Chapter 51
It had been far too long since Felix slept.
But he couldn’t close his eyes. Not yet.
He sat on a bedroll, propped up against the cold stone wall of the cellar.
He and Marlow had taken the spots on either side of August, sure that the aesling would escape the first chance he got, and Felix had offered to take first watch.
As the others drifted off and the room quieted, Felix struggled with the storm inside his head.
He’d expected to leave Haverglen with at least a handful of people to help with what was to come.
But now, knowing it fell on only the three of them, he had to admit he was worried.
Was Gideon right? Was this a hopeless plan?
Three against the entire ministry. The City Watch. The bleeding royal guard?
No, Felix wasn’t the type to let someone else tell him what was possible. He would figure this out. It wasn’t like he planned to go head-on with any of them. There were other ways to win this, and he was clever enough to find them.
He yawned and rested his head against the wall.
Just, maybe not tonight. He had time. They had to close the tear first. He couldn’t sit on the throne if the darkness swallowed it first.
He rested his hands in his lap, tracing the frigid metal of the locket with his thumb. The iciness had become a sort of comfort. It helped him reel in his thoughts when they strayed.
Soft footsteps approached, then Gideon eased down onto the floor beside him.
Felix gave him a weary smile. “Couldn’t sleep?”
“Rest is hard to come by these days.” The man looked beaten down, the fire extinguished. It was disappointing. “I had a thought,” he continued, keeping his voice low so as not to disturb the others. “Once the aesran gets wind her heir’s still breathing, she’ll be desperate to have him back, yeah?”
She would, no doubt. She’d sent the ministry and the royal guard out after him when he went missing for a day. He couldn’t imagine the lengths she’d go to now. He was the only heir. Her only living child.
And if Ashcroft knew the aesling was with them, then the ministry might, too. How long before word made it to the aesran?
Gideon unscrewed the lid of a small flask and lifted in offer to Felix. When he declined, Gideon took a swig, then said, “That opens up a lot of options for us.”
“Us?” Felix asked.
“We can demand she call off Ashcroft and his ministry.” He ran his hand over his beard. “Hells, we can name whatever price we like before releasing him.”
With a frown, Felix said, “I’m not releasing him.”
Gideon took another swig, then screwed the lid back on the flask.
“You’re right. Why hand him over when we can use him?
” His lips curved into a sharp grin. “Most our troubles are in Fallowmoor, aren’t they?
So, we use what he can do. Instead of fixing the veil, we make him tear the thing wider.
End this whole mess once and for all. We’ve a rare chance here, Felix.
The resistance has a weapon no one’s the faintest clue how to deal with. ”
A sharp, possessive anger flickered through Felix. August was his. Not theirs. “I thought you didn’t want to get involved.”
“I’d be an idiot to ignore a chance like this.”
“So, your plan kills every wielder in Fallowmoor. That’s grand. Corpses make fine soldiers.”
Gideon sighed. “Alright, point taken.”
“The crown will be mine soon,” Felix said. “Then I’ll happily resolve our issues myself. The gallows are about to see plenty of use.”
Gideon gave a low chuckle. “You really are mad.” He paused, then added, “But if this godsforsaken country can be saved, you’re just stubborn enough to do it.”
“I don’t want to save the country,” Felix replied grimly. “I want to save my people. Everyone else can hang, for all I care.”
“Then I guess pray to Geocraes and hope he has your back.” Gideon climbed slowly off the ground. “You’ll need luck on your side for this one.”
Felix scoffed. He wasn’t praying to the god of fortune, nor to any other deity. If the gods did exist, he would sooner die than hand over any level of control to one. Control was everything.
“Go on now,” Gideon said. “Get some shut-eye. Benjamin’s upstairs, keeping watch.”
Felix let his head rest against the stone wall and wrapped the locket in a fist. The aesling didn’t need the front door to escape, and Felix doubted he’d ignore the chance to run.
He had to stay awake.
His eyes drifted involuntarily to August. If it weren’t for the rise and fall of his chest, Felix might have thought him a corpse. If he were to die here, would the veil close on its own? Was it only held open because of him?
Unlikely. It would probably keep spreading forever until everything was gone.
Don’t die, he thought. Or I will find a way to drag you back.
They needed to hurry. He flexed his fingers, trying to shake the sudden wave of restlessness.
“Will you stop?” August mumbled, his eyes still closed.
“What am I doing?” asked Felix.
“You’re stirring the air.”
He frowned at the unexpected response. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
August was quiet a moment, then opened his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. “The air always hums around you. It’s subtle, but constant. When your emotions spike, it gets stronger. Like the air’s echoing what you feel.”
August had never mentioned that before. Was it new? Was it something to do with Felix’s magic or his? Maybe both? He focused, trying to feel what August felt, but the only thing vibrating the air around him was snoring.
“I won’t be a weapon,” said August.
Felix responded with a wry look. “You can’t control your power. You’d make a terrible weapon.”
August closed his eyes. He was quiet for so long, Felix thought he’d fallen back asleep. Then he whispered, “I killed a lot of people, didn’t I?”
The question sparked through Felix’s nerves like a fuse, igniting a sequence of terrible images. He didn’t want to talk about this. Didn’t want to think about that night. He’d locked that memory away with all the other things he worked so hard to forget.
But he wanted to make August understand—to hurt, even if it meant hurting with him.
“You did,” Felix answered. “Hundreds, maybe thousands. All those people in the market square. Wielders, nobles, vendors, my ma.” He hadn’t meant to say the last one out loud.
He clenched the locket tighter as pain knotted in his chest. “The tear swallowed blocks of the city. All the people inside those buildings. Entire families. Dead. Because of you.”
August’s face tightened, the words striking just as Felix intended.
“You’ll pay for it, as you should. I’ll make sure of that. Just have the decency to stay alive long enough to stop that thing from killing more.” He loosened his grip on the locket.
When he opened his hand, August sat up straight.
“Where did you get that?”
“The Gilded Mortar,” said Felix. “Well, the Hollow Dark side of it. Why?”
Something flickered across August’s face. “That’s not possible. The Hollow Dark is empty.” He slid off his bedroll to move closer, eyes on the necklace.
“Mostly empty,” Felix corrected. “This was the only thing inside the room.”
When he reached out to take the locket, Felix snapped his hand closed.
August rolled his eyes. “I’ll give it back.”
Felix hesitated, turning it one more time in his palm before handing it over. He expected August to flinch at the frigid cold. To at least question it. It always sent a jolt through Felix.
But August’s blatant lack of reaction was telling.
“You’ve found one before.”
“In my room at the castle,” August confirmed, rubbing his thumb over the smooth face of the locket. He opened the clasp to look inside, and when he found it empty, closed it again and handed it back. “I’d forgotten all about it until now. I didn’t realize it was from the other side.”
That made no sense. “How did you not? You said nobody else knew about the Hollow Dark, so you must have been the one to bring it back.”
August’s expression was turbulent. “I must have,” he agreed. “So, why don’t I remember finding it?” His gaze lifted to something Felix couldn’t see, as if he expected an answer to appear there. But he said nothing else, so Felix tucked the locket away.
“Sleep, Aesling. I don’t need you complaining that you’re tired the whole way home.”
Felix unlatched his prosthetic and set it aside, then leaned back and folded his arms.
He hadn’t meant to drift off, but dreams found him anyway, full of spreading darkness and screaming and death.