Chapter 46
Nicole peers out from the main tunnel, and her eyes widen at the retreating wyvern. Her gaze lowers to me, and there’s something indiscernible beneath her expression.
People fill the mouths of the caverns, and whispers float out from the darkness.
“Let’s go,” Kressa says, scanning the bodies littered around the courtyard. “Give them a chance to collect their dead.”
Spilled paint drips across the ground, mixing with blood collecting in the divots between stones. My chest pinches, and I nod, letting Kressa wrap her arm around my middle.
Something buried deep within me wants to stay—wants to help carry their dead to their final resting place. Learn how they honor them the way I do at sea.
But these aren’t my people. And if they knew this was something I could have prevented by agreeing to connect with the wyvern yesterday, I wouldn’t be welcome. A heaviness weighs down my legs, but Kressa guides me through a narrow doorway and out of the courtyard.
She glances at a clock pressed into the wall of the cavern. “We need to get back and free your crew while they’re still trying to look for you. Then put you all on a ship and get you out of here.”
I pull her to a stop and shake my head. “Kressa, there is no possible way that we can get my crew out, especially not unseen. Between your father and Callum, Ignata will be swarming with guards. It’s a suicide mission.”
“We have to try.” There’s a pleading tone to her voice, and she casts her gaze down.
“I can’t let you fall into Callum’s hands, or watch what will happen to your crew.
I can protect you here, while you’re in possession of the Earth Court.
But once you’re outside these walls, I can’t control what he does to you. ”
“But what if you get caught?”
She scoffs. “What else do I have to lose?”
I shake my head. “We can board this ship together and fight side by side. Just come with me.”
“My hands are tied, Briar. We both know what happened when you fled your arranged marriage. The Earth Court only survived for so long because of our secrecy, and if I leave, Callum won’t hesitate to conquer.”
The space between my ribs thickens as I study the planes of her face. I’ve spent so many days wondering what I would change if I got a chance to redo it all. Marry Elias, and my court would be thriving—my crew free from behind bars.
But marrying him would be a betrayal to myself. I knew I could never love him, and in no world could I commit myself to remaining on land for the rest of my life.
In every scenario, I refuse the marriage.
My only regret was thinking I could do it alone.
“Are you sure about this?” I whisper. “Letting us all go?”
She nods. “It’s something I should have done the day I arrived. You’ll finally have your freedom.”
As her words land, it’s as if the shackles are tightened. But I promised my crew I’d get them out, and this might be my only chance. I cup her hands in mine and press a kiss to her knuckles. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet.” Her expression clears, and she sucks in her cheek. “Let’s go.”
We weave back to the ridge where the Sopor awaits.
It lifts an arm, and the sleeve falls back from a pale, gnarled hand. “Change is coming.”
Its voice drags a shiver down my spine, but I remain still as it stalks closer and rests a hand on my shoulder, then Kressa’s.
“What kind of change?” I breathe.
“The kind that comes quickly.”
My tongue turns to cotton, and it tilts its head up enough for me to catch its eyes beneath the hood. They bore into me with an eerie knowing, like it can sift through my thoughts.
A moment passes, and my stomach churns as its hold tightens on my shoulder.
Then we disappear.
My feet slam into the ground, and before I can regain my balance, Kressa grabs my wrist and pulls me forward. I glance over my shoulder, and the Sopor watches as we sprint across the clearing. We reach the tree line, and it fades away.
“What’s the plan?” I breathe as we weave through the dense trees. Beneath the canopy, my footsteps are nothing but a dark shadow—the tree limbs a blur.
“We need it to be believable.” Her voice is ragged, coming out in pants. “If it’s too clean, my father will become suspicious. There’s only one thing I can think of, but it’s risky, and it might put the Amoren in more danger.”
“What is it?”
The tree line thins out, and we slow, quieting our footsteps.
She blows out a breath and sweeps her hair over her shoulder.
“I’ve sat in on a handful of their conversations, and they think the Fire Court will attack with wyvern again.
Which means they’ll have their sights set on the sky.
” She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth.
“But after the last time we broke into the dungeon, my father has tightened security. Once you get to the dungeon, your only option is to—”
“Make it look like an attack from the Fire Court.”
“Exactly.”
I flip my hands over and stare at my bare palms. “Will it work?”
An uneasiness sweeps over the bond, but as we break through the forest and skirt along the row of houses on the outskirts of Ignata, she nods.
“It has to.” A brick wall rises to our left, and she pulls me to a stop.
“Promise me you’ll get yourself out. Don’t try and get the compass or do anything reckless. Please.”
I stare into her eyes and nod. “I promise. For my crew.”
After everything I’ve put them through, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my word. Navigating to Delterran will be nearly impossible without the compass, but with my power restored, perhaps I can rely on the selkies or sirens to help lead the way home.
Home.
My chest expands, and the smallest hint of a smile pulls at my lips. I haven’t walked those beaches or swam in those waters for over a decade.
I’ll get to go home.
“If I manage to get them out, where will we go?” I say. “Where’s the ship?”
She pulls me away from the wall, and we sweep into the shadow of the castle. Guards line the perimeter, and like she said, they stalk across the parapet, scanning the skies. Silence blankets us, and Kressa weaves her arm around my waist, keeping me close.
After what happened in Sarenia, my father always keeps an escape route ready, she says into my mind. There’s a ship docked in a cove at the northern edge of Ignata.
We come to the hidden hatch that leads to her quarters. She crouches and slips her fingers under the lip, scanning the alley before she eases it open.
She tilts her chin toward me and whispers, “You first.”
The rocks are slick underfoot, but I inch forward and lower myself into the passageway, blinking against the dark. She slides in after me and secures it shut, blotting out the lamplight from the street.
She weaves around me, and our chests brush. Her breath skates over my cheek, and the scent of imminent rain fills my nose. The smell of her power.
Her fingers weave through mine—calluses rough against my palm. “This way.”
She runs the pad of her thumb over the back of my hand and leads me forward, through the secret corridor. Dripping water echoes around us, and after a handful of minutes, she slows to a stop.
Lifting my hand, she guides my fingers along the wall.
“There’s a junction in the path here. I’m going straight, back to my quarters, but you’ll go this way.
” She slides my hand left, and the wall disappears, giving way to another passage.
“You’ll exit through the back of a painting and step out a floor directly above the dungeon. ”
“And what about you?”
Her smile glistens in the dark. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep my father and Callum distracted and as far from the dungeon as possible.” She lifts her hands and pulls a necklace from beneath her collar. “But for now, I think you could use a little luck.”
She unclasps the chain and steps closer, slides it around my throat. The familiar gold pendant settles in the center of my chest—a comfortable, warm weight against my skin. The one I stole from her that morning on the parapet.
I pinch it between my fingers, pressing the sharp edge against my thumb. “You kept it.”
“I saved it. For you.” She cups the side of my jaw.
Her touch disappears, and she bends at the waist, pulling something from her boot. Metal glistens in the dark, and she unfurls my fingers, pressing the hilt of a blade into my palm.
I drag my fingers over the familiar indentations, and my breath catches. “Where did you find this?”
“Isolde dropped it on the plateau after the third trial, when Terra was sucking the life from her. In all of the chaos, I barely managed to slip it into my waistband. I always planned on returning it to you.”
My fingers fit into the grooves—the ones worn by time and use—and I worry my lip. While it fits into my hand as if it never left, there’s a change in me. One that doesn’t feel like I’m worthy enough to wield this weapon. And yet, I slide it into my waistband. “Thank you.”
The air thickens between us, and she loops a finger in my belt line, pulling me closer. A warmth rushes behind my sternum, and she smiles against the hinge of my jaw.
This is what I’m going to miss the most, she whispers.
I breathe in the scent of her hair, committing it to memory. What’s that?
The rush of your emotions down the bond. Every time you’re near, it’s as if your heartbeat becomes my own. Her fingers dip under the hem of my shirt and brush over the bare skin of my waist. I’ll find you in the next lifetime, my love.
The warmth sours, giving way to a heavy weight growing in my chest. She drags her thumb in a reassuring circle over my skin, brushing her lips over my earlobe.
I can’t do this. I can’t say goodbye. My thoughts come out jumbled—too painful to say out loud.
Kressa leans back and gently pinches my chin between her fingers.
“There’s no such thing as goodbye, not with us.
We’re the land and the sea, constantly brushing against each other.
Time can’t take that away from us.” She shifts forward, and her bottom lip sweeps across mine—featherlight. “I love you, Briar.”
My throat tightens, and my heart slams against my ribs like a drum. I curl my fingers into her shirt, begging the fates to keep her here, with me, forever.
Against her lips, I whisper, “I love you, Kressa.”
The moment her name passes my lips, a tear slips free from my eyes, rolling down my cheek. She hums and presses her lips to the spot, blotting the tear away. “None of that.”
She dips her head and captures my mouth with hers. I sigh against her lips and curl my hands around her sides, pulling her closer. A shudder comes from her, and she threads her fingers into my hair, tilting my head back and deepening the kiss.
I commit to memory the taste of her lips—the way her muscles loosen under my touch. The feel of her skin as it pebbles beneath my fingers. All the tiniest ways she responds to me, from the tempo of her heartbeat to the hitch of her breath.
She loosens her hold on me and pulls away. “We can’t risk waiting any longer.”
I peel myself from her, and a pit opens in my chest—a wide chasm. The only thing stopping me from clinging to her is the promise of meeting her in the next lifetime. Or, if I’m lucky, this one.
“Until next time,” I say, tangling my fingers with hers.
She lifts my hand to her mouth and presses a kiss to my knuckles. “Until then.”
Dropping my hand, she sidesteps away from me and strides down the corridor. Her form fades to a shadow—her footsteps a whisper against the rough hewn ground. Then she disappears.
My heart twists, wringing out, but I blow out a breath through my nose and turn toward the fork in the path. If I can’t have Kressa, at least I’ll have my crew.
Brushing my fingers over the hilt of my blade, I move forward. Darkness sweeps over me, hugging the space around my shoulders. I press the back of my hand to the wall and let it guide me through the turns.
Low voices carry in from the distance, and I slow my steps, straining my eyes in the pitch black.
Ahead, light filters around the edges of a tall structure. The painting.
I slow my breathing and pull the dagger from my waist, flexing my fingers around it. The voices fade, and I sidle up against the back of the artwork, peering through the hairline gap.
A hallway opens out on the other side, and I pry my fingertips into the gap, easing it open a crack. No shadows move on the other side, nor do any footsteps tap against the marble floor.
Holding my breath, I push the painting open the rest of the way. It swings on a pair of hinges, and I lift a leg, stepping out of the hidden corridor. The painting inches closed on its own, giving way to a portrait of a woman—her dark brown hair twisted into a crown of braids around her head.
But it’s her eyes that tighten the ache in my chest. They aren’t there—cut out by a blade.
Swallowing, I turn away and scan the hall. Empty, save for marble busts and dozens of doors that line either side.
I bank right toward the staircase. Gripping the railing, I lean over the edge and peer below, toward where Kressa said the dungeon should be. I strain my ears. Typically, guards stationed in front of dungeons talk amongst each other as a way to pass the time.
But there are no voices. Not even the tap of weapons against their holsters.
My brows pull together, and I descend the steps, the marble rail cold beneath my palm. The dungeon doors sweep into view—and I halt in my tracks.
They’re unguarded.
A smile pulls at my lips, and I hurry down the remaining steps. Golan must have called them to aid in the efforts to find me and Kressa.
Fool.
I round the bottom of the staircase and glance over my shoulder at the hallway across from the dungeon doors. Flickering oil lanterns are my only company.
Pocketing my blade, I approach the doors and test the handle. The door opens without restraint, and I hesitate—cold sweeping down the back of my neck. It’s one thing to leave the dungeon unguarded, but entirely another to leave it unlocked.
My pulse quickens, and I sweep my gaze over the space behind me. But if this were a trap, the guards would be on me by now.
I pull the door open the rest of the way and slip into the dungeon. Cold, damp air presses against my skin and weaves into my nose.
“Thea,” I whisper, mice skittering underfoot as I race down the steps. “Celia, we need to get out of here, now.”
No answer.
A shiver skates down my spine, and a sour taste fills my mouth. My feet hit the bottom step, and I throw myself forward, into the aisle bordered with cells on either side.
Every door hangs open.
I stumble to a halt, bracing myself on the rungs of the closest cell.
They’re all empty.