in the stomach, and he released me, momentarily stunned as he bent over.
I took my chance and made a dash for the door, but Christopher recovered quickly, caught me again, and slapped me across my face. My head whipped to one side with the force of the blow. My cheek stung as I cupped my hand over it. My uncle dragged me back to Oblek, who stood watching all this with an impassive expression on his face.
“Interesting!” Oblek came closer and stared me down. “A feisty little thing, isn’t she? I must get her to the queen immediately; there is no time to waste.”
What queen? What the hell was this guy going on about? And where did he want to take me?
He stepped closer to me, and I instinctively shrank away. His breath was rancid, and his rotting teeth grinned at me through the mess of his black beard.
“You’re not taking her anywhere until you get me my money,” Christopher announced, holding on to me like a lottery ticket. He started edging away from Oblek, toward the door, pulling me along with him. “I want what I was promised.”
“And you can’t take me anywhere I don’t want to go,” I added for good measure. Not that it was any help.
A wicked grin spread across Oblek’s hideous, scarred face. “Oh, you’ll get what you deserve, Darlington.”
Faster than I could follow, he raised his right hand, and white bolts of light shot out from his palm, hitting Christopher squarely in the chest. My uncle’s grip on my arm loosened immediately, and he crumpled to the floor like an empty sack.
Oblek closed the space between us in a trice and grabbed my arm. “And you, my dear, don’t have a choice.”
I stared at the crumpled form of my uncle on the floor. He looked dead. “You killed him?” I gasped, still frozen in shock.
“It doesn’t matter. I don’t need him anymore,” said Oblek, not giving Uncle Christopher another look.
All this was happening too fast; I couldn’t understand what this had to do with me. I wanted to find out more about my real parents, but I didn’t want to go anywhere with this strange man. Who knew what he was planning to do to me?
“I’m not coming with you.” I tried to pull away from him. “You’re a monster.”
But he held my arm in an even tighter grip than my uncle had and laughed. “You haven’t seen anything yet, girl. Where you’re going, monsters will be the least of your problems.”
A chill snaked down my spine. Where was he taking me? “What do you mean?” My voice cracked and my legs felt shaky.
“You will find out soon enough,” he sneered, pulling me to the tapestry that rippled as soon as he touched it with his palm.
I felt like my life had shattered all over again. My parents were gone, my uncle had sold me like a slave, and there was no one to help me, no one on my side. I was alone, I was in trouble, and I had absolutely no idea what to do.
I tried to be strong, to figure out how to get out of this situation, but it was all too much, I couldn’t help it. I went numb and stopped struggling just as Oblek yanked my arm and pulled me into the magical, shimmering tapestry.
Kidnapped
For a second
