Threatened [W&W Book 2]

Chapter 40

There was a noise. It came, not from the door, but from the window.

Anya pushed herself up with her shackled hands. She turned to look at the window and leaned on the wall. Thorne would have no reason to send Damani again. Had he sent someone to kill her? Perhaps he feared that she would talk, although surely he knew that she could not. Or did someone else have a motive?

Did it matter?

She watched as a person rose into view. It was late afternoon and she could see his face clearly. He wore a dark mask that covered all but his eyes, but she recognized those cold blue eyes instantly.

"Thorne." How fitting that he would be there at the end of all the troubles when he had been the one to set them all in motion.

"Anya," he said, his voice mocking.

She supposed that he had come to kill her. She wondered if she should scream. Had he left someone with orders to kill the twins if he did not return?

"You look rather awful," he commented.

Anya did not answer. Of course she looked awful. She had not washed in days and she had been under terrible stress since the moment he came into her life. She did not care what he thought as long as he did not hurt the twins.

"Where are Damani and Kallie?" she asked.

He looked at her. "They are well and safe."

"Let them go, Thorne. You promised."

Thorne chuckled. "You're not dead yet. Nor is Wildwood. Nor is the king."

So she had failed. Anya gritted her teeth together. "I'm as good as dead. Send them somewhere far away where they will not be a threat to you."

"Your concern for your siblings is most touching," he said in a voice that suggested to Anya that he did not even truly know what the words truly meant. "But what about you? It's true. You will be executed for what you have done."

"For what you have forced me to do," Anya corrected, looking up at him. The blame did not solely rest upon her shoulders.

Thorne nodded. "It's true. But you have been useful, and you still have great potential." Thorne looked her over indolently. "And I must say, you do have a certain explosive flair I cannot help but appreciate."

"None of that matters," she said bitterly. "My hands are tied; I'll likely be dead in a fortnight," she said, rattling the chains on her arms as a potent demonstration.

Thorne chuckled. So he had come to laugh at the disaster he had created, had he?

Anya wished that she still had the ignition potion or the dagger. She would happily die along with the cruel manipulator standing in front of her.

Thorne spoke. "They have not decided what precisely to do with you yet. The king is rather out of commission at the moment. You probably would have succeeded, my talented little witch, but that bastard Wildwood shielded the king from the worst of it. He's always been a nuisance. The king will survive thanks to his meddlesome interference, more is the pity."

Anya narrowed her eyes. "How terrible," she agreed dryly.

"But you have little time left, so we must conclude our business quickly."

Anya let out a deep breath and waited. What business could he possibly have, now?

"I have come to offer you a chance to live, Anya," he said.

Anya could not stop her eyes from widening with shock. Clearly there was some ulterior motive. "What do you want?"

Thorne shook his head. "There's no time to discuss it now. Will you come with me? You must decide now." He held out his hand.