This was the first time I’d been alone since everything happened—Roark tying himself to Sabine, seeing my sister after years, and learning all about this world. My mind was on overload.
I didn’t even bother looking at my new lodgings. My gaze zeroed in on the large four-poster Victorian-style bed in the middle of the room. I trudged directly to it, flopped down, and closed my eyes. The events of the past days pounded on the walls of my mind. I forced my mind to shut off as tears leaked from my eyes.
6
When I woke up, I was groggy. The next second, I was wide awake. The minutes it usually took me to rouse my stiff body to a fully awake state were no longer necessary.
The bed was oddly comfortable, although uneven. If the accommodations were modeled after the sixteenth century, that had to mean the mattress was stuffed. I wiggled my body deeper into the cradle of the soft bed. It had to be feathers. It was way too plush for it not to be.
Oh, God. I wonder what the bathrooms consisted of. A vision of a bucket flashed in my head, and I shivered.
I needed to get up and start investigating my surroundings, but I didn’t have the mental energy. I stretched out, and my bones creaked satisfyingly. I gazed through the windowed ceiling, glad the suns weren’t out. My eyebrow wrinkled at the darkness of the sky. The glass above seemed so fragile. I imagined a rock being thrown and the entire thing shattering.
Shaking the useless thoughts away, I thought of Annie, instead. I had no doubt she’d reached the apartment by now if she’d done as she was told and driven straight there and only stopped the bare minimum. I only hoped Jeff kept his word... I shook the negative thoughts off. He said he would, and I trusted him with at least that. I swallowed hard and rubbed my palms against my scalp, frustrated I couldn’t do more.
Cora’s explanation about how I came to exist filtered to the forefront of my mind. If it weren’t for that power-hungry King’s orders, then my ancestor wouldn’t have been Fae. That was my origin story—the experiment and whim of a king.
It was his fault. Roark’s grandfather’s fault. It seemed that whole linage existed to torture me. I swallowed the fresh pain his name brought forth. I needed this ache gone. Never had I felt this way about anyone. Although there weren’t many to compare him to, he somehow made Jeff look like a damn good choice.
Squeezing my eyes to shut out the grey sky, I tried to breathe through the emotions shooting through me. I wanted to smack myself silly over my heartache. What was wrong with me?
I stood, shook my arms out, and stretched my neck from side to side. This self-pity stuff needed to stop. I had a mission, and as soon as I finished, I was gone. That was my motive. Unbind magic, so I could get back to the human world. Back to my life. All this me being Fae with unlimited power was tiresome, and quite frankly, I had no idea what that even meant. I was human with some extra sauce, and that was that.
Now, how to go about freeing magic?
There had to be a lead. I just had to find it. Feeling a renewed sense of inspiration, I took in my surroundings. The space was classically beautiful yet rather bare. Although, it may have been the sheer size of the room that made it feel sparse. Very Victorian-era. A gold-plated side table sat beside the head of the bed, and a loveseat was placed in the middle of the room. A carpet was spread out under it, probably to ward off the chill from the white tile.
The fortress had all been dark glinting colors, scary in its beauty. So far, what I’d seen of the castle was all fairy tales and pale colors. Fitting… and a little cliché.
I let loose my hair, glad it was dry, and slipped the hairband I stole from Annie on my wrist. I needed to embrace the cheer. I’d lived. A puny human had lived against the most narcissistic psychopathic being in existence. Well, at least I hoped she was the worst because if there were more of her, then I honestly worried about the world.
Pale grey light filtered through the ceiling, letting me see a sliver of the blue sky. Nostalgia struck me. It looked like the human sky. Seconds later, the rain turned furious.
I would get through this kicking and clawing. A little smile upturned my lips. There was no other choice. I needed to do this for my sister. For myself. I finger combed the knots out of my hair and pulled it back into a ponytail.
With a new sense of resolve, I marched to the door and grasped the beautiful curving handles of the door. I hesitated, remembering how Cora said not to leave without being accompanied. But how was I going to contact anyone? It wasn’t like I had a phone. I missed the comforting weight in my pocket. I pulled the door open and smacked right into a hard body. I groaned, clasping my head where there was an odd tingling. It should have been throbbing.
I gritted my teeth, wanting to stomp my foot. Luz’s magic spunk was really doing a number on me. I never thought I’d miss my pain threshold being so low, but it was a reminder of how changed I was. I winced as I recalled my pitiful attempts to escape. No wonder Sabine had laughed whenever I fought her.
I was so busy rubbing my forehead that I didn’t notice I had actually bumped into someone. Something that was happening way too much for my liking.
“Hello.” A small,
