Chapter 56
Chapter Fifty-Six
KAIROTH
I ’d known leaving was a bad idea. I’d needed to go again. I’d needed to find Bathalous and get some answers to these confounding questions piling up. Questions regarding the weapons. Bellamy. Connections I couldn’t make.
But I should never have left Bellamy for so long. I shouldn’t have left my castle unattended. Everyone exposed. No matter how much I tried to do the right thing, it seemed I never could.
Bellamy and I sat in the burnt remains of her room on the ash-covered floor. She stared blankly at the bed frame, now crumpled and disfigured. The wardrobe was blackened, the wood thick enough that it had withstood the fire longer than anything else.
Burn marks stretched up the walls. The glass on the balcony doors had shattered from the heat, now sprinkled across the floor.
She clutched the sweaters in her arms, her face pale. Leoni had used her water magic to put out the fire, and I’d thanked her profusely. She’d saved Bellamy’s life. The water elemental and Driscoll had returned to their rooms after making sure Bellamy was okay.
I’d ordered Goji to survey the perimeters of the castle while Jerome and Wesley were searching inside the castle. No stone was to be left unturned. I’d also asked for the healer to come and look at Bellamy’s burns, which were spread up and down her arms and hands. She’d been brave. Foolish but brave.
“Where have you been?” she signed with shaky hands, her words cracking open my stone-cold heart.
“I told you I was going to have to leave again,” I said, and I took a deep breath. “But that’s not all. I did it, Bellamy. I found what I was looking for, and I have a feeling things are going to come to an end soon. Sooner than I expected. So before coming back to the castle, I made a stop in the jungle.”
She peered at me and tilted her head.
“I reunited the boys with their shadows. I told them they’re free to go or stay. But their shadows are no longer mine.”
She kissed me hard, stirring something primal inside of me. I wanted to lay her down and take her right here on the floor, but it wasn’t the right time. Before I lost all control, I broke off the kiss.
“What did you find?” she asked. “What do you mean things will come to an end? Do you know how to kill the gods?”
“First,” I said. “Tell me what happened here.”
Her face fell as if she was just remembering there’d been a fire in her room. She swallowed and lay the sweaters in her lap. “I don’t know. One minute I was visiting Soloman, talking with him. The next minute I smelled smoke. I left his dream to come back here, and I was surrounded by flames.” She shook her head. “I have no idea how a fire could have started. I didn’t have any candles lit. No fire in the hearth since it’s so damned hot here.”
I frowned, a cold chill creeping up my spine. Foul play. But who? My staff was loyal to me. At least, I thought they were. The idea that any of them would betray me was... hard to believe. Then again, I’d been betrayed once already.
I wouldn’t jump to those conclusions. Not yet.
“Can you remember anything else other than the smoke?” I asked.
She looked down at the sweaters in her lap, staring at them with furrowed brows. Her black hair tumbled down her shoulders, wild and covered in grey ash. “It just doesn’t make sense, Kairoth. This couldn’t have been an accident.”
That feeling in my gut intensified, the one that told me something was off. Bellamy stood abruptly, walking around the room, studying the walls, the wardrobe, the dresser—every part of it. I waved my hand, commanding my shadows to search as well. I considered telling Bellamy to come to me, to sit with me and let my shadows do the work, but I doubted she’d listen. That stubbornness was something that both frustrated me and drew me to her.
She leaned down by her dresser, digging through the piles of ash, and slowly drawing out the remains of something and cradling it in her hands.
I stood and walked over to her as she dumped the contents into my hands.
I studied the wilted and burned paper, the whittled down small sticks.
“What is this?” she asked, studying it. She rubbed her arms where the burns were.
I blinked a few times, the burns on her arms already scabbing over, the blisters no longer there. The hairs on my arms raised.
“Bellamy,” I said. “I want you to do something. Something that might feel strange.”
She looked up at me with wide eyes, but I had to see if my suspicions about her were correct. There were too many coincidences, too many things that weren’t adding up about her, her magic.
“I want you to go into your own mind. You’ll have to go deep. You’ll have to use your star magic to help you dig into your memories.”
She backed up a few steps. “I can’t do that. No one with star magic can.”
One person could.
“Can you try?” I set down the mess of paper and sticks, then grabbed her hand and led her out to the balcony. I guided her down into one of the chairs and gestured up to the starry sky. “I know this is a lot, but if you can do this, we could figure out what happened tonight.”
She didn’t say anything, just stared up at the stars.
“Do you trust me?” I asked, sitting down in the chair next to hers.
She looked over at me, then nodded. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, holding her hands up to the sky and commanding the starlight to shine over us.
The silver light bathed her, illuminating her creamy smooth skin, giving her this ethereal glow that made her look divine. I could see her eyes moving back and forth under her closed eyelids. Her hands stayed raised, her body tensed as she focused on her task.
I didn’t know how much time passed. I sat there, staring at her as the starlight wrapped around her like a cocoon. It glowed a silver hue on her wild black hair. It lit her pale skin. I’d been alive for centuries, and I’d never seen anything so breathtaking. I could watch her like this forever. Watch her use her magic, watch her look so utterly powerful and beautiful and fierce all at the same time.
Finally, her eyes popped open as she gasped.
“What?” I asked, straightening in my chair. “Are you okay? Do you know who set the fire?”
Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again until she finally signed, “I did. I was the one who started the fire.”
I felt like my body was being plunged into an icy lake.
“Why would I do that?” Bellamy signed. “Why don’t I remember doing it?”
“What did you look like? Your eyes.” I waved. “Your body.”
She stared into the space in front of us, signing slowly. “It was like I was in a trance. I felt it as I dug through my memories. I couldn’t see myself. Not when I was in my own mind, but I could feel that there was an emptiness in that memory. It was deep, tucked away and buried.” Her eyes widened. “Like it was hidden.”
This was what I was afraid of. “Bellamy, you didn’tgo back and speak to that prisoner, did you?” I couldn’t wait any longer. The risk was too great. I had to tell Bellamy who she was. “Because she’s dangerous. I haven’t told you her identity yet because I had more information about her that I wanted to give you. Information that I needed to confirm.” I steeled myself to tell her the truth. “That prisoner is Khalasa. Who you might know as Spirit Star. There’s more, though...”
I trailed off as Bellamy’s hand floated to her mouth. Her face had lost all color, and her other hand clutched her stomach.
“What?” I turned my body toward her. “What’s wrong?”
She looked at me with wide, terrified eyes. “I made a terrible, terrible mistake. Blood and stars. Kairoth, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” Her hands shook as she signed. “I thought she was from the shadow court. She’d never said where she was from. But everyone from the star court is gone. And I bargained with her.”
I could barely breathe, afraid of where this was going, dreading hearing what Bellamy was about to tell me. What I was going to have to tell her.
“She said she could help me find nettle weed. You’d disappeared, and I was desperate to help my brothers.”
“What did she ask for in return? Please tell me you didn’t help her escape.”
Bellamy shook her head. “No. I’d never betray you like that. I knew she must’ve been your prisoner for a reason. Even though she made it seem like you’re the villain I wanted to give you a chance to tell your side of the story. She preyed on my weakness. I don’t know how, but she did. Somehow she knew I’d been trapped. That my brothers were trapped. That I’d feel sorry for her.”
“If you didn’t help her escape, what did you do?”
“I cut away some of the weeds and brush outside her window. I moved away a stone.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “So she could see the stars.”
I went completely still. Not the stone.
“I’m so sorry. I should never have done that. I just wanted her to be able to see the sky.”
Khalasa had always been manipulative. “It’s my fault too. I should’ve told you sooner. Who she was. Why she was trapped. That stone has special powers somehow. Powers that trap our magic. It’s part of the original stone where Khalasa pulled her scythe from.”
I’d taken a piece of it when I knew I’d have to trap Khalasa once more.
“So you think she’s the one who started the fire?” Bellamy asked. “That when I moved that stone, she gained access to her powers again and used them on me. But why would she do that?”
I hesitated. “Bellamy, I don’t think your powers are just connected to the Wilds. I don’t think they’re connected to the Wilds or what happened there at all.”
She stilled, mouth open as she took in my words. “Then where do you think my powers came from?”
“I don’t know yet. But the things you survived... that poison. The fire.” I gestured to her arms and hands, the burns mending far faster than normal. “The way you just went into your own mind. How you’ve gone into my mind. That shouldn’t be possible.”
“I know that.” Bellamy’s movements were abrupt, her cheeks reddened. “But that’s what my father always told me and my brothers. That our powers were different because of what had happened to the Wilds.”
“I’m not saying he lied to you.” I hated the frustration and confusion I saw in her face. The pain.
“What does this have to do with Khalasa?”
“I don’t know exactly.” I shook my head slowly. “Maybe she sensed your power, somehow drew you to her in that prison.” My shadows hissed and lashed out. “Fuck. I don’t know. She should’ve been powerless. Maybe it wasn’t until you came to her that she sensed you, and maybe she viewed you as a threat, so she decided to manipulate you. I wish I had more answers, but it’s clear this wasn’t a mistake. If Khalasa targeted you, there’s a reason. It’s not random.” I raised a hand to her cheek. “For now, why don’t you rest? Even if you’ve healed extraordinarily fast, you’ve been through a great ordeal.”
“Where am I going to sleep?” She gestured to the charred, burnt remains of her room. “Have you got another guest room?”
“You’ll sleep in my room.” I stood, then reached out a hand and pulled her to her feet. “I’m not letting you or those sweaters out of my sight. I’m going to secure the prison cell again.”
She stared at me for a minute, then raised a hand to my face, straight through my shadows, and touched me with a gentleness that didn’t quite fit her rough edges. She leaned forward, my shadows parting as she pressed her lips to mine. I felt her finger tracing a simple word against my chest.
“Thank you.”
“Master.”
We broke apart as Jerome flew into the room, his usual grin gone from his face.
“We have a problem, I’m afraid.”
“What’s happened?” I stepped forward.
“She’s gone, sir.” Jerome’s bottom lip trembled. “Khalasa is gone.”