I sat crossed-legged on the floor and stared at that steaming tray of questionable food. Would he poison me? It was possible that he was working with Morwena, and she definitely would. I was starving but still just scowled at the tray, trying not to think about how delicious the food smelled. There was a restlessness in my legs, in my arms—my entire body. I couldn’t stay in here, yet, I couldn’t find a way out. The mere thought kept my heart racing.
I rubbed the faint calluses on my palm. I hadn’t trained with weapons in a long time, and I was certain my father would be ashamed to learn I’d not only been taken prisoner, but had missed a chance to escape. I crossed the room to the bed, pulled off the blankets, and dragged them behind me across the room.
Slipping out of the elaborate dress Nadra’s mother had weaved her magic into, I opted for one of the prince’s oversized shirts hoping he’d find out later and be pissed. I rubbed it against my armpits for good measure. It was simple and hung to my knees, far more comfortable than the gown. Laying on the floor next to the door, I wrapped myself up in his stupid, cozy blankets.
I closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of Prince Fenlas. I didn’t want to like it, didn’t want to notice the smell of the summer sun and sandy beaches. I hated him. I hated everything about him and his arrogant, commanding attitude. I knew he felt the same way because I saw the way he looked at me. He could hardly hold back the revulsion. Why would he even want me in his rooms, going through his things?
The floor was ice cold. I tossed and turned and, after several hours, realized I couldn’t sleep here. I had two options. I could either commit to staying up for the night, or I could lay in his bed and try not to think about him. I threw the blankets off and shoved them into the corner. There was no way I was sleeping in his bed.
I crossed the candlelit room and picked up the book I had been avoiding.
It’s just a book. Open it.
Laying on the patterned rug in the middle of the room, I slid the book under the sliver of moonlight shining on the cool floor, pressed my hand to the textured leather and closed my eyes, letting my fingers feel the fabric beneath. I could totally do this. I’d worked hard to get this book in my hands. I couldn’t let fear control me. I opened the book and pressed it flat against the floor.
Again, I could feel its pulse. This book was alive. I wasn’t sure how or why, but I knew the minute I read these pages, the trajectory of my life would change forever. But then I’d known that the moment I left Aibell’s, and still I came, searching.
The pages of the book were so thin, I thought they would disintegrate between my trembling fingers, but they didn’t. I thumbed through them. Skimming. But as I drew closer to Nealla’s story, I could feel it. Her. I pulled my hands from the book and closed my eyes.
“Are you in there?” I whispered.
Thankfully, she didn’t answer. I’d probably forfeit this whole fucking plan if a book started talking to me. Especially one that seemed to haunt me more than help me. I knew what the tales said about her, but somehow, she was the answer to my questions, so it was time to learn the truth.
I couldn’t breathe. The moment I found her name, the breath rushed from my lungs and hung somewhere in the room I left behind as I was yanked into the aged pages of the book. Panicked and shrouded in darkness, I left that castle behind. The scent of the prince was faintly there, grounding me only slightly as I began to work my way through this otherness. This separate world within the dark magical book. The truth became abundantly clear: I had no business being here at all. Whatever had called me to open this book was not friendly.
My body jerked forward as I was pulled by invisible hands. I wanted to panic. I wanted to scream, but my control had fled like a whisper in the wind. I became limp as I moved through the obsidian expanse and toward whatever entity called me. I was going to die. Within the deepest parts of my mind, my soul, I knew it. The imminent death sat just beyond reach, dragging me forward. Again, I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t. I tried to move in any capacity, but I was paralyzed by either my own fear or lack of control. I wasn’t sure which.
My ears tingled as my fae hearing picked up a small echo somewhere far, far away. I was breathing. I just couldn’t feel my chest rise and fall. I wasn’t paralyzed, but instead completely numb. This wasn’t my body. I’d left my body somewhere behind, and now only my soul lingered in this unknown space.
“You must come to me,” a smoky voice hissed through the uncomfortable darkness.
I couldn’t speak. Still could not move.
“Beyond, child. I am beyond. You must come to learn, or you will fail this world.”
Completely weightless, I tumbled forward.Who are you?my mind screamed.
“I am the one you fear, the one you seek, the one you need, child.”
Where must I go?
“Beyond The Mists.”
There is no ‘beyond The Mists.’ You step into them, you die.
The heated anger filled the blackest night, and somehow my aura sliced into pieces with fear.
“You dare question me after all I’ve done to help you?” the grated voice roared. “I’ve locked away your secret! I’ve forbidden the world to speak of you, and still you prove the fae are not worth saving.”
Agreed. They are not.
There was a pause, and then the anger around me shattered like glass, and the room was full of emptiness once more.
“Come find me beyond The Mists. There’s more.”
More what?
I drifted backward, trying to hold on, trying to force my soul to stay, but it was in vain. I slammed back into my corporeal body. Lightheaded, I reached my hand up to the tears that streamed down my slackened face. I pulled my fingers away and saw the blood. Head spinning, I nearly passed out as I ripped the bottom of the prince’s shirt and used it to clean my face, then threw it into the roaring fire.
