Just as he reached the top of my bodice, the door to the chamber flew open, banging against the wall.
“What the hell?” Everett whirled around as the room filled with armed palace guards. “You can’t just burst in here like that,” he shouted, waving his hands dramatically to get them to go. “Who the hell do you think you are? This is my private workroom. Get out!”
“Kneel in the presence of your king,” one of the men ordered, his stern command causing Everett to curse under his breath just before the doorway filled with a tall, broad-shouldered silhouette that wore a sharp, jutting crown and a fluttering cape.
Everett instantly fell to one knee and bowed his head. “Your Majesty,” his gruff voice worked out the greeting. “I was not expecting—”
The ruler of High Cliff lifted his hand, silencing my captor as he entered the room. I’d never seen King Ignatius before and had no idea what to expect. Maybe a slovenly, unkempt and oily mass of evil, someone who never bothered to rise from his throne where he issued his austere orders.
But this neat and tidy—while still large and domineering—man had a very regal and noble, clean-cut presence about him. His shoulders were wide and proudly stiff, his nose long and straight, eyes dark and shrewd. His gold crown sat on a bald head but the weathered beard that was streaked with dark and gray hair more than made up for the lacking portion on top.
He gazed around the room, taking in everything yet passing over me as if I didn’t even exist. Then he stopped in front of the extractor.
“I see that your creation’s finally complete,” he said to Everett as he nodded to it.
“Yes, my king. After two years of intense construction and obtaining various magics from over a dozen different mages, I fully believe it’ll work now.”
King Ignatius nodded once. “Let’s hope that it does. As your very life now hinges on its success.”
Everett paled but bobbed his head in affirmation. “It will, Your Majesty.”
“Explain the process to me again.”
Pushing to his feet, Everett eagerly stepped forward. “The subject will lie here, unclothed, arms strapped and fastened here and here by these manacles.”
Unclothed? Had he just said unclothed? My stomach dipped with dread.
“Legs here,” Everett went on, pointing out the obvious planks my legs would lie on, “with these clamps snapped around her ankles and these here to hold her hips, chest, and head in place.”
The king nodded quietly, studying each area Indigo’s uncle pointed out.
“Once she's securely in place, we’ll crank this lever.” He grasped it with both hands and demonstrated, gritting his teeth and bracing a foot against the base of the lever as he pulled it toward him. The extractor began to swivel then, swinging over and causing the metal to screech and grind past each other until the boards that were facing up had turned upside down and were now facing the floor. When it settled into place with a loud, jarring thud, I winced, already imagining how such a rough landing would snap every bone in my wrists and ankles.
“We’ll hang her suspended here, facing down over the magically charmed map of the Outer Realms…”
They were going to do what now?
My head went faint and my stomach queasy. I began breathing harshly through my nose, forcing fresh air in and out, doing everything I could to keep from vomiting inside my gag.
“From there, the procedure will require eight incisions. All done in one- to two-inch slices that only allow the body to release one drop of blood at a time. Any less than that and the openings will need to be made wider. Any more than a drop at a time and the process will be ruined, forcing us to start the whole procedure over again from the beginning.”
My pulse picked up, and my breathing grew even more ragged. The room blurred before me.
“First, we’ll need to bleed her from the sides of both eyes, so she can reach out and magically see every member of her family. Whenever her blood lands on the map below, it’ll soak it in, only to appear again as dots where each person currently is. And one slice over her heart will eliminate deceased family so only those with a pulse will appear.”
The king frowned and stroked his beard thoughtfully. “But won’t it find all sides of her family, not just the blood-born Graykeys?”
Everett lifted a finger, answering, “Yes, so I made contingencies for that. We’ll cut into her tongue, so the magic will be able to speak the given and surnames of each person it finds, which will help us eliminate non-Graykeys. Then two more slices to the wrist will help translate the tongue and write the names of them in blood above their dots.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, and a cold sweat slithered down my back.
“Very clever,” King Ignatius congratulated on an admiring nod.
“And since this would only show up where the members were at the time the map was made, two last cuts to the bottoms of each of her feet should track where they go from there on after.”
“Perfect.” The king smiled slowly and nodded, before murmuring an amazed, “My God, Everett. We might just end this curse after all.”
“We will, Your Majesty,” Indigo’s uncle assured him with passion. “We will.”
The king turned my way then, regarding me a moment before tipping up his chin. “This must be our volunteer.” Clasping his hands behind his back, he strolled forward only to stop a few feet in front of me. His cold, discerning gaze washed over me before he asked, “Has she used any of her Graykey magic against you yet?”
“No. None so far as I can tell. We warded the room to prepare for them, but I honestly don’t believe she has any.”
“She is the one who shed her magic, then.” The king squinted at me thoughtfully. “Indigo must’ve been telling the truth about that.”
The mention of his name caused my eyes to flare.
He’d seen Indy? Talked to him? My heart wrenched just thinking of him.
Was he okay? Were they keeping him near here? God, had they even let him live?
I glanced past the king, wondering if Indigo had come along with him. This crazy hope bloomed in my chest that he’d somehow convinced the king to let me go free. That damn man could convince anyone of anything. He’d convinced a unicorn to give him a ride on his back for days. And a mermaid to try out a kiss on ground-walkers. Hell, he’d convinced me to fall in love with him.
“Indigo?” Everett was saying in surprise, drawing me back to the present.
The king lifted an eyebrow. “Yes.” Then he hitched his chin my way as he glanced at Indigo’s uncle. “Were you not aware your nephew had mated himself to this one?”
“What?” Everett reared away from me as if I were contaminated. “No. I hadn’t heard.” Turning to look at me in appalled horror, he shook his head. “That’s a shame. And here, I’d had such high hopes for the boy.”
“Did you?” King Ignatius seemed amused, as if he didn’t believe a moment of Everett’s claim.
Indigo’s uncle bobbed his head stiffly. “I trust you punished him fittingly for such a betrayal.”
Smirking over some private amusement, the king answered, “Oh, there’s no doubt about that.” When I whimpered in worry, wondering what they’d done to Indigo, the king turned to smirk at me.