Chapter 27
DAEMON
“ H ow could you let this happen?” Thorne roars, swiping everything off the dining table with one arm. “Do you have any fucking idea what you’ve done?”
“Nothing? You knew someone was trying to hurt Isabelle.”
“And you were supposed to fucking watch her,” he rages.
“What did you want me to do, never sleep for an entire month? Or maybe I could have chained her to the wall to prevent her going outside for some air.”
He bares his teeth at me, looking more like an animal than a man.
I don’t know what the fuck he’s so angry about. As far as he knows, Isabelle is dead. Which is exactly what he wanted.
It’s so obvious to me now that it was him all along behind the attacks on Alix. Probably he made me guard her because after the train incident, he realized he could take out two birds with one stone, and I might die too—either protecting her, or by accident in whatever new catastrophe he’d set up.
“You failed to protect her until the wedding,” he carries on, completely unaware of the irony in his rage. “I should send you back to Dyaspora for this!”
“Do it.”
He looks at me, startled enough to shake the rage off his face. “What did you say?”
“I said fucking do it. I don’t care anymore.”
Thorne evidently has no idea what to say to that because he just looks at me. Any other time, I’d enjoy striking him speechless, but not now. I won’t ever enjoy anything again.
I sigh and step back, turning around to leave. “If you decide to send me back, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll be in the barracks until the rose moon.”
Apparently Thorne doesn’t feel like bothering to send me back to Dyaspora, because no one comes to find me for an entire twenty-four hours.
I find Kastian and explain everything to him, knowing he’ll tell the others. Then, as promised, I return to the barracks and don’t return. Even during the cursed time, I don’t move from my bed. Evidently, grief is also an instinctual emotion.
Before I sent her away, I was almost sure that Alix was my soul-bond. Now, I’m positive. Being without her is physically painful, like I cut off my own right arm and let the wounds fester.
Ironic.
I can’t even force myself to care about the curse. I know I should be using the information that Alix got from Aurelia to find the answer. I should care that there are only hours left before I’ll lose all my free will, but I can’t bring myself to care about anything. I underestimated how painful it would be to break a soul-bond. Or maybe I just didn’t want to think about it, because if I’d known I’d end up in agony I might not have gone through with it.
The only consolation is that males almost always form the bond first, and Alix is human, so it’s likely she won’t be in as much pain–if any at all. I have to hold onto that thought because otherwise the drive to protect her from that pain wars with the instinct to protect her by staying away, and I feel as if I’m finally losing my mind for real.
“Daemon!”
I barely look up at the sound of Kastian’s voice or the many footsteps behind me.
“Come on, Ashwater. Get up,” Jett says, with a forced note in his usual humorous tone.
“Fuck off,” I mutter.
I know I sound juvenile, but they don’t understand. None of them have ever found their soul-bond, let alone lost them. They can’t realize how painful this is.
“Daemon, seriously.” I feel the end of my bed dip as Odessa sits. “Don’t you think you should at least say goodbye?”
“To whom?” I growl.
“To us, for one,” she snaps, clearly unable to keep her sympathetic tone in place even at such a dire moment. “And what about your mother?”
I want to say “what about her” but that sounds too juvenile even for my mood. Instead, I roll over and finally look at them all. “I said goodbye when we left Storia. There’s nothing else to say.”
Kastian, Jett, and Fox stand over me like sentries, while Odessa is perched on the far end of the bed. I notice she’s wearing a traveling cloak, but I can’t find it in me to ask why.
“It’s chaos in the palace,” Kastian says, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
“That’s not unexpected,” I grumble. “Even the dumbest courtiers must have realized that if Isabelle is gone and the curse hasn’t broken, there’s no time left to find a solution. They put their faith in a selfish asshole who didn’t care about them a hundred years ago and certainly doesn’t now.”
“Exactly,” Dessa says. “They’re scared. They need someone to take control and lead them.”
I lie there for a long second, uncomprehending. Then finally I realize what they’re getting at. “You can’t seriously expect me to go up there.”
“People listen to you,” Jett says.
“No, they don’t. Not anymore. I’ve been gone for years and since I’ve been back, I’ve barely interacted with the court.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Dessa insists. “Everyone remembers how it was before you went to Dyaspora, and most remember your father.”
“I’m not him,” I growl. “Any more than Thorne is. He’s the fucking king, go tell him to pull his head out of his ass.”
“Impossible,” Kastian growls. “He’s been in a rage as long as you’ve been lying here, depressed.”
I narrow my eyes at Kastian. “You want someone to play king? You do it. You have more right than me to wear a crown and you won’t be effectively dead in thirty-six hours.”
Fox and Jett look sideways at Kastian, obviously distracted by my near revelation.
“Why do you have a right to the crown of Vernallis?” Jett asks.
“I don’t,” Kastian snaps. “I’m from Hydratta, you know that.”
“Why don’t you tell them who you were in Hydratta?”
Kas glares at me. “If you weren’t so pathetic right now, I’d hit you.”
“Do it,” I sigh, lying down. “I don’t care anyway.”
There’s another long silence. None of them seem to know what to say. I hope they’ll just leave.
“I keep trying to think of what the sorceress must have been thinking,” Dessa says, as if continuing a conversation we’d already been having.
“What do you mean?” Kas asks.
“Don’t you think she had someone in mind when she cast the curse? At first I thought it would be Aurelia, but why would she want to kill her own daughter? It must be someone else.”
“If she did, she was wrong,” I say bitterly, my back still to the group. “Thorne doesn’t love anyone except himself.”
“There must be someone. A friend? Maybe a mentor?”
“There’s no one!” I bark, my voice ringing around the room.
“Don’t fucking yell at her,” Kastian growls under his breath.
Odessa glances at him, clearly startled. I don’t understand either. Odessa is my sister, not his. What the hell does he care if I offended her? Anyway, I thought they didn’t get along.
Regardless, now I feel like an asshole. I shoot Dessa an apologetic glance. “Sorry. I just mean I’ve thought about this and there’s no one. I’m the only family he has. If I thought killing myself would help anything, I would, but he fucking hates me.”
“Don’t even say that,” Dessa hisses. “You can always get Alix back. She’s not dead, and if you don’t die, then things could still work out.”
I start to try and deny that Alix is the reason I’m such a mess, but what’s the point anymore? It doesn’t matter who she is or who she was pretending to be; she’s gone and despite what Odessa says, I don’t think I’ll ever get her back.
I close my eyes and tip my head back against the wall with a thump. “I agree with Aurelia that the sorceress had someone in mind when she cast the curse, but I have no way of knowing who that is. We’re no better off than we ever were, so if you all don’t mind, I’d like to spend my last hours in peace.” Or at least as much in peace as is possible when it feels like a thousand knives are piercing my chest over and over.
“No,” Kastian grumbles.
I glare at him. “No?”
“No. You’re in charge, mate. We follow you, not just because we owe you our lives but because you're a good leader. Usually. But I’m not signing on for this. You’re fucking up, and we’re not going to just watch it happen. You need to pull your shit together and get up, or I’ll drag you out of here.”
“I’ll help,” Jett says, raising a hand behind Kastian’s back.
“I don’t need help,” Fox grumbles. “I could drag all of you across this fucking continent with one hand.”
I glare at my friends, torn between anger that they’re fighting with me and feeling emotional that they care.
“What are you expecting me to do?” I mutter. “Getting up won’t miraculously make it so I know who Thorne needs to kill.”
There’s a silence, where clearly everyone is thinking. Gloom begins to descend over me again, a hopelessness that is much more difficult to stomach than any anger.
“What does Thorne keep in his stupid tower?” Odessa asks after some heavy pondering.
I shrug. “I dunno, why?”
“We should go search it. It can’t hurt. Maybe he has something up there that would point to who he cares about.”
“He doesn’t let anyone up there,” I grumble.
“Yeah, but he’s also pretty preoccupied right now,” Jett says with the ghost of a smile. “Come upstairs, you’ll see what I mean.”
I look around at all of them once more. They’re not going to leave me alone, are they? And anyway, with all of them here I feel slightly less horrible. Like the knives in my chest are only half as sharp.
Running my fingers through my hair, I sigh and get up. “Fine. Let’s go.”
I’m surrounded by four wide grins and I can’t even pretend to find that annoying. Instead, I look down at the floor, feigning indifference.
“You lead the way, Ashwater,” Jett says happily. “We’re right behind you.”
My head pounds and my chest still feels like it’s going to crack open as I march upstairs. Stepping into the entrance hall, my jaw drops.
Fucking hell.
Jett wasn’t exaggerating, this place is a goddamn disaster.
The entrance hall is in shambles just like the day after the curse took over the court. Windows and statues are smashed, there’s ink and food and other things I don’t want to consider smeared on the walls. Smoke fills my nose and the noise is deafening. People are yelling outside, on the upper levels, and down the long echoing corridors.
As we stand frozen in the doorway to the staircase, shattering glass pierces the air and I duck instinctively, shielding my face.“What the fuck is going on?”
No one else looks surprised—though, I suppose they wouldn’t. I’m the only one who’s been in hiding for the last day and a half and therefore didn’t realize the extent to which the court has lost their minds.
“They’re punishing the king,” Kastian says without inflection. “Before the curse takes hold they want him to know what they think of him.”
I grimace. In a way, I understand that and I hardly blame them, but?—
A loud smash, like stone against stone rattles the floor and I stiffen. “Let’s get out of here before we get crushed.”
With sounds of agreement, my friends follow me across the entrance hall to the wide sweeping marble staircase. I jog up a few steps, stopping only when I hear Thorne's voice echoing from the throne room.
“Stop them!” He’s shouting at someone. “Where are all the soldiers? Find me Foulo!”
The corner of my mouth ticks up in a smile. At least we know he won’t be in his chambers while we try to search it.
As long as I can remember Thorne has kept his tower private from outsiders. Even back when King Florian was alive and Thorne was merely the heir, no one entered. I never thought much of it—he’s a controlling asshole and keeping people out of his space is the sort of thing he’d do. But now, as we dash up the half-ruined stairs amidst shouts and screaming, my heart pounds with anticipation. What is he hiding in there?
We march down the hall that leads to Thorne's tower.Ahead, a group of five or six red-jacketed soldiers guard the door. I stop mid-stride and curse under my breath. I guess Thorne didn’t leave his precious tower unguarded after all.
“What do you want to do?” Kas mutters behind me.
“Kill them,” Fox says without inflection.
I ignore them, not wasting my time explaining myself.
“Hey!” I step away from my friends and shout to get the soldier's attention, raising a hand as I stride closer. “Get out of the way.”
The nearest guard looks at me nervously, while the one slightly behind him stiffens, readying for a fight.
“We were told to guard the king’s quarters.” the nearer guard mutters.
“Told by who?” I snap. “I never ordered you to do that.”
“The orders came from me,” a familiar snide voice sounds from the back of the group.
I blink, peering between them. Foulo is shorter than most Fae and wasn’t immediately visible, but the guards part to let him through and he steps in front of me, a glint of hatred in his eyes.
“Oh, it’s you,” I say, forcing my tone to remain casual.
“I’m giving the orders now.” He spits. “I hear you’ve been sniveling and crying in your bed ever since the king took your job away.”
I don’t react, keeping my face neutral—almost friendly. “You’re right, Foulo. I have been feeling off since finding out that the king betrayed the entire kingdom and has no way to break the curse, but I’m glad you stepped up in my place.” My eyes dart to the empty right sleeve of his jacket which is pinned up out of the way. “Thanks for lending a hand.”
He grits his teeth, and his face turns red. He reaches toward his sword with his left hand.
“You don’t have to take orders anymore,” I bark at the soldiers as I dance back out of Foulo’s reach. “Look around you. This place is going to hell. Do you really want to spend your last hours guarding a fucking door?”
For a moment, no one moves. Then, four out of the six guards drop their weapons on the floor with a smashing of metal on stone. Without a word, they shoulder past us, and march down the corridor. I glance meaningfully at the last guard, and he too drops his weapon and scampers away, leaving only Foulo.
I grin. “I suppose we’re going to get a rematch, Foulo.”
He stares at the retreating soldiers, then to my friends behind me. His neck works and he swallows thickly, but when he speaks his voice is steady. “Five on one?” he sneers. “Is that the only way you’ll fight me?”
“Big talk coming from the man with one arm. None of them needs to help me destroy you. In fact, would you prefer I use one hand, just to make it fair when I slit your throat? The only reason you’re still alive is because I promised I wouldn’t hunt you down.”
“You—” he hisses and spits with rage, unable to even form a sentence as he launches toward me.
I draw my own sword, but before I can advance Kastian knocks hard into my arm. I whip my head around.
“Don’t waste time on this,” he barks, eyes fixed on Foulo. “I’ll handle him. You have to search that tower.”
I glance back at him, hesitating. A part of me really wants to stay and take on Foulo myself, but there’s so little time left. Kas is right.
Foulo comes for me again, and this time I dodge left, darting around him. Kas raises a hand and from nowhere a jet of water blasts Foulo back against the stone wall.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Odessa freeze, watching the water drip onto the floor. I snatch at her sleeve. “Let's go.”
She shakes her head and jogs after me, Fox and Jett through the door into Thorne’s tower, leaving Kastian and Foulo behind.
The door swings shut behind us and for a second I think there’s something wrong with my ears. All sound in the castle beyond—the deafening shouting, the clang of weapons and splintering wood and glass—cut off in an instant. It’s perfectly silent, like being underwater.
“Woah, eerie,” Jett says out loud.
“It must be a spell. Come on, let’s go.”
Thorne's tower turns out to be larger than I expected. It's multiple stories high and there are rooms on every level—an armory, an office, a small private dining room that looks like it’s hardly ever been used. We stop when we nearly reach the top of the tower and find ourselves in his bedchamber.
“It looks normal,” Odessa says dejectedly, turning in a circle to take everything in at once.
Unfortunately, I agree. There’s a four-poster bed with red linens and various dark wood furniture, but nothing…personal. There’s no art on the walls or books on the shelves. You’d think it was a guest room for all the personality Thorne has put into it.
“There’s another level,” I say with a sigh. “I’ll check up there but I’d bet it’s just storage.”
I feel frustration and depression washing back over me, and once again the agony in my head and chest throbs to life. The pain was dampened, though never gone completely, while I was focused on other things, but now it seems to flare even hotter than before.
I press my hand to my chest, wincing slightly as I climb the winding stairs alone to the very top of the tower. I’m hardly paying attention as I reach the top, but then I look up and my eyes go wide. “Fuck.”
“What is it?” Jett yells from down below. A second later he jogs up the stairs and peers around me to look. I feel him go stiff. “Fuck.”
I step slowly into the room, my entire body vibrating with horror and the beginnings of rage. I don’t turn around when I hear Odessa and Fox come up the stairs behind Jett and their gasps when they finally see what we’re both looking at.
Bodies.
Or, at this point, the better word would be corpses.
Lining the walls are six desiccated corpses, each encased in pristine glass cases like precious artifacts. The bodies are ashen and withered, their skin resembling aged leather stretched taut over their skeletal frames. Their faces are hollowed, with gaping mouths that seem to silently scream into the void.
It’s obvious that the corpses were once female. Long straggled hair still clings to one or two scalps, and each corpse is adorned with a crown and an immaculate glittering gown, which drapes over their skeletal forms, hanging loosely, as if trying to preserve what’s left of their dignity.
Most grotesque of all, each of the corpses has a dagger plunged deep into its hollow chest. The daggers are identical, short with twisting wooden handles that remind me of the thousands of rose bushes all across Vernallis. It’s as if Thorne has speared each of them with a true thorn to the heart.
“I’m going to be sick,” Jett gags, and I hear his quick footsteps retreating down the stairs. Fox follows silently.
Odessa comes up beside me and puts a hand on my arm. I flinch, as if she struck me, my entire body vibrating and on edge.
“It’s the wives,” Dessa says in a quiet, broken voice.
I don’t answer. A roaring, like the wave Kastian conjured in the corridor, is growing in the back of my head.
I knew what it had to mean when Alix told me that the curse was really about sacrifice rather than love, but seeing it displayed is so much worse.
I reach out a hand to steady myself on the nearest wall. He was going to do this to Alix.
“I’ve seen enough,” I growl, stepping backwards and marching down the steps after Jett and Fox.
“Wait!” Dessa says. “We still need to search. We need to find out who he loves.”
I shake my head. “No. Don’t you get it? No one who does this could ever love anyone. He’s not a narcissist, he’s a sociopath. A monster.”
“But without knowing who he loves–”
I turn my back. “Thorne doesn’t love anyone except himself.”
My ears are still ringing as I march down the stairs. I don’t know what to do now, and the urge to return to the barracks and ignore everything is so strong I can hardly resist it. I’m fucking sick of thinking things might change, and getting my hopes up for even a second. First when I left Dyaspora, then when I thought I’d found Isabelle, when Alix agreed to help and when I thought for just a second she could be mine.
Each time the disappointment is worse, and turns to cold rage all the faster.
“Oh my god,” Dessa blurts out behind me. “You’re right.”
I stop short. “What?”
She almost laughs. “You’re right. Don’t you get it?”
I can’t fucking deal with another epiphany that will only lead to more disappointment. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“You just said it! Thorne only loves himself. He never soul-bonded anyone even though he’s been married multiple times. He didn’t even seem to care for his parents. You’re his brother, and he obviously doesn’t love you.”
“Half-brother,” I grumble, wanting to put as much distance between myself and the owner of this room as possible.
She doesn’t care, and starts pacing, gnawing on her lip. “The curse is broken when the king of Vernallis admits he is powerless and sacrifices the person he loves most. Don’t you get it? He has to die. He has to admit he’s powerless and sacrifice himself to save the kingdom.”
A cold wave of clarity crashes over me as her words sink in.
That's it.
Her argument makes perfect sense, each point clicking into place like pieces of a puzzle. My heart pounds as the truth settles in, undeniable and unavoidable. She's right. She has to be right, but what do I do now?
Dessa claps her hands. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Why would a sorceress who just had her heart broken want to punish another woman? She wouldn’t. It’s not about his partner, it’s about him.”
“Do you think he knows?” I ask.
“I don’t know.”
I run a hand through my hair, my mind reeling. “I need to find Thorne.”
“Are you going to ask him about the sorceress?” Dessa asks, dashing after me.
I shake my head. Suddenly the pain that has been plaguing me for days eases, which only reinforces my certainty that I’m on the right track at last. There’s only a few hours left until it’s too late, but that’ll have to be enough.
“I’m not going to ask him anything,” I growl. “I’m going to force him to listen. If he doesn’t already know how the curse is really broken he will in a few minutes.”
Jett cocks his head to the side. “And what if he already knows? What if he realizes the curse has always been about him and he just doesn’t care?”
“That’s easy.” I throw the tower door open and march out into the hall. “Then I’m going to kill him myself.”
I charge back out of the tower, nearly running straight into Kastian. There’s a gash across his right cheek and he looks tired, but otherwise unharmed.
“Find anything?” he asks without preamble.
“Yeah,” I grumble darkly. “What happened with Foulo?”
In answer, he jabs a finger over his shoulder. Behind him on the floor in a puddle of red-tinged water, Foulo is lying on the ground with a blade sticking out of his chest. My stomach churns for a moment, thinking of the knives stabbed deep into the corpses of the dead queens.
“You’re hurt,” Odessa blurts out, looking past me at Kastian. Her eyes have a strange glint to them.
Kas reaches up and touches the cheek. He pulls his fingers away and looks down, startled by the blood. He wipes his hand roughly on his jacket. “It’s nothing.”
Odessa gives him another strange look, and seems to debate if she should say something or not. Then she just nods stiffly, and turns to me. “What are we standing around for? It’s not as if we have much time.”
I scoff, but of course she’s right. The sky outside is dark and it’s been that way for some time now, which means we could have little more than hours left before the curse takes its final hold.
I navigate the winding corridors of the dilapidated palace, guiding us back to the grand entrance hall. The building is in worse condition than we left it, with more stone and plaster crumbling from the walls and the air thick with dust. The shouting in the corridors is growing louder, and it sounds as if more chanting has started up outside.
I strain my ears and finally pick up what all the distant shouts are saying: Kill the king! Bring down the beast!
I grimace. It might have taken to the eleventh hour, but the entire kingdom is finally on the same page. I just hope it’s not too late.
The once-open doors to the throne room now stand firmly closed. A throng of about a dozen courtiers jostle and push each other, their faces ranging from furious to desperate as they fight to get inside. Blocking their path, eight guards hold the line, arms crossed and feet planted firmly on the marble floor. I suppose not everyone has abandoned their loyalty to the king just yet.
“Thorne must be in the throne room,” I mutter. “The fucking coward is hiding from his own damn court.”
“We’ll handle the guards,” Jett says, garnering nods of agreement from Kas and Fox.
“I’ll go in with you,” Odessa tells me.
I’m about to tell her no, but before I can, Kas beats me to it. “Absolutely fucking not.”
She glares at him. “Who the hell are you to tell me what to do?”
He looks a bit flustered, but carries on anyway. “You’re not a fighter, how the hell are you supposed to help? You’re just going to be a distraction.”
She bristles furiously and opens her mouth to retort, but this time I cut her off. “He’s right. All four of you stay outside, preferably together. If this doesn’t go well then soon the rioting will get far fucking worse and you’ll be the only ones unaffected. I’d tell you to start running now, but I know there’s no point…”
“You’re right, there’s no point,” Kas says, clapping me on the shoulder. “We’re staying with you until the end, no matter what.”
I give him a nod, silently communicating so much I wish I’d said sooner. If I don’t come back out I know he’ll take Odessa and the others to Hydratta just like he promised me back in Dyaspora. No matter what happens they’ll all be safe. Alix will be safe, and that’s what really matters.
I descend the grand staircase, my boots echoing on the marble steps as I approach the massive, intricately carved doors of the throne room that stand stubbornly shut. Kas and Fox surge past me. Their swords gleam under the chandelier's light, catching the eye of the guards stationed at the entrance. The guards tense, hands instinctively reaching for their weapons.
With a shout that echoes through the grand foyer, Jett launches himself off the last five stairs, landing with a thud on the marble floor. He snatches up a jagged piece of a fallen marble statue, its cold weight solid in his hand. With a swift, powerful swing, he hurls it toward the enormous arched window, sending shards of glass crashing down like a sparkling waterfall over the entrance hall. Grinning, he bolts down the corridor, the sound of his footsteps echoing as he leads the soldiers on a wild chase, his diversion successfully clearing my path to the doors.
I don’t waste a second, and run toward the doors, unlocking them with a wave of the hand as I go.
The doors swing open. Beyond, I can see the enormous opulent throne room with the golden carpeted aisle and Thorne’s throne at the end. I launch myself inside, bracing for a fight—as if Thorne might be hiding behind the door waiting to strike.
The doors swing closed and I stand in silence, my heart thundering with adrenaline.
But after a long moment, nothing happens. Finally, I turn on the spot, looking around.
The room is empty, and Thorne is gone.