Page 63 of When Roses Burn

Not to mention, I’d spent ten years of my life locked away; I refused to lose anymore to a cell. Still, I would have to play along with all of this until I figured out how to get out of it.

But no matter what, I wouldn’t take any more of Knox’s crap either. I’d spent most of the past two days in a state of shock; that had worn off over the course of my endless night, and now I only felt resentment.

“Please, lead the way,” I said to the sprite.

Bertie led me through the castle, down the stairs, and to the right of the main entryway. We traversed a hallway full of plants; the windows lining the right side of the hall looked out onto a garden filled with trees and churned rows of dirt, with sprouts already growing.

My steps slowed as I took in more of what the sprites had created from the melancholy of this dwelling. They’d given life to a miracle after a time of complete despair. The life blooming here created a bubble of hope within me.

“This way.”

Bertie’s words pulled me away from the window. Her wings fluttered as she bobbed up and down at the end of the hall.

Turning away from the window, I hurried toward her. “You, and the rest of the sprites, have kept this place alive.”

“We’re doing our best.”

She sounded exhausted as she fluttered down the hall.

“I might be able to help,” I offered. “I have some healing magic; not much since I haven’t fully come into my powers yet, but I do have a way with plants.”

I’d always enjoyed working with plants and nature. Some of my happiest times were when I had my hands buried in dirt.

“We could use all the help we can get, but that will be up to Knox,” Bertie said.

She took another turn before entering a large room made up of windows. My breath sucked in at the magnificent view before me, and I stopped walking.

Outside the glass, rolling mountain ranges stretched endlessly onward, and the gray sky enveloped their towering peaks. Set on the edge of a cliff, there was not only a breathtaking view of the mountains but also the sheer drop beneath the cliff on which they’d built the room.

In the center of the room, a table made of solid wood that easily held twenty was polished to a perfect sheen. Hanging above it, light from the chandeliers made of tree branches reflected off the shiny surface.

The twinkling lights in the chandelier gave the room a bright, airy feel that the four occupants didn’t share. Knox sat at the head of the table. He’d turned his chair sideways and had one hand on the table as he stared out the windows toward the distant mountains.

Lyra, Pierce, and Dromon also sat at the table. No hint of what had passed between them last night could be gleaned, given their postures at the table as they eagerly ate their meals. The only sound in the room was the scrape of their silverware against the plates.

“Here she is.” Bertie’s false cheeriness didn’t fit the somber mood of the room.

Lyra, Pierce, and Dromon glanced up before returning to their meals. Knox remained focused on the scenery.

“Well, goodbye,” the sprite said. When she turned to flutter away, she cast a sympathetic glance my way. “Merribell made her pancakes, so you’re in for a real treat.”

I didn’t know why she was being nice to me, given Knox had told her his take on our relationship, but I appreciated any kindness I could get here. Lyra, Dromon, and Pierce remained focused on their meals, but Knox finally turned to look at me. I ignored him as I descended the steps into the grand dining hall and approached the windows.

On this side of the castle, they’d erected the building on top of a cliff I never would have known existed from staring at the front of the castle. We were so high that clouds floated past.

When I stopped before the window and looked down, my stomach plummeted. The chasm was so deep it vanished into the shadows a few hundred feet down, and I couldn’t see a bottom to the vast emptiness below us.

Jagged, lethal rocks jutted from the sides of the cliff. If somebody toppled over the side, the rocks would kill them before they hit a bottom I wasn’t sure existed.

When it came time to escape this kingdom, I wouldn’t go this way. Feeling dizzy, and more than a little afraid the ground might give way and plummet us into the abyss, I edged away from the window.

“Don’t worry, it’s safe,” Knox said.

I shot him a look over my shoulder. “I’m not worried.”

“Your heartbeat says differently.”

Dromon, Pierce, and Lyra paused eating to look at him.