Chapter 49
Iburst into the clearing, and a cold snap of air shoots across my face. Stars light the open space, and I stumble through the tall grasses, scanning the area.
“I know you’re here!” I call, sprinting to the opposite end.
The Sopor materializes from the shadows, and I stumble to a stop. Its hood hangs far over its face, but it tilts its head up—far enough for our eyes to meet.
“Yes, Your Highness?”
Its garbled, hoarse voice skates down my back, sending a shiver in its wake.
I swallow and steel my spine. “I need to go to Amoren. Can you take me to Nicole?”
It tilts its head, studying me, then holds out a gnarled hand. “As you wish.”
Shifting closer, I accept its hand, and the world snaps to black.
My stomach churns, and a weightlessness takes over my body, spinning me like I’m trapped in a current. The air leaves my lungs, and I press my free hand to my throat, but no oxygen reaches past my lips.
I slam into solid ground.
The wind knocks out of me, and I clench my stomach as I roll onto my side.
A blast of fire fills my vision, only an inch away from scorching the skin from my bones.
“What are you doing here?” a voice growls.
The flames subside, and I shove myself to a seat as my vision focuses on the walls around me. They’re the same obsidian stone as the castle, but rivers of fire flow through the divots in the wall, lighting the space in a warm glow.
A door slams behind me, then Nicole appears, her eyes narrowed. She crouches and wraps a fist around my collar, jerking me close. “Just because you saved us from the wyvern doesn’t mean you can come into my house unannounced. Do you even—”
“Kressa told you about the book, didn’t she?”
Nicole goes silent. Her face drops, and she sinks to the floor across from me, resting an arm across her bent knee.
“She never told me about the book, but I know about it. Years ago, I saw her sneak into the library, so I followed her in. I thought I’d surprise her, and we’d have a night together, or something like that.
Sounds silly now.” She looks over my shoulder, her gaze caught in a distance memory.
“But when I found her in the oldest reaches of the library, she was sitting on the ground, crying over that book.”
Our gazes meet, and I look down, unable to meet her stare.
“When she left, I pulled out the book but couldn’t read any of the words. They were in some sort of ancient dialect. I was so confused as to why Kressa would be crying over a book she couldn’t read.” She presses her tongue into her cheek. “But she had left notes in the margins. Ones I could read.”
A weighted silence stretches out between us.
“And?” I whisper.
“And that was the last time I saw her.”
I blink. “She left without telling you where she was going? She never even said goodbye?”
She blows out a long breath and nods. “In her notes, she said she was going to find you so she could kill you and break the bond. I went the last decade thinking she’d come back to me. That we’d pick up right where we left off. But instead, she returned, in love. With you.”
I glance away. “I never asked for this.”
“Yeah, well neither did I. But that’s not why you came here.
” She stretches her legs out in front of her.
“So, what do you want? My people saw what you did against the wyvern, and they’re beginning to ask why the Queen of the Sea had Fire Court power.
They don’t understand how you could bond with one of the wyvern. ”
I lean forward. “I came here because Kressa is about to marry Callum, and I need your help stopping her.”
She stiffens and shakes her head. “No, she’d never agree to something like that.”
A lump forms in my throat, and I look away, pressing my tongue into my cheek. “It was the only way she could spare my life, and according to that book, it will break the bond between us.”
“But now you’re here?” She lifts a brow. “Out of harm’s way?”
I nod. “She thinks I’m on a ship, fleeing Ignata with my crew. But she can’t marry him, Nicole.” My tone turns pleading. “She can’t.”
A knock comes from the door.
Nicole stiffens, shooting to her feet. “Don’t speak a word.”
I press my lips into a tight line as she walks around me and peers through a small hole in the door. She glances over her shoulder and mouths for me to hide.
My chest tightens, and I push myself up, taking in the room for the first time since the Sopor dropped me off. A door hangs open on the wall closest to me, framed by a series of landscape paintings. I weave around a low loveseat and duck into the shadows of the room.
The front door clicks open.
“What do you want?” Nicole says. “I’m a little—”
Her voice cuts off, and I peer around the corner—enough to catch the hardened glare of a man in her doorway. Twin blades are strapped at his waist.
The first guard I’ve seen in Amoren.
“There was an attack in the cathedral of Ignata, and it’s being blamed on the Fire Court,” he says.
My throat cinches shut.
Nicole’s fingers dig into the wooden door. “But they don’t know about us.”
“They do. And according to my source, two of the kings have built an alliance to find and exterminate us.”
“What does the governess want us to do?”
“Until Serinos finally wakes, there’s only one thing we can do. Prepare to fight and defend ourselves.”
I swallow, pressing my hand over the necklace resting between my collarbones. This is exactly what Kressa has been trying to avoid.
But she was the one who told me to stage an attack and frame the Fire Court.
“Thank you, officer,” Nicole says. “I’ll be awaiting further instructions.”
She presses the door shut.
I step out of the bedroom and raise my hands. “Nicole, listen to me. I—”
Flames burn behind her eyes, and her hands curl into fists as she stalks closer. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t hand you over to the governess right now.”
“It was the only way, I swear.”
Her lip curls. “You just gave an entire civilization a death sentence, Briar. Do you understand? If Kressa marrying Callum is what breaks your bond, so be it. I’ve already seen how dangerous you are on your own accord.
Whatever warning the fates give us about you and her together, I want no part of it. ”
“Please,” I beg. “I can’t do this alone.”
“Get out and leave, or you’ll find yourself in a dungeon not even Kressa can get you out of.” Fire flares at her fingertips, and she throws open her front door. “If I see you back here again, I’ll kill you.”
A muscle feathers in her jaw, and I inch closer to the doorway, slipping around her. Standing on the stoop of her house, I hold her gaze. “I’ll fix this, and we can work together. Please. I’ll do anything.”
“You’ve done enough.”
She slams the door in my face.
A pit opens in my chest, and I stumble back, down the steps onto the main pathway.
I’m left with only one option.
The Sopor lurks in a shadowed corner, and I stride to it.
“Back to Ignata,” I say.
It chuckles under its breath. “You remind me of someone.”
Before I can respond, it grabs my wrist, and we disappear.