Chapter Twenty-Four
Cadence
The instant my feet hit the forest floor, the world changed. The arena disappeared, the spectators, the throne, even the hourglass; all swallowed by a canopy so dense it blocked out the sky. Only the faintest shimmer of light penetrated through the leaves, blanketing the woods in shadows.
I took a cautious step forward, my hand still gripping the dagger at my hip.
The trees seemed to whisper all around me, their voices scratching and clawing at me, as though seeking to pull me down.
I couldn’t make out any words, but the tone was unmistakable.
It was mocking, taunting, as if the entire forest knew something I didn’t.
“All right, then.” I scanned the endless greenery, trying not to let my nerves get the best of me.
As I stepped farther into the trees, the air shifted. It became thicker, older somehow. My lungs were filled with the taste of decay, and I quickly realized what appeared to be a simple forest from above was nothing like any woodland I had ever encountered.
Runes covered every inch of bark, pulsing with an eerie blue glow. The trees cast long shadows that seemed to move independently of their sources. A faint buzzing noise filled my ears, and the fine hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention.
Something lurked inside this forest, and it was watching me.
“Cadence.”
I whipped around at the sound of my brother’s voice. My eyes narrowed, but I couldn’t see past the thick shrubbery shielding him from my view.
What the hell was he doing here? If he interfered in the trial, the Unseelie Court would surely punish him.
“Callum?”
“Cadence,” he called again, fainter this time, like he was moving away from me.
“Callum, wait!” I lunged forward, branches scratching at my face as I pushed through the undergrowth. Thorns left thin lines of blood across my skin, but I barely noticed.
The runes on the trees pulsed brighter with every step I took, as if they were feeding off my desperation. The ground shifted beneath my feet, roots writhing like serpents as they ensnared me.
But I couldn’t stop.
My brother shouldn’t be here. Couldn’t be here. Yet his voice pulled me deeper into the forest as if attached by an invisible thread.
“This way.” His voice came from my left. I pivoted sharply, almost losing my footing on the slick moss covering the ground.
“Cadence, hurry.” His tone warped, tinged with something I couldn’t quite place. Fear? Pain? Or something else entirely.
I broke into a run, batting away vines that seemed to reach for me with malicious intent. A low laugh echoed through the trees, bouncing off my surroundings until it was impossible for me to tell which direction it came from. It sounded like my brother, but distorted, stretched, and hollowed out.
“Damn it, Callum! There is no time for games. You’re going to get us both killed.”
“Is that what you think, Little Sister?” His voice was closer now, thick and suffocating like smoke. “That I’m the one putting you in danger?”
“Callum?”
Icy tendrils of fear snaked down my spine, and every muscle in my body tensed. A rustle to my right had me spinning, and I ripped a dagger free from the sheath at my thigh.
I scanned the forest but found nothing.
The trees whispered once more, and the shadows danced in the breeze.
This time, their words were clear.
Unworthy.
Over and over they chanted, the word curling around me, slipping beneath my skin, and sinking into my bones. It wasn’t loud, but it was relentless, as though the forest itself was casting its verdict with every rustling leaf and flickering shadow.
A figure stepped out from behind a tree, drawing my attention, and I almost sobbed in relief when I saw my brother, alive and uninjured.
“Poor little Cadence,” my brother taunted. “Such a mess you’ve gotten yourself into.” I froze, dropping my dagger to the ground.
Something was wrong.
My brother would never taunt me like that. Not when the stakes were so high. I blinked, my breath catching. “Callum?” I said, taking a cautious step forward.
He just smiled. A crooked, mocking expression that did not belong to Callum. His eyes, once warm and familiar, now gleamed with a coldness I didn’t recognize.
That was not my brother. It couldn’t be.
My stomach churned, and the forest pulsed all around me, deepening the whispers as they surged again.
Unworthy.
Unworthy. Unworthy. Unworthy.
UNWORTHY!
The word echoed inside my skull, fracturing my thoughts, until I couldn’t tell if the chant was coming from the trees or from within me. My knees buckled, but I refused to fall. I tightened my jaw, forcing myself to stay upright even as the shadows closed in around me.
Callum tilted his head, as if amused by my struggle. “You hear them, don’t you?” His words were soft, mocking. “They know. Just like you do.”
“Know what?” I gritted out between clenched teeth.
“That you’re unworthy of the crown.”
“I never wanted it!”
“No?” Callum raised a brow. “And yet, you refuse to abandon Ryker. Despite all that he has done to you, you stay.”
“You know it’s not that simple.”
My brother tipped his head back and laughed. The sound sent a tremor through my body, chilling me to my core.
“After everything I’d gone through to reach you, you still wouldn’t leave with me. I put my life in danger to find you, and you still chose him. You continue to choose him, every single day, even if it means sacrificing me in the process.”
I stepped back, his words striking me with brutal force. My heart hammered against my ribs, and my hands shook at my sides. “Callum, no. I would never —”
“Ah, but you do, Cadence. Don’t deny it. You heard the warning. Yet here you are. If you loved me, truly loved me, you would have left with me that first night.”
A sharp keening noise rose in the air, visceral and harrowing. It threaded through the trees, mingling with the hiss of the wind and the lingering echo of chanting, pulsing in the shadows.
I sank to my knees, covering my ears, but it did nothing to quiet the screeching wails. The sound wormed its way into my marrow, into the softest, most fragile parts of me.
My brother took a step closer, crouching before me, and gazing upon me with… pity?
“You need to leave, Callum,” I said as I choked back a sob. “Before it’s too late.”
My brother’s gaze softened. “If you walk away now, you’ll be free. They will realize you were not meant for him.” Callum stood to his full height, extending his hand to me. “You want to save me, don’t you, Cadence?”
I did. More than anything.
But this was a test.
It had always been a test.
I straightened, forcing strength into my spine as I glared at the creature wearing my brother’s face. “You are not my brother,” I said, my voice sounding stronger than I felt. “This is a trick. An illusion.”
The creature grinned, appearing inhuman. “Then by all means, Little Queen, step forward and find out.” It threw its arms out to the sides, inviting me closer.
I didn’t move.
Its smile stretched impossibly wider, splitting at the corners until rows of needle-sharp teeth appeared inside its mouth. The creature snarled, its features flickering from Callum to a hollow-eyed stranger and back again.
The forest pressed in as branches reached for me with gnarled fingers, and the runes blazed brighter, casting everything in a sickly glow.
“You think you’re clever.” The creature circled me like a beast stalking wounded prey. “But knowing doesn’t make it any easier, does it?”
My fingers gripped the hilt of another dagger as I dragged it free. The voices surged around us again, no longer content to whisper and leer. Screams filled my ears, and I had to concentrate to block them out.
“Because even if I’m not real, I still wear the face of the one you betrayed, and you cannot strike, can you?”
I lunged forward without warning, driving the blade through its heart. The creature stared at me in stunned silence before it began to writhe and crack. Dark veins spread out from the wound, climbing across its chest and crawling up its neck.
“You can’t kill the truth,” it hissed as black blood bubbled up its throat.
“No,” I said, turning the hilt. “But I can silence your vitriol.”
With one final shudder, the creature crumbled into ash, disintegrating on the ground right before my eyes. The whispers in the trees faltered, then faded into stillness.
I stood alone in the tree line, panting, as sweat mingled with the damp mist clinging to my skin. A light breeze stirred the branches above, no longer jeering, but watchful.
The forest had tested me, and I was still standing.
The Unseelie Fae thought they could judge me, but I was never theirs to weigh. And no matter what they threw at me, one truth remained.
I would not break.