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What just happened?
Steel-lined boots scuffed across the stone floor just before the dim lighting returned.
Nothing, apparently.
Losing focus, her magic disappeared.
Thessa blew out a breath, thinking. She knew witches used their breath to control their magic, but she didn’t know how excitable it could be. Nothing seemed to go wrong, but she wondered what her magic had done. She needed to learn how to control it before ever attempting to use it again.
A soldier started fiddling with keys beyond her cell. “Back up from the door.”
When the door creaked open, Thessa panicked.
Then, a plate of steaming food with a cup of water slid inside her cell before they slammed the door shut.
She signed in relief while her stomach had the nerve to moan, hunger gripping her. It looked like cauldron oats, but smelt like minerals and dust, as if it were prepared on this very floor. Though, unsure when her next meal would be, she finished it all.
As her bladder expanded, she quickly realized what the bucket in the corner of her cell was for.
So be it.
Thessa relieved herself like a caged canine.
Afterwards, she paced around her cell. She’d completed the shape of a square 291 times until the dungeon went dark and the guard shouted it was time to sleep.
She couldn’t sleep. Not yet. She thought about praying but didn’t even know who to pray to. She didn’t know who to curse to, or who her mother even was. She knew nothing.
Your mother was a descendant of my line,the voice had said.
Thessa wished she’d paid more attention in all those theology courses.
Think, think, think, Thessa.
298.
17
THESSA’S PRIVATE NOTES:
Thessa and Kellan, forever.
Thessa awoke to the jostling of keys.
When her cell door creaked open, she wondered if this was all a continuation of one bad dream. Amidst the darkness of her cell, she had no idea what time it was, orwhohad stepped inside.
A hand cupped over her mouth.
She tried to pry it off, until the familiar scent of cedar and smoke overcame her.
Kellan whispered, “Shh, they don’t know I’m in here.”
After a silent promise she wouldn’t scream, he removed his hand.
Kellan’s touch sent memories coursing through her, ones she’d happily relive in this depressing cell.
She sat up, observing the shadowed outline of the male she knew all too well. “All uniformed up, I see.”
He was one ofthemnow,undergoing his mandatorytraining.