CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE ISI
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
ISI
When dawn broke, we were still flying, though we were almost there. By midday, we crested the final ridge, approaching from the northern section of the valley. Everything looked exactly like before except the wards had fallen completely.
The manor stood silent in the distance, its windows dark.
“They could be hiding inside,” Addie said, but her voice carried the same dread I felt settling in my stomach.
The silence felt oppressive. The valley felt hollow, abandoned, like a tomb.
Everything felt too empty to me, but she was right. They could be inside.
After flying over the area multiple times to ensure there were no Skathes, we landed in a secluded meadow behind the building and dismounted.
We crept through the woods, quickly moving toward the back of the manor. Once we’d assured ourselves there truly wasn’t anyone around, we hurried across the open area and entered through the back kitchen door.
Inside, dust motes danced in the murky light making its way through the windows. Other than dust on the surfaces, everything appeared how we’d left it, frozen in time.
We made our way through the building, but we didn’t find our friends. It didn’t appear as if the Skathes had entered, however.
Commander Thorne lay on the front lawn where we’d left him, and the sight of him lying still in the grass drove all the air from my lungs.
From a distance, it appeared that the Skathes had left his body alone, despite it starting to decompose. At least they hadn’t… I cut the thought off, not wanting to think about what they could’ve done with his corpse.
“We’ll build a pyre and give him the warrior’s send-off he deserves,” Trew said quietly from where he stood behind me at the window.
“What about smoke?” I said. “We don’t want anyone knowing we’re here.”
“I’ll use magical fire that can’t be seen from a distance but still burns hot enough.”
By the time we’d finished preparing my friend, the sun hung low in the sky, and the air had cooled. We stood nearby, Addie and I with tears streaming down our faces. We’d arranged him carefully, placing his sword across his chest.
“He taught me to fight when Father wanted me to be nothing more than a decoration,” I said, my voice breaking. “He taught me I could be more than a silly woman behind a pretty mask.”
I closed my eyes, and for a heartbeat, the scent of the magical fire was replaced by the smell of wet stone and sword oil.
I was fourteen years old, and rain was drumming a relentless beat on the roof of the practice shed.
My fingers were cold, slipping across the leather hilt of my wooden practice blade, and my father’s voice still echoed from the morning’s breakfast, calling me clumsy and poorly-suited for the dignity of my station.
Thorne hadn’t said a word about dignity or station.
He’d simply knelt in the dirt beside me, his large, scarred hands warm as they covered my own.
He didn't just tell me how to hold the sword. He adjusted my grip, bit by bit, until the weight of the blade felt like an extension of my arm rather than a burden. “The world will try to convince you that you are small, Princess,” he’d whispered, his gaze full of a belief I hadn't yet found in myself.
“But a steady hand and a clear heart can bring down giants. Never let their words loosen your hold.”
He’d been the one to stay in the mud with me while the king retreated to his study.
The one to patiently fix what my father tried to break.
He hadn't given me his blood, but he’d given me his soul, equipping me with the only armor that truly mattered.
He was the father who chose me, and I was the daughter he’d forged in the shadows of a tyrant's court.
“He saved my life,” Addie said. “He killed two guards to get me out of that tower. He carried me when I couldn’t walk. He nursed me back to health and brought me here, where he hoped we’d find answers.”
“He gave his flame so ours could burn brighter,” Trew said. “This is the greatest gift a warrior can offer. We’ll honor it by burning brighter than ever.”
Trew tugged in his magic and sent it out toward our friend. He reached for the colder edge of his magic, the part that burned without smoke or warmth, the part that could incinerate without destroying what it touched.
His icy blue, smokeless fire started slow at first, but soon engulfed Thorne. I hoped we were bringing him peace and a chance to rest.
We stood in the hushed quiet, each of us lost in our own grief. Pherin keened, the sound echoing across the small open area behind the building.
We watched until nothing remained but ashes and memory.
The ashes scattered on the wind, and with them went the last piece of my childhood. Thorne had been more than a teacher, more than a protector. He’d been the father my own had never managed to be.
“I never told him how much he meant to me,” I said, my voice breaking. “How he saved me in ways that had nothing to do with sword fighting.”
Trew’s hand found my shoulder. “I’m sure he knows, Isi. He wouldn’t need the words.”
But I needed to say them, and now I’d never have the chance.
Back inside, the kitchen still held traces of Thorne’s presence. A wrapped loaf of bread sat on the counter, a half-finished carving of a dragon on the windowsill, and his worn cloak draped over a chair. Each detail felt like a knife between my ribs.
I collected dried meat and hard cheese from the larder, along with a cask of water that had stayed fresh in the cool stone room. We sat at the counter and ate in silence.
Addie picked at her portion, her gaze distant. “He used to tell me stories about the old days, though that was long before his time. When magic was just magic, not something to fear or harvest.”
“He believed you’d help restore that,” I said quietly.
Her eyes filled with tears. “I failed him.”
“We all did.” The words tasted bitter. “I should’ve seen the Skathes coming—”
Trew’s hand covered mine on the scarred wooden table. “Guilt won’t bring him back, but it will steal the strength you’ll need to finish what he started.”
I knew he was right, but knowing and feeling were two separate beasts.
After we’d finished, I wandered through the manor again while Trew added more wards to the perimeter.
Our double bond amplified his power. I could feel his magic thrumming through the walls, stronger than anything he could’ve managed alone.
The wards shimmered in my veil-sight, intricate patterns that would alert us to any threat.
Pherin and Gavelle took turns scouting, one always airborne while the other rested. Their vigilance reminded me of how vulnerable we truly were.
My body had stopped asking for rest and simply started failing to perform.
The kind of tired that sat behind the eyes and made familiar objects look strange.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept more than an hour without waking to a new crisis.
I moved through the manor on muscle memory alone, my mind somewhere behind my body, trying to catch up.
I eventually found myself in my mother’s study, running my fingers over her desk where she may have researched the veil breach. If she had, only a few papers remained.
Sitting in her chair, I sorted through them.
The breach grows wider each day. I fear what I’ve set in motion, what my father’s recklessness unleashed. But I must find a way to seal it before it’s too late.
It may take more than I’m able or willing to give, yet I would give all, including my life, to protect them.
The force must be harnessed, but how?
“She was trying to fix it,” I whispered to the empty room. “Just like we are.”
“And like her, you won’t quit until it’s done.” Trew stood in the open doorway. “Even if it kills you.”
He came over to stand beside me, staring into my eyes while stroking my cheek. “You’re thinking again.”
“I can’t seem to help it. If only seems to be the start of each of my sentences.”
“Even warriors can’t save everyone, Minx. Trying is what matters. Putting your heart into it, which you do with everything. And standing back up after you fall.”
“What if I can’t stand back up this time?” I croaked.
“Then I’ll carry you until you can. Your scars are mine to kiss away, just as you heal mine. That’s what we do for each other.”
The tenderness in his voice broke the pain loose in my chest. I pressed my forehead to his thigh, letting his solid frame bring me strength.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Even when everything’s falling apart, that’s the one truth I hold onto.”
“You’re my certainty when nothing else makes sense.”
Pherin landed on the windowsill, her copper eyes watching us with approval.
Love makes strong, she said. Stronger than fear.
It would if we survived long enough to use it.
Sometime later, Gavelle’s warning cry shattered the night, followed by what I was certain was Keek’s high-pitched shriek.
I jerked upright in the bed to find Trew already on his feet with a blade in his hand.
“Ward breach,” he said in a low voice.
As I leaped up and dressed fast, stuffing my feet into my boots, Addie stumbled down the hall and into our room, her silver drake hissing as he scrambled beside her. “What’s happening?”
“Someone’s coming,” Trew said, his magic flaring around him. “Fast.”
We raced downstairs and out onto the lawn. A figure stumbled from the tree line, half-running, half-falling.
“Kerralyn.” I ran to catch her before she hit the ground.
Keek whimpered, peering up at her.
Blood soaked my friend’s tunic, dark stains spreading across the fabric. Her braid had come loose, the strands matted with gore.
“Found him.” Kerralyn collapsed against me, and I could feel how much weight she’d lost, how her body shook with more than just exhaustion.
Her clothes were torn, and her eyes held a haunted quality I’d never seen before.
This wasn’t the confident scholar who’d broken into libraries and decoded ancient texts.
This was someone who’d seen horrors that had nearly broken her.
“How long have you been running?” I asked, helping her stay upright.
“Days,” she gasped. “Maybe longer. I lost count. Had to keep moving, had to find you before it was too late. Found Fenmark, just like we planned. But when Lexie and Derren went in to rescue him, it was a trap. Somehow, they knew we were coming.”
Trew’s jaw tightened. I saw him doing the same math I was. We’d been careful about what we shared and with whom. But someone had talked. Someone who was now back at Syllavar, sending messages to the controllers.
Or someone there was one of them.
Trew scooped Kerralyn into his arms, carrying her inside, Keek racing behind them. We settled her in the sitting room while Addie went to the kitchen for healing supplies.
Our companions clustered around us, waiting silently for Kerralyn to speak.
“Tell us,” I said as Addie cleaned Kerralyn’s wounds. “Every detail you can remember.”
Kerralyn’s story came in fragments as we worked. They’d tracked Fenmark to an old fortress near the veil breach, a place corrupted by years of Skathe presence. Lexie and Derren had gone in to rescue him while Kerralyn kept watch.
The trap had sprung fast. Guards everywhere, Skathes responding to some unseen signal. Lexie and Derren fighting to reach Fenmark, only to be overwhelmed.
“I should’ve gone with them,” Kerralyn said, tears tracking through the grime on her face. She stroked Keek’s spine while the creature looked up at her with sympathy in his eyes. “I left them, but I had to get help.”
“You survived to warn us,” Trew said.
We finished bandaging her wounds, though Trew used his healing power to ease the pain. She’d need time and proper treatment to get better, neither of which we had.
Her hollowed gaze met mine. “They’re planning something big. A ritual that’ll open the veil permanently.”
“Lord Alfred.”
“Him and her. They’re going to remake reality itself. They’re going to perform the ritual at the original veil breach site.”
Chills rushed through me. “When?”
“As soon as they’re ready.” She coughed, and I tipped a water flask to her lips, bracing her shoulders while she drank deeply.
Addie gently applied ointment to a cut across Kerralyn’s cheek.
“They’re building power first.” Kerralyn’s hand snapped out, latching onto my arm. “They were angry to lose Addie because she has Velacross’s blood.”
“Me too.”
She nodded. “Your blood and power would make this easier, but they’ll use whoever they can.”
“Fenmark,” Addie cried out.
“I’m sorry.” Tears sprang up in Kerralyn’s eyes.
“Fates, no.” Trew’s face had gone pale. “We took those condemned in Caldrith and they need new sacrifices.”
“The red-haired woman was there too,” Kerralyn said, her voice fading. She slumped back on the cushions. “Couldn’t see her face. But she was…giving orders. Like she outranked Alfred.”
So we still didn’t know who the second controller was. But it didn’t matter now, not with them about to destroy any chance of sealing the veil.
“There’s something else,” Kerralyn said. “They’ve got Kira, and she’s not doing well.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“She’s being held with the others. They’re going to sacrifice them all.”
Kira wasn’t the second controller.
My relief was immediately swallowed by horror. She was a prisoner. She’d been a prisoner this whole time, while we’d been treating her as a suspect.
“Without Isi and Addie, they’ll have to work harder,” Kerralyn said. “But they seem to feel they can do it.”
“We’ve got to stop them,” Trew said.
“How?” Addie sat back on her heels, her face pale. “We’re almost out of time and definitely out of options.”
I met Trew’s gaze, seeing my own determination reflected there.
“We have exactly what we need,” I said. “Each other. Our companions. And without Addie and I, there may be time to stop them before they open the veil forever.”
“If they’re already building power,” Kerralyn whispered, “you’ll be walking into the middle of a ritual. And a veil sealing requires a sacrifice.” Her eyes found mine. “You know that.”
“We have double bonds, veil-sight, and absolutely nothing left to lose,” Trew said.
Pherin landed on my shoulder, radiating agreement.
“We have to try,” I said.
Addie settled on the sofa near Kerralyn and tucked the rest of her bandages into a bag. “We need to leave right away.”
“Are you well enough to lead us back there, Kerralyn? We have dragons.”
She nodded. “Do you have anything to eat? I can’t remember when I last had food.”
I rushed to the kitchen and brought back a meal. We watched as she ate.
“I have some clothing that will fit you,” Addie told her. “I’ll pack you a bag.”
“I’ll grab our things too,” Trew said, leaving the room with her.
I remained with Kerralyn, helping her to a bathing chamber after and sitting nearby in case she needed me while she cleaned up and dressed in a new outfit.
The night pressed in close, and I stiffened my resolve.
We would win or we would all burn.