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Thebreadspoiled on my tongue. “So it’s true. You are trapping me in this room. Why call it a reflection room when there’s already a name for it: prison cell.”
“We are not trapping you in this room, girl,” the commander said. He moved to the iron statue and flipped a latch I hadn’t noticed before. The calm, immortal woman split from her body. “We’re putting you in here. This is the reflection room.”
Cold leached into my bones.
“It’s nothing like a prison cell.”
Because it was even worse. Lethal sharp spikes lined her dark, hopeless insides.
The reflection room was an iron maiden.
“N-no,” I whispered. “No! You can’t put me in there. I won’t go!”
I raced to the door, hand closing on—
“Sleep.”
Black crowded my vision. The world went dark.
Chapter Thirteen
Sweat trickled down my nose—slow, tickling, and unseen in the dark. To wipe it away was to line my prison with more shredded skin.
I shuddered, biting my lip hard. Pain sent a jolt to my brain and I peeled my eyes open. It made no difference to the dark, but falling asleep made a difference to my life.
That bread stopped me from feeling hunger, thirst, and the burning urge to pee. It did nothing to stop me from needing to sleep.
And that’s by design. They want me to wobble on shaking legs, desperately fighting to stay awake while pointed sentries haunted the dark. After one night, anyone trapped in here is begging to give Headmaster Drakos everything he wants.
Don’t let him break you. Stay awake, Aella.
Stay awake. Think of Mom holding strong all these years—waiting and trusting that we’d be together again. If she can hold on, so can I.
All I have to do is stay... awake...
THE MAIDEN REVEALEDher prize, and my blood graced the stone before me. I followed, collapsing in a heap on the ground.
“Get up, girl.”
Commander Vasili grabbed my forearms. My blood slicked his hold, dropping me right back on the floor.
“Ahh!” Pain ravaged my entire front and the half of my face unfortunate enough to meet the spikes. “P-please... help...”
“I said get up.”
I tried. Pushing up, my ruined hands dumped me flat. The world spun as two pairs of boots paused by either side of my head.
The commander and a man my double vision didn’t recognize hooked me under the arms. I knew nothing other than I was moving. Leaving. My leather-wrapped toes knocked against each step as they carried me up.
I lifted my head and it lolled, tipping my chin to the ceiling. “How... long?”
I wasn’t asking them. I was speaking to the goddess. She was with me as the hours bled. Always with me, always laughing, always crowing about her imprisonment coming to an end.
“Three days.”
Cool air hit my face. I think I blacked out because when I woke again, I was in the infirmary. Healer Helena bustled over when I sat up.
I was in a soothing place of brown limestone walls and two rows of soft beds resting beneath its own stained-glass windows. They cast a myriad of colors on me as the healer shoved vial after vial in my hand.
