Chapter 40 #2
“No,” I hurry to say. “No. If he’d been caught”—I lower my voice to a whisper—“he wouldn’t have passed that way. Baydel would’ve made it public.” I release her, and Layce squeezes her hand.
Mirren listens and watches us with a careful eye. I flash her a look that says I’ll explain later.
Ivy nods, blowing out a breath.
Dalfon comes through the doors.
“Did you discover anything?” I ask, hopeful. The only thing I confirmed by looking at him was that he looked exactly the same as the memory from the Fader, connecting them and the deaths the duke spoke of.
“It’s curious,” he says in that otherworldly, even tone of his. “There was no evidence of the enhancement on him. No visible injuries. No trauma to his head.”
“Do you think the enhancement could do this to him?” I ask. “Even if he didn’t have it on him, maybe he took it all at once. Took too much?”
Dalfon considers. “It’s possible. I couldn’t pull more from the body.”
“Can you normally?” Layce asks.
He dips his head.
“So why not now?” Ivy asks.
“I’m unsure.”
Fuck. When an Occuli as powerful as Dalfon can’t find the answers, what chance do I have?
“Thank you, Dalfon,” Mirren says. “Rylee needs her rest now.” She urges us down the hallway, leaving Dalfon to return to the healers’ quarters.
Mirren locks the door to my chambers behind us a few minutes later.
“Rylee,” Ivy says the second we’re in the safety of my room. “He was like us.”
My eyes widen. She doesn’t need to say the word out loud. Like us means he was a demi in hiding. Ice fills my veins. “That means if the enhancement truly did that to him . . .”
“Then with enough, it could hurt you,” Mirren finishes for me. “Or the Legends. Badly.”
“Shit,” Layce breathes. “That means it could kill us.”
Power snaps through my body at the thought, wind spiraling around the room like a protective barrier.
“I won’t let that happen,” I vow. “We’ll find it.”
A silence settles over us, the four of us sinking onto the sofas and chairs in my sitting area.
“We’re so glad you’re back,” Layce says after a few moments, and we all laugh at the broken heavy silence.
“But it’s bullshit Silvac made Pierce stay behind,” Ivy adds.
Mirren nods to me.
“Trust is thin,” I say with a shrug. “I spent the entire journey home crying over it like a pathetic, lovestruck girl.”
“Valid,” Ivy says, and I laugh, rubbing my palms over my face.
“That’s good news about Axl and Kal, though,” Layce adds. “From what Jullian and Lucas said earlier.”
“Definitely. I can’t believe I’ll have to be in this palace without them for so long.” I can only hope to stay out of the kings’ and RAC’s attention until my mates return.
Ash mews as he comes out of my closet. He stretches before settling at my feet, glaring up at me. I bend, stroking his fur. He’s softer and filling out. At least royal life suits him. After a few ear scratches, he bats my hand away.
“Were there any attacks while I was gone?”
“No,” Mirren answers. “There have been other enhancement reports, but no more deaths, beyond the one we just saw.”
Guilt twists my insides. “We have to find out how to stop it.”
I think about Atlas again. I wonder if I should seek him out on my own.
Who knows when Jax will be back, let alone the others?
They say it could be soon for Axl and Kal, but who really knows what soon means?
We certainly didn’t anticipate Silvac putting the terms on us as they did. What if the other realms do as well?
My chest tightens, a weight pressing on me from all sides.
“It’s spread to the nobility,” Ivy says, drawing my attention.
“Really?”
Layce nods. “We made a trip back to Oak and Iron and Cedar and Silk. There were several cases at the apothecaries there. And then we traveled through the Sapphire Cove. The cases there have spread from the Ari districts up into the nobles’ province.”
I glance to Mirren. “Is that normal?” I ask. “For enhancements to travel so quickly from one place to the next?”
“We’ve seen it before,” she says. “Most of the enhancement runners will test any new product in the lower cities first.”
I know this—it’s why we investigated the Ashlands—but I’ve never heard of anything spreading this far across the realm before. I grit my teeth. “Because no one will cause a scene over us.”
Mirren nods. “But if the product is good enough, it’ll move into the royal cities, but normally if it’s a harmful enhancement, they keep it in the lowers. They know the Legends don’t tolerate dangerous elixirs. They root out their bakers in a matter of days and punish them accordingly.”
An icy chill rakes down my spine. I have nothing to fear from the Legends, but I’ve seen them in action.
Partaken in it. And though it’s always justified, it’s terrifying.
“So that leads back to our earlier assumption that the Faders are distributing it. Likely to cause more harm to Lumathyst. Or is it simply to cause chaos?”
“It seems to be pointing that direction,” Mirren says.
“If I had sample,” Ivy offers, “I could figure out what it’s made of and then work on an antidote.”
“I know,” I say. “If we can study it, maybe we can find out not only how to stop it, but where it’s coming from.”
“What about the RAC?” Mirren asks. “I know you want to help the people, but you also have to uphold royal duties. All the more so now that the princes aren’t here.”
I shove off the couch.
“Sit back down, girl,” Mirren chides me. “You can’t solve it tonight. You just arrived from a long journey and look like death.”
“I need to fix this.”
“You’ll always need to fix something,” she says, ushering me to sit back down. “You are to be queen. With that will come a plethora of responsibilities that will never be solved overnight. You can’t take on the entire weight of this realm. You need rest.”
“She’s right,” Ivy says before I can argue. “One impossible situation at a time.”
A dark laugh rips from me. “We should embroider that on a pillow.”
“It could be our new slogan,” Layce adds. “Oh, what colors should we use?”
My smile deepens, hope warming my heart at the support of my friends. I’m glad they’re here, despite the danger it puts them in.
“I love you all,” I say, eyeing the three. “You know that, right?”
“Who wouldn’t?” Ivy teases.
“Love you, too,” Layce says.
Mirren tips her chin, then bends to pet Ash, not making eye contact with me. It makes me laugh again as I shake my head.
“We’ll figure this out,” Ivy says as she and Layce head toward the doors. “Get some rest. Tomorrow, we’ll work on everything.”
I nod as they embrace me again before heading to their rooms, which are connected to mine.
Mirren finally stops petting Ash, giving me a once-over. “Take a bath. Then straight to bed.”
“Yes, Mirren,” I say dutifully.
She straightens her shirt, then heads out the door.
I waste no time retiring to my bathing chamber, sinking into the tub of hot water with a heavy sigh.
We gained a small win with the agreement from Silvac, despite them holding Pierce. But nothing feels like a victory. Not with another mysterious death. Not when so many questions are unanswered. Not when so many things have to happen correctly for us to succeed in the end.
After washing, I slip into a soft black robe and sit in my bed, my sister’s art book perched atop my lap. Ash leaps onto my bed, pausing at the foot of it while he eyes me. His torn ear twitches a bit.
“It’s a big bed,” I say, motioning to it. “You can pick your place.”
He blinks at me, like I wasn’t asking permission, before he settles atop the pillow next to mine. I shake my head at the cat, returning to my sister’s journal.
I run my fingers over the familiar pages of art, my sister’s work almost imprinted in my mind now, but I don’t truly see the paintings.
I’m too busy looking inward, down the four bonds that are woven into my soul.
They’re faint, but I can feel my mates on the other ends.
There’s a certain comfort in that. And Pierce’s power is still his.
I’ve managed to hold the connection even across the vast sea of space between us.
He must be clinging to it as well, for it to be happening in a way that almost feels natural.
A tiny blossom of hope blooms in my chest. If I can do it with his power, maybe I can do it with the others’ soon.
I flip through the art journal another time before tossing it to the side. My eyes are heavy as my head hits the pillow. I need to find Erin. I’ve always wanted to find her, but now I need to. So many lives depend on it.
The battles between Faders and Lumathyst need to end. The spread of this toxic enhancement needs to end. And by some stroke of madness, we stand on either side of the internal war.
Her with the Faders.
Me with the princes of Lumathyst.
And everything between us is at risk.