“NO!” Gareth yelled, his voice louder than I expected. My body felt like it had been electrocuted, as my heart jumped out of my chest.“Gareth, please, it’s our only option,” I pleaded. I needed him to understand, but knowing what I knew, this was going to be hard for him to accept.Tell him I am willing and ready to give my life Darius whispered in my mind. Just as we all were to save you before.I closed my eyes, pained. They were willing to give their lives to save me? How much was I giving up, to save them? It hardly seemed like a fair exchange.After everything I had done, after all the times I had tried to give up and run away, they had been willing to die. I needed to do more, no, I needed to be more.“There must be another way,” Gareth interrupted my thoughts with his panicked words.“There isn’t,” I bit back, a little too angrily. “Darius kn

“I want to go outside,” I said quietly to my two guards as we walked swiftly away from the dungeons. I had no idea how they would take this, but I wouldn’t take no for an answer.They exchanged a strange look but gave no response. Raena headed down a corridor I couldn’t remember seeing before. This made me worry. Were they going to take me to an isolated part of the castle and trap me? I tried to get a sense of their emotions, but I kept coming up against what felt like a stone wall.Worry bubbled in my stomach. We stopped in front of a small wooden door. I glanced at the both of them, panic taking hold. I attempted to calm myself down but nothing worked.Pollis grabbed my arm lightly, making me flinch away from him, his touch warm. “Don’t do anything stupid or it’s our heads.”Based on the large smirk Pollis gave me, I could only imagine the confused look I was giving him right now. They weren’t going

“It’s just through there,” Pollis whispered. We crouched behind a large crate on the other side of the castle. A large barn stood before us, wider than any horse stable I had ever seen. After I had described the image Amber had shown me, Pollis had known exactly where to go. Our breathing was ragged and a sharp pain stabbed my side. I gasped at the air as quietly as I could. Not an easy task. “Ladies first,” Pollis smiled, gesturing for me to lead the way. I crept around the side slowly. Two guards paced before the large wooden door, swords hanging from their hips. Two I mouthed at Pollis. He nodded, but his scepticism pulled at my chest. I touched his mind to hear his silent thoughts. And probably several more inside, oh I hope she can fight. I frowned at him. I could do more than fight. Taking a deep breath, I pushed forward, stepping out from the crate, Pollis only a few steps behind me. “I brought you, as Tynan ordered,” Pollis said loudly. His staged whisper was ridiculou

Mistress Jaida’s voice entered my mind. The bubbly personality that I remembered was gone, and had been replaced with one of authority. Come to my room now please, Kida. And if I don’t? I don’t want to say that you will be forced… but I’m not asking you. As she retreated from my mind, I gave a grumbled sigh. We had been back for a total of a week and in that time many people had come knocking on my door and demanding, begging, and even pleading, to speak to me. Jax, Tori, Jaida, even Blake, but I had ignored all of them. All I wanted, was to be alone. That was in the first two days and after that they had stopped coming, as if they had given up. It had taken Midnight’s pleading images of an empty food bowl to rouse me from my despaired, miserable sulking, to leave my room. That had opened the door for people thinking I was ready to be a part of civilisation, and now Jaida had summoned me. By her tone, I knew it would be noth

Alana’s eyes narrowed at me from the small opening in her door, the gloomy grey colour swirling around menacingly.“Do you realise what you are asking?” she asked for the fifth time, sounding still so shocked. “We would become linked.” A smirk touched her lips. “And you would have to follow my instructions.”I folded my arms across my chest. “I know that, but… it’s better than the other option.”She eyed me knowingly, a stab of sadness hitting me square in the chest. “You will have to face it sooner or later.”“I think I prefer later.”She snorted and opened the door wider to let me in.“Come in.”Her living room was small and cosy, something I never would have expected from her. It felt almost homely.Three puffy, green armchairs were positioned in a half-circle around a wooden table and each faced the empty fireplace, but al