Chapter 5
I woke in a panic, kicking at the blankets knotted around my legs. The layers of bedding felt like arms, legs, fingers. Barely suppressing a scream, I stumbled to my mirror.
Breath lodged in my throat as I examined my hands in the early-morning light, too terrified to begin the inspection with my face.
The earliest sign of Corruption was bruised skin under the eyes.
Delaying the inevitable was pointless. Still, I searched every finger for purple skin clinging to my nails.
Then my wrists, the inner crooks of my elbows, and the sore skin of my neck.
I forced myself to meet the eyes in my reflection.
Dark, sleep-tangled hair; arched eyebrows framing bloodshot eyes; lips raw and red from biting them in my sleep. But the skin under my eyes was clear.
Clear.
I took the elixir vial from my nightstand and examined it.
It didn’t taste, smell, or look any different, but how else had I been able to dream so vividly and for so long?
Was something wrong with the elixir, or was there something wrong with me?
I clutched my throat, the ghost of my mother’s fingertips bruising my skin.
I crumbled, knees hitting the floorboards.
“What’s wrong?” Elliot cried, scrambling from his bed. He knelt by me on the floor, peering up at me with exhausted, red-rimmed eyes. Eyes no child should have.
“Woke up nauseous, is all,” I offered weakly, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pressing my chin to the top of his head. “Thought I was going to be sick.”
“Please don’t lie to me,” he begged. “I know something isn’t right.”
I hesitated a moment too long, unable to wield the right words in response.
“That’s…,” he began, squinting at the vial still in my hands, “village-marked.”
“It is,” I said, slowly turning the vial around in my hands.
Sure enough, Norhavellis was written in Mother’s scrawl down the side.
It didn’t taste or smell any different, but what about the elixir inside?
The glass was tinted, obscuring the full effect of the liquid’s coloring, but it appeared slightly paler than usual.
Surely I was just imagining things; surely it was me who was wrong.
“My vial ran out last night, but our personal supply was empty. I would have asked Mother or Father…” I trailed off, barely suppressing a sob at the back of my throat.
I couldn’t lose it now. I wouldn’t lose it in front of Elliot. He needed me to be the strong older sister, as Eden had been to me. Stronger than I was capable of being, perhaps.
“Oh. Right,” Elliot said matter-of-factly. Then his face bunched up, contorting into grief as he let out a hopeless cry. “What’s going to happen to us? If Mother and Father are both Corrupt, what happens to us?”
“I don’t know,” I said softly, trying to make sense of what our future would be.
My chest felt tight at the idea of forging ahead without our parents to guide us.
“But I don’t think we can stay in Norhavellis anymore.
We need to make a new path for ourselves.
Maybe travel to Istralla with the provisions Mother and Father put together. ”
Elliot squeezed his stuffed cow to his chest, considering this possibility. “Maybe we can.”
Maybe we can.
The Light Legion arrived in Norhavellis that afternoon.
By the time they surveyed the Corrupts’ holding cells in the village, the sky was growing dark and the air had chilled, creeping in from the depths of the lengthening shadows.
They emerged from the Visstill, the sprawling, shadow-drenched forest that separated Norhavellis from Istralla, dressed in their golden finery and led by our holy Light Bringer.
The revered Lord Mithras was, as usual, a sight to behold.
The Light Bringer’s clothing was immaculate, interwoven with layers of ivory and gold, and his cloak, as brightly hued as his horse’s white hide, swept across his back in a brilliant drape.
A gilded mask, far more ornate than those of his legion’s, partially hid his face, leaving only his mouth, tan jaw, and golden hair exposed.
The Kingdom of Noctis’s immortal ruler and Maker-blessed savior—the lord who fought tirelessly to save his people from the Shadow Bringer’s desperate clutches.
He was so radiant and good that it made my chest ache.
With a quick gesture, he motioned for the torches to be lit, and the flames—redder than usual—sparked crimson light into the space.
Some legionnaires entered our storehouse, dragging out medical supplies and burlap bags filled with seed; others ransacked our home, pulling out vials of elixir, books, papers.
They burned some items and packed others away.
Mother and Father stood in chains between two legionnaires, looking pale and sickly.
They hadn’t been allowed to change into new clothes, and the crossbow bolt was still embedded in Mother’s shoulder.
Elliot and I were ordered to stand near our parents as the Light Legion searched our property, but I couldn’t bear to even look at them.
Instead, I focused on holding Elliot’s hand and striving to appear like the strong, virtuous daughter everyone expected.
Virtuous, despite my visions of shadow.
Virtuous, besides forcing Eden to dream.
“We confiscated your elixir supply,” the Light Bringer began, his voice radiating warmth and power.
It felt like honey sliding over a gilded throne, decadent but with a bite of strength underneath.
“It is a pity—truly—that someone in your station could host such wickedness.” He shook his head again, slowly circling Mother and Father.
“To think that Absolvers would stoop to such depravity. Tonight, you will stand trial and be purified.” He paused on Elliot, then settled his gaze on me. “And your fates are yet to be decided.”
I wondered if he could tell I was having dreams. The dream from the night before, filled with hideous demons and starlit castles, felt like an inky stain marring my skin in its wake. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he could see it.
“So, we’ve been found at last,” Father said in a low, resigned voice, looking at the ground. “Please forgive us, my lord.”
Mother spat at the Light Bringer’s shining foot. Legionnaires immediately wrenched her away from him.
“What is the meaning of this?” the demon inside Mother shrieked. “You dare harass an innocent family?”
The Light Bringer shook his head. “Lower and unveil them.”
“No!” Mother howled.
Legionnaires brought over a trough of sloshing river water and dropped it with a heavy thump atop the grass. They then knotted their fingers in my parents’ hair and shoved their heads under the surface.
Mother and Father thrashed. Violently.
The men worked meticulously, washing and peeling away their skin. Only no—it was not skin at all.
It was concealment.
The dark stains of shadow under my mother’s eyes were also in the hollows of her cheekbones and at the corners of her pale lips.
My father’s were more subtle: small black threads intertwined with the wrinkles on his face, dipping below his beard and disappearing across his throat.
Both displayed the damning signs of Corruption. And both had been hiding it.
Faintly, my ears registered a sharp, sickening buzz.
A painful memory of Eden’s eyes swam in front of me. Dark lines webbed from her irises, settling under her eyes and dripping down her cheeks. She reached for me, screaming, screaming—
Elliot grabbed on to my cloak, the dark red fabric quivering underneath his fingers, and I held him by the shoulders, wishing I could shield him from it all. Wishing he didn’t have to see any of this—experience any of this—in his lifetime. But this was his life.
This was my life.
“Galen and Elena Havenfall, you are hereby charged with high larceny against your kingdom and sovereign, attempted escape from prosecution, and the murder of the innocent people under your care.” The Light Bringer held an elixir vial between gloved fingers and let it splash to the ground.
Everything about it was off—its color was too pale, its form too thin, its smell too faint.
“Watering down elixir is an unforgivable sin. How many villagers have fallen into Corruption because of it? Likely every Norhavellian Corrupt in recent years. Perhaps even your eldest daughter, if I recall.”
Anger and shame burned in my stomach. Anger at the accusations. Shame at the sea of bitter, disgusted faces. Anger at not knowing, and shame at what little I did. Elliot’s face, now red and tear streaked, was tucked tightly into my side.
“We only did it to protect our children,” Father began, shadow-marked eyes welling with tears of his own.
He sounded like himself, which meant the demon vying for control over his body was subdued.
This was normal in the early stages of Corruption; only in the most heated moments did the Corrupt’s nature begin to twist. “We did no harm to our eldest,” Father continued, just as Mother’s eyes slid to me, cold and accusing.
As if the demon inside her knew the truth.
I shuddered, feeling her condemnation as if it were a brand against my skin. “We did no harm to any child of ours.”
“And yet you harmed many others.” The Light Bringer’s eyes turned cold. “Explain yourselves.”
Mother’s body shook. Slowly, her eyes changed, and she appeared lucid. “It began the winter after our eldest daughter died. Our youngest became very sick,” Mother rasped. “I’m certain Esmer and Elliot remember.”