Free (Skeleton Key) Princess of the Damned by Wendy Knight Page A

Vlad always trying to protect her, even though his eyes betrayed how badly he wanted to kill her himself.
    They were afraid of what she could do.
    Now she needed to figure out why.

 
    L ANDON HAD EXPECTED, WITH SUCH AN earth-shattering revelation, that she would change. Maybe become a fearless warrior who would rush into the darkness and kill everything that had ever hurt her or scared her, fight fire with fire. Wasn't that what super tough heroines did?
    Not all of them, apparently. Eiress had a smile of quiet wonderment. She sank to her knees and pulled Kaida into her lap, stroking his spikes and staring at the ground. "What does this mean?" she finally asked, her voice hushed like she was afraid if she spoke too loud, she'd wake up and this would all be a dream.
    He sat next to her, and she leaned her head on his shoulder. Without thinking, as if he'd done it a thousand times before, he kissed the top of her head. "I think it means that you can stop them. We just have to figure out how."
    She sat in silence for long, long minutes before finally saying, "I blew up a door once. And the chains, when you were being attacked. Elizabeth tried to stop me, but—but I blew them up."
    Landon nodded. He'd heard the screaming, but barely. It had been drowned out by his own screams, and the howls from the thing attacking him. He leaned back against the wall of the cave, which was warm from the fire now and not icy cold. Or maybe it was warm from Eiress, because she seemed to be positively glowing.
    "I don't know what to do with this." She held up her hands, as if her gift was resting there in her palms.
    Landon absently played with a bright red curl and let his mind wander. "What do you do that none of the other princesses ever did? Or Mary or Elizabeth?"
    "I survived more than a few days," she murmured, tracing his casted fingers with her own. The pain in her voice nearly killed him, and the warmth in the room slid away.
    "Yes. You did. But what else?" He tried to drag the conversation away from the pain. Back toward the light.
    "Umm. I sit in my room and knit Kaida sweaters. I have a pet dragon. I go to the ball every night and sit on a hard throne. I open the gates to hell so the evil souls get sucked in." She lifted her head to smile at him. "And I talk to you."
    "Yes." He brushed his knuckles against her cheek, stealing the tear there. "You do—Wait. What?"
    She blinked. "I—I talk to you—"
    "No, before that. You said you open the gates? Mary and Elizabeth don't do that ever?"
    She shook her head, smirking. "No. They're the ones who close them every chance they get. They don't want the evil souls to leave them."
    "Eiress, that's it. That's what you have to do. I don't know what it was Mary wanted for you, but I know why they're afraid of you. You can explode the gate."
    Suddenly, she sat up, so quickly she toppled over backward and nearly crushed Kaida. "No, Landon. That's not it. And I know why Mary always protected me from Elizabeth. She said once—" Eiress shuddered, reliving those memories, "—that they couldn't let me die. My spirit would kill them all. If I die, Landon, maybe—maybe the whole Isle of the Damned dies with me!"
    Landon felt like he'd been punched in the stomach.
    With a unicorn.
    Something in him whispered that what Eiress said was true. Maybe it was her mother, reaching him from the other side of the mirror. Who knew what crazy powers ghosts might have in this place. Eiress was the death of the Isle. To kill her would end Bloody Mary's five-hundred-year reign.
    But if she died…if she left him…
    "There's got to be another way, Eiress." You can't leave me. Please don't leave me.
    She smiled. "I'm sure there is."
    She didn't believe it. He could hear it in her voice.
    "Eiress."
    "No, I know. There's another way. We'll find it. But first, we have to get you back to the castle, before the moon rises again. If it hasn't already." She bit her lip and frowned, eyes straying to the darkness beyond.
    "It