How could Asha do this to me? How could she lock me away like Grandfather did, after everything we’ve been through together? After all the promises we made to each other.
Pain clutches at my chest with an unrelenting grip. I raise my trembling hands, staring at them, as if they somehow hold the answers to the myriad of questions swirling in my mind.
Why did this happen to me? Why did I wake up in Lyra’s body a summer ago? Why do I feel such a profound connection to Jasce?
Why. Why. Why.
Of course, my hands hold no real answers. They are just flesh and bone.
I failed myself when I conjured those flames and took the lives of those men. It doesn’t matter that my only intention was to protect Emerin.
I still killed them.
Sadness pounds against my chest like a relentless drumbeat as I glare at the locked door, my hands tightening into fists at my sides. Asha has imprisoned me in this room, as if I’m some kind of dangerous beast that needs to be contained. In her eyes, I’m probably no different than the monsters she despises.
Asha’s hatred for House of Crimson runs deeper than the ocean itself. And now that she’s discovered I can wield their crimson magic, I’ve likely become just as despicable in her mind. She probably sees me as one of them, a traitor to our own house.
I am an abomination. A freak of nature. An affront to everything House of Silver stands for.
At least, that’s how Asha must perceive me now.
But deep in my heart, I know the truth. I am not a monster. I am still Annora, the girl who loves collecting seashells. The girl who counts when she’s upset and apologizes too often.
If I am to survive and thrive in this world, I must learn to harness and control Lyra’s crimson magic. It is a part of me now, whether I like it or not. And I refuse to let it define me or shape me into something I’m not. I will master this power and use it for good, even if Asha and the rest of House of Silver will never understand or accept it.
ChapterSixteen
JASCE
I scalethe rough stone walls of the Bakva fortress, my fingers finding purchase in the crevices between the weathered blocks. I move swiftly and silently, my muscles straining with each pull upward. The darkness is my ally, cloaking me from the eyes of any watchful guards.
As I near the top, I pause, listening for any signs of movement. Hearing none, I hoist myself over the ledge and into Annora’s bedchamber.
My feet find the floor without a sound, and I straighten to find her sitting at her vanity.
She catches my reflection in the looking glass and whirls around. “Why are you here?”
I step closer. “To take you to Sharhavva with me.” Knowing I need to say the words this time, I add, “Tonight.”
Her gaze holds mine, a storm of emotions whirling within those depths. “Why?”
“Because you belong with me.”
A frown tugs at Annora’s mouth as she rises to her feet. “You can’t just decide where I belong.”
“I don’t decide it. I feel it.” I let my gaze roam over her, drinking in the way her cotehardie hugs her curves, accentuating her lithe figure.
Her breath hitches, and she takes a step back, though her eyes remain locked on mine. “You can’t just barge into my life and make these proclamations.”
I most definitely can.
“I can when they’re true.” My gaze doesn’t waver as I close the gap she put between us. “You feel it too. Don’t deny it.”
“Even if there is something, you know we cannot be together.” She reaches for the necklace I gave her and squeezes the pendant between her fingers. “It is forbidden for people from our houses to be together.”
“I am chieftain. I determine what is and isn’t forbidden.” I say, my tone as firm and unyielding as the scorched earth of the Gianna Desert.
Another frown tugs at her mouth. “Asha wants me to marry a man from House of Silver.”
