I forced myself to sit up, though I could barely move.
In my palm was my mother’s locket. She was gone. She wouldn’t speak to me.
Whatever Tavlor had done to my necklace, to my mother’s soul, he had destroyed it. And unfortunately, I didn’t know enough about this kind of magic to even try to retrieve her.
If it was possible anyway.
A box of tissues magically appeared in my lap and I pulled them from their holder and wiped at my face.
My throat was sore, as though it had been stripped of all moisture, but I couldn’t magic a glass of water up. I didn’t have the strength.
Suddenly, the door opened and when I lifted my head, there was a friendly face. With pointed ears and beautiful sorrow in her eyes.
A box of tissues magically appeared in my lap. I pulled a few tissues from their holder and wiped at my face.
My throat was sore, but I couldn’t magic a glass of water up. I didn’t have the strength.
Abigail was there in front of me, holding my hand and pulling me to a stand.
“You can do this, Ava,” she said in barely more than a whisper. “Stay strong. Not long to go now.”
I looked into her intense eyes, the color of emeralds, and nodded.
I cleared my throat. “Water?”
She nodded once and handed me a bottle of water from her hand
.
I still hadn’t worked out why I trusted this woman, when my head told me that I hadn’t been able to trust a single person since I’d stepped into this realm.
But my instincts told me that she could be trusted, just as my instincts had warned me about Mallory, and had hated Charity the moment I’d first seen her. They weren’t often wrong.
So how had I been wrong about Tavlor? And was I wrong?
Time would tell, because it looked like my time was up.
“Okay.” I took the bottle and gulped it down.
The man from the Council gestured toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Suppressing a sigh, I stood and let them lead me out of the room and down a hall. At the end, he opened a door and we stepped into a room with a portal.
I glanced between the man and Abigail. “Where are we going?”
Abigail stared at me. “To the High Warlock Realm. Where the Council members are.”
I inhaled sharply.
So, they’d have me to their absolute whim. I was at their mercy. “That seems... unfair. What if their ruling is unjust? What power do I have to overturn their conviction?”
The men around me, my escorts, my guards, went deathly quiet.
It was Abigail who had the courage to tell me the truth. “There are no... appeals. The Council’s ruling is final, and absolute.”
Tears welled in my eyes, but I swallowed hard and forced them back again. I was in a dictatorship, and the worst kind, run by those who would kill anyone who stepped out of line.
Even their own family.