Page 51 of Memory of Ashes

“No.” She didn’t know why, but she was sure that something terrible would happen.

They would force her. She could block his power if he tried to hurt her with it, but physically she was at his mercy.

Casyl turned to Ruven. The guards restrained Ruven while Casyl placed a hand on his head.

Amelia stood rigid as Ruven screamed.

His eyes rolled back in pain, and blood poured from his nose. He hadn’t tried to resist Casyl’s power.

She tried to stop Casyl, but it was too late. He now held a sword to Ruven’s throat. “Do it now before he bleeds out,” Casyl said.

“Stop! I’ll do it,” she cried. “Tell me how.”

“When you sense it, block it as you would someone else’s power,” Casyl said.

She closed her eyes again, her hands clenching into fists. She focused on the vibrations surrounding her and attempted to block the energy.

It wavered, but then the weight of the power grew, surrounding and smothering her. It was too much. She could feel it. It would crush her.

The explosion of power scorched the air and drove her to her hands and knees, blinding her. The ground trembled, and as her vision returned, the world before her had changed.

At first, it made no sense. The world was white and bright. It was familiar. It was snow. She saw her world directly, as if a veil had lifted.

Home.

The cave hadn’t been the portal; it was the mountain.

“She’s still alive,” a voice said from behind. “All that power against a human.”

“Bring her. We may still need her yet.” The king’s voice shook with triumph.

Tharos came forward and brought her to her feet. She was too weak to protest. Her body tingled all over, and his touch was painful. A scream rose within her, but no sound emerged. Her body was spent.

Ruven slumped to the ground. Casyl walked forward, leading his army from this world into the snow. She kept waiting for him to turn around to see the regret in his eyes. Just once.

Her chest tightened around the breath she had forgotten to release.

He didn’t.

She was still as the world kept moving.

She had not belonged in her city or among the fae. And now, because of her, the door between both worlds stood open like a wound.

The army marched forward, some of the fae hesitant, others jubilant. They cheered as they walked through the open wound to her world.

“What’s going to happen?” she croaked to Tharos. “What will you do?”

“The king’s will,” he said. “You’ll see for yourself.”

They were leading their entire army into the human world. She hadn’t ever considered that they’d become a threat to humans. How naive she had been. She had lived with these fae for months and had even grown to like a few, but now they were heading to her world. Her memories had given them a full understanding of it, and they were coming to wage war. Humans, even with their weapons, would struggle against their powers. They had annihilated the other fae army; they would find a human one laughable.

Ruven had not yet recovered. Blood crusted his face as the guards bound both prisoners’ hands and placed them on horses, leading them closer to the opening.

As they approached the opening, Amelia recoiled. It was unnatural, wrong. They passed through, as if they were walking through a doorway, and emerged on the snowy mountainside. The rest of the army trailed in the distance behind Casyl and the king.

Numbness swept through her. After a moment, the feeling subsided, yet her body no longer seemed entirely her own. It felt changed, almost alien. She could still move it, but her senses felt different. Her vision was altered. Everything had a strange vibrancy to it.

Their army marched forward under Casyl’s command, heading straight towards the nearest city. Tharos scouted in the distance.