When she woke up she laid in a bed. The room was empty, she couldn’t see Elias, and no one else either for the matter. She felt the pain in her chin and around her foot she felt hard metal. He had chained her. A handwritten note laid by the table.

“I’m sorry, but you gave me no other choice. There are bread and something to drink. I try to come back for you as soon as possible.”

She collected her magic and tried to burn her way through the metal without success. Off course it was reinforced to withstand magic. The chain reached to the small kitchen table and the toilet. She tugged at the chain, but it was stuck in the wall and by the design of it, the room must have been built for the sole purpose of chaining someone to its very foundation. Someone had done their homework.  No windows and the walls were thick, absorbing her shouts for help.

“Fuck.”

She pushed her fist in the wall. It hurt and it felt good. There was absolute nothing she could do before Elias returned. She threw the other fist in the wall. Her knuckles bled. When she closed her eyes she saw the flames consuming her home, the flames consuming her mother.

The patch on her throat only reminded her of her failure.

“I hate you.”

She forced the orb out of her body, looking at the dark purple of it. This was the essence of Elias. She had taken a good part of his magic from him. Still he had won. The stray cat had been far more dangerous than his reputation. She would kill him, but first she would make him pay. Her revenge would be slow, sweet, and it would hurt far more than losing an orb.

Her fingers stroke the globe, touching and consuming it part by part, as if by studying it she would figure out what he cared about the most. It resembled an onion. Each layer darker and more complex, with soft, almost invisible layers in between, so thin she almost missed them. He had darkness, but there were also more. There were things he cared about, and things that saddened him. She would have to reach for these.

It was time to plan revenge, and it was time to sleep. Her head hurt.

The sound was faint, but she heard it.

“If you are thinking about throwing that in my head I would think twice.”

He closed the door smoothly, looking at the jug in her hands. It was childish, and she hadn’t thought of throwing it, she would have waited until he was close enough to actually put some force behind.

“I hate you.”

“I am sure you do. Since you have taken part of my magic I would have to say it is mutual.”

Sasha had to look away. The face of him reminded her of her cottage, of the flames, of the unnatural high sparks.

“I didn’t kill her if that is what you think.”

There was a softness to his voice.

She spiralled around still holding the jug of glass tight in her hands. Ella wasn’t dead? She had seen the fire. No one could have survived that, not even Ella. He answered her questions as if he could read her mind.

“I let her go. She was the one responsible for the show. She put the cottage on fire when she was at a safe distance away.”

“You let her go?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. How else would you think I should have handled it? You preferred I killed her?”

Elias looked offended, as if the mere thought of her assumption had hurt him. 

“Because she is your mother?”

He didn’t even flinch. So it was true. He had been told.

“Yes.” He straightened up, looking all business, the shame she thought she had seen before completely gone. “Don’t pretend I'm the good guy. I have questions, and the only way for me to get answers is to let her live. Which means my father’s place is by sure the last place for her to be.”

“I… thanks” she said. Even if he hadn’t made it out of his good heart Sasha couldn’t care less. Ella was alive, and that was actually all that mattered.

“Which takes us back to you”, he quickly took the jug out of her hands. “I would need that orb back.”

She hissed under her breath. 

“I’ve already said I traded it.” She shrugged. Ella was alive, and Elias was not her problem, not anymore. She just had to figure out how to get rid of him. The less she had to do with him, the less blame Ella would put on her when he was killed.

Elias let out a heavy sight. He took out the necklace from his pocket.

“I don’t care who has it. I need it back and I will do about anything to get it back.”

When Sasha didn’t answer and just shrug her shoulders, he came closer. He leaned in, his breath almost brushing her cheek.

“You know, I set Ella free. Everyone think she is dead. No one will look for her.”

Sasha’s smile was full of disgust. He would not intimidate her. She stood on her toes, whispering slowly in his ear. 

“And I have said thank you very much, sir, unfortunately I don’t have your beloved orb.”

Elias put his hands on her shoulders, pushing her down and looking her straight in her eyes.

“You see, this is where I am right and you are wrong.”

Sasha froze. He couldn’t know that she still had it, inside of her. It was not possible.

“You will help me find the orb, or I will tell. I will tell them Ella actually never died, that she slipped between my fingers.” Elias narrowed his eyes and just a small slit of the yellow light was seen. He looked like a predator. The grip he had on her shoulders becoming firmer. “I bet the king will send someone more efficient next time.”

“I hate you.”

Elias chuckled.

“Well, well, since you insist and you intrigue me, I will give you a onetime offer. You seem to feel passionate about me”, he said sarcastically. “Please ponder thoughtfully before turning down my offer. It’s quite unique.”

“What?” Sasha asked.

“You may kiss me if you want”, Elias offered. “See if you can turn the prince into a frog.”

He was indeed the devil and the prince in one person. Somehow, the almighty seemed to think she would be flattered. Sasha almost laughed. Instead she spat on the floor. The royals surely lived in a world of their own. 

“I think I may pass. I prefer stronger men, and you seem to need far too much help.”

Elias came closer, his words almost too low to be heard, and his breath caressing her neck. Sasha shuddered, she didn’t want to, but she did. A strike of pure energy bolting from her ears down to her feet. Her toes curled. She inhaled sharply. By the monsters of the king, did he smell good. 

“Does your boyfriend make you shiver the way I make you?”

He kissed her earlobe, sucking it in, pushing just enough pressure with his teeth. Sasha was dumbstruck with surprise. She wished she had pushed back, that she actually had laughed at him. She wished she had thought of some sassy replay. Instead she let the feeling he invoked in her get the better of her. Sasha wasn’t going to let any of them win. She moaned and grabbed his hip.

He was the one to let go first. Her cheeks stung, from the anger and the humiliation. She knew he had done it to punished her. He had aimed for an outburst, for a slip of her tongue, telling him to leave her boyfriend out of this. So sure she would not call the bluff. Well, she just did. And she did not regret it.  

“If Isaak was here he would have killed you.”

There was no reason to pretend otherwise. He obviously knew her boyfriend. Someone had made his homework.

“Well, I guess I don’t like my girls weak either”, he said, “such a waste on a good start”, he continued and immediately turned around, as if what they had shared had been nothing. As if her inner wasn’t a turmoil.  

Sasha turned around as well. She hadn’t a clue how she would manoeuvre this. She didn’t want to return the orb, they have waited far too long for an orb of this shade of purple. The magic within them came directly from the source of their ancestors.  That kind of magic only ran in the finest of the families and even then. Ella’s orb had been silver grey, nothing like Elias.

Honestly, she had never met anyone like him. The orb enthralled her, the purple almost like black ink.

“I want to see Ella. I will help you, but first I have to know that you speak the truth.”

It was a lie, of course it was. Elias would not be around long enough to collect her help though.

“Or we pay your boyfriend a visit first, preferably before he gets the time to sell my soul. Then we talk with Ella, you are not the only one that wants the truth.”

“Don’t be so dramatic, it was just some sliver of your magic, hardly your soul.”

“It doesn’t feel like that, and frankly I don’t care. Its mine and no one takes what’s mine.”

Sasha smiled. She had, and she would be sure to keep it that way.