Asylum

by Kit Bladegrave

  Forrest and Craig needed Tristan more than I did right then, what with Kate falling deeper and deeper into torment placed on her by him. I rubbed my sore chin, feeling his fingers pinching me there all over again, and pivoted harshly on my heel to stomp to the other side of the room.

  “Maybe it’s not true,” I whispered to the air. “He’s lying, that’s all it is. More lies.”

  Why would he lie? a voice answered me in my head. What would be the reason to show you all of that just to have it not be the truth?

  “But why show me? Why does he want me to know who I am?”

  You mean what you are, don’t you? He wants you to know so you can see what’s happening.

  “I don’t know what’s happening. All I saw was… was her face…”

  I stopped sharply as the image came back to me. That smiling face, eyes filled with tears as she stared down at me. Mom. He’d shown me my mom, and she was more than I ever imagined. My heart ached, confused to why she’d given me up in the first place. I had her name, that much was clear to me, as was what she was. But everything else remained hidden from my sight.

  Stop using your head and use the gift you’ve been given.

  “I can’t,” I hissed through gritted teeth. “I’m not strong enough.”

  You have her blood flowing through your veins. You are as strong as they come. Now use it.

  My hands closed over my ears, desperate to be left alone, but the voice only repeated itself over and over and over again until it was all I heard. Faces clouded my mind, too many to try and name. Too many to focus on and then I was falling, falling into that darkness again. It washed over me, surrounded me and when I burst through, sucking in air to breathe, I saw it. Saw her.

  But she was not alone.

  She sat on a blackened and cracked throne, her once red hair turning stark white as the darkness leeched her power from her, her very essence. Tendrils wrapped around her arms and ankles, trapping her in that prison. Her eyes were closed, but the lines etched on her face said she was in pain and felt her life draining away. As I glanced to the right and left, I made out others trapped, just as she was, too many to count. I reached out for her, but then her eyes opened, and she turned to me.

  “No,” she pleaded. “You have to leave.”

  “But you’re dying,” I argued, tears sliding down my cheeks. “I have to save you.”

  “You can’t, my little lilac,” she whispered sadly. “But you can save them.”

  “How? I’m not strong enough. I can’t even think straight half the time.”

  Her eyes flickered to something behind me, and her body stiffened. “With him, you can. Use your gift, my lilac, use it and find the way. Now you must go. He is coming. Go.”

  “I won’t leave you,” I yelled, but her eyes flared white with power, and I was falling again…

  “Sabella?” Someone tapped my cheeks, holding me in a lap, a very warm lap. “You have to stop doing this to me. Sabella?”

  Tristan. He was here in my room. I opened my eyes, but couldn’t see. Had I gone blind? I blinked a few times and my eyes adjusted to the gloom. Night had fallen. How long was I out?

  “Can you hear me?” he asked more urgently, and I slowly nodded.

  “I, uh, I must’ve had another vision, or something,” I mumbled as he helped me sit up. “I’m alright.”

  His clenched jaw said I looked anything but alright. He stood, and I watched him move slowly to the hearth, wincing when he crouched down to build a fire.

  “I came to check on you and found you on the floor, whispering under your breath. Your skin is cold, and you’re pale, Sabella, so don’t sit there and lie to me.” A few seconds later, flames grew in the hearth, and he turned, his face more tense than before. “What did you see?”

  I remained on the floor, studying the stones beneath me. “Nothing.”

  His arms crossed over his chest, one I imagined bare again. My face grew hot.

  And it had nothing to do with the fire.

  “You’re lying and don’t deny it. What aren’t you telling me?”

  I couldn’t tell him, none of it. Not yet, not until I had a plan of escape. That’s what I would have to do. Dump the truth on him then take off before he could lock me away forever for what I was. He’d see me as a threat to his pack, not that I could blame him. Without him around, I was unstable. Who knew what I was really capable of now that I understood where I came from, or at least half of the story.

  “How’s Kate?” I asked instead, and he threw his arms up with a snarl. “What?”

  “She’s not well,” he snapped. “And I had come here to ask you for your help, but now I’m not so certain you’re up for it.”

  “With Kate? What do you think I can do for her?” Anything to get him off the topic of me.

  “What you did with my scout, can you do the same for her? Find a way to see what happened exactly and then maybe we can figure a way to make it stop?”

  Could I? I wasn’t even sure how I did it the last time, but I felt his desperation. They were running out of ideas to pull her out of whatever nightmare the darkness put her in. For all these days, she’d been unreachable and only screamed bloody murder when anyone came toward her.

  Lucy only managed to get close because she kept using potions to try and sedate her, but she couldn’t do that forever.

  “If there’s anything you can do,” Tristan said as he approached me, “please help her.”

  “I can try.” I got to my feet. “But there’s no guarantee anything I do will help. I’m still testing the waters as it is here.”

  “Lucy told me she felt how powerful you are,” he told me. “I have faith in you.”

  “Don’t say that,” I whispered harshly. “Don’t.”

  “Why not? Do you understand how odd this is for me? To trust a seer?”

  “Yeah, I do which is why I don’t want you to say things like that… just… just don’t.”

  I left my room, leaving him to catch up as I turned right and started for the infirmary where Kate was being held.

  Tristan was right behind me, growling under his breath, but if he was trying to intimidate me into telling him what I meant, he was going to be growling for a long time. He wasn’t getting the truth out of me. Not yet.

  A sudden scream had us both running.

  There were more voices, Lucy amongst them, trying to restrain Kate. When we entered, Craig and Forrest were there, watching Kate’s flailing body worriedly as she let loose another scream though her eyes were clamped shut. She fought against Lucy and the other physicians, as well as a few robed men I thought were the sorcerers who arrived the day we’d gone into the maze.

  I’d steered clear of them for the most part. One of them glanced up as I neared, and his eyes zeroed in on mine in shock, but then Kate managed to get her arms free and was flailing wildly.

  Letting my instincts take over and remembering what my mom had said about being able to help the others, I stepped up to Kate’s bedside and cupped her face in my hands.

  Instantly, she stilled and let out a shuddering breath. Her eyes were still closed, and I felt the darkness warring for control in her mind. But I was the opposite of the darkness, no matter what that bastard told me. I was the light, and nothing could stay hidden forever, not from me.

  “Sabella?” Tristan asked behind me. “What are you doing?”

  Grinding my teeth as I fought against the pull of magic, I muttered, “Whatever happens, do not let go of me.”

  I then let myself be swept away with the tide. With Tristan as my tether, I stood a chance of getting myself and Kate out of this. A slim chance.

  When the shadows cleared, I stood in a forest. Trees and underbrush surrounded me, their leaves red and orange with fall. The beauty of it almost sucked me in, but the underlying stench of decay wafted to my nose, and I glared straight ahead.

  Kate. I was here to find Kate and bring her back. I expected a chorus of voices to assail me, to shove me off cours
e, but each step I took was firm and steady. Whether it was my connection to Tristan or the knowledge of what was settling over my shoulders, I wasn’t sure, but didn’t stop to question it.

  The trees parted, and I came to the edge of a small pond that reflected a setting sun. There on the other side, sitting with her hand lazily swirling the water was Kate. I worried, since she didn’t know me, she’d try to run, but when she lifted her gaze to mine, she smiled.

  “Hello. Isn’t it beautiful here?”

  “It is,” I agreed, moving slowly around the pond. “But you can’t stay.”

  “Why not? It’s peaceful and so quiet. I like the quiet.”

  Lucy had told me about Kate and her connection to Craig and Forrest. She’d told me all about their journey together, past and present lives, and that she was the Vindicar. Knowing someone else had gone through the same insane craziness of learning who they truly were had helped me that first day at Tristan’s castle. Kate was strong. She was a warrior.

  I have come to find the warriors.

  The words, my words, resounded in my mind.

  Kate, she was one of them, and I had to save her, bring her back to Craig and Forrest. Bring her back before the tidal wave of darkness took over the land. We needed her.

  “Katherine Darrah,” I stated, using her full name, “Queen and Vindicar, wife to Craig, king of the demons, you must return with me now.”

  Her hand stilled in the water, and her eyes darkened. “What did you say?”

  Clouds rolled in overhead, blotting out the vibrant oranges and reds of the sunset. Gusts of cold air whipped through my hair, but I walked closer, trusting myself to know what I was doing.

  I was a seer, I was a daughter of a very powerful woman. And I was not going to be denied. For too long, I’d been subjected to my visions, tortured without knowing why or who did it to me. Now, my destiny, my life, the knowledge that resided inside my head from so many years of seeing this world, all came to light. He would not stop me, and he only had himself to blame.

  “Katherine Darrah,” I repeated, “take my hand and return with me. We need you.”

  She jumped to her feet, looking about wildly as the illusion crumbled bit by bit. The forest fell away and the pond drained before our eyes.

  “No,” she whispered, stepping to the edge and glaring down into nothing, but mud. “I don’t… I don’t understand. Where am I?”

  “You’re trapped within your own mind. Take my hand, trust me,” I urged, holding out my hand for her again. “Please, we don’t have much time.”

  “The cage,” she mumbled. “I was in a cage.”

  “You’re free of the cage, but your mind is not. The darkness is holding you here, using you.”

  A familiar cackling rumbled like thunder around us, and she sank to her knees in the grass, curling in on herself as she screamed for it to stop. The rest of the illusion vanished, and there was Kate, seated in a chair, the darkness slowly creeping up her arms and legs just as it had done to my mom. But his hold on her wasn’t complete.

  I sprinted toward her as the cackling deafened me, but I didn’t slow.

  I have come to find the warriors, I reminded myself.

  And I was not going to fail now.

  Just as I felt his presence appear behind me, my hand grasped for Kate’s, and I yanked with everything I had, tearing her from the chair and the tendrils’ grasps.

  A white-hot burning pain slashed into my back. I screamed, but then the darkened chamber fell away, and we were back in the infirmary.

  I was holding Kate’s hand, and she stared back at me with clear eyes. Another hand rested firmly on my shoulder, and I glanced back to find Tristan’ shocked hazel gaze.

  I offered up a smile, but then his eyes flickered down, and he growled.

  “Sabella. I need a physician, quick.”

  I tilted my head, not sure what was happening, until the pain struck me all over again and I convulsed in his arms. It felt like I was being burned alive and I swallowed back another scream as that fire spread all along my back and shoulders.

  All around me was commotion, and I forced myself to only focus on Tristan’s hands as I was laid out on a bed on my stomach.

  Lucy whispered something, but her words couldn’t penetrate the fog caused by the pain.

  Tristan stayed near my head, crouched down so he could stay eye level.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded in a furious growl, his eyes flared gold in anger.

  “By the gods,” Lucy whispered horrified.

  “Tell me, damn it,” Tristan yelled this time.

  “Burns, she’s been burned. Hold on, I’m going to give her something to knock her out.”

  “Wait,” I begged.

  Tristan’s intense gaze held mine.

  “I have to… I have to tell you something.”

  There was no more lying, not after what I saw while rescuing Kate. No matter what he would think of me, I had to tell him who I really was and the name of their true enemy that hid in the shadows.

  “I… I’m not just… a seer,” I gasped as another wave of burning made me shake.

  “You can tell me later,” he insisted.

  I shook my head, which only made the pain worse.

  “Sabella—”

  “No… this is important.” I licked my lips, struggling to form words and fighting against a sudden grogginess. Lucy. She’d already given me something; I’d felt a prick at my neck. “I have to… to explain… so you don’t hate… hate me…”

  “Go to sleep, Sabella,” he whispered, clinging to my hands. “Just rest, everything will be fine.”

  “No, you don’t… Farrah.”

  His eyes glowed the darkest gold I’d seen yet. “What did you say?”

  “Farrah,” I repeated. “I… I’m…”

  But the rest of it wouldn’t come.

  I closed my eyes, numb to the pain in my back. But it wasn’t my wound that worried me. The moment he found out the truth, he would hate me.

  How could he not when the darkness wasn’t just the darkness, but my family?

  15

  Tristan

  The burns on Sabella’s back were puckered and red. They stretched from the base of her neck, all the way to her waist. Lucy covered them with a white paste-like substance and was letting them heal without adding any bandaging.

  “She’s going to scar,” she’d told me when she finished. “These wounds are deep.”

  “As long as she’ll live, I don’t give a damn,” I’d growled back.

  That was hours ago, and I refused to move from her side, just as she never left mine. She got those wounds because I asked her to help Kate, bring her back to us because we needed the Vindicar. But I also needed Sabella to open her eyes and explain to me what the hell she meant when she said Farrah. I was more twisted up inside than I thought possible. One minute, I was furious with her and the next, I couldn’t imagine a future without this seer driving me insane. Was this how Craig felt when he first met Kate? Confused and frustrated, angry?

  “Tristan,” Forrest whispered as he entered the infirmary and approached the far corner where I sat beside Sabella. “You should get some sleep.”

  “Not happening.”

  “I figured you’d say as much. Lucy sent me up with some tea, help relax you at least.”

  I accepted the steaming mug with my left hand, my right too busy holding Sabella’s. “Kate is doing well still?”

  “She and Craig are fast asleep.”

  “Has she said anything about what she saw?”

  Forrest dragged over another chair, shaking his head. “Not yet, but I’m sure tomorrow morning once she’s had some rest, she’ll fill us in.”

  Tomorrow morning was still hours away. How was I supposed to make it through an entire night of watching Sabella in pain? I wanted nothing more than to take it away from her. I could handle that much pain, especially for her.

  “You know,” Forrest said quietly, “I think it’s
about time you admit something, at least to yourself.”

  “Oh? And what’s that?”

  “That you and she have a connection, a very close connection. One that is not easily broken.”

  I considered denying it, but what was the point? He was right, though what it meant for me and Sabella, I hadn’t the slightest idea. How was it a shifter was destined to be with a seer? I was the alpha. There were already grumblings in my own castle about having her around, even after Hank told anyone who would listen how much help she’d been to us so far.

  Any day now, a challenge was going to come my way, and I was far from strong enough to fight one of my own. If I admitted to anyone outside this room who I thought Sabella had become to me in this short time, my own would assume I’d been bewitched by a seer. They would take it out on her before they came for me and my throne. And in a time of war, we could not handle a transition of power.

  That and I was far from ready to die, which was the only way a challenge with so much anger and weight behind it would end. There would be no stopping at the draw of first blood, or when one of us conceded. I wouldn’t be allowed to let the person live. There was a chance for rebellion and then what? I’d be fighting a civil war while this darkness consumed everything.

  “Do you understand how dangerous that would be for her?” I asked, my words raw with how much I wanted it to be different. “Or for me?”

  “You don’t think it’s worth the risk?” he challenged, nodding toward Sabella.

  “I never said that,” I murmured quietly.

  “I wouldn’t wait is all I’m trying to tell you. What with this darkness and storm of death coming for us all, we might not have as much time as we hoped.”

  The door opened again, and my hackles rose when I saw Greyson, but he held up his hand, signaling everything was fine. He approached, his robes swishing around his feet. He bowed his head when he reached me. “King Tristan, might I have a word with you? In private, if you don’t mind, King Forrest.”

  “I’m going to go check on Craig and Kate anyway.” He gave me another long look before he left us.