bChapter /bb183 /b

Eryx POV

The corridor feels far colder now than it had before. It’s not just the air around me that’s cold, but inside my chest is, where something twists btight /band aching. We move forward, but the more I walk the more the feeling builds and I know that I’m getting closer to her.

Suddenly, a sharp and stabbing pain hits me, right beneath my ribs. I stagger against the wall as it burns. My mother’s hands catch me.

“Eryx, are you okay?” She asks.

The pain isnt‘ from the fight, it’s different, it feels far deeper. It’s her, it’s April.

I’m getting close because the bond is screaming through me now, it’s like a knife that’s catching fire. I push away from the stone, ignoring my parents and clutch my step. I focus on the pain and let it guide me, then run forward, ignoring the calls of my parents behind me to slow down. I can’t, this pain is

awful and the closer I get to her the worse it is.

I turn left sliding through a narrow cut in the tunnel that I would have missed if the pain wasn’t dragging me forward.

The walls curve tighter here, they are rougher and it’s as if whoever made this part of the tunnel cared little to none about the structure or ease of passage. This part wasn’t build for ess it was varbed out of desperation or maybe secrecy? I follow it, fingers dragging along the damp rock until te to a halt in front of a door.

It’s an old, stone–framed with a b of heavy oak. I can already feel the summer of magic rolling off the door before I even raise a hand to it. The air is humming like it’s alive and when I press my hand against the surface, it shocks me back with so much force that I stumble. This is wrong, he’s sealed it with his own power. He is hoping to ensure that I can’t enter.

I don’t care what he hopes for I will get in this room, she’s inside of it, I can feel her energy on the other side of the door. It’s weak, and growing weaker by the second, I can’t do this alone I need my mother to help me with it.

A momentter I hear footsteps echo down the corridor behind me. Turning, I see my mother round the corner, and her eyes sweep the walls before bthey /bnd on the door. She doesn’t even ask, I can see it in her face that she knows what it is.

She steps up beside me, ces her hand against the wood, and closes her eyes.

“It’s bound and woven tightly,” she murmurs. She races the air with her fingers, and draws counter sigils that glow faintly in the dark. “He didn’t want anyone getting in. This isn’t a deterrent. It’s a prison. She’s not meant to be able to get out and no one is meant to be able to enter.”

“Then break it,” I whisper, my voice hoarse with urgency. “Please”

I watch her and she nods once then begins to get to work. Her magicyers over the seal like a second skin. The sounds of the door groaning under the pressure, the enchantment resisting her touch for a while. Then there’s a violent crack, the runes snap and fade, disintegrating into dust that dances once in the air before vanishing.

The moment the barrier drops, I m the door open and charge inside.

The smell hits me first, it’s coppery and sharp, the unmistakable stench of blood mixed with damp stone and something sour, something bwrong/b. bThe /broom is small, barely a cell, with no windows and only a single torch flickering weakly in the wall bracket. The shadows stretch long bacross /bbthe /bbfloor/bb, /bbbut/bb! /bdon’t see anything at first.

It’s as if the room is empty, then i see. She’s there curled up on the floor in the corner near the far wall, her body is crumpled in ba /bbway /bbthat /bno living person should ever lie. She’s naked, bruised, and beaten so badly that I freeze mid–step. Her skin is marked with blood and dirt, purpled bwelts /bbacross /bbher /barms and thighs, dried streaks where she must have bled and been left ito /irot.

I slowly notice the bites, there’s so many of them, and I can’t sense her wolf either which means she’s not healing. He’s bbitten /bbher/bb, /bbnot /bbjust /bbwhere /bbhe /bneeded to as a im, but everywhere like he enjoyed taking chunks from her.

bSome /bare shallow, others deep and raggedb, /blike they were meant to tear, not im. My vision blurs as bI /bbfall /bbto /bbmy /bbknees /bbeside bher/bb, /bbnot /bbeven /bbrealizing /bbthe /bsound I’m making until my hand touches her shoulder and I hear my own voice breaking her name.

b1/2 /b

10:10 bSun/b, b27 /bbJul /b

“April…”

She doesn’t move.

Her chest rises–barely—but it’s there. Faint. Too faint.

I pull her gently toward me, cradling her in my arms like I can shield her from what’s already happened. Her skin is ice cold, her lips bpale/b, and there’s a

do this? How could he do this? What sort of monsterb. /bring of purple around her throat that sends fury crashing through me again. How could anyone would do this and find pleasure in it?

My mother steps into the room, and the gasp she makes is soft but sharp. She doesn’t ask. She doesn’t speak. She kneels beside me andys ba /bglowing hand on April’s chest, searching for something, maybe life, hope, anything.

“she’s alive,” she whispers, but it’s strained. “Barely. He didn’t feed her. He didn’t clothe her. He didn’t even chain her, Eryx. He left her here bto /bbdie/b. bI /bbdon’t /bthink he expected us to arrive this soon, he was clearly hoping she would die before you found her.”

I look down at April again, brushing hair from her face, careful not to touch anything too tend leaving you.”

“We’re going to get you out. I’m here now. I swear I’m not

Behind me, footsteps rush in as more guards arrive, followed by my father, his face drawn tight with anger and horror. He doesn’t speak for ba /bblong /bmoment, just stares at the girl in my arms like he’s seeing the very thing he warned me about made flesh.

“We need a healer,” he says sharply. “Now.”

One of the guards turns and bolts back down the hall.

“Don’t let iher /idie,” I whisper, holding her closer. “Please don’t let her die.”

Laift