Chapter 45
Forty-Five
ALLETTE
Darkness surrounds me on all sides, the sort of dark that makes you feel completely and utterly alone. After gathering all the terra elementals, Harold brought us to one of the old mines on the north side of the city. The Tuath went in one at a time, using their magic to cut through the stone until every last spark was gone.
Then Iver and I made our way through the twisting, turning shaft, burrowing deeper and deeper underground. Both my shoulders scrape stone as I feel my way through the cave.
What am I saying? This isn’t a cave; it’s a crevice. With the castle so close, Harold didn’t want to weaken the ground any more than necessary for fear of causing another cave-in. Not that they had enough magic for anything larger.
Don’t ask me what color the weeping walls are because I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Down here, neither color nor light exists.
Braith went ahead to the castle to prepare for our arrival. We have one chance to get this right. If we break through anywhere besides her room, the guards will surely find us.
There are no fae lights to guide us. We have candles in our pockets, but Iver worried they’d disturb the bats.
That’s right. There are bats somewhere in this cave. I’d shudder, but there isn’t room for that.
We’ve been walking for fifteen minutes, and it feels as if this tunnel is never going to end.
High-pitched squeaks echo from overhead, turning my blood as cold as the stones beneath my palms. When I speak, even my whisper seems to echo. “Are those the bats?”
“Yes.” The way Iver’s voice drifts from the darkness makes him sound very far away.
“Are they close?” I can’t see my own hand in front of my face, let alone anything above me. For all I know, the flying rats could reach out their clawed wings and scrape my hair. Or land on my head.
“Probably not.”
How comforting.
Our feet crunch against stones, each perilous step bringing me closer to victory.
I’m coming, Senan.
What if the king had him moved from his office?
I’ll just have to find him, won’t I? I will not rest until my prince is free and the king is no more. For what Boris Vale has done to us—to the people of this kingdom—he deserves to die a slow, painful death.
I still don’t know if Senan will take the throne or let the responsibility fall to his youngest brother. All that matters is that, when this is over, Boris Vale will no longer hold any power over this place or these people.
If Senan is the one to ascend in his stead, then I will be by his side if he’ll have me.
I might not have been raised in a castle or taught diplomacy, but I love my newfound family and friends—I owe them my life. I want to help those who haven’t been able to help themselves. Who have suffered under the crown’s tyrannical laws for centuries. To?—
My chest collides with something rigid and warm.
Iver’s back.
“We’ve reached the end,” he whispers.
The scrape of a striking match fills my ears. I squint against the sudden brightness of the flickering orange flame as Iver lights his candle before turning to hand it to me. A wall of solid black waits on the other side.
“Where do we go from here?”
From his pocket, he withdraws a compass. After some shifting around, he points to the wall to our right. “Through there.”
“Are you certain?”
“You’re welcome to check for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
I wouldn’t know the first thing about reading a compass. “I trust you.” What other choice do I have?
His cheeks puff as he blows out a steady breath, glaring at the wall as if it’s his nemesis. “You should back up in case something goes wrong.”
I retreat a few steps, giving him room to work. With both palms flat against the wall, his eyes fall closed. The slightest shudder trembles beneath my boots, growing stronger and stronger until the walls quake. A split appears in the rock, directly between his hands. Shards of stone break and tumble toward his boots.
The crack becomes a gap large enough to squeeze through. The walls shake and the ground quavers as Iver carves his way through the stone, making a path where there was none. Will he have enough magic to make it through? The sun should be setting by now, which means we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to?—
A thundering crack rings through the cave. One moment Iver is there, the next he’s gone, swallowed by darkness.
A ferocious wind rips at my hair, extinguishing the flame. Lost in darkness, I reach my foot forward, feeling for my next step. “Iver?” Tell me he’s not hurt. Stars… Tell me he’s not dead. “Iver?”
A groan echoes through the blackness.
Thank the stars. “Are you all right?”
“Turned my fucking ankle, but I’ll be fine,” he calls back, the sound reverberating all around me.
I shuffle forward over the coarse ground.
“Stop moving!” he bellows.
I freeze.
A match strikes. A tiny orange flame flickers from far below, illuminating a wide cavern with a ceiling too high for the light to reach. Iver struggles to his feet, holding the candle aloft. Light glimmers off the water weeping down muddy green stalagmites.
If I’m careful, I should be able to lower myself to where he hobbles. I tuck my candle into my pack and then turn around to kneel on the ledge. With my chest flat on the stone, I ease myself over the edge, feeling for a foothold.
Something solid presses against my slipper.
Iver waits with his hands outstretched; a lump of stone protrudes from the smooth wall just large enough for me to stand on. With his help, I manage to climb down into the wider cavern.
Dusting the dirt from my dress, I offer my accomplice a smile. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He lifts his candle higher into the air, turning in a slow circle.
“Is your sister’s room nearby?”
“Let’s find out.” Iver hands me the candle and drags out his map and compass once more. The compass face must’ve been cracked by the fall. “Bring the candle a little closer.”
I lift the candle but then something along the far wall catches my eye. I must be seeing things, right? “Are those… stairs ?”
Iver glances up, squinting toward the wall. “Oh, shit.”
Sure enough, a set of stairs climbs toward the ceiling, too symmetrical to be natural. These are fae made. “Where do you think they lead?”
“Into the castle, anyway. Maybe right here?” He points to a spot on the map. The room is right off the canteen. Is that the House Master’s office? Is this how Carew stole the princess?
“Where do we go from here?”
He twists the compass, turning around until he’s facing away from the staircase. “Braith’s room should be…” His gaze slowly climbs to the darkness lurking above us. “Up there.”
How in the world are we supposed to get all the way to the ceiling? “Can you use your magic?”
Iver stuffs the map and compass back into his pack. He kneels to the ground, presses his palms to the stone beneath his boots, and?—
Nothing happens.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I was sure I had plenty of magic, but now there’s nothing left.”
Iver spent more time in the sun yesterday than any of us. How could he be out already? Unless… “How’s your ankle?”
He rotates his foot this way and that. “Feels perfect.”
“Your magic healed you.” Meaning he doesn’t have anything left to get me to Braith’s bedroom. I turn back toward the far wall. Either we wait and come back tomorrow after he’s had more sunlight… or we climb those stairs.
“Tomorrow will be soon enough,” Iver says, as if reading my mind.
Will it, though? Every hour that we delay is another chance for the king to move Senan. We’re so close to the end, and there’s a way into the castle right there . “No. We need to go now.”
“Wynn—”
“He’s waited long enough. We have to save him tonight.” There’s no telling what sort of torture my mate has been forced to endure. I’ll do anything to spare him pain.
I cross the cavern with Iver on my heels, climbing the staircase built around stalactites, higher and higher until I reach the very top. A wide door has been cut into the stone, the wood completely smooth, no sign of a lever or lock. “Where’s the knob?”
Iver slides a hand down the knotty wood, feeling for something that clearly isn’t there.
We did not come all this way just to reach a dead end. “Do you have any magic left at all?”
The candle’s flame dances in his dark irises when he peers over my shoulder at the door. “I can’t feel anything.”
Right. It’s down to me then.
I pass the candle to Iver and hold out my hands.
“What if there’s someone on the other side?” he asks.
“Then I’ll deal with him.” We knew this mission would not end without bloodshed, and I am prepared to blacken my soul to save Senan.
I call on the spark of magic within my heart, commanding the flickers to burn brighter, stronger. Concentrating on the barrier, focusing all my power, and shooting a bolt of wind at the door.
The wood explodes, flying into the room with a resounding bang .
A set of stone stairs and more darkness awaits on the other side.
I clutch my skirts to keep from tripping on our way up another staircase. If someone heard the noise, there won’t be much time. Iver hurries behind me, his footsteps silent as we approach a second door. Thankfully, this one has a knob and a lock. He breaks the latter and eases the door aside.
I step into a quiet, empty bedroom, listening for signs of life. A thud sounds behind me, and I spin to find Iver’s hands raised. “What’s wrong?” I whisper.
The wrinkle between his brows deepens. “It’s the wards. They won’t let me through.”
Strange. I didn’t even feel them.
“I suppose this is where we part ways.”
“Be careful, Wynn. And good luck.”
“Thank you, Iver. For everything.”
He closes the door, leaving me alone in the House Master’s bedroom. I throw my pack onto the ground and quickly change into the uniform Braith gave me.
Now all that’s left to do is find my prince.