Page 181 of Ignite
Daimon fades into darkness down the hallway, not sparing me a second glance.
“Graylen,”I scream into my mind, desperate for him to hear me but knowing it’s useless.“Hold on for me.”
But my thoughts are only met with silence.
Seventy-Five
Pyrite
Cold breath spansacross my face, lightly pulling me out of sleep and back into my body. I blink my eyes open, sensation returning to my toes and fingers, then spreading throughout the rest of my body.
Wide black eyes hover above me, Anisia’s dark pixie cut spilling over half of her face.
I jolt awake and try to scramble away from her, my chest heaving as she makes no moves to lean back. In fact, she leanscloser. With the cage as small as it is, there isn’t anywhere to go.
“What are you doing?” I snap.
My heart is still pounding against my chest, causing my breath to come out in short gasps.
She smiles a toothy grin, too wide and strange on her emotionless face to be considered comforting. “The Lord of Shadows said it was time you awoke from your nap.”
Anisia’s voice rises and falls in odd patterns as she speaks, asif she weren’t human but somethingpretendingto be human and had only watched people talk from afar.
“You were tossing in your sleep,” she continues, still leaning in closely. “Trouble with your dreams?”
My nostrils flare at the hazy dream she had woken me up from.
Graylen was there—I know he was. He felt so far from me, like the connection between us was still broken but one single thread remained. It held us together, but not enough for me to speak with him or feel him.
He was stuck somewhere—likely in pain, given where he was—while I’m trapped here.
I ball the bottom of my ragged leather top into my hands, squeezing the anger coursing through my body into it.
“What’s tonight?” I ask, ignoring her question.
If I’m expected to leave this room today, it could give me a chance to escape. Even if I have to fight my way out—while my magic stays under lock and key—then I’ll do what has to be done.
Finally, Anisia stands up, giving me room to breathe. “The Lord of Shadows will be here soon,” she sings. “I’ve prepared your things while you rested.”
She motions to an array of items beside her, things I didn’t realize were there. A comb, a pail of water with a sponge resting in it, and a soft box wrapped up.
Memories of Avery helping me back in Crea’s castle come flooding in as Anisia prepares a bath for me. Except this bath is ice-cold. It smells faintly metallic, the odor oozing from the shadows writhing off of her.
After I bathe—though I’m not sure I smell any better—Anisia dries me with a cloth, the material stiff and itchy. She brushes my hair with the pearly white comb she’d kept safely tucked at her hip.
Smart, since I could likely stab her with it.
“The bone of a human that got lost here a few crescentmoons ago,” she says when she notices me eyeing it. The comb glides through strands of my hair, the ends sharp and digging into my scalp just slightly.
Bile rises in my throat. I swallow down the acid that threatens to spill out of my mouth.
She makes a noise in the back of her throat—the sound scratchy and off. But she seems pleased enough, because she waves her hand, vanishing the comb.
Next, she picks up the box from beside her. It’s wrapped in shiny black paper and topped with an inky velvet bow.
“He had it made for you.” Her voice rises at the end awkwardly, like she isn’t used to speaking.
“He?” I question.
