Eligius has an arrow drawn before I can blink. I stare at the iron tip aimed directly at my heart and hope he doesn't release his pinched fingers from the shaft. Theoden crafted that arrow.

"Explain yourself," he demands. Those wolf eyes watch me intently, their gold dulling in the shadow of the alleyway. The world continues to go on around us, but mine is just ending.

I don't want to explain myself. I don't want to tell him power flows through my veins from that night. More happened than what Eligius heard the following day after hiding away with Rylan as the army of the soulless killed their families and friends. The new Luminaries were smart enough to keep their mouths shut, and like the majority of who had their lives changed that night, they have caught me.

There isn't a way for me to get out of this. I take two steps back in the opposite direction of Rylan's best friend, the one that stands to gain something from my downfall, but boots scrape against the loose stone and I look over my shoulder, spotting those guards that harassed the ill woman a few short minutes ago. Closer than I thought.

They, too, train their weapons on me at Eligius's command. I can't hear; the roaring in my head prohibits me from understanding his shouting orders to call all guards and the rest of the docks' attention towards an inconspicuous alleyway. I'm completely alone except for the woman curled into a ball at my feet, unable to move or speak. She's a target as much as I am.

By healing her, I am putting both of us in danger.

I won't expose the rest of my arsenal. Turning the docks to ice or spinning a storm to strike lightning against these guards—nothing lethal is an option. Seeking help from Chaska, Rylan...they can't help me here. Neither can Theoden or Castiel.

So I come to one simple solution. I raise my hands in the air as the swimming, shifting light dies from my hand and disappears back into my skin. Eligius trains his eyes on it, forever the guard to detect magic in a being he expected to be normal. All these years, I hid it and maintained my status as an elf. Apparently, that wasn't enough.

"I'm only a healer," I promise shakily. "The Void Queen got ahold of me that night, Eligius. That's where you're wrong. But she didn't receive the chance to complete the transformation."

The words spill out of my mouth, a lie forming on my tongue before I can think about it. My mind works on its own when trying to save itself from certain death. Healers don't come about through the Void Queen; they're born into their powers and forced to follow a career path that surrounds it. Tending to royals and the rich; there aren't enough of them to beautify the land and heal the people, but they do as they can.

And it's that fact, the possibility that they exist, that keeps Eligius from releasing his pinch on the arrow's shaft to end my existence right here and now. Being that I'm Rylan's wife, my fate doesn't come about through his order. I realize that and hope, more than anything, that my dear husband doesn't kill me for this.

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I managed to get away. Only a lick of her power reached my heart, and the ability to heal came as a result. Nothing more."

A crowd gathers. Faces peek out from behind Eligius's shoulder, craning their necks to view the next Luminary victim. Maybe they'll make it a public execution for the gratification of the fishermen. They enjoy them too much to be considered sane. While everyone else looks on, bowing their heads down to another Luminary lost to something they can't control, the fishermen practically clap and cheer. As long as the land becomes safer.

"You're a Luminary," Eligius spits. "There's no such thing as a healing power derived from her filth."

My desire to live gets the best of me. "You don't know what you're talking about. I possess nothing else. I'm a healer, Eligius. You have to trust me on that."

"Marie?"

I turn to the other guards, those closing me off from safety. Chaska stands behind them, attempting to push her way through a wall of muscle and metal, but the queen's men won't budge. She cranes her neck to view me but they shove her off to stumble into the street. I try to flash her a remorseful look but the guards keep us distanced from each other; their shoulders lock together as one and keep any onlooker from attempting to put a calm to the simmering situation.

The last thing I need now is for Chaska to make herself known. Don't give them a reason to suspect you, too. If only my Luminary powers included speaking to her telepathically. That's a skill we never mastered despite hours of trying.

"Summon Rylan," Eligius orders a guard standing at his shoulder. A useless presence, as the sinwolf takes up the entire alleyway—shoulder to shoulder.

My blood runs cold. Rylan will know. Rylan will kill me for this. If we were on good terms, he might avoid turning me into the queen for treason, but these past years haven't been kind. This is the perfect excuse to get out a marriage that originated on love but turned into the advantage of keeping me away from anyone else that might be interested. He thrives on control, and he won't shift the tide for something like this. If anything, I haven't witnessed his wrath yet.

Eligius lowers his bow enough for me to see his entire face. "This isn't my decision to make," he says as consolation. "Nameless guards don't get to decide your fate. He does."

Anyone else would be too afraid to walk towards me. Not Eligius. He sets his bow on the ground and a young guard with wide eyes and a shaky grip picks it up to point at me. The sinwolf I've known since I was a child pulls chains and shackles from where they're strapped against his belt. As I'm a healer, I don't possess the vigor to knock him back and fight my way out. I must cooperate.

Tears prick at my eyes when Eligius grabs onto my wrists and locks the surrounding shackles. The weight of the chains drags down my shoulders and what he doesn't know is that iron—an ancient metal commonly used in tools—snuffs out my power like a candle's flame. The healing ability, the ice, the lightning, the ability to snap his neck in two...it's gone. And an emptiness I haven't known since the day the Void Queen changed me consumes my body. Like there isn't enough swimming around underneath my skin anymore.

Eligius leads me towards the docks, past the crowds of faces I've seen before, and forces me to sit on a crate. No one speaks to me and many try to avoid turning their eyes towards me. I keep my focus on the ground, watching a trail of ants carrying bits of bread from where someone deposited their trash near the docks. Every so often, one of the guards standing as a physical shield around me shifts their boots and crushes a few of their tiny, moving bodies but the others continue on without trouble.

The minutes pass as slowly as they do during work hours. Only now, Chaska isn't allowed to speak to me. She maintains her distance, standing in the shadow of a building and chewing on her nails. I wish to scold her, but the guards have been kind as to not slap me yet. I haven't spoken out of turn, and I won't.

I raise my eyes to her, just for a second, and shake my head. A silent way of saying that it's not time to alert Castiel or Theoden of what has transpired. They'll learn later.

What would Castiel think? He's only a few blocks away, completely oblivious to—

"What the hell happened?"

Rylan's angered voice drags me from my thoughts and I look up to his storming steps, aiming directly for the wall of guards. For my sake, Eligius steps in front of him and places a hand against his chest to keep my husband from breaking down the guards like fence posts. Still, he watches me as his best friend whispers the truth in his ear.

I know Rylan's expressions. I can tell when anger swallows him up and how quickly it'll happen. In this occurrence, it's quicker than I can snap a twig.

"Is this true?" he demands. Finally, Eligius and the guards part so he can step towards me. I try to meet his eye, but the sun at his back forces me to squint. Rylan towers over, fists clenched and body tense.

Looking past him, Eligius offers me no assistance. So I drop my eyes to the ground. "Yes, it's true."

"Come." Rylan holds out his hand to me.

"What?"

"I said, come." Instead of waiting, he grabs onto my arm and thrusts me off the crate, pulling me away from the docks. The guards, Chaska, and those too afraid to look earlier, watch me go.

The chains weighing me down slow the steps, pulling on my thin legs, but Rylan doesn't offer any sympathy to my occasional stumble over boots that are suddenly too clunky on my feet. I'm nearly dragged into an empty alleyway, a different hiding spot from where my stupidity unfolded, but vacant and smelling of fish all the same.

A physical barrier of iron restricts Rylan from taking another step closer, but our noses are nearly brushing against each other when he whispers, "Tell me the truth."

The back of my head hits the wall when I try to put some distance between us to meet pale eyes. Nearly the shade of his skin from fear sucking away his blood. I debate telling him everything that happened that night, the true power flowing through my veins and escaping my skin like ink dropped into water, but I don't trust the man I once loved. His job means more to him than anything else in the world, including what we once had, and I won't allow Rylan to be my downfall.

"What you heard is the truth. The Void Queen captured me that night, but I escaped. Apparently, her power settled within me, but only a healers' aptitude came out of it."

Rylan drags a hand down his face. I stare at his chest plate, the royal seal of a dragon's maw threatening to bite my head off. The blue and silver tabard, Rivian's proud colors, sways down his front and past his crotch—nearly falling to his knees in a sharp point. What appears to be scales swims over the fabric, broken only by the leather belt across his waist.

"Why didn't I know of this?" he hisses. "You kept this secret for three years and never once thought to tell me?"

"You're opposed to magic, Rylan," I hiss back. His stare blossoms a flame, blue fire dancing on his pupils. "Not only that, but you're in charge of reporting magic users to the queen. Out of all the people living in this village, you're the person I'm supposed to avoid the most."

He scoffs as if something in this situation is laughable. "I...I don't know what to do with this. Honestly, Marie. You lied to me, you lied to your friends and family." I keep my mouth shut about Chaska and my family knowing everything and more about a secret power. "You have left me with very few choices."

I expose my hands to him, inches away from placing them flat against his chest if it's not for the iron chains deciding my movements for me. "You have a chance to make the right decision here, Rylan." Attempting to move into his train of sight, I swerve towards it, but he stares at the ground instead. His nostrils flare. "You don't have to tell anyone, especially not the queen. We can keep this our secret—we'll strike another deal."

"Another deal? Is that what our marriage is to you?"

"You left me with no other choice after you decided to make love to half the village. If we don't have affection, then we have an arrangement." Our whispers, casually turning to hisses, draw the attention of merchants and guards. They're waiting for Rylan's decision, for what he might do. Either kill me now or wait for the Raven Queen to slit my throat later.

My worst nightmare is a personal visit from the sister of the Void Queen. She may be the kinder of the two, but enforcement of her kingdom's laws does not stop for a fish cleaner at Gudgeon Docks. She aims to kill all Luminaries, and once she catches my bluff, she'll halt all breath leaving my lungs.

Dragging his hands down his face again, Rylan cups his fingers around his mouth and stares at me. He searches my face like there's something there he hadn't seen before. For a moment, I wonder if he's still breathing...or blinking, but we stare at each other in silence and wait for the other to explode. I'm hoping it's him first.

"I have no other choice."

Exactly the words I don't want to hear.

"Rylan, please," I try, but he steps out of my chained reach. The long strands of metal clap between us, sounding no more luminous than chimes. "You don't have to alert her; you don't have to do anything."

To seal my coffin with one last nail, he shakes his head.

"Please don't kill me." My voice croaks before I can get out the fact that Castiel needs me; he won't survive much longer if he stops receiving the pain-subduing potions. Theoden can't support my brother on his own. We never should've fallen into his care, but with two dead parents, no one else saw a better option. Not a single survivor other than Theoden wanted to take in two orphaned children.

"I'm not killing you," Rylan mumbles. He pauses for a moment to take a deep breath. The leather belt creaks against his waist. "I'm sending you to the capital for a meeting with the Raven Queen. She will be the decider of your fate."

I can hardly believe the words out of his mouth. He walks away, rounding the corner to shout to the guards to bring a carriage. My feet don't move on their own, following after him, so I must make those careful steps to plead.

I tug him around, back to me, and he whirls, sadness in his lost stare. "This isn't you, Rylan. You don't do this to the people you care about." A false hope that he still cares about me at all. "You can't hand me over to her. She'll kill me." Now is the time to tell him everything I kept hidden; the truth to my power. Maybe if he knows that handing me over to the Raven Queen is sudden death, he'll rethink this terrible decision.

I'm all but out of hope until he looks down at my hand on his arm and peels my fingers away, one after the other. The clatter of rickety wheels fills my ears. Not a carriage. A prison wagon. Their rattle haunts my nightmares, almost always removing a Luminary from the village. My husband considers me a prisoner.

Too many people are watching. They stand around, hands to their chests as Rylan takes my chains to hold me in this spot. Hands grab onto my arms from behind and I try to shake from their grip, but Rylan is a wall that shoves me back. "No!" I scream, but my body lifts off the ground, tugged into the air by the guards.

This can't be how my life ends. I just wanted to help. That woman would've died if not for me. Can't they see that? Can't they see that my power doesn't wish to cause harm?

I can help them; I can save this land and all its inhabitants if they just let me go. But they won't. I slip out of the guards' grip, my knees slamming to the street, and Rylan takes one step towards me. Not to help the guards, but to ensure I'm all right. The pumping of fast blood through my body prohibits me from feeling pain, as does the sorrow frown on my husband's face. He doesn't want this to happen as much as I don't. He is my final hope.

Rylan may think the Raven Queen is the decider of my fate, but if he hands me over to her, he is the true hand at fault. The man I once loved. The man that broke my heart and expected me to pick up the pieces.

The man that handed me over to my death.

I'm lurched back by the guards and Rylan's frown deepens. His face hardens as soon as he thinks keeping me here is the right decision. I find Chaska's widened eyes in the crowd as the doors to the prison wagon open. "Tell them what happened," I pant. My energy withers, second by second. "I'll be back. Tell them I'll come back."

The person I trust most in the world places a hand against her chest and dips her chin once to nod solemnly. Making such a promise goes against the fear in my head, but I refuse to leave Castiel with anything less. He thrives on hope, and if the village believes I'll never come home, he will too. I can't allow that to happen. My brother doesn't need another kick to knock him down for good.

The guards, against Rylan's orders to be gentle, toss me into the wagon. The back of my head hits against the opposite wall and I lurch forward, towards that open door of sunlight, but it's slammed in my face. Through the small window barred with iron, I stare at those familiar faces one last time. Rylan, standing before them all. Eligius, stepping forward to place a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder.

Chaska, tears in her eyes. A salted drop trails down her dark cheek, cutting through a layer of dirt from today's long hours. The face I long to see most is not here. As the prison wagon pulls away, rocking down the uneven street, I realize I don't want him to see me like this. Locked away because he couldn't save me that night.

My brother tried to kill the Void Queen. And I wish he would've succeeded.