41 || Eight Keys
Peering between the books stacked on the library shelves, Morana crawled along the floor to see if she could find a glimpse of white hair.
The first part of the plan had only one minor mishap where her most recent killer had nearly caught her, but the necromancer had successfully reunited with her sister once more and gotten her to join them.
Now, everything relied on Ilyana getting the keys and letting them sneak into the forbidden section.
She spied the ominous, looming door up ahead of her, the eight locks fortified with steel and enchantments, hidden behind a labyrinth of shelves to deter unwanted visitors. Without a way in, learning more about the past twin queens crumbled.
"Damian?" Morana whispered when she was determined that nobody was in the immediate area around her. Nothing replied — no movement or voice. Only a lump of worry settled in her throat. Had he been caught?
A hand gripped the assassin's shoulder and she whirled around. Bone shards flew to join the fist that she was about to hurl towards the threat, but they halted when they discovered who it was.
"You made it." The Fireborn hugged her tightly, burying his nose into her purple braid.
"And you gave me a heart attack." She returned the embrace, letting the relief seep into her shoulders. He was safe. Damian was okay. Morana let go soon after — too soon for her liking — and motioned her head toward the door. "We can hide over there and wait for Ilyana."
"Did everything go as planned?" he questioned as they shuffled along the floor.
"As good as it could. Ilyana will be here eventually with the keys, but she'll have a guard trailing her every step. We might need to," she drew a line across her neck, cocking her head when he finger reached the end. Morana hadn't mentioned that to her sister, but she had to do what was necessary.
If Clove had to die, so be it.
Damian's throat bobbed, but he nodded. "And your sister is okay with this?"
"She seemed to be, after she willingly offered all of her breakfast to me." Her stomach had never been so full of rich flavours. Even Itros's cooking didn't live up to the castle chefs. "But she was happy to know I'm alive again." She smiled softly to herself.
Ilyana was glad to have her back, even with the pressure of the curse forcing them to kill each other.
Despite everything, she missed having a sister — someone she could bother and talk to by merely climbing over her balcony to the next.
It might have been the only chance they would have that again, but she cherished every moment of it.
"Do you not want to see your brother while you're here? He does have the Wyrith army travelling the kingdom to look for you, after all."
The Fireborn stiffened. "Not in the slightest. We may be brothers in title and by blood, but we are nothing of the familial sort." After reaching the end of the maze of books, they sat at the entrance of the door.
"Do you... want to talk about it?" He had offered her the same kindness of listening, even if she hadn't accepted it, and she was more than happy to return the favour.
For a moment, Damian didn't move. He frowned at the books ahead of him, lost in thought.
It was only when he met Morana's patient gaze did he speak.
"To put it shortly, Matt was the reason he had our close friend train me so I could try and wield my magic with control. He wanted to use me for my magic."
"He wanted to use you for your magic when he already has plenty of his own?" Morana arched a brow. "You must have been strong too if he wanted it."
"For as long as I can remember, my brother has always been obsessed with power.
He takes what he wants no matter what the cost is to get it.
Matt dedicated his whole life to becoming the most powerful Fireborn in all of Vahan, insisting that I also join him on his journey despite not wanting to.
" While Damian turned his toward the ground, his hand reached for the necromancer's. "And he achieved that goal.
"The former king and queen of Vahan were approaching retirement age and they had no children to continue their line, meaning the next strongest Fireborn would get to succeed the throne.
That was Matthian. It was like he changed that day.
Despite his fuel for power, he was still my brother and then when he became king, he turned into someone different. "
Morana squeezed his fingers, slipping hers between them. "Power changes people. I've seen it first hand."
"It really does. His greed didn't stop there. He was the most powerful person in terms of magic and status in the entire kingdom and he still wanted more."
"How so?"
"There's some prophecy or tale that has consumed his every waking thought. I don't know much about it, I never wanted to be a royal so I didn't get involved, but it has something to do with a Dragon egg he found." His brow furrowed, as if he were still trying to figure out the mystery.
"So that's where you were going to get the scale." The necromancer's eyes widened.
"It wasn't going to be from a living, breathing Dragon, but I was hoping the sorcerer wouldn't notice the difference," he replied with a nod.
"And then we forgot," she chuckled. Leaning her head against the wall, she looked up at the rafters running across the ceiling. Times had been so much simpler when all they needed to worry about was a scale.
"I had things closer to my heart to think about, things much more important than Dragons and sorcerers." Morana didn't miss the small smirk that twitched the corner of his lips.
Footsteps and voices grew louder as they ventured deeper into the library, both of which the assassin recognised.
"I need you to wait here," Ilyana ordered from a few shelves down. "I'll scream if anything happens and then you can come to protect me, but this is royal business that needs to be kept private. It isn't for your eyes to see."
"Are you sure?" Metal rattled as she adjusted her stance. "We were working on breaking the curse together. I could help you find information and it's not like I haven't seen the inside of the forbidden section before."
"You lost together when you killed my sister. Look what help you were at breaking the curse then." Her twin turned on her heel and stormed towards the door — towards them — and her shoulders sagged in relief as her gaze found Morana. However, when it found the Fireborn Prince too, she froze.
Holding up a finger to her lips, the necromancer pointed to the locks. Clove was undoubtedly still listening in, as any good guard would. They couldn't risk talking now and revealing themselves.
Now that they were closer, they could see the door's fine detail.
Rose chiselled in soft quartz surrounded each keyhole and each one created a different sound when Ilyana slotted them in and turned them.
Embellishments of silver linked them to a wilder wreath of flowers in the centre, strange objects hidden between the leaves.
It must have been well kept for the design to withstand the test of time.
As soon as it was unlocked, Ilyana ushered them both inside and pushed the door closed behind them. A sliver of space remained between the heavy stone and the wall so they still had a way out.
"Prince Damian?" Her mouth opened and closed, deciding what to say. "Your brother has been looking for you everywhere."
"I'm aware. Thank you for the search parties, but I don't want to be found just yet." His eyes swept the room, grazing over the towering racks of old books. The flames in the scones had nearly all flickered out, leaving them to squint to see in the darkness.
"And you've been with Vivi this whole time?" she asked.
Morana flinched at the name. It didn't belong to her anymore. "He's been safe with me."
Ilyana's face fell. "That's how you got into the castle the first time. Prince Damian helped you get in dressed as a guard."
"I'm glad you're catching up." The assassin smiled and patted her on the shoulder.
"We'll have to have a proper conversation about everything later, though.
We haven't got much time to work on this.
" Reaching down to her belt, she unstrapped the Necromancer's Tome, unwinding the straps that she had secured around it.
"This stupid book belonged the the necromancer queens all those years ago.
Our ancestor who made the curse in the first place.
We managed to look at the first few pages, but now it doesn't open. "
"And the key to breaking it lies with these queens?"
"We believe so," Damian confirmed.
"I'm sure something like that is in here. However, it's all in a different language." The princess picked up the closest book and flipped through the pages to show them. "One made of symbols I've never seen before."
"You're shitting me. Again? The tome is written in it too." Morana groaned. What were they meant to do now? They didn't know of anyone who could read the language to find the information they needed, which left them stuck without any other plan.
Perhaps this was it. There was no chance of them breaking the Necromancer's Curse and they had to get ready to accept their fate.
"Can I see it?" Ilyana returned the book and inspected the tome closely.
"Sure." It was a solace to finally have it off her hands.
The princess stroked the front cover with a curved finger and turned it over to study both sides. A fingernail traced the metal adornments as she tried to open it and succeeded. The steel-like pages didn't attempt to bite off her appendages, it didn't throw any tantrums, it simply opened.
"What the fuck. It opened for you?" Morana couldn't believe it. After everything they had been through to get it and convince it to open, her twin had been granted the reins to its control.
"It seems so." Ilyana carefully turned through each page, admiring the diagrams and sketches that were scattered throughout.
"Mother had this book before we did and she made some notes in the front." The necromancer attempted to flip back to the notes and the tome snapped shut, almost taking her fingers in the process. She hissed as it grazed her skin with a searing caress.
Her twin took the Necromancer's Tome back and did so instead and it obeyed her command.
A wobbly smile appeared on her lips as she saw their mother's handwriting.
"She was trying to break the curse too, even before we knew about it.
" Ilyana thumbed to the next page. "There aren't many here, though.
Maybe she had more in a different book somewhere?
" she suggested. "We just need to find them. "
"We can split up and look through all the aisles here." Damian headed to the furthest side of the forbidden section and began scouring through the titles.
"I'll let you hold onto that since it seems to like you." Morana gave the tome one last look before heading to the section next to the Fireborn.
There had to be something that could help them.
Queen Oleress had given them the necklaces that had once belonged to the previous twin queens and she once had their spell book.
She had to have more clues lurking around the castle, but where could they be?
Perhaps they were looking in the wrong place.
"What's this?" Damian retrieved a locked notebook from one of the higher shelves, wiping away the dust that concealed its appearance. A Wyrith sun was stamped on the front, though chips had appeared in its rays from the bends in the leather.
Fishing out a sharp bone shard, Morana wedged it into one of the locks but it wouldn't budge. All her tool did was snap. A fine sheen of sapphire and mauve rippled over the notebook in response — a protection enchantment that reminded her of the one Itros had cast on the back door to his tavern.
"That has to be something. Look." Ilyana pointed at the royal stamp that was nearly faded in the top corner. "It doesn't belong to either of us, so that only leaves two other people."
"Well, now what? Even if it did belong to Mother, we can't see what's inside." Maybe she could force it open somehow. It wasn't sentient so threats wouldn't work, but there had to be a weakness to the enchantment somewhere.
"It can be opened, just not by us."
"By who then?" Damian pushed.
"Our father. There are a few of these books around and I've seen him open them.
They have the same magic on them, I'm sure of it.
I thought they held confidential notes about High Table meetings, not information about necromancers from our mother," the princess explained. "If that is the case here."
"Would you be able to ask him to open it?" It was risky and the last thing they needed was this notebook to draw attention to her. For all Mortas knew, Morana was dead, and she wanted to keep it that way.
"I'm not sure I would be able to today, but I will be talking to him after the ball tonight." Her stare narrowed. "Do you know that the purpose of this ball is just so Father can get a way to talk to Silas? They're going to meet in his office while the event is going on."
"So that's why he has an invitation," Morana thought aloud. With the assassin out of the picture of his schemes, what was he planning now? What information was he trying to get by talking to the man he despised the most? She didn't believe those were his intentions for even a second.
"Is he..." Ilyana didn't finish her question but, by the tears welling in her eyes and the fingers clenched about the Necromancer's Tome, she could tell what she wanted to say.
"Silas and I aren't on the best of terms anymore after he wanted me to kill you, to put it lightly."
"Our next plan after... you died was to capture Silas and question him.
We have a feeling he has knowledge about the curse that we could benefit from and that's what Father is trying to do with this meeting.
" The princess avoided everyone's eyes, focusing on brushing her hand against the frayed corners of the tome.
"He did try and hide that from me, but he's promised to tell me everything. "
Damian hummed. "And you don't trust him not to keep secrets again."
"I want to trust him."
"But you don't," Morana finished for her sister.
"Silas would never agree to such a thing unless he was plotting something too.
" She bit her lips as she thought. "What if we do both at the same time?
Confront Silas and get Mortas to open the notebook.
And any other ones he might have lying around.
" She couldn't stop her voice from shaking.
The decision between what she hated more was a war she would never win. Between becoming Silas's enemy or seeing the man who killed her for the very first time again. The man who had given her the title of cursed.
The princess took her twin's hand. "We'll do both."
Behind them, the stone door nudged open. Fury radiated from the captain who stood in the opening, her crimson hair a blazing warning in the darkness.
"I fucking knew it."