Chapter 44
My feet slam into hard stone, buckling my knees. I fall onto the ground and brace myself with my palms, gazing out at the underground city.
“You should have kept your gloves on in Sarenia,” Kressa snarls, the glamour melting away from her face. “If you had, none of this would have happened.”
I stand and brush my hands off on my pants. “If I would have kept my gloves on, I would have died. I was surrounded by guards.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have been caught.”
My teeth grind together, and the ends of my hair brush over my chest as they shorten to their typical length. “If you must know, Kressa, I was searching for my compass. But it would have been a lot easier if I had known you were the one who stole it.”
She tilts her head, narrowing her eyes. “Your compass?”
Flames churn in my stomach, licking at my bones.
“I saw my compass in your wash room last night. Then you gave it to your father, and now Callum has the one thing that could lead anyone to Delterran’s location.
” I splay my arms out, gesturing to the city below.
“Think of how much you care about Amoren and all the people who live here. That’s Delterran to me.
Those are my people I have the sole responsibility of protecting. ”
She studies me and tilts her head. “That’s why we got separated in the castle. You had ulterior motives.”
“Well, neither of us found what we were looking for.”
“Except I risked my life helping you save Inez. I could have left you behind in my quarters, but you blackmailed your way onto the ship.” Her eyes darken, and she inches forward, until our bodies touch.
“You can think whatever you want about me, but I did not take your compass. It was dark in my room when you were in there, and whatever you saw was not it.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“So be it.”
The air thins around us, as if the oxygen is slowly being sucked out of the space. A weariness hangs over me—an exhaustion draped over the tether that bonds us together. Since the day we met, there’s been nothing but lies and deceit.
We haven’t been truthful with each other once.
“Why not just let your father kill me?” I say. “Why not let me be Callum’s prisoner?”
The fight deflates from her. “For the same reason you saved me on the mountaintop in the third trial. And the beach in the second. Despite the way we continue to hurt each other, we can’t bear to see the other in pain.”
I blink, casting my gaze from her as those moments float through my memory. The way I couldn’t breathe as I watched the life drain from her. And yet.
“Saving your life is what got us into this.”
“No.” She scoffs and shakes her head. “You trying to take my life is what did.”
I study the scar disappearing into her hairline and press my lips into a thin line.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Kressa says. “Whatever you choose to believe about me and my intentions—maybe your mind will change after you see what I have to show you. The book I mentioned.”
Without waiting to see if I’ll follow, she steps forward and descends the incline toward the belly of the cavern. I glance over my shoulder. The Sopor has disappeared, but the hair on the back of my neck stands on edge, as if we’re being watched.
I follow, lengthening my strides until I catch up. Although it’s midday on the other side of the mountain, no light permeates through cracks in the rock. It’s fully cut off from the rest of the world.
But music from stringed instruments floods the space, coming from an offshoot of the cavern. As if there’s a celebration, cheers and singing follow, weaving into the melody.
“One of their holidays,” Kressa says without looking my way. “Nicole used to bring me to them, when we were together. But it’s been a while since I’ve been to any of them.” She sucks in her bottom lip. “They have no idea what’s coming.”
Her gaze fades into the distance, and my stomach pinches. I push away the sensation and stare at the firelight glow pressed into the ceiling. “The children here have never seen the sun, have they?”
She shakes her head. “But they don’t need the sunshine like others do.
While Serinos sleeps, she provides them with everything they need.
And anyway, they have education, friendship—an entire culture where they can be safe from outside forces.
” Her voice thickens. “Until the wyvern woke and the other courts discovered they still exist.”
Her words linger in the air, but there’s nothing left for me to say. We walk in silence, the pathways and storefronts empty—everyone gathered in whatever space they use for celebrations. I narrow my eyes, searching for where the foreign, looping melody could be coming from.
But the tune fades as we descend deeper into the sprawling cavern. A dampness permeates the air, and the library entrance yawns open in front of us.
Kressa climbs the obsidian steps leading to the doorway. “The librarian might be there, if she’s not at the celebration. But this is the best time to go—when there’s as few people as possible.”
My feet carry me up the steps behind her, and we pass into a grand foyer. Marble columns soar upward, and crystal chandeliers hang amongst the stalactites. But rather than candles, balls of flame cast a warm glow over the entire space—bright enough for me to make out my shadow on the mosaic floor.
Kressa inhales a deep breath. “This is where I came when I ran out of books in my quarters.”
The tightness in her shoulders disappears, and I can’t help the smile that pulls at my lips. I’ve seen her wield a blade unlike any soldier—seen the extent of her power. She earned herself a name as the most notorious bounty hunter on the continent.
But here, she’s soft. Peaceful.
My fingertips ache to brush hers, but I close them into a fist at my side.
She glances at my hand, then her gaze flicks to mine. “Follow close behind. Some of the tomes here are as old as the gods, and they tend to have a mind of their own.”
I study the bookshelves and the stacks that disappear far into the distance. “How big is this place?”
“As big as any castle.”
Her voice has a breathlessness to it, and she sweeps her braid over her shoulder as she turns right and strides down a row of shelves. I follow, and the tapping of our shoes echoes through the space, swallowed by the darkness.
The air thickens, taking on a heaviness, and the words on the spines of the books shifts from ones I can discern to symbols I’ve never seen before. I drag my fingers over them, tracing the unfamiliar letters, but freeze. A lump forms in my throat.
“Kressa,” I say.
She hums, glancing over her shoulder.
“I’ve seen the language of this one before, but only once. Caelus had one of these books, and he was translating it to figure out how to bypass the gods to obtain power. If no one knows about this place, how did he get hold of one?”
She gnaws on her lip. “He also had a Sopor within his possession. I’ve asked around, but no one has ever seen him here before. Which can only mean he knew someone from the Fire Court, or he managed to sneak in unnoticed.”
I tap the spine. “I have no idea where that book ended up.”
“With any luck, it burned to ashes in the fire you caused.” She nods at the row of books. “There’s a reason why these books are kept underground. If he had successfully translated one, I have no doubt he would be successful.”
My mouth dries. “Or anyone else who finds it.”
She nods as a shadow passes over her face. “Come on, we should hurry.”
We leave the shelves and weave deeper into the library. The air thickens with ink and dry parchment, and the shelves bow beneath the weight of the books.
Kressa slows and taps a finger against her lip as she studies the numbers along the faces of the aisles.
“These books date back thousands of years,” she says, sidestepping into a row.
I slide in beside her and follow through the narrow space—the arches of my shoulders brushing each of the shelves as we pass. She stops, then lowers to her knees and drags her finger across the spines on the bottom shelf.
“Here it is,” she says, pulling one free.
She settles it in her palms and lets it fall open. Symbols are scrawled across the page without any sort of organization, as if it was a journal or diary of sorts.
I lower beside her and study the script. “Can you read that?”
“Yes, but I think it’s only because it called to me.
” Her eyes find mine, then she returns her attention back to the book as she thumbs through the pages.
“I was walking through here one evening, and it’s as if I was pulled here by an invisible force.
Some sort of intuitive knowing led me to this book. ”
I watch her eyes as she scans the symbols. “What makes it so important?”
Her fingers pause on the worn edges of a page, and she sighs out a breath. “It’s a recollection of the past. But there’s an interesting passage in here about a woman who made an agreement with Terra.”
My heart thrashes in my chest, my skin going cold as the words fall from her mouth. I didn’t believe Caelus when he said my mother made a deal with Terra, but now?
“There isn’t much about what that entailed.
Or perhaps the details were redacted,” Kressa continues, interrupting my thoughts.
She flips back the pages, toward the beginning, and lightly drags her fingers across the lines.
“These pages are much, much older. It talks about two women who were destined to be bonded, but in doing so could alter the entire path of the universe. At first, I thought it was talking about Terra and Serinos—that maybe they were lovers before they created the earth. Then I kept reading, and it became clear it wasn’t talking about gods at all.
” Her gaze finds mine, and something shifts in my chest. “It was talking about us.”
A pit forms in my stomach. “That’s not possible.”
She blinks. “It shouldn’t be. And yet, it talks about efforts to keep them apart.
” She gestures back to the page. “One to the land, the other to the sea. Putting a war between them. One with fire, the other without. In one lifetime, they were tasked with killing each other, just to find out they couldn’t.
” There’s a long pause, filled only with the sound of her breathing and the turning of pages.
“There have been lifetimes of this, Briar. Where these two women were forcibly kept apart because together, they’d be too dangerous. ”
A cold sweat breaks out at the back of my neck, and I push myself away, shaking my head. “You can’t be serious. It’s only a coincidence, or maybe you’re translating it wrong.”
I pull the book from her hands, and as soon as my fingers brush it, the symbols shift—rearranging themselves into a script I can read. A shiver skates down my spine, and I drop the book.
She swallows. “If you hate me for what I’m about to confess, I understand completely.”
I search her eyes, deep into the irises where I’ve felt universes expand and fold in on themselves. The eyes I’ve fallen in love with, and—if what she’s saying is true, have loved in every lifetime. “Kressa, what is it?”
A tear trails down her cheek, but she swipes it away and gathers the book in her hands. She flips open to a page where the edges are worn—as if they’ve met her fingers hundreds of times over the years.
“After I found it the first time, it continued to draw me back.” Her throat bobs on a swallow, and she tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.
“It would update on its own, adding words to the page with some kind of magic. Vague descriptions about someone roaming a castle, sneaking jewels out of the pockets of nobles. I traced the entries all the way back to when Sarenia fell. The first time we met, when you slit my throat.”
The air leaves my lungs.
“It was telling me about you, Briar.” She wets her lips, glancing down at the book. “When I caught you stealing jewels, I knew you were my bonded. From the moment I found this book, I knew you were the Princess of the Sea.”
A ringing fills my ears, and I shake my head, bracing my hands on the shelves as I force myself to my feet. “But the curse—”
“Our bond is from the fates. The curse was an attempt to break it, but it couldn’t.”
I step backward. “You knew?”
“I knew, and that’s why I left Ignata to find you.” She presses to her feet. “That’s why we have to break the bond. Whatever this is between us, it’s forged from something that could bring devastation to the world as we know it. There’s a reason they’ve kept us apart for generations.”
The space behind my eyes stings—a hot anger. “This entire time, you knew we were bonded and who I was? Why didn’t you just arrest me on the spot? We could have worked together, Kressa.”
“After what you did, I didn’t think I could trust you.
I had to find Elias, and I had plans to get you out, but that was before I found out you couldn’t touch the sea.
But that’s not important right now.” Her eyes are wide, pleading.
“What is, is that I get you out of Ignata before I marry Callum and break the bond once and for all.”
My heart stutters. “What?”
She steps forward, clasping her hands over mine as she closes the distance between us.
“I’m getting you and your crew out of Ignata, tonight.
There’s a reason why you were arranged to marry my brother.
According to the text, that’s something that could have broken our bond for good—marriage with a very specific string of vows.
So now, I’ll take on the burden and marry Callum. ”
“Why are we trying to break it?” I shake my head. “If what that book says is true, we’re—”
“Harbingers of ruin.”
“You don’t know that.”
She casts her gaze to the book lying on the floor. “Briar, there’s an entire charmed collection of our whereabouts, spanning thousands of years. Whatever our connection could be, there’s a reason why it’s trying to be stopped.”
“Kressa.” I pinch her chin between my fingers and tilt her head until our gazes meet. “What are you so scared of?”
Her eyes search mine, as if she’s looking for the answer to a question. No, like I’m the answer.
She taps on my mental door. I’m scared of losing you.
“Then what are you doing, marrying him?”
A heartbeat passes by, and she leans closer. As if there’s a force urging me toward her, I lean in, far enough for the swell of my bottom lip to brush hers.
She releases a breath. “I’m doing it in this life, so in the next we can find each other again. In the next one, we’ll be free to be together.”
A vise wraps around my heart, squeezing tight. “I don’t want the next life. I want—”
The floor rumbles beneath our feet, and debris rains down from the ceiling. It’s as if the mountain itself shifts—a large groan echoing through the space.
I freeze, and the air sours in my lungs. “Did Callum find a way in?”
“Worse.” Kressa pales then wraps a hand around my wrist. “It’s the wyvern.”