Chapter 24
Twenty-Four
Adelasia
There’s something off in the air as we stand up from the pile we landed in.
It isn’t the magic this time. It’s not the way the rot pulses beneath my skin or how the shadows cling to the walls of my mind like moss. No, this is different. This is…beyond any of us.
Rowan and Kaius stand, their backs unnaturally straight, Rowan’s wings folded too tightly. Kaius hasn’t looked me in the eye once. They search the skies as if they can hear voices that I can’t.
I cross the gravel toward them, sweat still clinging to my skin from our training. It’s only when I’m nearly between them that Rowan glances my way.
It’s the kind of look that makes your stomach sink.
“What is it?”
Their silence confirms what I already suspect.
Kaius finally speaks. “The Priestesses. They’re warning us.”
“I didn’t hear them,” I say. “What did they say?”
Kaius steps toward me protectively and wraps an arm around my waist. He looks up at the sky where a half-moon shines bright above our heads. “That under the full moon is where this ends.”
He doesn’t need to say more. I know what he means. The Well. The place where this all began. The place I’ve been trying so hard to forget.
Rowan steps closer to. “You’re strong enough now to make the journey.”
I swallow hard. My tongue feels thick. “But what if I’m not?”
Kaius reaches for me, hand brushing my arm. “Then we will be here to help you.”
A pause stretches between us, heavy and cold. I look between them, two men who once hated each other, now united in fear. Two men I love in different ways.
“There’s something I need first,” I say quietly, the sudden dread of a second impending doom hanging heavy over me.
Rowan lifts a brow.
“I need to go back to my Lemory. To see my mother.”
Kaius’ expression hardens. “Adelasia—”
“I have to see her,” I cut in, sharper than I mean to be. “I need to see her face. Hear her voice. When I was taken from my home, the last thing I remember is her scream. I can’t let that be how I remember her.”
“Adelasia you’re speaking like we’re sending you to your execution,” Rowan says.
“Are you not?”
Neither of them speaks at first. Then Rowan steps closer, voice softer than before. “Then we go.”
Kaius closes his eyes briefly, jaw flexing. When he opens them, there’s something fragile in his gaze. “We’ll take you.”
The air shifts, just slightly. The tightness in my chest loosens. But the fear doesn’t vanish. It only deepens. Deep down, I know they wouldn’t have agreed if they weren’t afraid I might be right.
That I might not come back from this.