Page 155 of Under Restless Skies

Blink again.

A red gash lines her throat, blood pouring out of it. Beside her, Alayel’s dagger hand drops to his side, its work already done. He… killed her. Slashed her throat. Like that.

All the air whooshes out of my chest.

Nelly no longer looks at me, no longer looks at anything, as the life in her eyes vanishes, as her body goes slack and she crumples onto the wet cobblestones.

The man in front of me can’t be the same man I loved, the same man I dreaded abandoning.

“You monster.” It was supposed to be a yell, but all I could muster was a hoarse murmur through the heavy weight in my throat.

He scoffs. “Don’t be ungrateful. You’ll do as I say now.” His eerie calm is nauseating. “Guards are about to swarm this place, and she’ll take the blame. It’s the only way. I was protecting you. Only you. Now place the satchels on the floor, near her.”

The satchels jolt with the frantic movements of Ava and Vos, their squeaking cutting through the rain, while my own tears fall freely now. Somewhere behind me, footsteps approach. Guards.

There’s no escape. No way out. I kneel and set the satchels down on the wet cobblestones, my hands trembling, my heart aching. It’s over.

Perhaps I was naive to think I could save the little dragons. I can’t even save myself.

I tried, and I don’t even know when I failed, how Nelly—or Alayel—found out I would be here, how they guessed I would escape today. Someone must have been tracking my steps for days, and I never noticed a shadow.

Five guards close in, their uniforms slick with rain, and Alayel speaks up, his voice poised and calm, “We just caught the thief.” He points at Nelly’s body. “Mayara caught her. The little dragons should be taken back to their room, and I’ll take care of my betrothed. Also, please ensure that the thief is cremated like a recruit. She made a mistake, true, but she was part of the Sky Academy and deserves the honor of having her body consumed by Auranius’ flames.” He gives me a smirk that revolves my stomach.

Alayel then holds my wrists with one hand, the dagger with the other, and drags me back to the castle.

I wish I knew how to fight, wish even that I had the magic I used against Felien, against the rider, but I feel nothing, just shame, regret, helplessness. I look back and wonder what I could have done differently, but come up empty.

When we reach his room, he closes the door behind me, then points to the place between his bed and the window. “Go there and kneel.”

I go to the spot he indicated and lower myself to my knees, reining in my angry tears. I don’t want him to see me crying.

He steps toward me, pointing the dagger, and reaches past my body to open a compartment in the wall. Two chains with manacles spill out. He locks each manacle around my wrists, then settles back onto the bed with a low chuckle.

“Much nicer, isn’t it? Are you going to obey me now, or do you still need to learn your lesson?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“You do. You always do. Obviously, there’s always an easy choice and a hard choice.” His calm, casual tone shatters, giving way to a vicious sneer and a dangerous glint in his eyes. “I gave you freedom, Mayara, but it didn’t work. You decided to betray me, to ruin everything I fought so hard to achieve.” He huffs, then his expression softens, and he looks puzzled. “Why would you hurt me like that?”

“I didn’t want to betray you.” My voice is flat, with no emotion, as I don’t have any right now. My heart is an empty void. “I just wanted to free the little dragons.”

“Little dragons.” He rolls his eyes. “They’re animals. Your attachment to them is ridiculous. Why would you betray me for animals? Evil animals! They’ll kill us when they grow up.”

There’s no reply that will soothe him, so I look down at my soaked dress.

He roars, “Why?”

I swallow. “We shouldn’t harm innocents, even in war, even⁠—”

“You shouldn’t defy your betrothed. You owe me obedience. From now on, things are about to change in our relationship.”

Relationship? Is he insane?

“I understand,” I say, schooling my expression of disbelief. I can’t see any way to survive this other than by appeasing him.

He kneels before me, close enough that I could kick him, except that it wouldn’t free me from the chains.

“I did everything for you, everything,” he says, a disconcerting softness in his voice. “I even killed Nelly, and she was a good ally.”