Prisoner of Chaos (Redemption Book #4)

Chapter 49

Lucy

He going to die. My beloved will die out of his own mind.

After everything we've been through together, it ends... like this.

Anger burns within me at myself and at this world I've adopted as my own as I stare out at the Skylands from Sola's sanctuary.

We should have stayed on Earth and forgotten all this. Alvar suffered with his mental health, but he was alive and he was with me.

What's the point of all this if you end up heartbroken and alone in the end?

"Lucy, I heard your husband is having bouts of losing his mind," a familiar voice says behind me. "Wonderful choice of a life partner you made. Oh, wait, you didn't make that choice. He did."

I turn to her.

Emily.

Besides a disturbing red tattoo on her forehead, she hasn't aged a day either.

A ghost. She's a ghost here to taunt me in my grief. To remind me of how much I've lost.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you," I say, curling my hands into fists and feeling the tears well up in my eyes. "You didn't deserve to die like that."

"I confess, I've imagined our meeting again many times, but you telling me you're sorry is so predictable of you. I've known you were sorry for decades. You're so nice, but you didn't save me, you didn't give me the full story to protect me," Emily says, she appears beside me. Her fingers pick up a strand of my hair. "You've aged, my dear. Grey hairs. Crows feet coming from your eyes? Did Alvar notice them with a heavy heart because he never ages?"

The eyes she speak of squeeze shut and my tears slide down my cheeks. "He's going to die, Emily," I tell her. "He never cared that I aged."

"He won't die, stupid. The Dark Lord has him and will use him to tear apart his own kingdom," Emily says. "And he'll be aware, knowing he's destroying everything he's built. There will be nothing left of his soul when the Dark Lord is through with him."

Not if Rift and Kyla succeed in their mission.

"You got everything didn't you? A husband who adored you, a kingdom to rule, and a--a family of your own, as life," Emily says. "Everything I didn't get, you got."

"What do you mean?" I say, blinking at her, confused. She's a hallucination. Has to be. "You're not real."

"Ah, but you're wrong," Emily says with a bitter laugh. "I'm real, Lucy, and what's more, I'm here to kill you."

A ball rises up in my throat and I stifle a sob, covering my hand over my mouth. "What? This isn't possible."

How can she actually be here? She was dead. They said she was dead.

"You thought I was dead and believed it because it was easy to," Emily says, eyes flashing. Her mouth curls in scorn. "But did you ever verify it? Of course not! You were too busy trying to save your dear, mad, king. I was expendable. Unnecessary baggage carried with."

"I don't understand," I say, the tears have dried and I fight the chill creeping down my spine as I study her. "How are you alive?"

"The Sorceress found me, and helped me recover," Emily says, narrowing her eyes and circling me like a predator with it's prey. "She showed me how I could get my revenge. And now I finally am getting what I've wanted since being left as a casualty for your cause."

"Em, I didn't know you were alive," I say, my eyes widening, I back away from her, but she traces to appear behind me.

"Oh, and did I mention I'm a witch now?" Emily says with a wicked grin on her bright red lips. "Being a witch is pretty awesome. You can do things that are impossible where we come from. Back home, on Earth. It required certain sacrifices, but it's worth it to take away the life of the person who ruined me." For a moment her beautiful, ageless appearance changes and my stomach does a flip.