Page 24 of The Reaping Rose

There is no response. The walls do not change. The tunnels do not end.

One staircase leads to another. It might have been minutes or days or weeks. I wonder if Callum and Greer found the rings and opened the Gate. If they’re already long gone. If the island will be whole when I finally leave this place.

If I leave at all.

I continue forward, refusing to let the prison win until I’ve completed my task.

At the bottom of another stairwell, I’m dropped into a chamber with three doors. Each has a rune carved into the surface. There are no windows or sense of what might be on the other side, but I know I have to choose one.

Taking a deep breath, I turn to the door on my right. The moment I pull, the door fades away, and I fall into a vision so bright it takes me a moment to adjust to what’s before me.

I’m outside, deep in Alyssium’s forest. Except I’m not really here; I’m in a memory. My body is much smaller. I’m barely ten.

My father hunts beside me. His bow pulled taut as he takes aim at the deer ahead. For a moment, I consider tossing a stone to scare it away. There’s no time before Father’s arrow drives through the deer’s heart.

Its body thumps to the ground, and while I’m not the one hit, my heart aches.

Death is one with life, Father always told me. For without death, there is no urgency or purpose. There is no reason to move forward if the path ahead is endless.

“Over here.” Father waves his arms to the two hunters nearby.

Since Father’s aim is better, they collect the deer to take it back to the village so he can continue to hunt. While I don’t have a bow, I stop at his side, learning the forest. Learning what needs to be done to survive.

“Will you teach me to hunt like you?” I brush my fingers through the leaves of a waist-high bush as we move deeper into the trees.

“I thought you wanted to teach. Not enough of the children read anymore. A mind like yours would be better guiding others.” He rustles the hair at the top of my head.

“I want to be useful.” I tilt my chin up. “I want to provide like you do. To help our village survive regardless of what the Fae bring to help us.”

Father pauses, turning to face me. “Knowledge is useful, Elorie. And more powerful than any arrow. Any blade. Any weapon. There is great power in understanding.”

“What kind of power?” My eyebrows scrunch.

“The power to make change.”

As Father continues walking, the forest grows darker. The sun sets faster than it did that day, and the trees vanish into nothing.

The walls of the prison return me to my limbs, and I’m standing in the chamber again, facing the next door. All it takes is a skim of my fingertips for it to open. I’m thrust into a different memory. One I never wished to revisit.

“You’re a beautiful abomination.” The guard towers over me.

His fingers brush the edge of the obsidian belt around my waist, trailing over my stomach and along my thigh as more tears begin to fall. At first, I tried to hold it in, but I can’t anymore. They spill in a hot betrayal down my temples, matting my hair to the sides of my head.

The male unapologetically explores the goose bumps prickling my skin. His hand climbs my leg, and I rattle the chains, kicking with what little give they allow, but all it does is scrape my bare thighs and back against the stone beneath me, cutting into my skin. Blood makes the shackles at my wrists and ankles slick, but not enough to pull my hands or feet free.

Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll freeze to death.

“What are you?” the Fae asks, sick interest flaring in his eyes.

“Human.” Another tear rolls down my temple when his fingers grip high on my thigh.

“You’re a liar.” He reaches for my hair, wrapping the blue ends around his fist and tugging. “Humans do not look like this.”

“I told you, it’s blue because of a tonic my mother took when she was pregnant.”

He tugs harder, and my scalp stings. “There is no such thing.”

“I promise.” It comes out in a sob.