Chapter 9

Evangeline

AT LEAST PETRI hadn’t lied to her, as Evangeline approached the metal door in a semi-hallway off the cavernous room.

A few guards had slunk by, but too far ahead to notice her. In fact, after stabbing that Rathan and imprisoning his friend, it surprised her that more guards weren’t storming the dungeon looking for her. It made her wary. Did the Wretched take care of them? Maybe Raiythlen had survived and they were too busy looking for him? Either way, she wouldn’t waste this opportunity by standing around. She just prayed she would have the same luck in getting Lani out of here.

But deep in her core, she had a feeling this wouldn’t end well.

Silencing those doubts, she faced what could only be the entrance to the room with the isolated holding cells. Four lines dug across the frame’s exterior, at least an inch wide and two feet across. She cursed, realizing she had never asked Petri about these claw marks.

Gripping her makeshift knife, she opened the door, prepared for the worst.

The room was plain, made up of concrete floors, rock walls, and overhead lighting she had never seen throughout the rest of the castle, its whiteness almost blinding her, much like the light that had illuminated the room with the hundreds of cells. A simple desk and chair were shoved into the corner of the room, and two cells made of iron bars (much like the other cages) encased small, thin cots, like those found in the slave quarters. The room was empty aside from one person.

Lani!

Her friend sat on the cot in the right holding cell, her shoulders slumped over, her hair in clumps of brown and gray hanging in knots around her face. Her wrinkled black uniform covered the series of markings carved into her skin.

Tears pricked the back of Evangeline’s eyes. I’m going to get you out of here. I swear it.

The room may have been empty, but that didn’t mean there weren’t Nytes lurking nearby, or that the owner of those claw marks didn’t plan on returning soon. The thought of Vane opening that door, his twisted smile and brown eyes beaming at her . . . Evangeline’s hands shook, and if Lani weren’t standing in front of her, she would’ve turned around and run. Run as far away from this place as she could. But it was too late for that now, and she needed to get a move-on.

Because time was of the essence.

Evangeline pulled on her friend’s cell door, but as expected, it was firmly locked. “Lani!” she whispered urgently.

Her friend didn’t look up. She cradled her head in her hands, murmuring something Evangeline didn’t understand. The top of her uniform was unbuttoned, revealing a little of her chest and neck. Her skin was better than the last time Evangeline had seen it, when Lani had been bleeding out in the slave quarters. The marred, bloody runes were now a matted black, the surrounding flesh rosy. 

Evangeline frowned. The Aerian had said only Vane had the keys, but there had to be a spare somewhere . . . right? “Lani, it’s me, Eve. Please . . . I need to know where the keys are.”

Her friend dragged her gaze away from her hands. Her eyes were wide and blurry. Unfocused. Her skin was so thin that it wrapped around her cheekbones in a deadly embrace. She smiled, and teeth were missing. It was like looking at an animated skeleton.

Evangeline trembled. Lani didn’t deserve this. After everything she had done for Evangeline . . . offering her guidance and companionship when Evangeline was first thrown into life as a Peredian slave with no warning. Sneaking sweet rolls at the risk of her own life just to see her smile. Evangeline had been a child then, before Ryker adopted her into Aerian society, and in return, all Lani’d ever received from her was suffering.

“Lani . . . I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I’ll make this right, I promise you.”

Her words unraveled the spell holding her friend, and she shuffled to the cell bars. Her frail, withered hands curled around the iron. “Eve . . . is that you? Your face . . .”

Evangeline rubbed her cheek, her sleeve coming back stained with blood. The pain was nothing compared to seeing Lani in this state. “It’s me. I’ve come to get you out of this mess.” Evangeline squeezed her hand around Lani’s, relishing in the simple connection.

Lani yanked away. “No! You must leave at once! Quick, before they catch you!”

“They?”

“You don’t understand. . . . They’ve done horrible things. . . .” Lani covered her face. “Please, I can’t bear to watch anyone get hurt. No more.”

Evangeline’s nostrils flared. Raw, primal rage flooded her. She curled her hands into fists to the point her knuckles bled white. “Where are the keys? Is there another set in here, anywhere?”

Her friend didn’t reply, her shoulders quivering, locked in her own nightmare. Evangeline’s nails bit further into her skin. I’ll make them pay for this. But how? She possessed the strength of a gazelle facing a lion, with only her measly glass knife for a weapon. She paused and glanced down at the broken glass stem.

Gripping the sturdy end, she shoved the tip of the glass into the palm-sized lock cradling the cell door. She had never lockpicked anything in her entire life, but why not try her hand at it now? How hard could it be?

Very hard, she realized as she twisted, turned and rotated the blasted glass stem with no luck. When her only weapon snapped in half, leaving the broken bit jammed inside the lock, she gave up on the idea that she would magically learn lockpicking.

Time for Plan B.

There had to be a spitting spare somewhere in this blasted room. She tore through the desk, pulling out drawers and upturning the entire thing. Nothing. She splintered the wood against the concrete floor, ripping into the old worn chair, but she found no secret compartments. She knocked on the torn wallpaper, hoping to find a safe, anything that could be of value, but she found nothing.

The keys weren’t here.

Evangeline gritted her teeth. No, this wasn’t the end. She broke off the limb of the desk and banged it against the metal bars. If Raiythlen wants to show up, now would be the time!

The banging woke Lani from her nightmare. “Stop it, Evangeline.”

She swung harder.

“You’re acting a fool! This will get you nowhere. Do you want to die?”

“There she is.” Evangeline wiped her brow. “I thought I lost you.”

“This isn’t the time.” Lani’s eyes lit up like Raiythlen’s fiery caster magic, dissolving any previous despair. “You’ve always been a naïve, foolish girl, and this tops it. You can’t fix everything!”

“Watch me!” she snarled and slammed the wooden peg into the bar. It split in two.

 “Dying with me will accomplish nothing. The moment they brought me to this blasted place, I accepted my fate. We’re humans. Slaves. I’m going to die, Evangeline. You need to let me go and save yourself.” She lowered her head, a shadow grazing her features. “If our roles were reversed, I would’ve never come for you.”

“Maybe not, but you would tear yourself up about it every night. Call me what you want, but I’m not leaving you.” She tossed the useless piece of wood and slammed herself against the iron bars. “You don’t deserve this.” You were the only one who treated me like a normal human being. Showed me the kindness a mother would give to her child. I love you, Lani, and you deserve the world. She didn’t say it aloud, because it sounded like goodbye.

Her friend didn’t raise her head. Evangeline kept slamming into the bars, as if the sheer strength of her hope could crack metal.

“You know a way out of this city. You have supplies in those woods. Leave. Leave here, and this time don’t make the mistake of coming back,” she whispered.

“There’s no point if you’re not with me.” Evangeline’s shoulder ached, and she stopped, sliding down the bars. The cuts on her face stung, and when she swiped at them, she realized it was because she was crying.

Lani joined her on the dusty ground. “Please go, Eve.”

The click of a lock sliced off Evangeline’s reply. The doorknob turned, the squeaking like razors down her back, before it swung open.

If Evangeline wasn’t already on the ground, she would’ve sunk to her knees.

Vane, Peredia’s notorious torturer—one with a personal vendetta against her—stood in the doorway, his twisted smile and dark eyes beaming at her.