Sabine

"You really are pathetic. Pining after the prince like he'd ever give you the time of day."

I set my hands on my hips. "What do you want from me? If it's to tell me to back off from a man that we both know wants nothing to do with you, you're wasting your breath, don't you think?"

Dulcey's painted eyes widened and she gaped for a moment. "The prince will come around soon. Mark my words!"

"If you're so sure, then you have nothing to worry about from me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be." I turned my back to her. It was a refreshing change from when I had to stand there and take her abuse.

"Don't turn your back on me! I'm not finished with you yet." Her heels clicked on the marble as she approached.

Sighing, I tipped my head back and looked at the ceiling. "I am done with you."

Dulcey's clawlike fingernails curled around my arm. She squeezed and spun me around.

I pressed my hand to her chest and muttered a magical word. Golden light beamed from my palm and pushed Dulcy away. She slid into the nearest wall, her head smacking sickeningly against the stone. She groaned and clutched her head between her hands.

"You're going to regret that. I'll make you pay, I swear it," she hissed.

I laughed and shook my head. "No, you won't. I told you; I'm done with you. You might have worked your way up from a peasant to a noble but I went from being a slave to a noble. Not just any noble, a royal mage, which means I have superior status to you."

"We'll see about that! You attacked me in the palace."

"Who will believe you? I have the king's favor. Perhaps you should remember that before picking a fight with me again." If I was being honest, the king would probably be thrilled that I used magic against someone else.

It was a defensive spell but he wanted me combative.

Dulcey glared at me. Her hair had come loose from its bindings and hung messily over her shoulder. Makeup around her eyes was slightly smeared. She looked like a street performer in costume.

"Now, as I said before, I've got somewhere more important to be." I narrowed my eyes at Dulcey and crossed my arms.

She slowly pushed off the wall and slinked down the corridor. Once she was around the corner, I headed to the dungeons. I couldn't have Dulcey spreading rumors about my whereabouts and I wouldn't put it past her to try.

I didn't need to know her to know that she had ambition and determination. A commoner didn't work their way into the royal court without it. She was after power and status and would do whatever it took to gain more.

As annoying and shallow as she was, that still made her dangerous.

A burst of cold air from the damp underground dungeons sent a shiver down my spine. I could smell mildew clinging to the air, moisture almost palpable from the underground pit.

Two guards stood watch at the open, gaping maw of the dungeon. They didn't even twitch or look at me. Being a royal mage had some perks.

"I'm here to question the prisoner, Cara. Where is she being held?"

The guard wearing a gold-plated shield on his shoulders lifted the visor of his helmet. "She's on the lowest level in the central cell. Do you need directions, My Lady?"

"No, thank you. I can find my way."

He bowed slightly and replaced his visor, returning to his watch.

The stone steps spiraling downward were slick under the soles of my shoes. I kept one hand on the rough, moist wall as I descended. Each level was marked by a flickering torch next to a hallway that peeled off the stairs.

The bottom level was five levels below the palace, deep underground.

Another shiver ran through me and I rubbed my arms. Somewhere in the distance, I heard a trickle of dripping water.

The passageway from the bottom of the stairs curved around in a spiral, cells with moldy bars following the same pattern. There weren't any torches on the bottom level.

I held my palm up and pulled a smooth ball of light from my center into my hand. The magical orb hummed and followed me as I moved. It cast a bubble of light around me and allowed me to see several feet in every direction.

I followed the spiral passageway, each rotation taking less time with fewer cells. In the darkness beyond the bars, I sometimes heard rasping breaths and scratching but I didn't stop to look inside.

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I held my breath. A black pit twisted in my stomach. With each step, I felt like I was walking toward my doom.

I reached the center of the spiral and the final cell. Standing at the bars, I could see a ghostly pale, thin woman huddled in the corner. Her black cape hung off one shoulder and dirt smeared what skin I could see.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Cara's dark eyes lit up the moment she saw me. She crawled to the bars, her arms shaking under her own weight. Her eyes were sunken and her lips a thin line of chapped, peeling skin.

I took a quick step back and gasped.

"I knew you'd come to see me." Her voice was strong whereas her body was weak. Her eyes flashed as she sat back on her heels and hooked her thumb around the collar that dangled at her neck.

Instinctively, I reached for my own neck and rubbed where my collar used to rest. I swallowed hard.

"You had to see what became of me, didn't you?"

I shook myself out of my daze. "I want to know about the curse on your family."

"Curses," Cara spat at my feet, "Vile, despicable magic."

"I agree. That's why I want to know why your own sister would curse you."

Cara scoffed and turned her head to the side. "What concern is it of yours? All families have their problems."

"Well, few families have a rogue member who wants to see the entire bloodline ended."

"What do you know of the complexities of royal families and politics in Stivalia, or any nation for that matter?"

I leaned in closer, my ball of light following to illuminate more of Cara's cell. She had a grungy cot in the corner with a few wrinkled blankets and a bucket. I couldn't be sure, but based on the smell, I knew what that bucket was for.

"Are you sure about that? I've been the personal attendant to Prince Cole. You can't imagine what I've seen and heard from a place of invisibility."

"The Agyion Royal Family has more problems than most."

"And yet, none of them have tried to wipe out all the others. So, what is it about your family that would inspire the crowned princess to flee and try to end everyone she loves?"

Cara sniffed. She smoothed her hands over the tattered ends of her cape. "You'll have to ask her. That's one of the reasons I'm here in Telasia. I want answers from her."

I pursed my lips. When she said she got information from my former slave master, I assumed she learned that the Aura connected to him was dead.

"What did my former slave master tell you?"

"That bumbling idiot! He could barely string two words together after I was done with him. My contact said he had dealings with Aura. That fat lard could barely remember her name, but he did remember you."

I bowed my head and sighed. It was a good thing I didn't break during her torture. Cara didn't have nearly enough from my former master to know Aura was my mother or her sister. Everything she said was to get me to fill in the blanks for her.

"Why won't you answer my questions? What do you have to lose now?" I tapped my hand on the cell bar.

"Hmph. Is that the best you can do? You're a royal mage now. Shouldn't you be forcing magic down my throat and forcing answers from me?"

"No."

Cara's expression broke for a moment. She chewed her lower lip and her shoulders sagged ever so slightly.

"Does it surprise you that a mage wouldn't resort to magical torture to get what they want? After all, that's what you did?"

"I did what I had to for my family!"

This was going nowhere. I needed another way in. "That's not what your father said. According to him, you haven't been well in the head since you found out you can't have children."

What was left of the blood in Cara's face drained completely. She slouched forward and bowed her head.

It was a low blow, I knew that. I needed her to talk to me, though.

"I see that you don't need magic to torture," she hissed.

I dropped to my knees in front of the cell, lowering myself to her level. I reached through the bars and put my hand over her bony fingers.

Cara stiffened.

"Talk to me, please. We don't have to be enemies. I don't want to be enemies."

Slowly, Cara lifted her eyes to meet mine. Her large, brown eyes were like my mother's, like mine. Quickly, I averted my gaze.

"What do you want to know?"

"The curse. Why did your sister curse her own family?"

"She disapproved of the way my father and the kings before him used magic to subjugate our people. As crowned princess, she could have changed that when she took the throne, but instead..."

"I know enough about politics, and you do too, to know that a simple change in monarch isn't enough to completely change how a country is run."

"I'm not an idiot, you know. My father is a cruel man. He taught me the spells I used to torture you when I was seven years old, and he made me practice them on other people. Do you think I enjoyed that or wanted it for my future children?"

My throat tightened and I curled my hands around Cara's thin fingers. "Then you agreed with her desire to change things?"

"Of course. She was my idol, my best friend. There were other nobles in the court who agreed with us and Aura spoke of forming a new council to effect real change throughout the country."

My heart swelled a little. That sounded a lot more like my mother the way I remembered her.

"Then, she vanished without a word. It wasn't until a few years later when my brothers and I were still childless after all getting married that we realized something was wrong. The best healing mages in Stivalia analyzed us and discovered the curse."

"How do you know it was your sister who cast it?"

"Even a magical slave must know how rare it is to be able to cast a curse! Stivalia has superior mages, yes, but even there, curse casters are hard to come by. Aura and my father are the only two who could manage a curse on an entire bloodline."

"And by process of elimination..." I sighed and nodded.

"Of course, my father refused to believe it. He couldn't imagine his golden daughter would raise a hand to him. He convinced himself that Telasia cursed us and assassinated her because she was the only one who would be able to break a curse from them."

"But you thought otherwise."

"I didn't believe she was dead and I knew Telasia was the one place she could hide from our father. He wouldn't give me leave to come look for her until the mage healers did everything they could to reverse the curse."

I nodded. Cara all but admitted that King Verill knew his reasons for instigating conflict with Telasia were false. If he wasn't after revenge, then what was he after? He couldn't possibly think the war would grant him more power or territory. It would be far too destructive.

"Why are you so curious about my sister and the curse?" Cara snapped.

Blinking, I pushed my thoughts away and pulled my hand from her cell. "King Verill and King Talis are on the brink of war. I'm a royal mage. If I could break the curse, then perhaps this war could be subverted by King Verill."

Cara threw her head back and laughed. "How optimistic you are."

"Do you want our countries to fight a war?"

She looked at me with a sobered expression. "No. The devastation would be unparalleled on both sides."

"Then if the curse was lifted, you could take the throne and be the voice of reason."

Cara ran her tongue over her chapped lips, the flaking skin bending at the force. "That's not possible."

"Why?" I met her eyes again and gave her the most urgent look I could muster.

"Aura was the last crowned princess. I was never the heir. It's strange, I never understood why she cursed the family and ran off when she was heir and we were making plans to change things. Then I came here and I met you."

"What?" I pressed my hand to my chest and leaned away from her.

"Don't worry." Cara's dry, cracked lips spread in a frightening smirk. "Your secret is safe with me."