CROWN OF GLASS ✔

72 | ACT IV, SCENE XI

"She's not answering you, Tristan," Halette cried out. "They must have - oh lord... they must have chained her in Ekrite or even worse-"

Bloodstone.

"I have to go!"

The forest outside the gates loomed dark and foreboding in the night, and the Cheviot Mountains stood there, blanketed in quiet silence.

She could be anywhere - anywhere.

"Where will you find her, Tristan?" Atherton shouted over the din of voices in the party. "She could be anywhere, for all we know!"

In answer, the sharp pain in my chest tugged me to the right, away from the mountains and towards the sea.

"Here!"

"That's the coastline of the Ocemond Sea, it leads to Ellesmere and Suncairn - Eric's home. Why would she be there?" Atherton wondered.

Again, the pain tugged my feet in that direction, unceasing and relentless, like an invisible string leading straight to her.

"I don't know - I have to go and find her, for fuck's sake!" I shouted at him, gripping Aetherius. Even the sword failed to reassure me with its imposing presence - so fraught my nerves were, so taut with worry.

"I'm coming with you," Halette whispered with a sob, touching my arm. "She was my friend."

Atherton nodded his agreement and buckled his belt as well, handing a blade to Halette and gathering his weapons to follow us both.

Guided by the pain in my chest and praying for her, the three of us set off into the night,

• • • • •

EDWINA

I started, blinking, as blood dripped from my raw finger.

Alaric had skinned my fingers down to bare bones, curling the skin off with the flaying knife in one long, practiced stroke.

I would have begged him to cut off my finger if that could stop the pain.

"Tell me how to open it," Aidon demanded.

"Fuck off," I spat.

"I'll frame your body and hang it on the wall when I'm done with you," Alaric said smugly, sneering.

It hurt, it hurt so badly that I just wanted it to stop. For once and for all. My body was in a state of constant fire now, poison having reached all its corners, and it struck me that I was going to die in a matter of a few more minutes.

In pure agony.

My vision had begun to blur now, my heart sending out intense palpitations as it began to pound mercilessly, making me limp and helpless at its mercy. I couldn't hear a word of what they were saying now, so delirious and crazed I was, I knew nothing but the pain, everything turning black and the waves rolling over me.

I was spitting out blasphemy, curse after curse, each and every word of the languages I knew, the most vile curses I could blurt out, even in defiance, even in pain. Giving in and confessing and screaming was not an opinion, all that remained to me was that I died, that I gave up my life guarding the secret. I knew the ruffians would go after Eric or Tristan next, all I hoped was that they'd learn the lesson from my death and guard the cube carefully.