Chapter 49 Fate Sealed
Wren placed Castien’s letter in her desk drawer where she kept her collection of them. From behind her, she could feel Blossom’s anxiety itching like ivy. Wren turned and watched as her maid pulled a coat out of the wardrobe and laid it upon the bed.
“Blossom, I will be all right,” Wren reassured her. “Castien won’t let anything happen to me.”
The maid fretted with the corner of her apron.
Wren told her that she’d be leaving this evening.
She’d even told her about the tunnels. Many other servants whose employers were in the Order knew about them, so it was just as well that Blossom did.
The knowledge would also be necessary in case something did go wrong.
Though Wren doubted that. Castien was more than capable of defending against an attack.
“I have always supported your decisions, Lady Kalyxi, but I must say I do not know that this is the wisest one. What if you come across someone before you’re with Prince Valengard?”
Wren walked over and patted Blossom on the shoulder.
“Breathe, dear Blossom. I will be just fine. Castien will be waiting for me at the entrance. I won’t be alone except for while I am in the drawing room.”
Of course, he hadn’t said that. He’d asked her to meet him farther into the tunnels, but Wren felt certain that was a mistake.
“Perhaps you could bring your dagger,” Blossom suggested. “Just in case.”
Wren smiled. “If it will bring you peace of mind, I will gladly carry it with me.”
Blossom hurried to retrieve the belt and blade. She helped Wren fasten it around her waist over the academy uniform she had donned today. Once secured, Wren pulled on her coat overtop it.
“Now, I must be going. I don’t want to make him wait.”
Blossom nodded, her fear still bubbling.
“Why don’t you call for tea while I’m gone? You can say it’s for me, and then enjoy it by the fire. Take one of my books, too. Rest,” Wren said gently.
“Yes, my lady,” Blossom replied with a curtsy.
Wren sighed. There was no use in trying to calm an anxious creature.
She likely wouldn’t rest until Wren was back in her chambers.
Wren appreciated the care but hated that the maid lived in a perpetually fearful state.
Perhaps once the semester was over, Blossom could enjoy a break.
Her time on the Whispering Isle would pay for time away, as all servants were compensated significantly for the time away from their families.
“I will be back in a few hours—no more than three, I should think,” Wren told her as she walked to the door. “Have a nice evening, Blossom.”
“Be safe, Lady Kalyxi,” she replied.
Wren slipped into the dim hallway. The majority of the guards were placed outside of the buildings, with the exception of one or two that protected the inside of the house. Wren hoped that she didn’t come across one of those, but she had a lie prepared if she did.
The foyer was dark when Wren made it to the end of the hall.
She peeked around the corner, her heart jumping when she noticed a female guard climbing the stairs.
The woman was likely making her rounds of the house.
Wren stepped back into the shadowed hallway and waited.
Once she was certain the guard was upstairs, she crept into the foyer and to the drawing room.
Her breath caught when the door creaked as she pushed it open. Every muscle in Wren’s body was tense. She shut the door behind her and blinked to adjust her vision in the dark.
Not wasting any time, Wren pulled on the book that opened the secret door and slipped into the small sitting room beyond it.
She opened the latch and peered down. There was a torch but nothing else.
Wren frowned. Had Castien actually meant for her to traverse the tunnels alone?
He’d seemed so adamant for her to stay in her chambers that she thought surely he would be waiting to escort her.
The last time she’d gone down alone, she’d found Alysia’s body.
Castien had sounded so distressed in his letter.
Perhaps he wasn’t thinking clearly. Wren doubted that he had slept since they found Perci.
He needed her. She could brave the tunnels in order to comfort him.
He’d do the same and more for her. Wren carefully made her way down the ladder, barely remembering to shut the trapdoor behind her.
Darkness pounced on her like a cryptura on its prey. Her slippered feet were noiseless as she landed on the ground below. She recalled the path she had taken to the party where she was introduced to the Order. Castien had guided her that night, but she could remember most of it.
Wren walked quickly, her heart hammering in her chest. Each noise made her shoulders jump up to her ears.
Every step brought her back to that dreadful night when she’d been cold and scared and lost. So much had changed since then, but the state of the tunnels was the same.
Wren folded her arms over her chest in an attempt to warm her hands.
Her breath puffed a small white cloud in front of her.
She hoped that neither she nor Castien would get Tidesick.
The last thing they needed in the midst of this chaos was to fall ill.
Perhaps Castien had thought ahead to call for tea.
Though if he hadn’t thought to meet her at the entrance, she doubted he would have tea service brought down.
Such behavior was odd for him. Even in his most distressed moments, he was attentive.
Details were his specialty—it was how he worked, how his Gift operated.
Wren turned a corner and froze as she was hit with a whirlpool of emotion.
Anger. Excitement. Grief. Joy.
Her senses became muddied like a river after someone kicked up sediment. This was not right. Wren knew Castien. Never had he felt like this. Wren’s heart dropped to her stomach. Was someone else down here? Had they taken Castien? Hurt him?
Footsteps echoed through the halls. Wren didn’t know what to do.
Her body was frozen with indecision and fear.
If someone had Castien, she needed to help him, but whoever had him must be someone she would be no match for.
She needed help. A figure rounded the corner at the other end of the hall. Wren turned on her heel and bolted.
She only made it a few steps before her foot caught on her dress and sent her tumbling painfully to the ground. A soft cry escaped her.
“I wouldn’t run. I am faster,” a familiar voice spoke from behind Wren.
Cold dread mixed with painful shock. Wren scrambled to get to her feet again. She whipped around, tears stinging her eyes.
“Cyprus?”
The man she once considered a friend stood a few steps away, cloaked in black. He took a step forward, and the dagger in his hand glinted in the torchlight. Wren took a step back.
“A part of me was hoping you wouldn’t show,” he said on a sigh. “I thought you were smarter than that. Falling for him?” Cyprus shook his head, disgust flooding Wren’s mouth like bile.
“Where’s Castien?” Wren asked, her throat tight. “What have you done with him?”
He leaned against the wall beneath the torch as though they were discussing class or the weather.
“I imagine he’s busy trying to piece together the puzzle I left for him. Great strategist that he is, you’d think he would have figured it out by now.”
Wren’s brow furrowed. “But his letter—”
“Was written by Adalin,” Cyprus filled in. “Her Gift is rather useful. Shame she won’t get to use it anymore. Would have gone far, I imagine.”
Panic clamped down on Wren’s throat. That’s why the letter was different from the ones Castien had written in the past. Adalin had only been able to forge his handwriting, not the rest. He’d used her and then killed her.
Wren glanced to the side, wondering if she could outrun him if she distracted him somehow. She had to get away. Had to find help.
“Don’t,” Cyprus warned. “I do not plan on hurting you, but if you force my hand, I will.”
“If you don’t want to kill me, then why am I down here?” Wren asked, a shiver shaking her body.
Excitement jolted through Wren. His emotions made her sick.
“Because I want to save you, Wren. You’ve gotten caught up in their spell. But they’re all power-hungry monsters. That’s not like you—I know it. You’re not like the others.”
Wren shook her head.
“I don’t understand.”
She wanted to scream but used all her willpower to remain calm. If she set him off, there’s no telling what would happen.
“Castien runs the academy. Soon, if we don’t put a stop to it, he’ll run the Lucent Enclave and then the Seven Havens.
And why? Because he has some special Gift?
Because he was born into royalty?” Cyprus sneered.
“He steps on those lower than him and thinks he’s better than everyone, but he didn’t earn anything. ”
His speech sounded eerily similar to Soren’s. But what Cyprus and Soren didn’t understand was that Castien worked himself to the brink to hone his Gift and bore the weight of his legacy like shackles. He had advantages, but they didn’t come without a cost.
“Is that why you killed everyone? To hurt him?” Wren asked in a broken voice.
“First, you should know I didn’t kill Heron,” Cyprus said, holding up a hand as if his statement would placate her in some way.
“Your brother was a good man, Wren. He didn’t think like the rest of them.
His death did help make my puzzle all the more interesting, though. I think he would have approved.”
Fury like none she had ever known rose up within her. And it didn’t belong to Cyprus. She lost control.
“Don’t you dare speak of him! He would never have approved of killing innocent people.”
“Innocent?” Cyprus let out a dark laugh. His emotions were suffocating. “Not one of them was innocent. They all wanted to climb to the top, to use their Gifts and their money to rise while the rest of us worked for scraps.”
He began to pace from left to right.
“You don’t understand because they’ve brainwashed you.
Finn probably helped with his insidious charm,” Cyprus spat.
“They’ve manipulated you into thinking they’re all perfect.
But I’ve shown that even Prince Valengard has his limits.
His Gift was unable to decipher the riddle I laid out especially for him.
I took down the people he used one by one all while he scrambled to figure it out. ”
“You killed all of them to prove you were better than him?” Wren asked, incapable of keeping the derision out of her voice.
Cyprus halted and turned a chilling glare upon her.
“Yes.” He took a step forward. “My parents didn’t take me to the Tides after I was born. I don’t have a foolish Gift to rely on. I worked for everything I have, and it’s never enough. I’m sick of it! Why should Castien be High Inquisitor and not me? I’m superior to him in every way.”
Another step. Wren wanted to move away, but she was terrified that he’d use the dagger in his hand if she did.
“Every person I killed was a symbol of how inept Castien truly is. How incompetent they all are. But I have faith in you, Wren.” His eyes flashed in the dark. “You are kind, and your Gift isn’t something that you rely on to get ahead.”
Wren was never more grateful that her brother had convinced her to keep her Gift a secret. She swallowed her fears and mustered up the courage to speak.
“You say you want to save me, but I don’t know what you mean. Do you wish for me to break off my betrothal?” Wren asked.
Cyprus’s smile made Wren’s heart drop to her stomach.
“No, something much better than that.” He took another step forward. If he reached out, he would touch her. Wren felt herself start to shake. “I’m going to kill Castien. And you’re going to help me.”