FOR THE UNKNOWN KINGDOM | BOOK 1

CHAPTER 7

To go under the ocean with that purple-haired man who breathed magic and lies was reckless. I'd known from the very beginning that it would be a trap, a black hole that I was willing to fall into if it meant that my death would come by me, not by the hands of people who contaminated the notion of equality.

"Don't look away, Velian. Is that a goodbye?" she insisted, and I turned my head toward her side only to find her blue eyes already on me.

Thunder boomed. The rain grew wilder and the sky seemed to grieve with me for the impending doom. My stomach clenched as I said, "Of course, not. But just in case something goes really wrong, I wanted you to know all these things."

She let out a sigh of relief, offering me a warm smile like she'd expected something much worse than what I'd just said. If only she knew what I'd really wanted to say; if only she knew where I was going to be by midnight.

I grabbed the glass of water and the pill next to it since the time I had to take it had arrived. The moment I put it into my mouth, the chandelier started dangling from the sudden and roaring gust of wind and in an instant my mother was already closing the window, the curtains as well. Summer now seemed long gone. My will to stay here for one more second, as well.

Mom shook her head. "Nothing will go wrong."

My muffled and bitter laugh would have made her detect my lies if she hadn't been so caught up in the sight of the cast on my leg.

Her eyes had taken a lethal glint and I hoped all that rage that now flickered in her face wasn't a product of my stupid mistakes.

"What?" I dared to ask and as if my voice was her wakeup call, she let out a breath and moved her stare back to my face again. Not a hint of angst in her eyes anymore.

I watched her applying her favorite red lipstick on her full mouth, and then playing with her hair, trying to gather it into a perfect low ponytail for the rest of her workday.

Standing up, she gave me a quick peck on my cheek. "Remember to never allow your emotions to take hold of you. If you do, your blood will glow and everyone will know that you possess magic."

"I know—" I murmured but she didn't let me finish my sentence.

And I figured she must be late for work, because even though I tried to protest against her repeating the same advice about never expressing any negative emotion, she ignored me and continued anyway. Then she was gone.

I could sense my eyes dropping shut and my heartbeat slowing down. Even though it was still early in the afternoon, I surrendered to sleep as the most entertaining thing I could do with my time here.

🔱

When the physician had come, there had been no need to suppress every glimpse of fear that should have crowded my mind given the circumstances, and that was because I'd organized a detailed plan about the great escape. There wasn't a hint of horror in me anymore. The results of the blood analysis would come out tomorrow morning and whether they found something uncommon in me or not, I would be gone by then. Since I hadn't been afraid or anxious, the danger of immediately discovering the magic that existed in me had vanished and my blood had been the usual dark red color. It hadn't glowed.

Attempting to walk only two days after a severe injury would be a foolish thing for me to do. But here I was, using the crutches the physician had left besides my bed just a few hours ago, trying to find my balance and steady myself.

They shouldn't have informed him what a headstrong person I could be because if he'd known, he would have kept the crutches forever locked into some room I couldn't reach until I was supposed to. But that hadn't happened, so I was now trying with my not-so-creative mind to think of some way to walk around the room. For if I lay in that bed for a minute longer, I would let the darkness rule over. And I couldn't let that happen yet. I had better plans for the day ahead.