FOR THE UNKNOWN KINGDOM | BOOK 1

CHAPTER 35

And maybe someday, I could escape that frozen warehouse too.

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The moment the masked man came for me again, I didn't feel fear, but a primal need to end him. For the way he could control my mind just with a movement of his fingers, for the way he dragged me in this room and didn't let go of me until I was shackled to the bed. I wanted him gone and forever forgotten, his name not even a speckle of dust floating directionless in the universe.

They'd gotten Ian earlier in the day, and I'd been left alone in his cell of a room thinking, contemplating, wondering, wondering if there was a possibility that this masked man could be stopped, tamed. There had to be a way.

As he staggered toward me, I jerked my head toward him. I'd never done that before. I'd always avoided his stare, even though I could never fully ignore his threatening presence.

"Another day with this cruel beauty," he murmured, as he scanned me from head to toe, grinning.

Despite focusing my stare on him, I willed my mind to revolve around the same thoughts that had been keeping me company during the unending moments on that bed. I wouldn't give my attention to him, to anyone here. But this time, it was harder than in the giant room with the beds. I didn't know why, but there was something in the way he stood before me, his hands crossed beneath his chest, black-clad and deadly. Keeping my shoulders loose, I breathed in and then out.

Nothing. I would be his pawn in a matter of a few heartbeats.

He took a step closer. My stomach tightened.

I tried to summon my magic, but not an ember, not a drop of water, not a crystal, not a gust of wind roared gloriously in my veins. Nothing. There was nothing in me. Two full weeks of learning how to control my magic were nothing. I knew that all along.

I didn't want to follow him. Ever again. I didn't want to go there. I wanted to forget every moment I'd been present, not absorbed in mindless scenarios and beautiful memories. Every moment that this red-eyed man had looked at me with insanity and flickering desire, every moment that his hands had made my body their temple.

His brows lifted when I was about to open my mouth. "Don't even try to fight me. It's pointless."

Angling my head to the side at the sound of the raw command, I considered his words. What would happen if I fought back? Why he hated the most the ones who ignored him? There had to be a way to stop him. Because I was losing time with all the Red Days here. I was losing time and energy. And the Gap World would lose its new kingdom soon if I didn't do something.

So, as he pointed his fingers at me, I kneeled to the ground, like Ian always used to do, and bowed to him. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe nothing could limit his power. But I still had to try. I just had to push myself more.

This time, I thought of my parents and all the birthday parties they had thrown over the years for me. I thought of my last day in Lantra and brought back the image of my mother crying, my father holding her. I remembered that I hadn't even managed to tell them how much I loved them and how much I cared for them. I hadn't told them I was sorry for what I'd put them through. I hadn't even had enough time to say my farewell.

And that was my weakest point. Thinking about them always managed to bring me to tears. And even though the masked man pointed his finger at me, I wasn't thinking of him and the brutalities that would follow. I was ignoring him, and maybe ignorance was the same thing as fighting. More important even.

Because even though I was following him, I knew what was going on, I knew that I was following him by my own will. And the moment he turned his back to me and started leading the way toward my most hated room, I stopped thinking about my parents and focused again on my surroundings.