bChapter /bb207 /b

    Eryx POV

    After hours of my parents shouting at each other, my father finally agreed with me. He agreed I should be locked in the cells, at least until something is done about the Hollowed Queen.

    my skin.

    That’s where I’ve been now for days. The damp stone walls close in on me, the air thick with the stench of rust and stale water. My wrists are chained above my head, the iron biting deep into The chains retract just enough to let me shift, but not enough to let me reach anything that could be turned into a weapon. They’ve stripped the cell bare for that reason, just me, the chains, and the toilet in the corner. Nothing else. Nothing I can use if she pushes me to strike.

    My body feels weaker every day. Every time she takes over, it drags me closer to the edge, and when Ie back I feel like there’s less of me left. My father swears he’s found a warlock who might be able to help, but days pass with no sign of him, and the longer I’m down here, the more I wonder if anyone can help me at all.

    “You should eat,” my mother says softly.

    Her voice drifts from where she sits just outside the bars. My eyes snap toward her, sharp and cold, and she flinches under my stare.

    “You need to control your anger,” she adds carefully, as though the words might shatter me.

    “You need to leave me alone,” I snarl, my voice raw. I close my eyes and lean my head back against the wall. My skull throbs with the weight of it all. I don’t understand it. I’ve never hated my mother. I admired her. I thought she was the strongest, the bravest person I knew. But now? Now I can’t stand the sound of her voice. I hate looking at her face. The sight of her makes my stomach twist.

    “iYou /ishould stay away from me until this is fixed,” I grind out,

    “I won’t leave my son alone,i” /ishe whispers.

    “Do iyou /ieven hear yourself?” My voice rises, filled with venom. My hands tighten around the chains until the metal creaks. “I keep saying things to you that are vile, disgusting, cruel, and you still sit here. Why? Do you not realize the longer you stay, the more I hate you?”

    Her face crumples, but her voice stays firm. “I’m your mother. I would never leave my child alone.”

    A harshugh rips from my chest. “Don’t lie to yourself.” My eyes narrow. “Where’s my

    Her lips press together. “She was sent away. To protect her.”

    sister?”

    17:09 Tue, 26 Aug

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    I nod slowly, letting the silence stretch until it feels heavy in the air. “And you haven’t cared if she’s alive or dead since. How ironic.”

    “Eryx,” she breathes, her tears slipping again. “This isn’t you.”

    “Maybe it is.” I push forward, dragging the chains with me, the iron grinding as I step closer to the bars. “Maybe this is who I’ve always been. Maybe this is the part of me buried under all of your expectations, all of father’smands. Maybe I was always cruel. Always twisted.” I lean as far forward as the restraints allow, my voice breaking into a snarl. “And maybe the Hollowed iQueen /ididn’t create the monster in me. Maybe she just woke him up.”

    The longer she sits there, the worse it gets. My chest tightens, my head pounds, and the sound of her voice scrapes at me like broken ss. She doesn’t move, doesn’t stop, even when I tell her she should.

    “I said leave me alone!” I roar, jerking hard against the chains. The metal screams as it bites deeper into my wrists. The pain only feeds the rage, fuels it until it feels like fire pouring through my veins.

    I thrash again, the chains rattling violently, the chains around my ankles I’m bound to dragging across the floor. My mother flinches but doesn’t run. Her tears keeping, and I hate them. I hate her pity. I

    hate that she won’t go.

    Something stirs under my skin, hot and sharp. My magic. It sparks to life in my palms, tiny threads of it weaving through the cuffs. I can feel it, pushing, begging to be unleashed. My lips twist into a vicious grin.

    “Yes,” I whisper, the word a hiss through my teeth. “Finally.”

    My eyes lock on her. She doesn’t move. She’s frozen, still kneeling there, still watching me with that pathetic love. My hand tightens, the glow of my magic pulsing brighter, rising up my arm. For the first time in days, I feel power again.

    I aim it at her.

    Her eyes widen, and for a heartbeat, I can already see it, the st ripping across the cell, the force throwing her back. Her scream. Her finally staying away.

    But before it can burst free, a sharp voice cuts through the haze,

    “Enough!”

    My father.

    He’s there in an instant, faster than I can blink. He yanks my mother back, dragging her away from the bars. The magic in my hand flickers, sputtering out as rage twists into frustration.

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    17:09 Tue, 26 Aug

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    “Get out,” my father snaps at her, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You’re making it worse.”

    “No-” she starts, her voice breaking.

    “Go!” His roar shakes the walls.

    Finally, she stumbles to her feet and rushes toward the door, her sobs echoing as she disappears up

    the stairs.

    Nean forward, my breathing ragged, sweat slicking my skin. Then Iugh. The sound rips from me, cruel and jagged, bouncing off the stone walls until even the guards shift uneasily.

    23

    “I was so close,” I sneer, my eyes burning into where she stood moments ago. “So close to hitting her with my magic. And then she would’ve stayed away.”

    Theughes again, harsher this time, and I can’t stop it. It feels good. It feels right.

    Because now I know. All it will take is one strike, one taste of what I can do, and she’ll never daree

    near me again.