“Too long. Moons? I don’t know. Every time you wake, we have good progress though. You’re going to be so strong, so good at your magic by the time we get out of here.”

I close my eyes again, reaching for a memory of getting in this cell. For what happened after the Chancellor captured us. But find only a burning battlefield.

My breath hitches, my pulse picking up. What have I done? And what about Tasha… Ms. Leola… they need to know I’m okay. I—

“Breathe.”

My strength falters, my hands shake. But his eyes find mine and they urge me to listen.

I inhale, then let it out. Five… four… three… two… one.

His hand closes around mine.

“Wh-what did they do to me?”

He rubs the inside of my palm, stretching my fingers, and I scoot closer to him, to comfort, understanding. His nails massage circles on my hairline, and my shoulders sink.”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do next.”

“I will get stronger. I’m going to get us out of here.”

“I know you will, my Queen.”

CHAPTER THREE

Six Months Later

SMOKE, PUNGENT, SALTY, HEAVY, burning with the stench of rotting flesh, curls my nose. I bat my eyes open and my cell surrounds me. I sniff again but the smell is gone.

Drip. Drop.

Clammy air sticks to me and I smooth droplets from underneath my eyes.

A dream, it was just a dream.

The rocky ceiling sharpens in focus, rows of rails on the peripheral. Every inch of me is cold except my left side, where Jhamal sleeps.

“One hundred seventy-one… one hundred seventy-two… one hundred seventy-three…,” I whisper, running my fingers in the familiar divots I’ve carved into the floor. My body might be in a cage, but my mind doesn’t have to be.

“One hundred seventy-six… seventy-seven… seventy-eight.” It’s been one hundred seventy-eight days since I told Jhamal I’d get us out of here. And today’s going to be that day. I reach for my magic out of habit. A spark of something coils in my hand then dissolves like dust.

I sleep next to the bars of the cell so I can always keep an eye down the corridor. Not too close, touching them makes my insides feel like a squeeze bottle. I rotate my head, careful not to wake Jhamal, and peer into the dark hallway. Nothing. No one.

I hug around myself, lying there on the ground, setting my mind on what I need to do today. What I’ve thought about doing every minute of every day between hauntings of my failure on the battlefield—getting out of here.

I need to get back to those who managed to survive. I swallow. Wherever they are. Once I survey the damage, I’ll figure out a way to fight the Chancellor again. But this time, win.