“Sister?” Ivy said.

  Sasha’s chin turned pink. She had seen where her sister’s eyes had traveled when she met Elias at the door.

  “It was he who started it.”

  “I knew it was a bad idea to leave the room,” Ivy sighed. “Why?”

  “It hurts like hell.” It was a bad excuse. “And he is a healer, Ivy.”

  “You didn’t have to give him a hickey because of that,” Ivy said, laying her hand on Sasha’s palm. “You could have waited for me.”

  The softness of Ivy’s touch was like a lullaby, and Sasha felt drowsy. She was on new ground, unsure of how to handle the new circumstances and the emptiness inside her.

  “I don’t know why I did it, Ivy. Elias, he... well, he just makes me so mad.”

  “You have to calm down. Don’t let him get the best of you.”

  “I won’t,” Sasha yawned. “I think I might owe him an apology, maybe. He gave back some of the magic he took.” She played with the energy, feeling the familiar warmth.

  “Don’t be too quick to forgive, Sasha. He was raised by them.”

  “I know. I was so close to bringing them to their knees.”

  “We will win, Sasha. You just have to be patient. Haven’t I promised you victory?” Ivy pulled the blanket higher, fondly caring for Sasha. “How is Isaak?”

  “He misses you. I was supposed to fetch you and come home, and look where I am now.” She squeezed Ivy’s hand, trying to reassure her, not wanting to tell her that he was coming for her. She didn’t want to see more worry lines.

  “You’ll have to grow stronger again. Until then, we will play nice.”

  Sasha laughed. Ivy joined her. That would be a new one for Sasha: playing nice.

  “Seriously, Sasha, how much did they drain from you?”

  Sasha tried to gather the flow of magic inside her, but she felt nothing. The warm swirl of power was gone, the tickling sensation—nothing. She could still sense the magic, but it didn’t respond.

  “I’m below the first level,” she confessed. “I’ll have to start all over.”

  “Ouch. That’s bad.”

  “At least I know what to expect this time. I’ll master it faster.”

  “I heard about mother from Elias,” Ivy whispered, changing the subject. “With you this weak, we have to go home. You’re fragile, the witchcraft...”

  “Yes, soon,” Sasha interrupted, not wanting to hear how close she had come to total humiliation. “Just let me rest for a while, and then we’ll come up with a plan.”

  She sank into her pillow, too tired to eat the soup Ivy had brought. She just needed to sleep.

  “I already have a great idea for the perfect plan, sister.”

  Sasha didn’t hear the rest. She drifted off to sleep. In her dream, she was hunting. She was running through a forest, her hand close to her sword, but each time she thought she had closed in on her prey, it sped up. She ran as fast as she could, the sweat not touching her skin, leaving her covered in moisture. The prey was almost within reach, but not quite.

  She woke up with a silent scream. Looking around in the unfamiliar room, she saw neither Ivy nor Elias. But she was not alone. On the chair beside her sat a man—someone she hated dearly. He cleared his throat.

  “That must have been quite the nightmare.”

  He was tall, not as lean as the statue of him in the square back in her hometown. Still, he towered over her, his body language oozing power.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “The queen kept you for herself. I’ve been waiting for you.”

  Sasha felt a chill run down her spine. This man had no warmth in his eyes. He was licking his lips.

  “I can make you forget you ever met her,” he said.

  If the rumors were true, that wasn’t a good thing. Sasha felt like crying. So close to her goal, yet so far away. She wanted her magic back, or if not that, at least she wanted to hit him.

  He put his fingers on her arm, pressing them into her flesh.

  “I can make you forget you ever met her,” she spat back, wishing she had the magic to back it up.

  “No one can,” the king replied.

  It was time to play it cool or scream for help.

  “Are you sure? You seem to have forgotten your second daughter,” she said. “Not recognizing your kids might come next to forgetting your wife, don’t you think?”

  She smiled. She’d done the math correctly. Ivy would be proud of her.

  “She had twins,” the king said, the realization spreading across his face. “That damn witch. I would have burned her twice.”

  He paused, closing in on her, studying her blue eyes, knitting his brows.

  “You look nothing like her,” he said, “You look like my sister.”

  Sasha sat up, dodging the king. She didn’t want to stay in bed with him in the room. She needed distance, and she didn’t like the gleam in his eyes. The nightgown she wore wasn’t hers, but it was modest, and for that, she was thankful. She moved to the armchair, grabbing the cold soup from her bedside table, using it as a shield. The king continued to watch her, sitting on the chair beside the bed, following each movement she made.

  “It will make her unhappy if something happens to you,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll send someone to bring more food.”

  “Father,” Elias’s voice suddenly filled the room. He sounded winded, as if he had been running. “How come I always find either you or my mother when I come to talk with Sasha?”

  “Sasha? Is that her name? A lovely lady, if I may say.”

  Elias clenched his fist. He looked from his father to Sasha, his eyes fixed on her arm and the blue marks. The smile he gave his father was forced.

  “A spoiled brat. Not much different from her father, I’d guess,” Elias answered.

  The king laughed. The frightening figure seemed almost human for a moment. He rose from the chair, patting Elias hard on the back. Sasha gripped her bowl tightly.

  “Mother asked me to bring Sasha to training,” Elias said, his face grimacing in disapproval.

  “She needs hot food first. Where is the queen, by the way?”

  “She’s in the stable, looking at the new mare you brought her,” Elias answered. “Nice gray color, she’s a beauty.”

  “Good, good indeed,” the king said, a broad smile on his face. “That horse is a real devil, she’ll like her.”

  Sasha listened to the king’s footsteps as he disappeared.

  “You heard the king—food first, training later. Put on some clothes and then we’ll go to the kitchen.”

  “I thought he would send it up?”

  “Sweetheart, sorry to disappoint you, but that won’t happen. He’ll forget about you the moment he leaves the room. He’ll go straight to the stable.”

  Elias turned around, and Sasha gathered her clothes and went to the bathroom. She was wobbly and had to focus on the doorknob. Some food would put everything right. She’d been through worse. Isaak would be disappointed in her if he saw her now.

  Sasha splashed cold water on her face and took a deep breath. One step at a time—first, she had to control her magic. Unfortunately, it seemed that doing so included the man on the other side of the door.

  “Hello, stepbrother. Lead the way, right to the dragon’s den.”

  Elias raised an eyebrow.

  “Ah, the dragons. I’ve been waiting for that one. You trust too easily. You were easy prey for Aiden. You need training in fighting too.”

  “I thought I heard the steps of another human down there.” He hadn’t denied it. He’d been there, in the maze with the snakes. It was simply not human.

  “Introducing you to my family was never my choice, I’m afraid,” Elias said. “But now that it’s done, we have to tackle the outcome. The faster we go, the faster I get my orb back, and you could disappear again.”

  “Why don’t you just take the orb?” Sasha put her hands on her hips, staring at him.

  “I plan on restoring your magic, and my mother plans on forcing magic upon you, magic she stole. Double the intake in such a short time won’t just hurt you, Sasha, it could kill you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The magic you took, what’s lying inside you—it’ll protect you. I’m a healer. The orb will ensure you can handle what you’ll get.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  Elias looked away, scratching the back of his head.

  “I’m the nice guy?”

  “Please,” Sasha said.

  “I’ve seen what the queen usually does,” Elias sighed. “If I had drained you completely, you’d have been useless to her. It would have been smoother. You wouldn’t have interfered with my family.”

  “Still, you told them who I was.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Elias sneered. He raised his voice. “You’ll train, and you’ll give back the orb when I say you’re ready. And you’ll be thankful.” He spat out the last words.

  “Then just give it to me now. I can handle pain.”

  “No, Sasha.” He grabbed her shoulders and looked her square in the eyes. “You don’t understand how this works. Taking magic back demands that you earn it. You have to redo each level, each struggle. You have to be worthy.”

  “I can’t wait that long!” Sasha couldn’t hold back the words. She and her sister would be stuck here. It would take ages before she could kill the king. More maids would follow the path she had taken, and it hurt. It hurt badly.

  “You will be worthy, Sasha. And when you are, I’ll remind you of how thankful you’ll be.”

  “You wish,” Sasha replied dryly.

  “It’s time to walk, princess,” Elias said, pushing her toward the door. He placed a hand on her back. “Let’s get you some food, and then we’ll see how much pain you can handle.”

  Sasha ground her teeth. She would fight, and she would grow strong again. Nothing would stop her—not Elias, not the queen, and especially not the king with his fat, scary fingers.

  Especially not the king.