“Neya, stop!” I pleaded, fingers gripping her forearm. “You will get hurt!”
She did not look back but shook out of my grasp. “Do not waste time on me. Leave.”
I could not move. Because my eyes were glued to the deeper shadows, where a new figure appeared. He moved with cautioussteps, a glinting weapon hoisted above his shoulder. The blade vibrated with a frequency that looked all too familiar.
The silver from the Sunken Cells.
“Watch out!”
Before Neya could even turn her head, the guard struck, the gleaming tip piercing her throat, just below her jugular.
Her eyes widened in utter horror as black ichor spread from the wound. Her form faltered, her shadows sputtering and collapsing like a fire doused in ice.
She reached out toward me, her strength failing as her body hit the floor with a sickening thud.
“Neya!” I stumbled forward, my fingers stretching into the space between us.
She tried to speak, her lips parting as if to shape a plea, but nothing escaped her.
Before my hand could reach her, a violent grip fisted in my hair and yanked me backward. A cry of agony escaped me as pain blazed across my scalp and shot down my spine.
My hands clawed over my shoulders, fingers scraping against thick leather gloves as I fought like a cornered animal, but my blunt nails found no purchase against the smooth fabric.
“Shut it,” the man growled, tilting my head at an angle that forced a sob from my lungs.
A needle punched into the tender side of my neck, just below my clenched jaw. My whole body jolted as a cold fire burst through my veins, flooding outward until I no longer knew if my arms were striking out or falling limp.
My body screamed, trying to fight the toxin, but it froze my muscles much too quickly.
I tried to cry out, but my jaw was locked. It was as if my body was no longer mine.
The corridor tilted and the light from the walls smeared into long, blurred streaks. My chest heaved, but even my breath felt like it was not happening.
Metal bit into my wrists—two rings of anti-shadow silver slamming shut with a final, chilling click.
They dragged me across the stone, my bare feet scraping against the uneven floor, and I could not fight them.
I was paralyzed, but my eyes remained wide. My last view was of Neya, her fingers twitching against the stone.
The guards did not spare her a glance.
“Kaelia Vaser,” one intoned. “You are under arrest for treason against Haelen.”
40
CHAPTER FORTY
The stone at my back offered a biting relief against the stiffness settling into my muscles. My wrists throbbed where the silver cuffs had chewed the skin raw, a pulse of heat that had blurred into the background after hours of futile struggling.
The sedative remained heavy in my blood, turning my limbs into lead and wrapping my thoughts in a sluggish haze that made every movement feel like wading through waterlogged sand.
I licked my dry, cracked lips and eyed the two High Court guards who stood beyond the iron bars.
They barely paid me any mind, their whispers a low drone that merged with the clinking of their armor.
I studied the silver bars, noting how they caught the flickering torchlight with the same glimmer as the weapons that had buried themselves in Neya and Talon.
I was back in the belly of Haelen, the very city that had raised me only to throw me into a pit.