Chapter 14
Petra
I’d spent the days between Eserene and Taitha planning out exactly what I’d say in my missives to the other kingdoms, exactly how I’d let them know of the dire circumstances we found ourselves in. And after pacing the halls of the Taithan castle for three days, I had my answers.
Lightning forked through the sky as rain lashed the windows overlooking Taitha.
The stone castle seemed to shake with every clap of thunder.
My powers had strengthened slightly since we left Eserene.
I couldn’t tell if the ire that coursed through me had caused the storm outside, but it was an accurate representation of how I was feeling.
The anger was a separate physical being in my chest, fanning my flames and spinning my storm clouds faster and faster.
There wasn’t room in my lungs for a deep breath, so I fought to keep even the shallow ones I could manage.
My eyes stayed trained on the table before me as Nell, Miles, and Whit filed into the room silently .
“What’d you do to piss her off?” Whit asked with a nervous laugh, an obvious effort to diffuse the tension as he lowered himself to his seat.
Cal crossed his arms over his chest where he sat to my right.
“Not my fault this time,” he mumbled, his tongue running across his teeth as he stared at the pile of responses on the table.
Miles took the seat to my left, and Nell the seat beside him.
They were silent, their bodies rigid in anticipation.
It took a few seconds to quiet my mind just enough that I could actually speak. Each word was painful, the searing heat of outrage branding my tongue. “They don’t believe me.”
Four dozen missives laid on the table. Many of them were crinkled where I’d gripped them too hard. All of them had blackened, crumbling edges, where my fury had bubbled over and singed the parchment.
I was going to burn this castle to ash.
Nell shook her head in disbelief. “Every single kingdom turned down your request for aid?”
“Those who even bothered to reply,” I snarled, staring disdainfully at the pile of parchment. I snatched one from the top. “The King of Eddena wrote ‘we will not entertain the delusions of a usurper.’”
Nell scoffed. “Usurper? Hang on, do they feel the Daughter of Katia is not fit to rule a continent?”
I threw myself down on the chair at the head of the table, letting out a rattled sigh as I rubbed at the heat behind my ribcage. “They don’t believe I’m the Daughter of Katia at all. But that’s beside the point. They don’t believe Malosym is here.”
Miles reached forward, picking up the missive from Zidderune, scanning it quickly before throwing it back on the pile.
He’d been quiet since we left Eserene, closed off and distant.
Not surprising after Cyen had all but closed his claws around him.
“Would you have believed it a few weeks ago?” he asked, his voice surprisingly harsh.
“Not sure why you’re surprised by their responses. ”
Cal straightened at the tone of his brother’s voice, his eyes scanning my face for my reaction to the outburst. With a slight shake of my head, Cal relaxed, but I narrowed my eyes at Miles. There was a hardness to his features, a look of anger that set me on edge.
But despite the anger, he had a point, as much as I didn’t want to admit it. Had I received the news a few weeks ago that the Daughter of Katia had come, and with her, evil incarnate, I probably would’ve rolled my eyes. But it was true. I was here and I was alive and I was screaming for help.
“Either way,” I continued, placing my hands flat on the table, “we’re in the same place we’ve been since the battle. Our military is smaller now and still largely undertrained.” I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes. “To put it plainly, we’re fucked.”
Silence expanded around us for a moment, until Whit blew a breath through his lips. “So what now?”
“We send word again,” Cal suggested, his voice brusque. “And keep writing until we have a military large enough that we stand a chance against the Occulti. Our best bet is for Petra to free Katia and Rhedros, but a sizable military isn’t a bad idea.”
“Malosym will find her before then,” Miles said, his previous irritation gone, replaced by a sickening air of something that sounded a lot like hopelessness. “We don’t have time to wait around hoping someone will take pity on us and send aid. It won’t happen.”
I exhaled a breath, willing some of my unfettered anger out of my body. I needed space to think, to figure something out. Everyone else in this room had some level of military experience, but not during wartime, and certainly not against a force like Malosym.
“We can travel to ask the leaders of each country in person,” Nell offered, her voice full of cautious hope. “Start with Nesan since it’s one of the closest and most powerful, then go from there. ”
“No,” Cal answered quickly. “It’ll take weeks to sail across the Widow’s Sea, and another to get through Nesan to Araqina. And there’s no guarantee we’ll even be granted a meeting with the King and Queen, even if the Daughter of Katia is requesting that meeting.”
“Maybe they wouldn’t meet with the Daughter of Katia, but do you think they’d meet with King Belin?” I asked, tapping a finger on the table.
Cal’s lips pursed. “Relations between Nesan and the countries of Astran aren’t the best, so I can’t promise it would work.”
A collective, defeated sigh seemed to leave everyone at once.
“There has to be something we can do to convince someone, anyone to send aid,” I muttered, tapping at my temples as if it would dislodge an idea that was hidden deep in my mind.
“If only they’d seen the drivas,” Nell murmured, tapping her finger on the table. “The kelpies and soulhags, too. But the drivas were… Wow.”
And there it was. A pinprick of an idea sparked to life. I concentrated on it, pulling apart the strands of light until it finally caught and grew into a full-blown flame. The thought was risky, and I wasn’t even sure if it was possible, but I was willing to try anything.
“You’re right, Nell,” I started, sitting straighter in my chair, determination like a rod against my spine, propping me up. “If only they’d seen the drivas.”
Cal leaned forward, the look on his face hesitant. “What are you thinking?”
I looked at each of my friends. “Is anyone here afraid of heights?”
◆ ◆ ◆
“Um, I’m not afraid of heights, Petra,” Nell said, apprehension slowing her steps, “but I might be afraid of drivas.” The rain had let up. Well, my mood had let up. Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe not.
Whit scoffed, narrowly avoiding a crooked cobblestone as we made our way out of the city and headed for the plains. “Afraid of the very thing that won us the battle?”
“Yes,” she answered matter-of-factly. “Call me crazy, but I am afraid of the gargantuan, mythical creatures that flew out of nowhere to decimate a horde of demons.”
“But they’re–”
“Do you two ever shut the fuck up?” Miles snapped. Cal’s brows were furrowed as he looked at his brother.
A disbelieving laugh left Nell’s mouth as she shot Miles a sidelong glance. “You’re particularly pleasant this morning, Lieutenant.”
Miles remained silent, his eyes somewhere far over the horizon. “I’m just tired.”
We walked in silence out on to the plain, Miles’ rage hanging in the air as Taitha’s skyline grew smaller and smaller behind us. When I felt like we were far enough outside the city to avoid causing more chaos and panic, my steps slowed, and I turned to face the group.
“Okay,” I said. “I have no idea if this is going to work. But this idea is all I have.”
“All you can do is try,” Cal answered, his lips upturned in the ghost of an encouraging smile.
I inhaled deeply through my nose, filling my ribcage with the crisp morning air, hoping it would somehow connect me to some ancient, otherworldly magic and carry my will straight to wherever the hell the drivas went after Eserene.
I closed my eyes, flexed my hands at my side.
Please. I tunneled into the same feeling I had in the Darkness Beyond, when I wished to be anywhere but there, same as when we left Heaven and found our way to the Sanguilite’s Realm .
Nothing felt special or different. I was simply standing amidst a massive expanse of open land, hoping for a fucking miracle.
I opened my eyes to see Nell, Whit, Miles, and Cal all staring at me with expectant faces. My gaze moved back to the gray-white sky, flitting over the horizon as I turned in place.
“Do you think they heard her?” Whit asked out of the corner of his mouth.
“Give them a minute,” Nell scolded, smacking his shoulder.
I held my breath. The plains were nearly silent. The only sound was the rustling of the grass in the slight breeze. Please , I prayed silently. Please .
All I received in response was a silent stillness that settled within me, aching with disappointment.
Defeat pulled my shoulders down. I’m not sure what exactly had summoned them to Eserene during the battle. Perhaps it had been Katia. She must’ve sensed what was happening and sent them to aid us, somehow.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, the weight of this monumental failure pressing in on me from all sides. “I guess we’ll be sailing across the Widow’s Sea. I don’t see any other option.”
“It’s okay,” Cal said, his hand closing over my waist.
“Yeah. We’ll make it work,” Nell added with a smile that looked genuine but I knew couldn’t be.
But all of us whipped our heads upwards when a screech echoed over the plains, and a driva broke through the clouds.
“Oh, thank the fucking Saints,” I whispered to myself, closing my eyes as four more silhouettes materialized amid the gray sky.
“You did it,” Cal murmured in my ear, his hand pressing into my lower back.