I held the dagger to my throat, praying I looked as threatening as I felt.

I must have, because King had listened so far.

"My mother, King. Now."

If I went threatened to poke myself more with the knife, I'd actually get hurt. Instead of being stupider, I just glared at King.

He squirmed. One of his heads frowned, the other grimaced, another glared back. Finally, he nodded.

"Fine. You two--"

He pointed at two of the muraes closest to me, "--take her to her mother."

They stepped forward and closed their hands around my wrists. A yank signalled me to move.

I stumbled along, but not before I made eye contact with Will. The little bit of skin around his eyes crinkled in what I could only guess was an attempt at a grin.

It looked more like he was about to be sick.

I couldn't blame him, though, considering what I threatened to do moments before.

A jerk to the left snapped me back to reality. The two muraes led me down a hallway with brown paper covering the walls, black flecks staining the bottom near the floor. The farther down we went, the more marred the paper was, with some of it torn and scratched so only gray showed beneath the brown, some charred beyond repair, other sections removed completely.

At the end of the hallway there was a splatter of dark brown and red against the bottom of the wall

My gut twisted.

Blood.

It no longer dripped down the paper, no longer sank into the stone, but sat there dried up.

Dried as if it'd been there all along. As if it didn't mean the end of a life.

Because that much blood meant death.

William had said there was a battle in his home. How it never occured to me that Dulcia's palace was what he meant...

The muraes dragged me by the blood like it didn't exist. They kept going, past old sword slashes, past the marks of the dead, past everything.

When we stopped, they pushed against the wall. It creaked at slid to the side, revealing a hidden room.

"Knock when you are done," one rasped.

Then they tossed me in and slammed the door behind me.

I fell onto my knees, hands out so I wouldn't face plant. A harsh breath exited my mouth.

With as many bruises I'd gotten over the past few days, it was nearly impossible not to land on one.

Rubbing my hands together, I stood. Maybe on the way back I could trip the muraes or something.

I started to take a step, then paused. If Mom really was in the room, I needed to say something. Her fight response was stronger than mine.

I cleared my throat, gazing into the dull light.

"Mom?"

Something, probably glass, shattered. Just as panic soared through my veins, a voice piped up from behind the wall of darkness.

"Clair?"

A woman with light brown hair stepped into the light. A few loose curls fell down her shoulders.

I met her eyes. The were the lightest of browns.

Before I could think, I'd jumped into her arms. There was no question of if this was actually her.

It had to be. Muraes didn't make illusions.

My vision went blurry as I clung to my mother. Everything was--real. She was warm. Her heart pounded like a drum against my ears.

She was safe.

Mom was the one to break the hug. She held me out at arm's length, a smile swallowing her face.

My eyes darted to a small scar across her hand; not much, but still one nonetheless.

She followed my gaze and withdrew her hand. "It's nothing, Clair."

No. It was something. It meant they'd hurt my mother.

The anger that built up in my chest vanished when Mom grabbed my hand. Her eyes searched mine for something--anything.

It was one of the few times my eyes were back to their normal brown, and I was glad. She didn't need to worry about me, just herself.

"What happened here, Mom?" I whispered. Fear started to gnaw at my stomach.

I couldn't afford to let my guard down.

My mother sighed. "They haven't done anything. I've just been here. I don't know why."

The way she broke her gaze while saying that last sentence made me think otherwise.

I pointed to the scar. "Your hand."

She just laughed. It was high and shimmering, like bells. I let the sound sink into my mind.

"It's what I get for trying to fight with a lamp. Glass cut me, that's all."

Her laugher was contagious. A grin pulled at my lips.

She ran her hand along the top of my head. I closed my eyes. My mother's touch could make the most unruly of people calmer.

She played with the curls of my hair, the curls that were crazier than hers. With her fingers, she untangled some of the knots in it as gently as she could.

It was when she moved a strand from from my neck that I pulled away.

It was too late. A small gasp of air seemed to shake the room.

"Clair, what is this?" Mom moved close to me and touched her fingers to the cut on my neck--the cut I caused.

How could I explain that? Oh, it's nothing, just me threatening to kill myself if the murae leader didn't do what I wanted but I really wasn't going to kill myself that just came with the show.

Yeah, that'd go over well.

My teeth clenched so hard they felt as if they'd shatter to a million pieces.

"It's nothing, Mom. I didn't even notice it."

What I lie.

She wiped away some of the blood on my neck. "You and your brother need to learn to lie better."

I said nothing. Raoul learning to lie better depended on whether or not he was still alive. And I could lie well enough, just not to family.

"Clair," Mom placed her hands on my shoulders once more and pulled me closer, her voice lowered to barely a whisper. "The letter I gave you. Do you still have it?"

"Letter?"

Letter, letter, letter...

Oh. That letter.

I bit my lip. "I sorta lost it. I was in a fight with--"

"Don't tell me," she interrupted. "Don't tell me where you've been. They might hear you." Mom tilted her head to the door.

I nodded.

She let go of me and walked back into the darkness. I started to follow but didn't, my feet glued to the spot I was standing.

Something scratched against a piece of wood for a moment, almost like nice scurrying around an attic. When the noise stopped, Mom came back. She held a small white paper in her hand.

"Here," she mumbled, shoving the paper into my fist. "Don't look at it. There's someone you need to give this to."

"Who?" I pocketed the paper.

Mom bent down onto her knees. "When I first got here, a Luschonese man was the one to help me out. He knows about the things you search for and can help you find them."

My mind raced. The only Luschonese I'd seen was...

"He knows magic," Mom continued. "He's very strong and can help you with what you need to learn. All you have to do is ask."

Arioch.

My eyes widened. "I've met him, Mom. He's in the cell next to mine, he's helped me with magic. That's how I got here."

She let out a breath of air. "Good. Stay with him. He knows how to protect people. He's protected his entire kingdom. When you get back--"

She mouthed the next words, "--give him the letter."

"Yes ma'am."

She nodded, a funny grin on her face. "You never call me 'ma'am'. Don't start it now."

I laughed. There was no helping it. With all my nerves and fears and hopes starting to surface, it was either that or barf.

Mom pulled me close to her once more and squeezed me so hard the air rushed from my lungs.

It didn't matter. It was Mom.

I hugged her back, telling myself it wouldn't be the last time I'd hold her.

When she let go, she went to the door and knocked twice.

"You need to go. They'll think we're up to something."

I stood. She walked back into the darkness of the room and gave me one, final smile.

I'll see her again. I will. I will.

With that thought running through my mind, I let the muraes take me away.

The walk back to my cell didn't seem to take as long as it did going to Mom's room. Maybe it was because the muraes made the world go black again.

Or maybe it was because of the million thoughts jumbled in my head.

Whichever, I was glad when they out me back in my cell. My hand, which had been over the pocket with the paper the entire time, fished the the cloth to bring the letter out.

"You are unharmed."

I barely glanced up. "Yep. Don't sound so surprised."

Arioch shifted forward. "What did you do?"

"Threatened them with my life after I killed a murae."

My fingers closed around the paper. I brought my hand out and looked up at the older man to receive a mouth dropped open in surprise.

"You were either very brave or very stupid, little girl."

"So I've been told. Here." I held the paper through the bars. "This is for you. It's from my mother."

He raised an eyebrow, but still took the paper. With a flick, he opened it and skimmed through.

I squinted at the letter, trying to read through the back. Only a few squiggles cams through, but it was just that--squiggles.

When Arioch was done, he sighed and handed the paper back to me.

"Did you read this?"

"Nope." I shook my head. "I can't read or speak a word of Luschon."

At that, he raised an eyebrow. "That is interesting. I cannot speak a word or Arian and yet, we talk."

What?

I scrambled to pick up the paper. The letters, the swirls of letters that shouldn't have made sense, were easy to read.

"Uh..."

Arioch smirked. "Yes, it is in my language."

You're welcome.

I skimmed through the letter. Why Mom had said not to look at was a mystery. There was nothing wrong with it.

Except it said Arioch had a cavalier.

My eyes widened. No wonder. If I'd seen it I may have accidentally mentioned something to the muraes.

But if Arioch had a cavalier, then how did he...

My mind raced back to something my mother said.

He protected his entire kingdom.

His kingdom.

Arioch was the ruler of Luschon.

The letter fluttered from my fingertips to the ground. I rested my gaze on the old man beside me.

"You're a king," I whispered.

"Yes."

It was so simply put. So easy.

"But what about the no magic rule inside Luschon? You caused that yet you have miralis."

He shifted his weight to he leaned away from me the slightest bit. "I passed the law before the disease plagued me. When I tried to remove it, the rats attacked. They killed my people. My family. All that could defend us were dead because of my law."

The hate in his voice didn't fade away. "I was only able to escape with my life and the stone."

I started to say 'I'm sorry,' but stopped. It wouldn't help.

It was useless.

I reached out and brushed his sleeve. "Arioch, you can still help. You're people, they aren't all gone. You can avenge your family."

He didn't look at me.

I continued. "The cavalier you have--it's powerful. You can help me and my friend--William. You can help us stop the muraes."

Maybe we could beat the muraes. With Arioch's cavalier, all of the stones were in the same place. The muraes hadn't even realized he had it.

We could win. Survive.

Live.

When he met my gaze, his eyes were hard. "I will give it to you."

A smile spread over my face.

His hand wrapped around my wrist and squeezed. "After you cure my miralis."

Just like that, my hopes shattered.

_____________________________________

*****

For those of you wondering why I suddenly brought back up the letter again, it was because I realized it would be a plot hole. This is really how the conversation between Clair and her mother should've gone:

😸😺😼😾🙊🙈🙉

"Clair," Mom placed her hands on my shoulders once more and pulled me closer, her voice lowered to barely a whisper. "The letter I gave you. Do you still have it?"

"Letter?"

Letter, letter, letter...

Oh. That letter.

I bit my lip. "I sorta lost it. You see, the author completely forgot about the letter until the other day, when she suddenly realized it was a plot hole. Do you have one I can use to make up for that?"

"Yes, I do. I'll just rewrite it from memory because I'm awesome like that. It's in a weird and made-up language too, so don't think you can understand it."

My mother walked back into the darkness and came back a moment later with a piece of paper identical to the one the author forgot about.

"Here." She shoved it into my fist. "Don't lose it this time. It's very relavant to the storyline. And don't forget, you'll be able to read it because of that crazy version of you in your head is casting magic spells all the time."

"Okay, got it, thanks!" The muraes took me back down to the jail cell, all the while dealing with mw screaming to the author who likes to put me in pain, "Don't forget the letter this time, Noa!"

______

It should come as no surprise by now, I'm a bit of a nutcase.