Chapter 86
SERENA
He’s just in the other room, I keep reminding myself while the Matron fixes us some tea. The warmth of the mug is surface-level, doing nothing to ease the ice inside my bones.
“Very clever—the ring.” The Matron eyes Marideth, a thin layer of pride coating her tone.
“I thought so.” Marideth gives her a wry smile.
“You are my blood, aren’t you?” She chuckles. “Well, won’t you introduce me to your young friends?”
“This is Serena Avery, Prince Kai Triori of Vod, and my mate—Dover Hallister.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, my lady,” Dover says, on his best behavior.
If I wasn’t still sick to my stomach over the events of the last few hours, I would laugh at his sudden propriety.
“Tell me, child,” the Matron says, “was it worth it? Seeing the world in exchange for leaving this behind?”
“I would have never met any of them if I hadn’t. I would have never found Dover. I was never meant to stay here, Grandmother.”
A brief silence falls.
Then the Matron asks, “Did you ever find her?”
Mar’s shoulders sag the slightest bit. “She was already gone by the time I arrived.”
“Mother—” A pretty female with auburn hair pushes through the door.
The resemblance is uncanny. She stops short when she sees us. Mar gets to her feet and approaches her.
“Hello, mother.”
A slap rings out, and Mar’s head whips to the side.
“Calliope,” the Matron hisses.
Dover is already there, pulling Mar into his arms to study her welted cheek. A beat passes where the two females stare each other down. Then Mar’s mother reaches out and rips her from Dover, crushing her against her chest.
“You little fool,” she whispers into her hair. “Why would you come back here? The elders could have done so much worse than demanding your magic.”
“We needed help.”
“People die all the time, Marideth. This is meant to be a safe place for us. A secret place. You cannot just bring your friends here on a whim.” Her gaze sweeps over us, landing on me with a mix of shock and intimidation.
I stand a bit straighter. “Like I said before, this is not Marideth’s fault. If anyone is to blame, it’s me.”
The witch steps back, adopting a cold and distant air.
“Calliope, set them up with sleeping arrangements,” the Matron orders, rising from her seat. “The Blackblood and I have work to do.”
“Mother, I don’t think that’s—”
“They are my guests now. Do not fuss with me, girl.”
Calliope squares her shoulders and gives a brusque nod for Mar, Dover, and Kai to follow her.
“Let me stay. I can help,” Mar entreats her grandmother.
“I don’t want you anywhere near that kind of magic, Marideth,” Calliope warns.
“She can stay,” the Matron replies.
“Marideth—”
“I’m staying, Mother.” Her voice carries a tone of finality.
Calliope bristles. “Fine. You two can follow me. Or sleep outside with the wolves for all I care.”
Mar gives Dover a reassuring look, squeezing his hand one last time before he and Kai duck out the door.
“That was—” I shake my head, looking at Mar. She looses a hollow laugh.
“One of the reasons I left.”
“Are you alright?”
She nods. “Let’s just focus on getting Zadyn back.”
I pull Arden’s grimoire from my satchel and spread it on the table before us. “I figured we might need this.”
“Go ahead.” The Matron gestures to me. “It will open only for you.”
I turn open the front cover.
Hello, my Queen.
Sigh. Please stop calling me that.
What shall I call you, Majesty?
Nothing. Don’t call me anything.
Yes, your Grace.
The pages begin to flip at a furious pace before landing on one with incantations in Ancient Fae.
Is this what you seek?
“I—” I glance up at the Matron, who is watching with rapt fascination. “Is this what we’re looking for?”
“It would appear so.”
The Matron dives into the text on the page before giving me the crash course on the After—the place where souls go before they pass on fully.
I don’t know what time it is when we finally break, my entire body exhausted from crying and screaming and running on fumes for the last few hours.
My head swims with new information. I pray it sticks for tomorrow.
Refusing to leave the cabin that houses Zadyn’s body, the Matron sets me up with some pillows and blankets on the couch, giving me one last warning not to disturb him.
“Faith.” She wags her finger at me, a stern look on her face, before disappearing down the darkened hall.
My eyes fly open at the first blush of dawn through the curtains. I fall off the couch, kicking myself free of the twisted blanket to clamber into the other room. My heart is thundering out of my chest as I race to Zadyn’s side.
I sink to my knees beside the table. My blood has absorbed.
“Thank you, god,” I breathe, snatching up Zadyn’s icy hand and bringing it to my lips. The Matron appears behind me, parting the beaded curtains.
“It’s time.”