Nightweaver #1

Chapter Forty-Two

Breath floods my lungs. I cough, sitting up abruptly, my skin slick with sweat. I clutch the medallion around my neck, my calloused fingers brushing the familiar grooves of the skull and crossed daggers—the medallion Captain Shade stole back from me all those months ago when we first set foot on land, now somehow resting in its rightful place around my neck, as if I never lost it. A nightmare. It was only a nightmare.

“Mother—” My voice scratches my throat, too weak to be heard over the creak of wood as the familiar, loving cradle of the ocean rocks our ship. I squint against the gentle, golden light, expecting to find Lewis still sleeping in his hammock in the bunkhouse aboard my family’s ship. But this is not the Lightbringer .

Gauzy curtains frame the finely carved four-post bed where I lie, surrounded by a fortress of fluffy feather pillows. At the center of the opulent chambers, a masked man in red sits behind a heavy desk littered with maps and spyglasses, the open windows at his back letting the scent of briny sea air in on a gust of wind.

“There she is.” His muffled, lilting voice greets me like a swiftly fading dream. “A week is a very long time to take a nap.”

A week? My heart skips a beat as my hands are met with the soft linen of a white gown instead of cool metal, in the same instant that I spot my daggers lying atop the desk. The feeling of ice piercing my chest lingers, a dull ache, and I glance down at my wrist, at the band of braided leather. My bracelet—not Owen’s.

It wasn’t a dream.

“Will?” I manage to rasp. “Where is he? Where am I?”

“No need to fret. William should be… around.” The man in red stands from behind the desk and offers an elegant bow, his bloodred half cape billowing in the breeze. “Welcome aboard the Starchaser .”

I gape at the plumage of phoenix feathers atop his scarlet tricorn, set aflame by the morning light.

“You!”

Captain Shade flourishes another obnoxious bow. When he raises his head, he winks, his eyes the only part of his face I can see beneath the mask. “Miss me, love?”

I attempt to stand, but my legs give way beneath me. In an instant, Captain Shade holds me in his arms. His blue eyes search mine, his scarlet mask only a few inches from my face. Something electric charges the air between us, making it difficult to breathe, difficult to think. For a moment, I feel like the sixteen-year-old girl he saved aboard the Deathwail . Safe. Alive.

Someone clears their throat. Shade pulls away, steadying me with a firm touch on my elbow. I look to my right, where a cloaked figure stands in the open doorway, silhouetted by the brilliant light.

“Why didn’t you tell me she was awake?” Will demands, his voice deep and dark.

He takes purposeful strides, his black boots pounding with each beat of my heart as he pulls me from Shade’s arms and into a crushing embrace. One hand grasps the nape of my neck, his fingers tangling in my hair as he nuzzles his head into the crook of my shoulder. It’s hard to tell if he holds me up, or I him. I only know I can’t find it in me to let go.

I inhale the scent of roses and damp earth that clings to his hair, his skin. Home , my heart cries. But we’re far from Bludgrave now.

Will draws back, searching my gaze. He looks at me as if he finally found the answer to the question always lurking in his eyes. He presses his forehead to mine, his face wet with tears that continue to fall. “I thought I lost you.”

My heart wrenches at the thought of Will finding me there on the forest floor, covered in blood. “It was him,” I croak, my voice weak. “It was Owen. He did this—he…”

“I know,” Will murmurs, his voice soothing. “I know.”

Pain splinters my chest. “Am I… did I turn?”

“No,” he murmurs, his thumb stroking my cheek. “We found Henry’s handkerchief in the bosom of your dress. It kept the blade from penetrating your heart.”

Henry’s handkerchief! He told me it was enchanted—that it possessed the protective capabilities of chain mail. I forgot all about it, tucked close to my chest. Henry saved my life, and he didn’t even mean to.

Will watches me, his expression tender. “You’re still human.”

My pulse leaps into my throat—a thrilling sensation that causes my lips to tingle. Still human. I never thought I’d be so relieved to hear those words.

“Annie?”

“She’s safe,” Will says, drawing back to inspect me once more. “She’s safe because of you, Aster.”

“And your father?”

The muscle in Will’s jaw ripples as a shadow passes over his face. “I took care of him.”

I open my mouth to ask what he means, but a memory seizes me, blurred by my own tears as the poison from Owen’s blade tore through my veins, jarring me in and out of consciousness. He cut me—the blade didn’t reach my heart—but still I suffered the effects of the poison. I writhed as someone held me in their arms, watching Will kneel before his father in Hildegarde’s Folly where, under the violent skies of Reckoning Day, the water surrounding us looked like blood.

“You know what I have to do,” Will says, pulling black leather gloves over his pale hands. “You won’t remember anything.”

“Your mother and I can help you,” Lord Bludgrave whispers, clutching Annie, unconscious in his arms. “We’ve helped you before.”

Will adjusts his shirtsleeves, his eyes dark. “This isn’t about me,” he says, his voice clipped. “No one can know about Aster.”

Lord Bludgrave stammers indignantly, “I am a senior member of the Order—”

“Who allowed himself to be used by the Guild of Shadows.” Will glares at the statue of Hildegarde, refusing to look at his father. With half of his face concealed by the shadows of the folly, and the other half painted scarlet with the light, he looks like a beautiful nightmare. “Aster is not safe if you know.”

Lord Bludgrave shakes his head, his gaze resting on my writhing form. “She’s doomed, boy,” he says, looking back at Will, genuine remorse flickering in his charcoal eyes. “You can’t save her.”

Doomed. Cursed. If Owen was telling the truth, and the Underling venom will eventually change me into a Shifter… I’ve only prolonged the inevitable. The Guild isn’t going to stop coming for me. Owen isn’t capable of giving up. No one is safe as long as I’m alive.

I take a step back, wresting myself from Will’s grip. “When did you know?”

All the care, the devotion in his gaze, is replaced with something cunning and measured as Will’s face hardens—the face of a soldier. “About what?”

“About me,” I say, my voice steadier than I feel. “About my… Nightweaver affinity.”

Will grinds his jaw. “I had my suspicions.” He sighs, running a hand through his disheveled hair. “Most halflings die in their mother’s wombs. Some Nightweavers view them as a threat. They believe humans with an affinity to be more powerful than themselves. But you…” He shakes his head, huffing a bitter laugh. “You have Underling venom in your veins and a potent supply of Manan in your blood. You shouldn’t be alive, and yet, you’ve just survived a fatal amount of poisonous Underling magic.”

My stomach coils into knots. And there it is—that familiar thought, like a relentless refrain. What does he stand to gain?

My heart twists. We’re only two feet away from each other, but it still feels like we’re an ocean apart. “You lied to me—”

“I didn’t know enough to tell you!” His eyes widen, somewhat pleading. “What would I have said? All I knew was that you possessed abilities like that of a Shifter, and yet you appeared to be fully human. It wasn’t until the night the Hackneys were murdered that I first realized you were part Nightweaver.”

Your eyes —Charlie said something about my eyes that night after he pulled me out of the fountain. Even Mrs. Carroll looked at me strangely when she delivered us from Percy’s Hounds in Ink Haven, as if she didn’t understand what she was seeing. And again, Lewis looked me directly in the eyes and asked, What are you? just after Father died. Will must have seen them change, too.

“When I came to you, that night I thought I saw the Shifter in Albert and Elsie’s room…” Tears choke my voice. “You could have told me then!”

Will looks away sharply, his jaw twitching. “I was afraid. You were determined to put yourself in as much danger as you possibly could.” His throat bobs. “When a Nightweaver is bitten by a Shifter, we don’t turn right away—not like a human would. It is a slow, painful death. It corrupts you from the inside out. I thought…” He surveys the maps atop Shade’s desk, his eyes dark. “I thought that if I told you, you might seek out the Guild on your own.”

I can’t help glancing at Captain Shade, who gives away nothing in his posture. But behind the mask, his eyes are a storm, swirling with a turmoil I can’t even begin to understand, never once wavering from me.

“Did you know about Owen?” I manage to whisper. “Did you know my brother was alive?”

Will’s mouth forms a grim line. “I took a wild guess.”

“And you thought I’d want to be like him?” My voice shakes. “That I would let him stab me in the heart? Turn me into a Shifter?”

His teeth grit. “I didn’t know what you’d do. I couldn’t risk—”

“Couldn’t risk what?” I shout, my voice raw. “Your precious halfling?”

“I couldn’t risk you , Aster!” Will shouts back, his entire body trembling as he reaches for me, only to stop himself halfway, clenching his fist. His gaze seizes mine, and in an instant, his eyes convey all the words we’ve never said—words we still may never say. “You deserve to decide for yourself what you’re willing to die for.”

Tears spill onto my cheeks as the weight of my grief threatens to crush me flat.

“I should have told you,” he says, his face flushed, the color of the roses he once cared for. “But I was afraid that if I gave you the choice…”

“That I wouldn’t choose you?” My eyes narrow. “What changed?”

Will glares at his boots, his face drawn. “Henry told me you joined the Order. You made the choice before I could extend the invitation.” He clenches his jaw. “If anyone else would have discovered your abilities—even within the Order—it would have put you in danger.” He looks at me now, his gaze intent, studying my face the way he always has. “I wrote to you—told you everything I knew. Keyed the ink to your blood so that only you could read it.”

The letter. Henry tried to give it to me, but I was so frustrated with Will for leaving that I refused to read it. Stupid.

My eyes narrow. “How would you have keyed anything to my blood? We were an ocean apart when you wrote that letter.”

“The night you pricked your finger in the conservatory,” he answers, his expression almost sympathetic. “Your blood was on my handkerchief.”

I think back to that night, how he used his handkerchief to clean the tiny wound. While the thought of his using my blood to perform any sort of spell makes my stomach churn, I can’t help admitting it was rather clever to ensure prying eyes couldn’t see what he revealed in his letter.

He watches me carefully before sighing, the tension melting from his face. “I realized when I saw you that night at the ball—I knew you hadn’t read it.” It’s as if I watch him replace his brooding mask with that of the charming lord from my early days at Bludgrave. “If you had, you would have known that your access to all three forms of magic—Nightweaver, human, and Underling—could turn the tides in favor of the human resistance. And you would have understood that you are far too important to the Order to allow yourself to be turned by the Guild of Shadows.”

I look from Will to Captain Shade as I’m struck by the full weight of his words.

I swallow hard around the lump rising in my throat. “What are you saying?”

Will’s green eyes glitter with amusement as a slow smirk curls his lip—a look that makes me realize what I should have known since the first time I laid eyes on him in the town square. The way the crowd reacted to Will’s presence. The way that officer on the train feared the young lord’s wrath. The way Percy cowered under the force of his power.

Kindness is the great deceiver. And in a world ruled by monsters, Will is far too kind. He never intended to keep me from this world. He intended to throw me to the wolves.

No —he knew when he met me that I was more than even I have been led to believe. More than a pirate. More than the venom inside me. More than a bloodletter.

I am the wolf. He intended to throw this world to me.

“You’re more powerful than we could ever have hoped, Aster Oberon.”

I feel as if I’ve been kicked in the gut. “You used me,” I say, inching closer to the desk, the citrine jewels of my daggers sparkling in the dusty beams of light. “You knew a Sylk had stowed away in Hellion, and you were going to use my curse to find her.”

Will’s mouth tightens, his eyes flashing. “That was my intention, yes,” he rasps, his voice momentarily taking on a rough, smoky quality I’ve never heard from him before. He clears his throat, and when he speaks again, his voice is smooth. “But when I took your bracelets—with no clear reason as to why—I knew I was compelled. I knew, right then, that the Guild had taken an interest in you.”

I think back to what the Sylk that possessed Trudy told me, about how Queen Morana had taken a special interest in me. Later, Owen echoed that sentiment, claiming that Morana had searched for me for quite some time. Owen spoke of a she who possessed someone aboard the Merryway —that she was in communication with the Sylk that possessed Mary Cross. I can’t help wondering… would Morana herself have been so bold as to possess a Nightweaver aboard the prince’s vessel?

“Bludgrave was the safest place I could think to bring you,” Will goes on, drawing me out of my thoughts. “The Guild was never supposed to be able to get to you there.” His gaze dips to the bracelet at my wrist, lingering on the band of braided leather. “But I was a fool.”

“A fool?” I bite out, grabbing one of the daggers. “It’s your fault!” I point the dagger at Will. “Those people you killed, when you were searching for the Deathwail —they had a daughter who was possessed by a Sylk. My family found her. Brought her onto our ship. She’s the reason the Guild knew how to find me in the first place. She’s the reason we were attacked.”

“Those people I killed were eating their own children!” Will bares his teeth, his cool demeanor slipping further, revealing a somewhat manic gleam in his eye. “When I came upon their ship, there were only four adults left. I set Mary free from a cage—a cage , Aster—before I took vengeance on those monsters.”

Monsters. Mary Cross was birthed to monsters. And before she died, she became a monster herself. I can’t help wondering… before this is all over, will I become a monster, too?

Will’s chest heaves as he searches my eyes, his emerald gaze desperate in its pursuit. “I can’t change the past, but I don’t regret what I did. I’m only sorry for the pain I’ve caused you.” His face falls, his mouth twisting into a boyish frown as he glances from my dagger to me, looking more human in his exhaustion than I’ve ever seen him. “I agreed to go to Hellion with the prince because I sensed there was an enchantment on your bracelet. I wanted to know if it had something to do with your ability to see the Sylks.”

Will exhales, rubbing his chin. “Titus knew of a Sorcerer in Hellion. The old man recognized the craftsmanship of your bracelets—sent me to an old friend of his, a Sorceress who lived along the coast. She admitted she made the trinkets. Told me what she did for you—the enchantment she placed around your heart as well. How, because you were a bloodletter, the ocean’s magic would keep the enchantment strong.”

I remember what Owen said about the enchantment weakening. He told me the truth, then. What else was he telling the truth about?

“I told Shade to meet me at dawn on Reckoning Day,” Will goes on, his expression hard. “I asked him to take you with him, back to the sea.” His eyes slide past me to the open windows, where sunlight dazzles the surface of the water. He grimaces. “But then you were attacked, and so many others were dead. On my suggestion, the Order seized the opportunity to blame the massacre on Captain Shade and his crew. Titus testified that he saw Captain Shade kidnap you from the grounds—you, Aster Oberon, a human girl who was willing to sacrifice her own life to save Lady Annie from Captain Shade’s men.

“Word spread of your heroism like a wildfire through the Order’s channels. With the king struggling to contain the rebellion among the enslaved humans of the Eerie, he declared you an honorary member of the king’s army. I’ve been sent to rescue you and take you back to the Eerie to be knighted.”

A small sound escapes me. “Knighted?”

Will dips his head, his brows pinched. “The king believes giving you a place at court will satiate the humans long enough for him to regain his foothold. He’s hoping to make an example of you—a reformed pirate fighting alongside the Nightweavers of the Eerie.”

I watch him carefully. “But?”

“ But ,” Will says slowly, the hardened mask of a soldier concealing his expression once more. “I’ll be going home empty-handed.”

Captain Shade takes a step toward Will, his arms crossed. “That’s not what we discussed.”

Will doesn’t tear his gaze from me, his green eyes locked on mine. “I won’t argue this. I want Aster safe.”

Shade snorts a laugh. “She’ll never be bloody safe , mate! Not when Morana is—”

“I said,” Will hisses through gritted teeth, turning to face him squarely, “I won’t argue this. I don’t want Aster involved.”

Captain Shade’s eyes narrow on Will before he turns abruptly to me, blurting, “Morana possessed the princess of Hellion.”

I gape. I suspected Morana was the Sylk that boarded the Merryway in Hellion, but… “the princess”?

Will casts his eyes skyward, as if praying to the Stars for patience. He drags his hands over his face. “You cannot prove this.”

“No, but she can.” Shade flicks his gaze over me before turning to face Will once more. “If I’m right, there may still be a chance at finding a cure.”

I look between Shade and Will. “A cure?”

Will’s eyes are murderous as he glares at Captain Shade. “Don’t.”

Shade props himself precariously on the edge of his desk, fiddling with a spyglass. “The Sylk queen is the only Underling capable of breaking the curse inflicted by a Shifter. If we could trap her, somehow—force her to remove the venom—”

“If you’re right, it would kill the princess,” Will says, cutting him off. “You would ignite a war between Hellion and the Eerie.”

“And it would save both your lives,” Shade argues, his muffled, lilting voice familiar in a way that quickens my heart. It’s clear that he and Will are closer than I previously thought, but… why would he care if I live or die? I’m no one to him , I tell myself. Other than my value to the Order, I’m just a girl he saved from the Deathwail . And, for some reason, that realization causes my chest to ache.

“Aster can see the Sylks,” Shade says. “If your curse allowed you to confirm the princess of Hellion is in fact possessed by the Sylk queen, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

My eyes meet Will’s. “Your… curse?”

Will looks away, his throat bobbing. “I told you, I’m no stranger to curses.”

Shade inspects the spyglass with great care, his black-rimmed eyes narrow. “He’s dying.”

Dying. Will can’t be dying. He looks perfectly fine. He… he can’t be dying.

Shade takes from his breast pocket the bronze medallion, dangling it from his red-gloved fingers. He must have stolen it back off me when he caught me in his arms. Bastard!

Captain Shade extends the medallion to me—the same medallion I used to clutch when I woke from the terror of sleep, reminding myself that the nightmare was over. That I was safe. But this nightmare has just begun, and it is one from which I fear I’ll never wake.

“This trinket is worth an entire fleet of ships,” he says. “If you agree to help me discover the truth about the princess, it’s yours. And if I’m right, and we manage to trap Morana and force her to take her true, corporeal form, you’ll be cured. You can go on your merry way, free to roam wherever your little heart desires. Or,” he croons, his muffled voice stirring something within me. “You can refuse to join Will at Castle Grim, where the princess currently resides, and lose your only chance at ever finding the Red Island.” His blue eyes search mine. “It’s your choice.”

My heart twists. “The Red Island?” Our dream—mine and Owen’s. But now that I know the Red Island is real—that I could go there—it means nothing if I am going alone.

Shade inclines his head, his blue eyes devious. “This medallion once belonged to the heir of Hildegarde. If the current leadership found out that it was in your possession… why, I believe they’d offer you a royal escort.”

The chain slips from his fingers—only a fraction—the medallion swinging back and forth like a pendulum. The last time Captain Shade’s hand was extended to me, he offered me safety. Now, he offers so much more. And none of it is safe. It’s dangerous and thrilling and everything I’ve ever wanted. If I agree to do what Shade asks of me, I could have it all. Revenge. Justice. Freedom.

Coin.

I glance at Will, but he refuses to meet my eyes. He lied to me. He kissed me. He wept for me. He’s dying. And so am I.

A cure. I could help Titus find the cure for Will. For me. And if we can trap the Sylk queen, I might be able to force her to release Owen from her service. Maybe he can still be cured, too.

“I’ll do it,” I say, reaching for the medallion.

Shade withdraws his hand, stuffing the medallion in his pocket once more. I imagine his face to mirror the grinning mask he wears, but despite my agreeing to do what he’s asked, his blue eyes seem almost sad, as if he, too, remembers a time when he asked me to come with him. To leave everything behind. Then, I threw myself from an executioner’s platform. Somehow, this doesn’t feel all that different.

“We’ll make port along the Cutthroat Coast by noon,” Shade says, skirting his desk to stand at the open windows, his back turned to us. The breeze ruffles the rare plumage of phoenix feathers atop his hat. “Arrangements have been made to take us to Castle Grim, where the king eagerly awaits your arrival.”

“Us?” I glance at Will, who glares at the back of Shade’s head as if he could set fire to it with a single thought. “Why would you be traveling to Castle Grim?”

“Because the princess of Hellion—the one possessed by the Underling queen who’d like nothing more than to see the three of us rotting in Havok…” Captain Shade removes the scarlet mask, his back still turned to me. I hold my breath as he pivots on his heels, his cerulean eyes meeting mine. Eyes as blue as the ocean. Eyes that belong to someone I danced with only a week ago. Someone I’ve spent my whole life hating.

Titus—the prince of the Eerie—smirks, flourishing a final bow. “She’s my fiancée.”