Remember Me *Book 3 Of The Remember the Rules Series*

The Girl You Once Were

Diana and Joanna were fine leaving me to my own devices after the hell of trying to get me to cooperate with the dress fittings, so Peter and I wandered the castle alone, looking for Killian. Well, I looked for Killian while Peter followed, making snide comments about how girlish I looked, and how adorable I'd been. It made something in my chest clench, which I assumed was his intention.

Most of the knights were outside at the moment, polishing their armor or feeding their horses or whatever it was that they did, and the servants were all at their various stations, preparing for lunch. The castle was eerily quiet, without a soul in sight.

"Kay," I called, spotting him as I turned the corner. He looked up and schooled the irritation on his face into something more presentable.

"Yes?"

I approached him. "Have you seen Killian? There was something I wanted to talk to him about."

Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone too quickly for me to decipher. Beside me, Pan tensed. "As a matter of fact, I was just talking to him not twenty minutes ago. Shall I take you to him?"

"It would be appreciated," I said stiffly.

"Allow me." He held out his arm for me to take. I did so reluctantly; I needed to keep the shred of reputation I'd gained around here, but Kay was awful and it had been a long day.

We walked down the hall in silence, making a few turns into an unfamiliar part of the castle. The walls lengthened, leaving more and more space between rooms and torches. Windows became nearly nonexistent. Shadows danced along the walls where torches burned and swallowed the stone where they had yet to be lighted. I shivered despite myself when we stopped in front of a plain wooden door I'd never seen before.

"He said he needed to talk to one of the servants in here," Kay said in response to my questioning look.

He opened the door slowly, moving his arm to my back. Peter seemed to want to say something, but stayed quiet and started walked quickly back the way we came, a blank look on his face. Before I could process what was happening, Kay shoved me through the doorway, into a tiny supply closet and slammed the door in my face, blackening my vision except for one long, thin candle burning in the corner. The air was heavy and acrid.

The sound of a deadbolt sliding into place cemented the horror growing in my mind as Kay laughed. "You think you're such a big deal, little girl. You may have Gwen and Lance wrapped around your tiny little fingers, but I know better. Your bloodline is poison. In less than an hour, there'll be one less of you to worry about. Sweet dreams, princess."

Poison... My thoughts were broken, fragmented from terror. There was barely even room to move, just like my sleeping space when I served the Dark One. The walls seemed to be closing in on me. What does he mean by... I'm not dying... The candle!

I blew it out quickly, but the poison in it was already starting to work, making my terror worse in more ways than one. The tiny, tiny room was completely pitch black now, the fumes from the candle wreaking havoc on my nostrils. I crouched as low as I could, trying to clear my lungs of the poison and trying not to cry or vomit. I couldn't tell what the lump in my throat was going to end up making me do. But I couldn't stop myself from screaming. I pounded on the door as hard as I could, screaming for Peter, Felix, Peter, Killian, Peter, Felix, Felix, Felix come save me unlock the door let me out take me home get me out please please pleasepleaseplease. I hit the door with all my strength until my knuckles bled, kept hitting it with the sides of my fists until they bled, then my palms, then my forehead until it bruised, then my entire right side, hitting the door over and over and over as hard as I could, without regard to the pain. It couldn't have taken longer than fifteen minutes for both hands to be bloody and stinging, an hour for my voice to give out, an hour and a half for my breathing to get dangerously shallow before--