Shattered Promises 02 - Fractured Souls by Jessica Sorensen (motivational books for students TXT) 📕

keep the Ira on the nightstand, close enough that I can feel the vibrant energy exuding from it, but far enough away that I can’t channel it; even though it’s useless since the praesidium remains close enough to lock my powers within me.

I try to make several attempts to escape, but always fail and end up paying for it. I quickly learn that Nicholas has a violent streak in him after he hit me a couple of times when I said and did the wrong thing. It doesn’t make me back down at all, though. In fact, it makes me more determined to get away and pay him back in full for what he’s doing to me.

In the beginning I expected Alex or Laylen to show up and save me. I made a comment about it once and Nicholas informed me that no one could save me. That his house is merely an illusion in the mind and only those he allows to see it can.

There doesn’t even seem to be a point in what he’s doing. Stephan never shows up to collect me and when I ask him about it, he says he’s been detained. Although I think he might be enjoying having me here a little too much.

The strange thing is that he appears to be growing weaker by the day; pallid, his eyes tinting yellow, while his skin looks cracked and dry. It’s repulsive to look at and even he seems disgusted by himself. His connection and obsession with me, however, seems to be growing stronger. He’s always touching me, trying to kiss me and grope me. I have no idea where his fixation with me is coming from, but I’m starting to think it might be to my benefit if I can find the right moment

Around the six or seventh day, I begin to connive a plan to get away. The one that I create makes me utterly sick, but I don’t think I have another choice other than to stay here forever and sink further into my rage.

I mentally prepare myself for what I’m about to do when he walks into the room. He drags a chair from the corner and puts it beside the bed, sitting down.

He slants his head to the side and examines me with curiosity as he props his foot up against the side of the bed. “You know, you’re very talented and I have to say I’m quite surprised that you haven’t found a way out of this yet.

Oh, I have. I’m just waiting for the perfect moment.

“You can go into and out of visions without a crystal ball,” he says enviously. “With a little practice and enough emotion, you could travel anywhere without a crystal ball as well.” He pauses, assessing me. “I could teach you… we could work together—we’d be amazing together.”

I stare blankly at him. “Maybe.”

He studies me with a distrusting look on his face. “You don’t trust me.”

I remain neutral. “You’ve given me no reason to trust you.”

“You’ve barely gotten to know me,” he says. “Maybe I’m different than what you think. Maybe there’s a reason for everything bad that I do.”

“Prove it,” I challenge.

He stares me down defiantly. “How much do you know about the Fey?” he asks.

I bend my fingers downward and itch beneath the cold metal cuff, the skin has been rubbed raw underneath it. “Not much.”

“Of course you don’t, since you’ve been spending most of your time with Keepers, Witches, and Vampires.” His lips twitch. “And of course there was all that time you spent by yourself unemotionally detached.”

I frown. “You know about that?”

He shrugs. “Of course. I’m a Foreseer and can see anything I want, something you should learn… but that’s a story for another time.” He drops his foot to the ground and transfers from the chair to the bed, the mattress concaving beneath his weight as he sinks down beside me. “The Fey have been around forever, you know. Most people think of us as tricksters, which we are, but we can be very serious as well, given the right circumstances, like if our kind are suffering.” He brushes his hand over the top of my head. “I’m not sure if you’ve heard of him or not, but there used to be a man called Malefiscus who was the personification of evil.”

I shake my head, letting him pet me because it helps me with my plan. “I’m sorry, but I haven’t.”

He rolls his golden eyes. “Haven’t the Keepers taught you anything?” He withdraws his hand from my hair, but only to tap his fingers on his chapped lips. “Then again, they might not want you to know about it since Malefiscus started out as a Keeper.”

“The personification of evil started out as a Keeper?” I ask, remembering what Laylen told me about the Mark of Evil and how it used to exist and was directly related to the Keepers’ blood.

“Are you surprised?”

I want to say yes but the more I learn about the Keepers, the more I realize they aren’t as good as they portray themselves to be.

He smiles, pleased, and begins petting my head again. “Well, I’ll fill you in on the story of Malefiscus so you can get a better understanding of what he was—what a Keeper could become if they ended up switching sides and getting branded by evil.” His fingers drift to my cheek and I refuse to look away, knowing I have to do this.

“During Malefiscus’s time, there was sheer and utter chaos in the world,” Nicholas explains. “He tortured everyone—Vampires, Witches, Faeries. Even humans. He had a whole army of followers and they would go around on killing sprees or trying to persuade people he saw fit to join him.”

“There was so much death and blood as well as pain that the Fey leader of that time decided he’d had enough. There were too many Faeries dying and so he made a bargain with Malefiscus to try to save lives.” His fingers