Page 52 of When Roses Burn
He started walking again, and I stumbled to keep up. “I’m putting her in the west tower,” he shot over his shoulder. “I expect you to see to her needs.”
My heart sank, and my heels dug into the floor as panic assailed me. No, not another tower.
“We’re not your servants!” another sprite called after us.
“No, you’re not, but she’s the key to breaking this curse, and if you want it lifted, then you’ll help keep her alive,” Knox called back.
All amusement vanished from the sprites, the smiles slipped from their faces, and their heads turned to watch us. Bertie rose from the rafters and swooped down to the ground. Her tiny feet thudded across the floor as she followed us, but I had no idea what she was saying as Knox’s words kept ringing in my head.
I jerked on my arm, but it was like trying to pry a soul free from the gods. “I’m not going in a tower!”
Knox ignored me as he easily pulled me onward. With all my common sense flying out the window, I jerked harder on my arm before giving up and letting insanity take over. I slapped at his hand, and when he didn’t so much as acknowledge me, I started punching his arm as I tried to break free.
“I’m not going in a tower!” I yelled.
I’d spent a year locked in one of my mother’s towers, gazing at the land and shut off from the world. While it hadn’t been the punishment of the harem, I still had nightmares about the clicking sound of the lock turning into place.
I couldn’t be trapped like that again. I might die if the racing of my heart was any indication. Unfortunately, I was useless against him, and none of them were paying attention to me.
“How is she the key?” Bertie demanded. “Who is she?”
“She’s Queen Marina’s daughter,” Knox replied.
Bertie, whom I suspected was rarely clumsy, tripped over her feet and almost face-planted. She righted herself as a gasp ran through the rest of the sprites.
“It’s her,” some of them whispered to each other. “She’s the reason for the curse.”
The laughter and warmth I’d sensed from the sprites when I first arrived vanished. In its place was the open curiosity and animosity I’d become familiar with since Knox found me in the harem.
Great, he’s just taken the one thing I enjoyed about this kingdom from me. And now he’s going to lock me away again.
“Where did you find her?” Bertie demanded.
“In the harem,” Knox stated.
“You went back there! Are you insane?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Knox
I’d asked myself that question more than a few times over the years since being locked in the harem. Somewhere along the way, I was sure I’d gone more than a little crazy, but one of the least crazy things I’d done was getting my hands on Briar again.
She claimed she couldn’t break the curse and knew nothing about it, but I didn’t believe her. I didn’t care what it took; I would make her tell me the truth.
Briar continued to dig her heels in as she slapped—no, that was a punch, I realized with amusement—my hand. When we reached the stairs and started climbing toward the first floor, she tripped over the first step, lost her balance, and would have gone down if I didn’t jerk her up again.
When she looked up at me, her hair clung to her flushed face as she gazed beseechingly up at me. “I know you hate me, but please don’t put me in a tower,” she whispered.
A tug of empathy pulled at my conscience. I hated the small part of me that sympathized with her, but I knew what it was like to be locked away, and I would never let it happen to me again.
But I had to admit, it was more than that. There was a time when I would have torn the stars from the sky and burned down the heavens for her. I would have destroyed anyone and anything that made her beg.
I’d believed that part of me was dead, but it stirred deep within me. I didn’t want to be anywhere near her, but I also didn’t like making her unhappy. The conundrum of it pissed me off.
However, if she hated the idea of being in a tower this much, then it might be another way to get the truth from her. Maybe she’d start talking after being locked away for a few days.
“Seth,” she whispered.
