The Reckless Reign (Book 3, The Culled Crown Series)

Chapter 49

Reubinon Palace, Pellarmus.
The day of the voyage to Erydia.

Jaxon sent me back to my room to wait while he devised a plan to get me out of the palace. Why he'd actually agreed to help me in the first place, I didn't really know. In truth, he had no reason too. Even if he did want Harper to get her interview, it probably wasn't worth the risk to himself—but I was grateful he was doing it, whatever his reasons.

I definitely wasn't going to try to convince him not to help. At this point, he was my biggest chance at escape.

All of Jaxon's warnings and suspicions came true as I watched the space between the bottom of my door and the floor. It was nearly two in the morning as the light guttered in the hall and boots moved to block my door—Darragh had put guards outside. Directly outside my door.

In my time in Reubinon Palace, I'd never really seen sentries positioned in the hallways, not like they were in Oredison Palace. Caine had kept guards everywhere, their hands and guns always within reach in case he needed assistance—needed someone to remove me.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see something similar happening here, not after hearing what Jaxon had said. And yet...some small part of me ached at the realization of it. The bone-deep betrayal it signified.

There were guards here. People with weapons who were meant to keep me in the room. Far from the ports and the boats that were supposed to take me home. Take me to Kai.

I'd wanted to believe that Jaxon was wrong.

I forced myself to stay calm, to remember that I was not caged—not truly. Even if Jaxon didn't come for me like he'd promised, I could get out of this room. I'd burn down this damn palace, melt the walls around me if it came to that. As I lay atop the thick down blankets and watched the shifting of those guards' boots, I found the idea of it both wicked and appealing.

I could do it.

There were moments when I knew I could burn it all. Time when the level of power I'd experienced in Third Corps when I'd killed those guards was just the beginning, just the barest glimpse of what I knew lurked inside me. There were seconds—fleeting and raw—when I could taste the ash on the air, could feel the hiss of that smoke.

And I was unafraid.

Darragh didn't want to be on the receiving end when I lost myself to that depth of fire. When I plunged into that heat, he didn't want me to be in Pellarmus. No. He had no idea what I was capable. I was just beginning to realize it myself.

I fiddled with the fire in the hearth, pulling at the flames until they were nothing, until I held that heat within my chest. I'd been practicing for days, becoming once again acquainted with myself and what I could do. I'd let myself become lazy. But now—I'd meant what I'd said to Jaxon. Caine was mine.

I'd end him. His life was one I wouldn't regret taking. Not ever.

As the hours drifted on and those boots continued to keep vigil at my door, I began to worry that Jaxon had lied. He'd said he had to prepare and that he'd come get me an hour before the others were supposed to go to the docks—so, around three in the morning. I watched the clock on the mantle inch towards three-thirty while those invisible hands still threaded through the flames of the hearth, rolling them over and over again, pushing them higher and then lowering them to embers.

Kai had always insisted I work on control.

He hadn't wanted me to douse it or pretend like my ability didn't exist, he'd always just wanted me to own it—possess it instead of letting it possess me. But the line between that unnatural energy and myself was thin, if it existed at all. It wasn't a matter of me owning it or it owning me—we were one and the same.