Page 25 of Memory of Ashes

For the first time, she wondered who Casyl was when he wasn’t a commander.

She leaned closer, holding his gaze. The liquor gave her a confidence she rarely had. Her lips parted, a warmth spreading down her body.

His abrupt retreat jolted her back to reality.

What was she doing? She was his prisoner, yet in that moment, she hadn’t felt like she was.

“Try to sleep,” he said, and swept out of the room, leaving Amelia standing alone, feeling like an idiot.

Chapter 7

They moved her from her dark little room. It had been safer than the forest, but it still wasn’t freedom. She wouldn’t miss it. The image of the guard lying dead on the floor replayed in her mind.

Everyone wanted her dead.

Carrying her few possessions, she followed Ruven as he led her away.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked him. They were heading towards one of the turrets at the back of the fortress.

“Casyl has given orders that you’re to occupy the room below his,” he said. “I imagine it’s so he can keep you alive more efficiently. You’re becoming a bit of an inconvenience, you know.” He turned to her with a broad grin.

The memory of last night made her cheeks burn. What had she been thinking? She blamed the liquor. Ruven was right. It was strong.

They stopped outside a door, and Ruven opened it, ushering her into a small corridor. She had always stayed clear of this part of the fortress.

Another door stood on one side of the corridor, while steps at the far end curved around the turret and disappeared into darkness.

“Don’t go up there,” he said. “That’s Casyl’s private residence.” He opened the other door, checking that the room was clear before allowing her inside.

At first glance, the room was much nicer than the last two she’d occupied.

“I’ll see you at training,” he said, closing the door behind him.

She scanned the room. This one had a small window that looked out to the sea. She sat on the bed to test its comfort, then placed her things beside her. A tapestry hung on the wall opposite her, depicting a man riding a winged creature. It was the first piece of decor she’d seen.

The building was a cold, hard place to live. The discovery of the Viewpoint and the library had increased her estimation of those who inhabited it. Cold, harsh brutes—that was what she’d thought of them, but the more she got to know them, the more she could relate to them.

The king was the harshest of them all, but luckily, she was rarely in his company. She shuddered, thinking of how he’d gone into her memories, pulling them apart, discarding what he didn’t find useful. How much had he seen? What had he been looking for?

Ruven had been the friendliest, with his mischievous grins and teasing nature. He wasn’t truly her friend. None of them were her friends, but he came the closest.

Tharos hadn’t softened towards her. He’d been ordered to train her, and that was all he would do, but he would do no more than required.

She’d barely seen Casyl since the attempted assassination. She couldn’t read him. He could appear as indifferent to her as Tharos, but then she’d catch him watching her intently in the training yard. He unsettled her like an ancient mystery, one she wasn’t sure she wanted to solve.

When she’d asked Ruven about him, he’d simply told her he’d been busy preparing their troops.

Since the day of the attempted assassination, guards and fortress staff had been taken away in groups. Some she never saw again. She pretended not to hear the screams echoing from deep beneath the fortress floor. She’d seen Casyl once, coming into the turret as she was leaving. Blood covered him, though she found no wounds beneath it. He passed her with no acknowledgement.

Just as she began to grasp the basics of self-defence, her training intensified.

Ruven continued teaching her hand-to-hand combat, while Danae had added elemental defence to her training.

Danae was strong and feisty. Even Tharos treated her with deference. She was the only other woman in the fortress.

Her training with Tharos became less frequent as he, too, began disappearing for long periods. She assumed Danae was his replacement.

Danae could control fire with her mind. She coated her weapons in white-hot flames, which Amelia had to extinguish with her mind whilst defending herself with a sword. It was all she could do to block her incoming attacks.