Chapter Forty-Seven
C HAPTER F ORTY-SEVEN
The days go by quickly. What is a week turns into two as everyone around me plans for a lush ceremonial wedding.
I pay many visits to Sarilyn during this time, much to her surprise. She expected me to let her rot all alone down there after Darius and I restored the Neoma tree, and perhaps another version of me would have. But after the day she mentioned how much she saw herself in me, I found myself compelled to talk to her again. To find out more .
Some days, she was quiet, eating away at the food I brought her while everyone else assumed I was resting. Other times, she would tell me of her childhood, her life while training with a sorceress, and how her favourite pastime was to sing.
It seemed so mundane at the time, finding out these things when all I ever imagined was her plotting everyone else’s demise in her spare time.
‘Does the thief know you are down here?’ she asks me one day, then takes a bite out of her apple.
I twitch on the spot, casting a glance at the ground. ‘He’s no longer a thief.’
She chuckles. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’
I huff, forcing my gaze up at her. ‘No . . . he doesn’t know.’
A faint hint of a smile appears on her lips. She takes another bite from the apple, the crunch irritating my eardrums.
I find myself needing to defend my reasoning. ‘You did murder his entire family.’
‘And yet it shocks me he hasn’t already paraded my head around the shifters.’
‘I asked him not to.’
She cocks a brow.
‘And I don’t think he would have been as nice as to parade your severed head in front of the shifters.’ He would have wanted to make more of a statement. Something dramatic enough to make me roll my eyes.
Sarilyn hums pensively, turning her back to me. ‘What was it like?’
‘What was what like?’
She turns her head to the side. ‘Your time in Olcar.’
I take a moment to think it over. ‘Different,’ I end up whispering. ‘A lot happened while I was there. The good, the bad . . .’ The words trail from my lips as I search through the memories of the Screaming Forests, the first night with Darius, and Aurum’s tricks. ‘Dusan mentioned you, though.’
Sarilyn faces me and her eyes search mine for something she cannot find. She looks at her palms. ‘Yes, he seemed to have never forgotten our time together; well, that was before Aurum murdered him.’
The noise of Dusan choking on his blood has never left me. Although, I don’t think much of that day has ever left my mind at all.
‘I can imagine the royals of Terranos despising me just as much,’ Sarilyn scoffs, falling into miserable laughter.
‘For creating the forest?’ I go on, ‘Killing half of the Fallcrown bloodline? Or is it because you tricked Dusan into falling for you in order to get to the Isle?’
Her lips snap into a thin line. ‘I never tricked him,’ she grinds out, then composes herself by using her fingers to comb through her matted hair. ‘He had just decided that what I wanted was not good enough for him. He wanted peace and a marriage. I wanted an end.’
‘Despite it costing you everything?’
‘As you already know, I would do it all over again if need be.’
I sigh, surrendering to the quiet that envelops us. I can’t change the past; even if I were given the power to alter it, her path towards vengeance would remain the same. I don’t believe anything would have stopped her, not even the possibility of falling for Dusan.
Ruvyn emerges into the dim corridor, the flicker of his torch casting shadows across the prison walls. ‘I think it is time we left, Lady Nara.’ His gaze drifts to Sarilyn’s, the lines around his eyes visible as he frowns. He seems to think it is a lost cause, coming down here most days without my brothers’ or Darius’s knowledge.
With a reluctant nod, I concede, allowing him to lead the way. Yet I barely manage a few steps before Sarilyn’s words anchor me to the spot.
‘You should know that a Rivernorth is not invincible.’
I slowly turn on my heel and stare at the vacant look in her eyes as she toys with the ripped lace of her bodice.
‘Not like everyone believes them to be.’ Her gaze slices through the air to meet mine with an almost tangible intensity. ‘See, as a child, I grew up seeing them as these powerful beings who nothing could destroy. They were unscathed by steel weapons, magic . . . anything . But do you want to know what was in the Northern Blade that killed them all?’ She edges closer to the bars, beckoning me with her hand as if she were letting me in on a secret.
I remain motionless, intrigue mixed with wariness not letting me walk away. She leans forward while clutching the iron bars and lets out a knowing chuckle with a playful arch of her eyebrows. ‘Nothing,’ she whispers, her tongue sliding across her teeth as she watches my reaction.
I reel back, the ground beneath me feeling as unstable as Sarilyn’s revelation.
That can’t be possible.
Sarilyn nods, taking in my unvoiced questions. ‘The Isle created it, yes, but it never gifted it with anything potent enough because it didn’t need anything special. It didn’t require any poison, magic or spells to doom them. All it needed was my sacrifice, a token of despair, for the Rivernorths to abandon all hope they clung to.’ Her eyes widen as she reminisces about what she did all those years ago. ‘When I returned to Emberwell, I made sure to dismantle their world bit by bit – to break their foundations and everything they had built in their honour, and once they also saw what Aurum had become, they themselves broke.’
Their legacy was destroyed . . . ‘So,’ I whisper in realisation, ‘they became—’
‘Almost human,’ Sarilyn finishes. ‘And all they had ever known was power. You can imagine why they crumbled so easily. And eventually, Darius’s mother met that same fate because she had given up long before that.’
My chest heaves at the thought. I lift my gaze to Sarilyn’s, not having noticed how intensely I was staring at the ground. ‘You gave up your powers for years, just to end up here?’
‘With it,’ she says, ‘people would have feared me for the magic powers I had, not for who I was without them.’
I try to accept that answer, but the tragedy of it all sets my spine rigid. ‘And Aurum?’
Her expression grows cold and distant. ‘Aurum’ – she utters his name with a venomous disdain – ‘possesses no semblance of a soul. He cannot even fathom the concept of hope.’ She pauses, savouring the moment as the weight of her words hangs in the air. ‘He was born a monster; that is all he will ever be.’
By the time I walk through one of the lounging quarters, Freya and Darius seem to be debating. Freya stands up with her hands in the air, gesturing something grand, while Darius repeatedly says no from his chair. Lorcan is by the fireplace, smiling as he watches them alongside Idris.
When Darius’s eyes flit towards the threshold, his eyes light up. ‘Goldie.’ He rises to his feet and meets me halfway. ‘Please tell your friend I will not ride on a horse to our wedding.’
From behind him, Freya huffs as I say teasingly, ‘I thought you enjoyed all eyes on you?’
‘I’m a changed man.’
Lorcan snorts.
Darius casts Lorcan a look over his shoulder, and I chuckle, though my mind is still consumed by the conversation I just had with Sarilyn.
‘Ah, there’s my other favourite witch. Do you plan to stay?’ Darius says towards the threshold, where Leira enters with a nervous expression.
Already on high alert, the hairs on my neck stand up.
‘I have some news.’
I glance at Darius, noticing all the amusement that was on his face has now been stripped away.
‘By the look on your face, I assume it’s not good news,’ he says.
Leira holds her hand out, a cream envelope in her grip. ‘It’s from the Undarion palace,’ she says as Darius takes it. ‘It arrived this morning.’
As Darius rips the seal and begins reading the contents of the letter, I turn to Leira, asking, ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’
She closes her eyes in apology. ‘You were nowhere to be found.’
‘What does it say?’ Freya walks over, trying to get a peek at the letter.
By the muscle ticking in Darius’s jaw, it must be nothing good.
He runs a hand over his mouth. ‘They’re still demanding we stand down from the throne.’
Lorcan and Idris curse under their breaths as I turn away from them all, my cheeks burning with frustration.
‘Or what?’ I can hear the irritation in Freya’s voice. ‘He’ll declare war on us? This is insane!’ She smacks her hands down on her thighs. ‘I should have known never to trust a man like that; he always gave me the strangest looks whenever my father introduced us at festivities.’
Idris takes a step towards her, his brows furrowed. ‘Did he ever try to do anything to you?’
The question startles Freya and she blinks at him. ‘No, he just—he just—’
‘He was the type to get away with anything because he rules Undarion,’ Lorcan explains. ‘He was never born into royalty. Hedris had to build his way up in the ranks until he got what he wanted from Undarion, and now that he has that, he likely wants more.’
‘Then why can’t he take it from somewhere else?’ My brother scowls at Lorcan, not understanding why there can’t be a solution to this. He has yet to learn what Hedris is like. He’s lucky to have never spoken to him directly.
‘Nara and Darius are new to all of this,’ Leira says, giving Darius and me a sympathetic smile. ‘In his arrogance he probably thinks the two of you don’t stand a chance against him and his army.’
‘We stand a chance,’ Darius states blandly. Suddenly, the letter in his hand ignites in flames. He crumbles the burnt pieces into ashes and then looks up at us with a smile. ‘But for now, I guess we can entertain him in thinking that we don’t.’
‘For the love of—’ Lorcan mutters. ‘We cannot sit around until he tries something.’
‘He is right,’ I tell Darius. Who knows what Hedris plans to do if we don’t give in to his tantrum. ‘What we need is more allies.’
‘You could speak to the Aerians,’ Lorcan suggests, though I know he immediately regrets it. He clears his throat as all eyes latch on to him. ‘They helped once; I’m sure they can again.’
It was Hira who helped, not her sisters. I can’t say that, though. My time in Aeris felt too much like torture to now give the rulers a fair chance.
Darius doesn’t seem too pleased by the idea of going there. He did spend most of his time there in a prison cell with only me or Gus to talk to.
‘What do you think, Goldie?’ he says, his gold eyes seeking an answer as he looks towards me.
There aren’t many options, and Darius knows that himself, yet it is not only his decision. It is my opinion he wants above his.
I nod. ‘I’ll arrange a meeting with them, and I’ll write to the princesses of Terranos to see if they have any news on Hedris that might be of service to us.’
I hope and pray that they do.