Chapter 16
Evie
Not a bone in my body wished to move. As with every morning since the Academy Ball—this was the twelfth, I’d counted them—I woke with my limbs numb and a sharp pinch in my chest. Sleep offered no peace.
I couldn’t get those images out of my head, nor the sinful sounds of flesh on flesh and the raw, broken screams of pleasure.
Those memories haunted me, relentless as ghosts.
I’d heard the sounds drifting from the necropolis garden, from behind Henrich Eisenberg’s tomb, before I caught a glimpse of Selena through the hedge. She’d writhed and moaned like a siren in worship, Kael a dark figure pushing behind her, and the sight had cleaved something open inside me.
He had looked so furious, so masculine, and heartbreakingly beautiful. She’d nearly unraveled before my eyes, and no matter how fiercely I clawed at my thoughts, I couldn’t rid myself of the image of Kael taking her to that final, ruinous release.
I’d fled before I’d see the end of it, blind with tears, like a child whose heart had shattered for the very first time.
And since that night, one question had haunted every waking hour.
Why?
Why do what he’d done to me in the lavatorium, only to run and take Selena afterward?
The memories were quickly replaced by something else. Kael’s touch, his breath ghosting my skin, the roughness of his movements, the sting of his teeth.
I just didn’t understand. How could he claim to want me—so fiercely, so utterly—and then turn to another woman the very same night? Selena, of all people?
Maybe it had always been her. I mean, there’d been signs. Maybe I had been the other woman without knowing it. The thought made my stomach twist.
I turned toward the mirror, my reflection pale in my night shift beneath the wash of dawn. The bite marks and bruises had finally faded. Lo had questioned me far too shrewdly after the ball. But he hadn’t seen the other mark.
The scar.
Where Kael’s power had struck me.
Dark pink veins wound from my shoulder like roots through soil, branching into the hollow of my neck and tracing down toward my elbow.
I touched it, traced it with my finger, and the thought of Kael’s mark no longer seemed so abhorrent, only dangerously alluring.
If Lo ever saw it, he’d know the truth—that I hadn’t fallen in the gallery or stumbled into a hedge of thorns.
One day, I would tell him what had truly happened. Just not yet. I wasn’t ready. How could I explain something I barely understood myself?
I dressed slowly. A teal wool tunic cinched at the waist over dark brown leather breeches. The collar climbed high enough to hide the scar. I tied my hair into a loose knot at the nape and stepped into my worn brown boots. Today, I would head to the mountain.
For twelve days I had buried myself in work, anything to keep from thinking of Kael, of Selena, of the way his hands had moved upon her and the bitter envy that thought awakened.
Instead, I focused on the blight, tracing its reach through the woods, mapping where the corruption had spread. So far, none of the other farms had been touched, which led me to suspect the Bracks’ goat had carried the disease to their land.
When they’d shown me where the herd had grazed, I’d searched the soil and found more of those black vines, thick and twisted, erupting from the earth and corrupting everything near them.
Today, I would climb higher, above the woods and up the mountain’s flank. I felt certain the heart of it lay above. I packed my satchel with care—research notes, a handful of nuts, a scrap of bread—and slung it over my shoulder.
I had no intention of being near the castle today.
I opened the door, only to find Lo mid-knock. He wore the tabard for outside-the-castle business, blue fabric gleaming faintly in the morning light.
“Lo!” I gasped, startled. “What are you doing here?”
He swept past me in a flourish, all righteous purpose and impatience, turning on his heel the instant I shut the door. Arms crossed, chin high, the picture of confrontation.
“Evie, darling, be honest with me.”
I blinked, caught between confusion and dread. “W-what do you mean?”
“You’ve been acting strange ever since the ball.”
Maybe today was the day I’d tell him after all.
“And you know what’s even stranger?” he pressed, eyes narrowing dramatically.
“Kael has buried himself in some investigation about weapon smuggling and never sets foot in the castle anymore. I’m always on the move!
Do you know how dreadful it is to chase the Court Wizard around being this handsome? Did something happen between you two?”
“I—”
“Don’t lie,” he cut in, wagging a finger. “You’re terrible at it.”
I drew a long, steady breath, exhaled slowly, buying myself a heartbeat, maybe two.
“I knew it!” Lo declared, triumphant. “Evie, tell me everything. Do I need to sit? I’ll sit.” And he dropped onto the sofa with grace.
I sighed heavily. Then crossed the room and sank beside him, shame prickling through me like thorns.
“I saw Selena and Kael together,” I began quietly. “In the necropolis. In Henrich’s alcove. It was… disturbing, to say the least.”
Lo’s expression twisted through shock, disgust, and unholy delight. “Kael? With Selena? He despises that woman.” Then his eyes lit, the gleam of gossip igniting like candle flame. His smirk curved wickedly. “How was it? Rough? Tender?”
I recoiled, stomach turning. I looked down, fingers twisting in my lap, my mind betraying me with the memory of Selena’s moans and how manly Kael had looked from that angle, hands digging into her hips, thrusts rough but slow.
“Why the face, darling?”
“The thing is, Lo, right before that…” I drew a shallow breath, feeling the sting behind my eyes. Why were there tears already? “Kael was with me.”
Lo’s jaw dropped. A slow, delighted smile spread across his face—Lo, ever the gossip’s patron saint—but when he caught the tremor in my voice, his brows knit in concern.
“What happened?” he asked softly, taking my hand.
“We kissed. And it wasn’t a polite kiss. It was a kiss kiss. Tongue, hands… teeth…”
“Teeth?”
“Then he just… left.” My throat tightened. “And I found him with Selena after.”
“Now why in the gods would Kael do that?”
“That’s exactly my question!” The words burst out sharper than I’d meant, trembling with the frustration of twelve restless nights. “Is there something between them I should know about?”
Lo tilted his head, thinking. “They’re close, yes, but Selena was never an option for Kael. If anything, he despises her.”
“It didn’t look like that,” I muttered, lips pulling into a pout before I could stop them.
Lo reached up and brushed his fingers along my cheek, voice softening. “Oh, darling…”
I looked away. I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I’d done enough sulking for twelve days.
“Anyway,” I said, forcing lightness into my tone as I rose to my feet, “I’m headed to the mountain today. I need to finish that map.”
“Well,” Lo sighed with mock tragedy, standing as well, “I’ll be running after our shared tormentor, standing by beautifully, as usual.”
I looped my satchel over my shoulder and headed for the door. He followed me out, and we walked side by side until our paths forked.
“Good luck today!” he called after me. “And, you know, be safe.” He gave me one of his dazzling smiles.
I descended the grand staircase, each step loosening the tightness in my chest. Talking about it had eased some of the pressure in my head.
Perhaps a nice morning hike would steady me. Dwelling on a blight threatening cattle and crops seemed a far kinder task than dwelling on Kael Forloren.
Behind the Bracks’ farm ran a narrow trail, carved by goats climbing the hillside and skirting the woods.
If I followed it, it would lead me to the forest’s edge, a plateau where herds usually grazed in abundance.
There’d been reports of more black vines higher up, and I meant to see them for myself, to take samples and record what I could.
It unsettled me how silent my powers had been since the Academy Ball, since that release Kael had triggered in me. Should I be grateful? The man shattered my heart, but praise be, at least the echoes had gone quiet.
The climb was steep. With every turn, Befest shrank behind me, its spires swallowed by mist and distance. Far away, the ocean glimmered pale and endless, and for a moment, its hush seemed to seep into me. I should have done this sooner.
The higher I went, the stronger the wind grew, threading cold fingers through my hair. My breath shortened, and I had to pause often, perfect moments to catch the view, to let the ache in my legs remind me I was still alive. Magi were no hikers, but we did appreciate a good vantage point.
I crossed a slender brook, its water bright and restless, probably a branch of the higher stream that spilled as a small waterfall into the woods below.
A path curved beyond, used by merchants crossing the mountains.
I followed it, rounding a great stone streaked with moss, until the world opened before me in a quiet, waiting pass.
I gasped when I saw dark vines surging from beneath the rock, digging into the path. They continued underground, reappearing between the trees. I followed my gut and stepped toward them. The blackness squelched underfoot, pulsing with a dark energy I could feel in my bones.
The trail opened into a clearing surrounded by vines. The trees were coated with the same oozing black liquid. Hollowed and dead, they stood like silent watchers around the writhing roots.
At first, I checked for magic. Closing my eyes, I reached outward for the arcane, and my thoughts came back in a black torrent.
Dark magic. Old. Ancient.
Something moved behind me.
I spun, but saw only trees.
The air thickened. The vines pulsed, slow and steady, like a heartbeat. Even without casting, I could feel it.
Darkness. Living, breathing. Watching.
A sound—or maybe just movement—made me turn again, and suddenly, night fell. One blink, and the world was drowned in shadow.
I searched the treeline, bracing for a wolf or worse. My heart thundered.
Tiny white specks drifted from the sky. Snow, I thought, but it wasn’t winter anymore.
I held out my hand, letting one land on my palm. It dissolved on contact, leaving a faint smear of gray.
Not snow.
Ash.
I looked at the vines again, trying to reason that something was playing with my mind. The pulsing continued, steady as a heartbeat, black tar flowing through in consistent beats.
I walked closer, drawn in by the rhythm. It felt like a song only I could hear. I reached out, certain, without knowing why that if I touched it, I’d understand.
My fingertips brushed the surface. Cold. Burning. The world shifted.
Power surged through me unlike anything I’d ever felt. My mind opened wide, walls crumbling all at once. Images flooded in, but not echoes this time. It was reality, as though I were actually there.
I stood at the mountain’s peak, before the steps of a tower, or was it a keep? Screams echoed from within. Tortured cries and I just wanted it to stop.
I covered my ears.
A man was bound. Wizards cloaked in shadow surrounding him. Murmuring, whispering, scheming.
That wizard in dark green robes.
Kael by his side.
And ash.
So. Much. Ash.
Falling around the keep like snow. Beautiful at first until I realized it was death falling from the sky.
Then, the ground vanished beneath me. I was in free fall down an endless pit, weightless, swallowed by the dark, despair gnawing at my bones.
And when I finally struck the ground, everything went black.