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Go - 19.2

Annabelle's POV

It took hours until I could feel a connection with my brother. I repeated the words in my head, begging Kyle to hear me. Paval said I would know when the connection worked, but I doubted myself even when I felt it. I barely knew what I was, let alone how to properly use my Witch side to my advantage.

Maybe if I had more practice, I wouldn't be so vulnerable right now. Kyle had taught me how to block people from getting in my head as soon as he knew about my Witch side. I would be more vulnerable to attacks now that my mind was open to connecting. I have not had much time to practice this new skill, but now was not the time since I needed Kyle to be able to reach me.

It had only been a day, but there was so much I needed to ask him. If everyone was okay. How was Jace doing? There was also more that I wanted to know about myself and my history. I feel I have spent my whole life not asking questions, and I did not want to go without learning more about myself. I wanted the questions that I had avoided for so long finally answered.

I shivered, a tear dripping down my cheek. It was frustrating not knowing if my message went through. I needed everyone to know I was alive and that I had help. I needed them to know that we could fix this. My shock at this entire ordeal had kept me from crying, but my emotions were bubbling.

I was currently in a cold room of the castle, still bare of a collar around my neck. Maybe they thought that I so weak that they didn't bother with one, or maybe they just didn't care since I wouldn't be around for much longer. I feel I had gotten stronger than when I first arrived at the castle, all those months ago. I also would not have made a good first impression. Maybe that is all the King remembers. That completely broken little girl, who had just lost the last of the only family she had ever known.

The room I was in was bare of any furniture, with no windows and only one door. I had thought about bursting out of the door but I knew any escape attempt would be futile. I didn't even know if they bothered to lock it.

I had been removed from the Queen's chambers by the King's private guards shortly after I had spoken to Paval. I guess the word that I was awake had finally reached the King. The Queen was told that the King would be dealing with me later. I was still in the room when she asked what would be done to me so I heard their cryptic message. They would not address me.

I knew that as soon as her husband got involved, she could no longer protect me without putting herself in danger. The Queen would do what she could from the shadows. She wanted the King dead, and this opposition was her best chance of it.

I had been in the castle for almost a day and in this room for at least a few hours now. I did not know how long it had been since I arrived at the castle, but it was long enough for my stomach to start rumbling. I used to be able to go ages without eating, but Jace had never starved me, so I had gotten used to having a full stomach. Hunger pains were now an unwelcome reality of where I was. A place without Jace.

Despite my doubts, I had hope that Kyle had heard me and that I would be taken away from this dreadful place soon. I knew Jace was not captured. I knew that meant he was okay and so I had to be strong for him. I could continue to have hope and be strong and fight, as long as I had Jace at the end of the day.

Minutes or maybe hours later, the door creaked open and I shot up off the wooden floor, shifting into a cougar. Jace and I had been working on my "instincts" these past few weeks. He talked about how I should shift into something dangerous, something menacing, instead of something that could hide. He explained that hiding didn't work if I was inside, without the mask of outside smells, a Vampire would still be able to find me.