“I knew you wouldn’t allow it if I asked. I had no other choice,” I spit out, still trying to keep my voice low.
She lets go of my hair and takes the book from my hands. “Have you learned anything, then?” she queries.
Her voice is a little cautious. There must be something she’s hiding. “No,” I lie carefully, and position my hands on my lap.
I hear her chuckle. “Well, all that snooping around and yet, you didn’t even gain a single grain of knowledge? I see you’re still as useless as ever.” She fully laughs now. I don’t say a word. “Honestly, I have no idea why the spirits have chosen you as the heir. It’s clear that your juvenile ways will never amount to anything. If you weren’t my granddaughter, you’d be married off to another pack. And then we’ll see if there’s any use for your…abominableface.” She snickers as she tucks the book underneath her arm. “You’re grounded for a week. No contact with the outside world. I will have Eliza take your phone away. That should be enough time for you to learn your true place in this world,” she declares, slamming the bedroom door and locking it behind her. I close my eyes in an attempt to dissipate my anger.
But I can’t control it when my hands shoot up on their own. I can’t stop it when heat pools behind my eyelids. I can’t believe it when ancient words swirl in my mind and I understand what they mean. I open my eyes and utter the script very silently.
As soon as I do, frost appears in front of me.Snow? Mist?I bewilderingly ask myself. The room gets colder, and I feel a lot stronger. A smile spreads across my face as I utter another spell, and then a jolt of electricity shoots from my fingertips. I fight the urge to laugh out loud. “Holy hell. I guess I’m not as useless as you thought I was, grandmother.”
I can’t believe I managed to memorize a few of those lines. But how did I know how to say them?I stare at my hands, trying to gauge if there’s anything wrong with them physically. I poke around my palms, looking for an on-off button hidden somewhere. They still feel soft to the touch, but a bit warm compared to the rest of my body.
I shake the confusion out of my head. “Okay, let’s try it one more time.” I prod myself. I close my eyes and concentrate on my hands. I say the incantation softly, and heat gathers from my eyes to my cheekbones. A puff of cloud appears before me, bigger than the one earlier. “Frost. I can control… ice?” I tilt my head to one side, examining the misty cloud as it disintegrates right here.
I look at my left hand and utter another incantation, this time a sizeable current of electricity shoots from my fingers and hits my cabinet, creating a noticeable hole in one of the doorframes. “Oh shit,” I mutter and hurry to cover up my crime with a chair. I take deep breaths to calm myself down. “Holy shit, I do have powers. But I’m not eighteen yet. How is this possible? How can I control this?”
I rub my palms together, trying to think of any possible explanation. Recalling every lesson my private tutor taught me as a child, and every book I’ve ever read about or even my lineage. I come up with a blank slate each and every time. “I need to tell Gregory.” I fish for my phone that’s sitting somewhere on my bed.
I type out a quick message:I’m locked in my room right now, but we need to meet. I need to show you something.As soon as I hit send, I hear a bloodcurdling scream echo against the halls of the estate.
“What the hell is happening?” I take my phone and hide it somewhere in my drawer. I put a hand on my doorknob and twist it, but it won’t budge open. Another scream, more strangled than the last. It’s a voice that I recognize all too well. “Katya!” I tug and tug on the door, but it’s locked from the outside. “Someone! Please open the door!” I pound against the wooden frame. I hear footsteps scurrying outside, and the voices of various guards talking amongst themselves. A slow, agonizing yell rings in my ear yet again, and I grow desperate to open the damn door.
What the fucking hell is happening?!
“Please open this!” I plead and beg and threaten anyone who might hear my yells, but it seems like my voice falls on deaf ears. “Fuck this.” I kick the doorknob once. Twice. As many times as it takes for me to be able to jiggle the lock open.Just a little more. I try pulling the doorknob away, and it loosens but still needs another push.
I steady my breathing and concentrate on the very tip of my forefinger. I say the incantation I just learned earlier and focus it on the lock. Bolts of electricity prod on the lock until its outer area is singed. I take careful aim and kick it down with all my might. Finally, the door springs open and I run as fast as I could through the hall, pushing everyone out of my path.
Once I reach Katya’s door, a couple of people were already there. Some are crying, most are yelling for reinforcements. I try to step in but a guard puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me. Without thinking twice, I twist his arm behind his back and push him out of my way. “If anyone tries to stop me,” I yell as menacingly as I can, “I will not hesitate to kill you.” At this, people avoid me almost immediately.
I look inside Katya’s room, and I find her lying on the ground, a pool of dark liquid soaking her flimsy nightgown. I run and kneel beside her. “Katya! Katya, what happened?” I beg and shake her awake. Her eyes focus on mine, but they’re about to close. “No, please! Katya, we can save you. I’ll get you out of here. Please don’t let go of my hand, okay? Don’t let go of me,” I cry out, hot tears flowing freely down my face.
“Take… care, Isabela. There’s a traitor in our midst. Don’t,” she heaves for more air, eyes rolling on the back of her head. “don’t get hurt, okay?” She coughs and tries to smile at me. But I can see she’s crying too. “Survive, for me.” Katya closes her eyes right after. I whisper her name, but she isn’t responsive anymore.
I cry as I hold my sister’s lifeless body against mine.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I’ll make sure that whoever did this will rot in hell.” I sob as a few guards try to pry Katya’s limp body away from me. “I promise, Katya. I’ll make them pay,” I whisper as I watch in sorrow.
Another pair of hands try to pull me up from the ground. “Isabela.” Katarina—with her clammy hands—holds my head. “Look at me, Isabela. Are you okay?” She scans my body presumably for injuries, her eyes bloodshot and teary. “What happened?” she croaks.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. Grandmother locked me in my room. By the time I got out—she—she couldn’t,” I cry into her shoulder, uttering nonsense in the process. I feel her tears drop on top of my head. Katarina and I stay like that for a while, letting everyone else circle around us. Collecting pieces of evidence, clearing out clutter.
“What in the world is going on?” my grandmother’s voice cracks as she yells. She peers inside the room and sees us both in our sorry state, without our sister. One look at the puddle of blood by our feet and it seems that a puzzle piece clicks inside her head. “You two, come with me,” she orders us to follow her out of the room and into her study. “Talk,” she says as she sits behind her desk.
She looks at me first. “I was in my room, locked in. It took me a few tries before I got to destroy the damn doorknob so I could get out. By the time I got to her room, she was on the ground. Half-dead.” I stare at my grandmother, gaze hardening as Katarina tells our grandmother where she was.If only I wasn’t locked up. I could’ve saved her.It’s all your fucking fault,I curse in my mind.
My grandmother avoids my gaze in the meantime, and focuses on her hands. “Alright, you may leave. I’ll… handle this. No one leaves the estate for now. Am I understood, Isabela?” she asks and I nod.
How can she be so calm? Katya is dead!My fists shake in anger and Katarina takes my hand and pulls me outside the room.
“Isabela, are you—”
I raise my hand up. “Katarina, I just want to be alone right now. I’ll see you at lunchtime, okay?” I look at her face with the same unreadable expression it always conveys but her eyes hold the same sorrow. The same kind of pain I feel. “I’m sorry. I’ll see you later.” She nods and I walk away. Back in my room, the doorknob I destroyed earlier had fallen to the floor. I look at the pitiful state of my doorframe. The hinges were uprooted from me kicking it down, and the singed lock looked too suspicious to be left there so I took it and hid it underneath a pile of clothes in my dresser.I’ll deal with that later. “Fuck!” I shout as I plop down on my bed, numb from the events of yesterday and this morning. My sister’s angelic face flashes in my mind, alongside the bloody state she was left in. “No,” I whisper and let the tears fall freely. A knock on my door breaks me out of my stupor.
“Mistress?” Eliza’s voice cuts through the silence. I don’t bother turning my head or opening my eyes.