Chapter 114 Joyce

Chapter 114 Joyce
Joyce Pov

I woke to the sound of the doors locking, the heavy metal dragging against the stone outside my room before the bolts were pushed firmly into place. I remained on the bed, staring at the closed door while the blackness inside my head stirred restlessly. Even before anyone told me what had happened, I knew Caven had done it.

No one was leaving the dragon kingdom, and no one was coming in either. When I finally turned toward the window, I saw more guards stationed around the courtyard and along the outer walls, their weapons visible as they watched the entrances. Caven had sealed the kingdom because of us, because he needed us trapped here.

Because he needed me.

I heard movement beside the bed and immediately stiffened. "Joyce," Elara said softly, and I closed my eyes because I knew that voice too well. I had heard it too many times since she rescued me, and every time she spoke, something inside me twisted between anger and a feeling I refused to name.

She sat beside the bed, watching me carefully as though she was afraid one wrong movement would make me attack her again. She had every reason to be afraid because I had hurt her more times than I wanted to remember. The first time, I had barely understood what was happening; one moment she was standing in front of me asking if I was all right, and the next, something dark had torn through my hand and sent her crashing against the wall.

She had hit the floor hard enough to make me think I had killed her, but when I ran toward her, she pushed herself up and told me she was fine. She had lied, and I had seen the way she held her side afterward and the pain she tried to hide whenever she thought I wasn't looking. Still, she stayed, and somehow that was what I hated most.

"Leave me alone," I muttered, keeping my face turned away from her. She didn't answer immediately, and when I finally looked over, she was watching me with that same worried expression that had begun to irritate me more than I could explain. "Joyce, you haven't eaten."

"I said leave me alone," I snapped, pulling the blanket tighter around myself. She lowered her head but didn't leave, and I heard her place the bowl on the small table beside the bed. The smell of food reached me, but my stomach turned, and everything about the room suddenly felt too close and too quiet.

"Why are you still here?" I asked, my voice quieter this time. She looked at me for several seconds before answering, and when she finally did, her voice was almost a whisper. "Because you're my sister."

My eyes snapped toward her, and the blackness surged before I could stop it. I felt it rushing through my veins, cold one moment and burning the next, gathering in my hands as the pressure inside my skull became unbearable. My fingers tightened against the sheets as I tried to control it, but Elara saw the change in my face and moved backward.

"Don't," she warned, but the word had barely left her mouth when the darkness exploded from my body. The table beside her shattered, and she threw herself backward, but a wave of black energy still struck her across the shoulder and sent her crashing onto the floor. I stared at her in horror, my chest rising and falling as the darkness slowly disappeared from my hands.

For several seconds, neither of us moved. Then she pushed herself up, one hand pressed against the floor as she struggled to stand, and I saw blood running from a cut near her forehead. "Are you hurt?" she asked, and I stared at her because she had just been thrown across the room by me and was still worried about whether I was all right.

"Don't come near me," I said, but she ignored me. She picked up a cloth from the floor and pressed it against her forehead before slowly getting to her feet, her movements more careful now. I watched her take one step toward me, and something inside me tightened.

"Stop," I warned, but she continued. "Joyce, I know you're not doing this on purpose." I moved backward until my legs hit the bed, shaking my head as the darkness began crawling beneath my skin again.

"Stop!" I shouted, and the room shook violently around us. The curtains flew upward as another burst of magic rushed through the room, forcing Elara to grab the edge of the bed to steady herself. I covered my ears as a sharp pain stabbed through my head, and then I heard the voice that had been haunting me.

She wants to take everything from you.

I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. "No," I whispered, but the voice only grew louder.

She wants your power.

"Stop," I breathed, pressing my palms against my temples. Elara stared at me, her expression changing when she realized something was wrong, and she asked carefully, "What are you hearing?"

I opened my eyes and glared at her. "You." The answer came too quickly, and the moment I said it, I saw the hurt cross her face, but I refused to take it back because blaming her was easier than admitting I was terrified of what was happening inside my own mind.

"I am not doing this to you," she said quietly. I looked away, but she continued, "I know something is happening to you, Joyce, and I know you're fighting it."

"I don't need your help." My voice was low, but the anger behind it was enough to make her stop. She looked at me for a moment before answering, "Yes, you do."

I turned toward her so quickly that she took a small step back. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know you."

"No, you don't," I said, shaking my head. "You don't even know who I am."

Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to look away. "I know you better than you think, Joyce."

A bitter laugh escaped me. "You don't even know who I am, yet you keep calling yourself my sister."

Her expression broke slightly, but she still didn't move. "Because you are my sister."

The words struck something deep inside me.

My mind flashed, and suddenly I was somewhere else.

A little girl was running through a garden, her dress gathered in her tiny hands as she laughed. Another child was chasing after her, calling her name, and when the little girl turned around, I saw a face that looked exactly like mine.

I gasped and grabbed my head as the memory disappeared.

"No," I whispered.

Elara immediately moved toward me. "Joyce, what happened?"

"Don't touch me," I said, pushing her hand away before she could reach me. The black magic tightened around my thoughts, smothering the memory before I could hold on to it, replacing the warmth in my chest with anger and suspicion.

"You saw something, didn't you?" she asked.

"I saw nothing."

"Joyce—"

"You're not my sister."

The words came out quietly this time, but the moment they left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Elara stood completely still, and the hurt in her eyes was worse than I expected.

She looked away first, wiping quickly at her face before I could see whether she was crying. "I know you don't believe me now," she whispered, "but I won't stop trying to reach you."

I didn't answer.

Outside the room, footsteps passed the door, followed by the low voices of the guards stationed outside. Caven had made sure no one could leave the kingdom, and Elara had no way of escaping to find help, no matter how badly she wanted it.

She was trapped here with me.

And I was trapped inside myself.

I lowered my gaze to my hands, watching the faint darkness move beneath my skin before disappearing again. Caven had wanted us here, and deep down, I knew he wasn't doing this simply to keep us from escaping.

He wanted something from us.

From me.

From her.

The thought made the darkness stir again, but this time, beneath the anger and hatred it had filled my mind with, something else moved quietly inside me.

A memory.

A little girl holding my hand.

A voice calling my name.

And no matter how hard I tried to bury it, I could not make it disappear.