[THIS STORY WILL BE TAKEN DOWN ON SEPTEMBER 30, 2024]
He had hunted me, captured me, and locked me in a tower.
Season 3 'Of Crows and Thorns'
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While in RISING, Tabitha discovers something peculiar that may assist Nelle in her plan to escape the...
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My damp hair slithered over my shoulder as I tipped my head to the side, watching Graysen intently, trying to read the nuances across his features. But he was better at hiding himself than I was. "What do you want from him?" Was it something he could do for them or something he possessed?
Regret flickered in his gaze. "I can't tell you."
Annoyance sluiced through my veins as I braced a hand on my hip. "Can't or won't?"
"Can't."
Anger heated my blood as I marched toward the opening in the adamere walls. Somehow I'd figure it out.
Behind me, Graysen sighed. "Even if we couldn't use you to get into the Witches Ball, we'd still have need of you to bind Byron."
The words, the truth, sank through me like waterlogged sand. My temper was saturated by despair and thinned away. I slowly swiveled around and it seemed to take an eternity before I faced him once more. Such hopelessness rose up to claim me. It would be so easy to welcome the nothingness, to give in, give up. My hands were tied, had always been tied.
I blinked back the useless tears stinging the backs of my eyes. My voice broke. "I was always going to end up here, wasn't I?"
"Yes," he said quietly, ducking his head and staring at me beneath long eyelashes. His gaze was intense and wary, I suppose wondering if this time I was going to break.
My shoulders fell, along with my gaze to my toes and the luxurious loops of dark gray carpet.
Gods, there really had been no hope for me...
Yet I refused to give into the inky wretchedness settling inside me. Instead, I simply breathed, through my distress. One long, slow breath at a time. I lifted my head, each of us holding one another's gaze—Graysen's eyes much softer, worried—until the knots in my body loosened and I calmed enough to turn and walk away.
Wandering outside, the magic of the tower brushing like the silky flank of a cat against my skin. Perhaps being the weekend, the inner courtyard was quieter than usual, with only a few soldiers purposely wandering across the cobblestones, heading to their posts for the night shift rotation.
The stone heated by the sun warmed my feet as I padded around the balcony. The wind whipped strands of my hair about my shoulders as I headed to the other side of the tower, where we hovered high above the buildings in the Keep's northern wing, and the forest dipped in greeny-gold and lemony hues stretched to the rolling hills beyond.
Graysen followed behind. His footsteps were silent, but I felt him. A sensation tickled the back of my neck, whispering that I wasn't alone, that he was nearby, and tugged at me to turn back to him.
Rough stone prickled my skin as I wrapped my fingers around the balcony railing, drinking in the twilight sky, awash with dirty blues and creeping muted grays.
