The Ashen Raven's Treason

Chapter 15

I'm not surprised to end up in the dungeons underneath the palace. I once walked these halls in shackles, then freed myself with a simple execution of trickery. That won't happen this time, but the palace is too hellbent on focusing on the chaos inside the city to notice the familiar-looking woman being led towards her doom. Only, she's not the person they have smiled at, spoken to, fed and provided a life for.

The few that recognize me underneath white hair and red eyes stop in their tracks. Their mouths stop short of falling open. Just as soon as I have arrived, I'm in a dungeon cell to wait out my fate.

It seems to take hours. Hours that I don't hear from Cloak, Gustus, Theo—anyone that might help me. Setsuko kept her head down as Aela dragged her back up the dungeon stairs, saying they needed to find their mother. Her words were clipped. She's not pleased with how this night has gone, and I fear the day won't be any better.

As I wait for my death, random guards bring in soulless soldiers that were cornered, then captured when they couldn't get through to their queen's order. Shortly after they arrive, they disintegrate into ash once Wyetta Terravale realizes they won't appear from the city innards any time soon. Their dark cells remain empty, only illuminated when the dungeon walkways are exposed against an open door.

Finally, a young guard with shaking hands retrieves me from my cell but we don't go far. He deposits me in an interrogation room with four strong walls and a bolted door that he locks from the outside, leaving me alone within. I stare down at the wooden chair covered in claw marks, the wobbly table, and the single seat on the other side.

A blood stain in the corner of the room, seeping into the cracks between thick stone, catches my attention. I swallow the dryness in my throat, surprised when vomit replaces it.

My body is exhausted from using such a large amount of magic in a short period of time. Luminaries are mostly limitless in what they can do. Every other magical being in this land, whether wizard, witch, or healer, must keep a strong eye out for their limitations. Their magic will drag their bodies down, same as mine is doing.

I have no desire to partake in their waiting game, but the weight of the shackles around my wrists tugs me towards the chair and I wince against the bark in my bones as I ease myself down. The wood groans, threatening to break underneath my drooping weight, but I have more important matters to worry about. My life, my family, whether I'll ever be forgiven.

Either way, I won't regret protecting what others refused to.

I remain in the chair for another stretch of time that expands beyond the normal limits. Nothing outside the door alerts me to an approaching guard, royal member, or living beast entirely. I'm alone. I hang my head, closing my burning eyes to drift off into an unforgiving sleep, when the door opens.

My head shoots up in expectance of seeing someone I can trust, someone that can save me, but I frown at Aela's matching expression. She comes into the room, just barely, and presses her back to the closed door. The guard on the other side bolts the door so I can't make a mad escape against one of the strongest women in the kingdom. As if I would ever try.

She crosses her arms over her chest and narrows her eyes at me. I don't know what to say, where to look. My ability to breathe normally without fear of being sliced apart suddenly vanishes and I'm left to figure out how to return my body to its normal functions. I won't have much longer to figure it out—hours at most.

Extensive time has passed already, at least I believe, but Aela hasn't received the chance to change out of her armor or clean off her face more than to swipe her fingers across it, spreading the black blood through her rough curls and across her eye, cutting into the bridge of her nose. Covered with enough blood of her own making, I can't tell where her jaw ends and where her neck begins.