Page 169 of Taken By Shadows

Aged brown bricks of a walled rose garden grew around us where we walked. It was darker here as the fae lights failed to spill past the high wall.

“I am sorry, Imogen.” Eryk’s voice was wrung out.

Remorse sat in my gut for how I didn’t react to his kiss well. It was a stupid way to feel. It would have been less awkward if I’d just relaxed into it. But it wouldn’t have been right.

Despite that, I smiled. “Let’s just forget about the kiss.” I waded farther into the rose bushes.

“No.” He paused somewhere behind me, but I couldn’t see anything anymore with the night all around me. “I’m sorry about this.”

In the dark, a yellow glow shimmered to life, and I felt it lash to me the second it touched my skin.

Panic filled my lungs as I remembered the horrendous pain of the soldiers’ magic that night. How it had hemmed me to the ground, forced me to bend under its will.

Screams tore from me before I even knew what was happening.

Whatever this was, it was different to the magic the soldiers trained for.

It wasn’t crushing. It was draining.

My muscles burned as the acidic magic stripped away layers of their strength.

More magic fell into me and my body crumpled. That night outside the gates, when the soldiers’ magic had touched me, it had weighed me down like an iron cage. But this, this was drawing my strength straight from my whole being.

Stuttered screams were punctuated by bouts of blunt and agonising pain. “Eryk! Please! Stop …” I panted.

But the pain continued, and I wailed as it ripped through my arms and down my back. The weight of the magic was like the ocean bearing down on me.

“Eryk can’t stop anything. He was only my broker. He’s been very helpful. For the most part,” a voice hissed through the darkness.

I let out a gasping cry as the power in my legs was drained away into the corn-hued magic, and I stumbled.

“I think I’ve been more than patient,” the voice spoke again.

“Huxley, what’s wrong with her?” Eryk said, as his hand landed on my shoulder. I tried to throw it off, but I didn’t manage more than a shrug.

“Huxley! You’re killing her!”

“Nonsense! I’m hardly channelling any power.”

“What do you want?” I rasped. My throat was raw from the screams already wrenched from it.

I didn’t expect an answer from my attacker, but Huxley actually knelt down beside my aching body. His magic never let up.

“Eryk has sold you out, I’m afraid. And I agreed to help him get what he wants.”

My mouth tried to form words but nothing came as pain stole my voice as well as my will to control my body.

“I’ve wanted you since I saw you first,” Huxley continued, “and I knew you’d never choose me if you had other options. I knew my chances against Kaedian were slim. My own mother cares for him more than she does me. So I knew I couldn’t play fair to get you. And I don’t mind that.” His smile was harrowing in the ghoulish glow.

With that, he added another wave of magic. I screamed as my head felt like it was going to crack open.

“Huxley. Enough. What’s happening?” Eryk’s usually steady voice had a slight stammer as he watched Huxley’s magic strip me of my strength.

“Eryk … why—”

Eryk sighed, and then he took a steadying breath. “I’d have gotten you out. I’d have taken you with me … I tried to convince you …” He hung his head. “But I’m practical, Imogen. And I need to ensure this city, the Corners survive what’s coming. Huxley is not my first supporter towards a council seat, but he is instrumental in furthering my place within this city. And once Kaedian tears through this city looking for you, they will need a strong hand to help rebuild.”

As though the tide had pulled out and left behind its wreckage on the shore, I felt I could finally see all the pieces come together. Eryk had planned to remove me from Kaed’s side. And when I hadn’t gone with him, he’d offered me up as collateral in his plans.