A Girl in Black and White (Alyria 2)

“It got done, didn’t it? You could have shared what she was with me,” he snapped.

The ice hardened, cracking the rest of my heart into bits. Agony ran through my bloodstream. The black, it was crawling from the dark corners in my mind.

It had all been a lie. He let his brother stab me, kill me. He hadn’t even known I would live through it. Maybe my grandmother did. But it didn’t matter—because she took my choice from me. I didn’t have to fight this monster in my chest. This feeling inside of me. She took my choice of normalcy. It was torture fighting this darkness now; it wanted to consume me—

I already have . . .

I stepped around the corner, the anguish visible on my face.

The Shadows would always haunt me, and the two people responsible for it were standing right in front of me.

Weston’s gaze shot to me, guilt crossing his face. He tried to clear his expression, but it was too late. Just like I could read his sincerity about our truce, I could see his guilt now. “Fail,” I whisp

ered.

A flicker flashed through his eyes as if I saw right into his head.

He did it, he really did it. That was why he felt indebted to me. Not because he couldn’t save me, but because he had me killed.

“Stay away from her,” my grandmother said to him, her back to me. “You almost ruined everything . . .” she trailed off, having read his expression.

Grandmother wore the same brown, long-sleeved dress she always had, her gray hair in one braid down her back. “Calamity,” she said softly, ruefully, as soon as she turned around. I could barely see her through the tears in my eyes, the anguish clouding my mind.

My entire life was a lie. Betrayal seeped into my chest, filling it with a bitter burn. The darkness sunk its claws into me, itching, scratching.

My grandmother’s eyes flicked down, widening in horror. “What happened to your other cuff?”

I shook my head, resentment coming up to choke me. The one person in the world I thought would always be there for me, and that comfort was crumbling. Dark. Alone.

“Dammit, Reina,” she muttered to herself. “How long has it been off?” When I didn’t answer, she yelled, “Calamity! Answer me!”

Her expression paled when I said, “Months.”

She shook her head. “We can fix this. Let’s sit down, and I’ll explain everything.”

My voice was emotionless, not my own. “You’ve had twenty-one years to explain everything. It’s too late.”

When Weston took a step toward me, my gaze shot to him. With ashen eyes, I gave him a colder look than I could’ve ever managed if I were still myself.

I’d somehow grown to trust him, and I wondered if the entire time he was here had only been an act. That while I’d lain with him, he was plotting his next step to push me closer to the seal.

“As for you . . .” My voice was unforgiving, his expression tight with regret. “I guess shame on me, right?”

Naïve . . . how naïve . . .

The dark clouded my mind, seeping into my thoughts until I lost my own amongst all the blackness.

I took my cuff off and tossed it with a clang at their feet. My grandmother’s horrified gaze shot to it and then me. A small smile pulled on my lips. “Something to remember me by.”

I heard her pleas to put the cuff back on, for me to stop, and when I didn’t, for Weston to stop me, but as I walked down the hall, they eventually ceased.

The dungeon stairs were cold against my feet as I hummed the Witch’s Lullaby like I would with the girls after mass.

I pushed open Talon’s door, glancing around to see the room empty. I stepped inside, shutting the door behind me. Taking a step, I kicked something. A ringing bell sounded across the room. I took a breath, smelling the scents of Grandmother’s cottage. Like her fresh herbs.

What a shame it was she betrayed me.

My eyes caught on the table, at the clock that looked complete.