It was hard to believe there had been any passage of time since that day Andreas saved me. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in the cage again. The only indication that the last few months had not been a dream, a wild fantasy concocted in my head, was the deep sapphire dress I wore, and the teardrop pendant hanging from my neck.
My earlier doubts about Andreas seemed irrelevant in what I now faced. Who cares why he saved me in the beginning? What does it matter if I did turn out to have some great part in a prophecy? He had saved my life and that was all that mattered.
But what use had it all been? All the ups and downs from the past couple of months, for what reason? So my life could end anyway? So I would have a reason to want to live? Why did the universe want me to change – to finally find out who I am – only so I could die? The carriage came to a sudden stop, knocking me out of my depressing thoughts.
I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings. As a result, I was totally caught off guard when I saw the huge palace to my left. It was probably three times the size of Andreas’ manor. Which could only mean one thing: we had arrived. Anticipation roiled in my veins. The sooner they got this over with, the happier I’d be. It was not fun riding to your own execution. The wait was agonizing. The faster things were done and the world rid of me, the better for me.
Eiet was the one to open the cage door. Our eyes locked for a brief moment, but he refrained from saying anything. Any sign of the friend I thought I knew, had vanished. Andreas was right; Eiet had been betraying me. The pang of this realization hit suddenly and sharper than I thought it would. There must have been a part of me hoping that I would at least have him for comfort in my final hours. Now even that was gone. Slowly, piece by piece, the world was stripping away everything from me. Soon I’d be alone with the necklace and no one and nothing else. And then I’d be dead.
He reached into the cage and grabbed my arm roughly. I flinched, his grip too tight. He pulled me from the cage and started pushing me to the door. My family, all three of them, were walking just a small distance ahead of us. My mother and father kept their gazes from traveling back to me, but my brother had less self-control. I caught him glancing in my direction only to avert his eyes as quickly as he could when he realized I noticed. I could only hope that Zane still thought of me as his little sister. Perhaps he still had enough of a family tie to me to come to my aid. But I knew even that was too much to hope for.
When my family got further ahead, out of earshot, Eiet decided to speak. “I know what this looks like, Lana, but please don’t think I would do anything to harm you.”
“Why were you calling for me in the woods?” I asked harshly, my words crisp and firm, mirroring my gaze.
“I wanted to make sure you were safe,” he replied, his tone strangely neutral, but I caught the slight edge in it. He was lying.
I pinched my eyes shut as he continued to lead me to the dungeon. It was getting dark out, which meant the king probably wouldn’t see me until morning. “Do me one favor, will you, Eiet?”
He nodded, a small, smile plastered on his face. “Anything for you,” he said with false conviction.
“Stop treating me like I am an idiot.” That caused him to abruptly freeze in his tracks. “I know you are lying to me, I can hear it in your voice. So just drop the act because it isn’t helping either of us. Why did you even pretend to be my friend at all?” I demanded, allowing the full force of my hurt to seep into my voice.
“Eiet, what’s holding?” my father yelled as he stopped before taking a left turn that led down an old stair case, bricks lining the walls.
“Be right there, sir,” he yelled back and turned his attention to me as we started walking again. “I never pretended to be your friend. But then you left, leaving me with the mess to clean up. I promised you I would not let them hurt you, if only you could’ve given me time to think of a way to get you out without you implicating me, but did you listen? No. Because you are stubborn. I was blamed for your escape. The scars on my back have still not healed. Honestly, of the two of us, who do you really think was the better friend in this situation?” His words stung as if he had taken the whip and sliced it over my back instead. I could imagine the scene before me clearly. My father ordering Eiet to take off his shirt before he lashed him. I knew something like that would happened. I told Andreas that was why I had to go back, but he wouldn’t let me.
“You think I broke those metal bars myself? That I begged you to help me, and then somehow managed to get myself out? And that after all this time, I was able to survive in the woods all by myself? I would have starved in the first week! I know nothing about the outdoors, or did you forget how sheltered I was as I child? I don’t even know how to control my magic! I didn’t choose to leave, Eiet! Someone helped me! Someone else let me out and took me away!”
“Who?” he challenged, thinking he had called my bluff.
“Andreas Scott Grigoli,” I stated simply. It was amazing how casually I could refer to him now.
Eiet’s eyes widened and he almost looked ready to stop again, but he kept moving forward, afraid of my father’s wrath should he pause again. “That’s not possible.”
“But it is! He saved me, and so far no one is believing me!”
“Why would they? He’s evil! He wouldn’t save anybody, let alone a helpless girl in a cage!” As much as I knew how false his statement was, I couldn’t deny he had a point. No one else had ever gotten the chance to glimpse the Andreas I knew. No one else knew why he was the way he was. No one knew about his family, all taken away from him much too soon. He had a heart; he was just very good at hiding it.
“You don’t know him!” I yelled back, feeling the need to defend the man I was starting to… dare I say love?
“Neither do you!” he paused as we reached the stairs and decided to face me, placing both his hands on my shoulders. “Look, I don’t know what happened to you out there, but it has clearly has confused you. Andreas hasn’t been spotted for over four years! People assume he is dead! You are clearly delusional… or the magic has been infecting your mind. Either way, you need help.”
“I’m perfectly fine, Eiet,” I commented as calmly as I could, but the words came out through clenched teeth.
He narrowed his eyes, but decided not to say anything further. Grabbing my arm again, gentler this time, he pulled me down the stairs to my cell. No one believed me about Andreas. No one but Raphael… then again, Raphael had stabbed him. But if it weren’t for him, I would’ve started thinking I had actually lost my mind. I needed to hold on to my memories. Savor them in the last moments before it was too late.
When we got downstairs, everything was dark except for one illuminated cell. Eiet pushed me into the cell and walked away and left me standing there by myself as I stared at the person waiting for me inside. His ash brown hair glistened even with the limited firelight. But there was no mistaking the figure before me. There was no denying who it was. Those green eyes I would recognize anywhere.
“Hello, Lana. It’s good to see you again so soon. We have a lot to catch up on.”
YOU ARE READING
A Necessary Evil (Book 1)
Fantasy**One can be evil, and still have a good heart, just as one can be good but still have a heart tainted by evil.** "There was an undeniable comfort and stability in a stable future, at having every detail of your life meticulously planned out. But ev...
