Guinevere's Grail | ✓ [BOOK 2]

~ 19 ~

COLD. THAT WAS ALL she felt on that rooftop when she heard that voice, and it was all she felt now. Her fingers were numb from it, her lips chapped and blue. It was cold enough to hurt, cold enough that it felt hot. Eurion could hardly see a thing in the dim light, but a head of orange hair was unmistakeable before her cell.

"You're awake," Chalice murmured, their once wistful voice now bored and plain. It was like they were just a skeleton, reanimated to become the Queen's weapon. She tried not to be so pessimistic, but it was hard when everything still felt hopeless.

"You're alive," she said with a shiver. "How?"

They tilted their head to the side. "Did I die?"

Eurion swallowed. "Yes, Chalice, you died. Why are you helping the Queen?"

The druid went quiet again. She thought they might not say anything at all, until they finally did. "She helped me."

"With what? Bringing you back to life so she can use you to kill your friends?" Eurion scoffed. "Sure helpful of her."

"I'm sorry if you're my friends," Chalice told her, though any sympathy was gone from their tone. "I was confused when I woke up. She fixed it. I owe her."

Eurion shot to her feet and gripped the bars. "No she fucking didn't, Chalice, she lied to you. Snap out of it, as soon as you remember, you're going to feel really bad if you find out you killed me--us."

"I won't remember," the druid insisted. "Everything I used to be is dead. That's how it'll stay."

The thief shook the bars, startling the druid into gripping their blade. "Stop it! Just stop it! You're still there. Chalice Daines, you've survived hell. If you're walking today, part of you is still in there. I know it is."

"I'm sorry." They didn't sound sorry, though. They sounded dead. Eurion thought she'd never feel a pain like watching her best friend die, but this was almost worse. Chalice was there, standing right in front of her face, but she'd never felt so far from them. She felt like she was looking at a ghost. At least when the druid was dead, she could pretend they lived on in the trees, watching over her like a guardian angel, refusing to leave her side.

Eurion clenched her jaw. She knew it was hopeless, but she wanted so badly to believe they were still in there somewhere. "Why did you come here?"

They raised a brow.

"To me. My cell. Why were you here when I woke up? Why not someone else's?"

Chalice shrugged. "I just was. I guess you got lucky."

Lucky. Bullshit. Eurion believed in coincidences, but that was not one. She refused to let it be one. She refused to believe that Chalice wasn't there because they wanted to be, because they had something deep down urging them to stay with her. It couldn't be.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked, dropping the subject. She'd try to pull Chalice out when she had the energy, but right now she didn't.

"Her Majesty didn't want you all to be near each other," they answered. "They're in the dungeon, but far away. You won't be seeing them."

Eurion choked back a protest. She was worried for her friends, painfully so, but she didn't dare try to escape to find them, not yet. There would be no easy way to do this, but in order to figure something out, she needed to get rid of the crippling pain in her gut.

"Well... can I eat, at least?"

Perhaps her mind was just playing tricks on her, but Eurion swore she saw something flicker across Chalice's features. She didn't know how or why such a request would make them react, but she had to believe it did.