Chapter 364
Chapter 364
Aurora
I turned my attention toward the iron bars separating our cell from the corridor, trying to ignore the ache that had settled into nearly every part of my body as I shifted against the cold stone wall.
For several minutes, I simply studied them.
There had to be a way out.
After everything that had happened since I woke up, I refused to believe that I had finally found Zayn only to spend the rest of the night sitting inside another cage.
I slowly pushed myself into a more upright position, keeping one hand against the wall for support while my eyes moved over every part of the cell. I had barely paid attention to it when I woke up, far too focused on Zayn being there to care about anything else, but now that I had a reason to examine it, I noticed details that hadn’t seemed important before.
The bars were thick, almost unnaturally dark, and they disappeared directly into the stone floor and ceiling without leaving even the smallest space between the metal and the walls. The door itself had a heavy lock attached to it, although it didn’t resemble anything I had seen on an ordinary cage. Strange markings had been carved into the metal around it, so faint that they were almost impossible to notice unless I was looking directly at them.
I reached toward the bars.
“Wait.”
Zayn immediately looked at me.
“What?”
“I want to try something.”
He shifted closer, his attention following my hand as I slowly extended it toward the nearest bar.
The moment my fingertips touched the cold metal, I felt it.
A familiar sensation moved through my palm, warm and almost electric, and my breath caught as the strange energy I’d discovered earlier stirred beneath my skin.
It was the same force I’d felt in the medical room.
Only this time, it didn’t remain inside me.
It reached outward.
Toward the metal.
I frowned and pressed my palm more firmly against the bar.
A faint vibration traveled through it.
“Do you feel that?”
Zayn moved closer.
“Feel what?”
“This.”
I kept my hand against the metal.
Another pulse passed through the bar, subtle enough that I might have mistaken it for my imagination if I hadn’t felt the response inside my own body.
Kael had noticed it too.
“What the hell was that?”
I looked toward him.
“I don’t know.”
I pulled my hand away.
The sensation disappeared immediately.
I stared at my palm for a moment before placing it against the bar again.
The energy returned.
This time, I paid closer attention to what I was feeling, and beneath the warmth moving through my hand, I sensed something else, something much older and far more powerful than the magic that had been used to suppress me.
My eyes narrowed.
“There’s magic in the bars.”
Kael stood inside his own cage and stepped closer to the dividing bars.
“Magic?”
I nodded slowly.
“And it’s the same kind of magic that was suppressing mine.”
Zayn looked toward the lock.
“Can you break it?”
“I don’t know.”
Kael gave me a look.
“Then we’re going to find out.”
I glanced at him.
“That is a surprisingly terrible plan.”
“Do you have a better one?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it again.
“No.”
“Then we’re going with mine.”
Zayn shook his head.
“That’s not exactly a plan.”
“It has a destination.”
“Which is?”
“Out.”
Despite everything, a tiny smile tugged at my lips.
“You two are unbelievable.”
Kael shrugged.
“I’m trying to keep morale high.”
I turned back toward the bars.
My smile disappeared.
I placed both hands against the metal and closed my eyes.
At first, there was almost nothing.
The magic inside me remained distant, buried beneath the invisible force that had been keeping it suppressed for so long, and when I reached toward it, I could feel that barrier pushing back.
I took a slow breath.
I wasn’t looking for my magic alone.
I was looking for the other presence.
The two currents I had felt before.
The two tiny sources of energy that were somehow connected to me.
My babies.
The moment I reached for them, something shifted.
Warmth spread through my stomach before rushing upward through my chest, and the sensation became stronger with every second until I could feel it moving down both arms and gathering beneath my palms.
I swallowed.
“I think I can feel them.”
Zayn’s expression softened.
“The babies?”
I nodded.
“They’re there.”
His eyes dropped briefly toward my stomach before returning to my face.
“Then let them help you.”
I closed my eyes again.
I didn’t know how to do this.
Nobody had ever taught me how to channel someone else’s magic, and the idea that I was somehow drawing power from two unborn children should have terrified me, but there was something instinctive about it that made me feel as though my body already understood what my mind couldn’t.
I stopped trying to control the energy.
Instead, I let it move.
The change was immediate.
A powerful surge traveled through me, so strong that my fingers tightened around the bars as the energy rushed from my stomach into my chest and down my arms.
The markings carved into the metal began glowing beneath my palms.
Kael stared.
“Keep going.”
“I am.”
The pressure inside my head increased until my ears began ringing, and I felt as though I were pushing against something enormous that existed just beyond my reach.
The suppression magic reacted.
It tightened around my own power, trying to force it back beneath the surface, but the two currents inside me pushed against it.
Together, they were stronger.
The markings flickered.
Then the lock moved.
Click.
My eyes snapped open.
Zayn immediately looked toward it.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes.”
Kael grabbed the bars of his own cage.
“Again.”
I pressed my palms harder against the metal.
“I’m trying.”
The energy gathered again, rising through my body with increasing force until the entire cage began to tremble beneath my hands.
The lock shuddered.
Once.
Then again.
A second click echoed through the dungeon.
The door moved.
Only slightly, but it moved.
Kael immediately reached through the opening and grabbed the edge.
He pulled.
Nothing.
His expression tightened.
“It won’t open.”
I frowned.
“Something’s holding it.”
“What?”
I placed my hand against the lock again.
This time, I searched beyond the metal itself, following the faint current of magic wrapped around it.
There.
My eyes widened.
“There’s another seal.”
Zayn stepped closer.
“Where?”
“Everywhere.”
I looked along the bars.
“The entire cage is enchanted. The lock isn’t what’s keeping it shut.”
Kael glanced around.
“Then what is?”
I took a slow breath.
“I need to break all of it.”
Kael gave me a skeptical look.
“Can you?”
“I don’t know.”
He sighed.
“You really need to stop saying that.”