"Tell her the truth, Ryland," Cail whispered, the last words all Ryland needed to hear before he snatched the blade from Cail's hand.
Ryland held it confidently, knowing exactly what to do with it. He lifted his shirt to reveal his chest, the skin over his heart pock marked with line after line of stab wounds.
Sain reached forward and placed his hand over Ryland's heart, the skin of his hand equally as scarred. I only looked at it for a moment before Ryland plunged the blade through Sain's hand and into his own chest. Both men called out in pain, and my screams joined them until the pair passed out, leaving my screams to fill the prison.
Timothy took the final steps toward me, his body coming to stand right before the now open door of my cell. I barely saw him. I couldn't look away from Sain and Ryland's frozen bodies. I couldn't stop screaming. I expected my father to punch me again. What I didn't expect was for him to unchain me.
“Why don’t you join them, princess?” Timothy’s voice was icy as he grabbed the chains that connected to the shackles on my wrist, one yank sending me to the ground as he pulled me over the cold uneven floor.
I didn’t have to ask what he was doing. I knew. I skirted away from him in my panic, trying to ignore the frantic beating of my heart and the tension that had moved its way to fill every nerve ending in my body. If I could have moved into the wall to get away from him, I would have.
I kicked and fought as he tried to take me toward them. My voice caught and screamed as I pleaded with him to leave me alone, to save me. It was useless. My fear seized into me in my desperation. Timothy ignored my pleas, pulling me by my chains, my body dragging against the stone floor as my feet kicked in desperation. I screamed again as he plowed my flailing body toward the collapsed forms of Sain and Ryland, my pained body trying to fight him but unable to.
"Are we ready?" I barely heard Edmund’s voice over my screams as my father pulled my hand toward the protruding edge of the dagger. My body was unable to fight him, so my screams were the only defense I had against what was coming.
"Almost, Master." My brother’s voice was cold, distanced, and almost excited.
My screams turned to pleas as I felt the sharp point of the dagger press against the skin of my palm.
"No," I begged. "No, Daddy, please no."
"Sorry, princess," he said, although he didn't really mean it. "But you'll like this, I promise."
I heard Cail and Edmund laugh at his words only moments before Timothy pushed my hand into the blade, my scream breaking through the air as my soul was sliced apart.
Chapter Five
I was floating.
I was gliding through mist and water. At least, I think that's what it was. I couldn't be sure. After all, I wasn't sure where I was, or who I was. My body felt disconnected. Not separated from me, but separate. I couldn't tell where my arm extended to or where my leg was. I saw white and dark, and memories that I knew did not belong to me. I felt happy and sad and scared and anxious, but none of the emotions were mine.
I was lost in a sea of everyone, a mist of white that gobbled everyone up and mashed us together into the confusion I now felt.
The dungeon was gone. The pain in my body was gone. It was just me, floating through the endless mist.
The last thing I remembered was the feeling of the blade plunging through my hand, the blade of souls. Is that where I was, trapped within the blade, just another nameless face to all those already killed by the dark weapon?
Yes, I suppose I was.
I floated and let the bits of souls wash over me, my body of smoke and cloud taking it all in, my cares gone.
I floated. I was, and yet, I wasn’t. I was nothing and everything. It didn’t make sense, but I didn’t care that it didn’t. I didn’t care that everything was gone.
"Sain?" A voice cut through the cloud of white. I was sure it was Ryland's, but it seemed younger somehow.
I would like to say I turned toward the sound, but I am not sure I could. I was too lost in the fog, swimming in sea foam.
"I’m here." My consciousness perked at the voice, my awareness clicking into place. "They brought Wynifred here too, Ryland." That voice, it wasn't familiar, and yet, I still felt like it should be.
"Of course they did," Ryland replied, his voice floating to me through the damp, white cloud. "She is their bargaining chip now."
"Wynifred?" Sain’s voice called out to me. "Don't be scared child, you are safe here."
I would have loved to respond to him, but I still couldn't figure out how to speak, what to say, or even if I had a mouth to use.
"You need to focus, Wynifred. Think about where your body should be, and it should appear for you."