Chapter 245: I’ll Find A Way To Make This Work…
Before Ashlynn could relish in the moment of reunion with her parents, however strange the vision felt, she was grabbed forcefully and wrenched violently into a far crueler scene.
"So it’s true," Owain spat, staring at the mark revealed when he tore her dress from her body. "You’re a witch."
"No, no not this," Ashlynn whispered as her body began to tremble. "Anything but this."
Owain’s face contorted into a mask of rage as blow after blow began to rain down on her body. This time, Ashlynn tried to fight back, but her body was weak, without any of the strength she’d gained as Nyrielle’s seneschal.
Bones cracked under the force of Owain’s fists and none of the lessons she’d taken from Thane helped her when she didn’t possess a fraction of Owain’s strength, much less the power she’d become accustomed to. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she lay on the floor, broken and bleeding, her world fading to one of darkness and pain.
"Father, Mother, please. Please, you’ve sacrificed so much for me," she heard her own voice say, echoing in the darkness. "You’ve given me everything I could ever want."
"I’ll find a way to make this work," her voice said, as if mocking her from the darkness. "I promise."
"I tried," Ashlynn sobbed. Her body twitched and spasmed in pain and her face was a mass of cuts and bruises, but in her emerald eyes, a spark of defiance burned. "I tried," she repeated, pushing herself up off the ground until she stood, swaying on her feet in the darkness.
With no walls or anything to cling to, her act of defiance didn’t last long. Her muscles trembled and her legs shook, losing the strength to support her body and sending her tumbling back down to the cold, hard ground. Still, she refused to lie down. If she couldn’t stand, she would at least hold her head up high.