Chapter 51 At Fault
Wren’s heart thrashed in her chest. If she messed this up, Cyprus would kill her.
She blinked away her tears and met Castien’s gaze.
In his eyes she saw all the love he had for her.
Wren felt his adoration rise above Cyprus’s storm of emotions.
There was no question of his confidence in her abilities.
Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right.
She drew in a deep breath. Cyprus had given her enough room to grab her dagger with her left hand.
If she didn’t move quickly, the opportunity would slip through her fingertips.
All of her past lessons with Castien and Kierana flashed through her mind.
It was terrifying to consider putting them to use, but if it meant saving Castien, she would.
“I am going to enjoy watching the life leave your eyes. I wonder if you’ll bleed as much as your little engineer did.”
Cyprus’s words erased any last semblance of hesitation in Wren’s mind.
She twirled the dagger the way Castien had taught so the tip faced Cyprus’s ribcage.
Then with as much force as she could muster, she stabbed him.
He cried out in pain, and his grip went slack.
Castien was off his knees in an instant.
Wren pushed against Cyprus’s arm with the blade and scrambled away.
She whipped back around in time to see Castien disarm Cyprus in one swift movement.
A guttural scream echoed through the tunnels as Cyprus ripped Wren’s dagger from his side, then faced Castien down with the blade lifted.
His chest heaved, and blood poured out of his side.
Emotions tore at Wren like a whipping wind.
“You can kill me, but it won’t bring your friends back,” Cyprus coughed. “They suffered and now they’ll rot because you weren’t smart enough to figure it out. Not even your Gift could save them.”
Castien didn’t reply. He closed in on injured Cyprus with lethal ease.
The dagger he wielded sliced through the air and swiped at Cyprus’s chest. Cyprus tried to defend himself against the attack, but he faltered, and Castien sank the blade into his stomach next.
Cyprus dropped Wren’s dagger, then fell to his knees.
He clutched his wound, but the venomous anger didn’t abandon his expression.
“Do you want to know what Percilean said before he died? He beg—”
Finn materialized out of the shadows. His sword flashed in the firelight before it slid across Cyprus’s throat. Red splattered the floor and nearby wall. The monster made one last choking sound before he collapsed. Wren’s stomach churned at the startling amount of blood that pooled around Cyprus.
Silence filled the tunnels. Wren felt every emotion of the two cousins. Anger gave way to reluctant triumph. They had won. The killer was gone.
Castien dropped the dagger he had been wielding, and it clattered to the ground. He turned and rushed to Wren, wrapping her up in his arms. A relieved sob tore through her chest. She clung to him.
“You’re okay.” Castien consoled her. “It’s all over now. You did well.”
“I-I thought—” Wren cried.
She’d thought he might die. Wren had barely endured the loss of her brother.
If she would have watched Castien die, there would have been no hope of recovering.
He was as much a part of her as her Gift.
Threaded into the tapestry of her very soul.
To lose him would be to lose herself. She’d be a hollowed out husk.
Castien’s voice was thick with emotion when he replied, “I know, dearest, I know. But it’s over, and we’re both safe. I’ve got you.” He kissed the crown of her head.
Wren tipped her head back to look up at Castien.
She couldn’t believe it. Since she’d arrived on the island, it seemed as though there was always something hanging over them.
Their brief moment of sunshine had been ripped away with Perci’s death.
She had no illusion that Cyprus’s death would turn their grief into joy.
Soren and Ambrose’s execution hadn’t taken away the pain of Heron’s loss.
But now that they were safe, they’d have space to breathe. To heal.
She placed a hand on Castien’s tear-soaked face. He gave her a tremulous smile. Wren pushed up on her tiptoes and kissed the corner of his mouth. Castien’s eyes fell shut. Love and adoration surrounded her. It felt as if she’d sunk into a warm bath after a long day of labor.
“As much as I enjoy watching you two be disgustingly in love, we should probably figure out what to do with this.” Finn pushed Cyprus’s body with his boot.
Castien’s grip tightened on Wren for a moment before releasing her altogether. They would have time for rest and healing later. For now, they needed to figure out what to do next. Wren recalled a detail that might affect their plans.
“He killed Adalin,” she said.
Finn’s eyes went wide, but Castien merely nodded. Wren could see him piecing it all together.
“He used her to write the letter to you, then killed her. Adalin was eager to climb the ranks of society. It probably didn’t take much convincing for her to meet Cyprus since he was a member of the Order and positioned closely to us.”
“So her body might be down here too,” Finn theorized.
“It’s highly likely,” Castien replied, his eyes falling to Cyprus’s body.
Wren couldn’t bear looking at it. She had watched him die; that was enough to haunt her for years to come.
Castien must have noticed her avoidance because he suggested, “Let’s go to my study to regroup. We can talk through a plan.”
Finn wearily nodded his agreement. Castien took Wren’s hand and guided her in the direction opposite of Cyprus’s body.
Their footsteps echoed through the tunnels.
Exhaustion began to set in. Wren suspected it was the same for Castien and Finn.
The adrenaline of the moment had dissipated, leaving them slow moving and tired.
After what felt like a long walk, they arrived at the door to Castien’s study.
He pulled the key off a ring at his belt and let them inside.
At his insistence, Wren sat in the chair behind Castien’s desk.
Finn flopped into the one opposite of her, while Castien remained standing.
He lit a few candles, but it did nothing to stave off the chill that was setting in.
There was no point in starting a fire, though—not if they would have to be moving again soon.
“There are too many guards around to get Cyprus’s body to the surface unnoticed.” Castien didn’t waste any time to start formulating a plan. “And if Adalin’s remains are down here, too, then that makes our task all the more difficult.”
“Do we really have any other choice?” Finn asked. “It’s either get them aboveground or bring the headmaster down here. If we do the latter, then the Obsidian Order will be discovered.”
Wren said nothing. She had only recently joined the Order. Her allegiance to it was minimal. She would default to Castien, as it meant so much to him.
Castien ran a hand over his mouth.
“Say we bring the headmaster down here,” Castien said slowly.
Finn’s eyebrows shot up, and Wren didn’t conceal her surprise either.
“The tunnels will be exposed, but that doesn’t mean the Order has to be revealed in its entirety.
I can have all of the journals retrieved and hidden.
All we’ll have to tell the headmaster is that there was a group of students that met in the tunnels. ”
“Would she not demand to know everything?” Wren asked.
“She could attempt as much, but she has no leverage. The academy failed every person on the island by not catching the killer. If we lay everything out for her and reveal one of our own secrets to show we’re serious, then there’s not much more she can ask of us.”
Finn shifted in his seat.
“Are you certain this is what you want to do? This would jeopardize so much of what we’ve worked for. Your legacy would be marred. The Order wouldn’t be able to continue as it once did, even if you managed to conceal most of its secrets.”
Wren could feel Castien warring within himself. She didn’t want to push him in any one direction. There was no perfect solution that she could see.
“It’s better for us to give up the tunnels than risk being caught bringing a dead body to the surface,” Castien replied. “Perhaps it is best that the Order doesn’t continue after all. Three of our men were killers.” He shook his head, his shoulders slumped. “There is no honor in preserving that.”
“You know that I’ll do as you wish,” Finn said. “But you need to know it wasn’t your fault, Cas. You couldn’t have predicted any of this.”
Castien tensed. Wren slowly stood and placed a gentle hand on his back.
“He’s right,” she murmured.
Castien shook his head.
“Cas,” Wren whispered. “The only person’s actions you’re responsible for are your own. You cannot carry this guilt. It will consume you.”
She knew better than anyone.
“My faltering caused this to go on longer than it should have,” he said in a pained voice. “Perci is dead because of my failure.”
“Would you blame me for Heron’s actions?” Wren asked, knowing he would understand her meaning.
Castien’s jaw clenched.
“That’s not the same. You were just a child.”
“And you are just a man. One man who cannot bear the weight of the world upon his shoulders, as much as he tries to,” Wren replied softly.
She felt Finn’s worry and pain rise up to meet Castien’s grief and guilt.
“There are things to be done,” Castien said, his voice infused with steel. “We need to get up to the headmaster’s chambers. It may take some time, given the guards’ presence.”
“Would you give us a moment, Finn?” Wren asked her friend.
Finn gave a solemn nod and slipped back into the hallway.
“We don’t have time—”
Wren interrupted Castien by framing his face with her hands.
“I won’t keep you long. I only need one thing from you.”
His brows knit together. She stroked his face with her thumbs.
“Tell me it was not your fault,” she murmured.
Castien’s pain exploded in Wren’s chest. She tried not to wince at the impact.
“I cannot,” he said, his words broken. “For I don’t believe it.”
She mustered up a soft smile. Tears burned her eyes. Tides, she loved him. So much so that she wanted his healing more than her own. If she could take all of his grief away and bear it for him, she would.
“You don’t have to believe it right now. But I want you to say it anyway.”
Agony twisted his features.
“Please, dearest, I-I cannot.”
Wren drew his face down to hers and pressed their foreheads together. Her eyes fluttered shut.
“You can. I know it hurts. I know you think it’s a lie. But you have to start to let go. Then one day, one day you’ll look up and realize that you haven’t thought of it in weeks, maybe months, because you’ll have filled your life with so much light—”
“No,” Castien choked out.
Wren continued to repeat what he told her about her grief for her brother. “That the darkness cannot possibly break through.”
She had memorized those words. Tucked them into a hidden place in her heart to pull out on dark days. Little did she know that she would be giving them back to the man who had gifted them to her.
“It hurts so much,” Castien rasped.
“It’s going to hurt for a long time, but I have faith that it won’t hurt forever. I’ll be with you through every long night. We’ll watch for the dawn together.”
Castien let out a shuddering breath. Wren waited and hoped. He needed this moment. They couldn’t move forward without this step. It was the beginning of cleaning the many wounds Castien carried on his heart.
“This—” His hands settled on Wren’s waist, fingers digging in. “This was not my fault.”
The words were stilted, and Wren knew he didn’t believe a single one to be true. But he tried, and that was what mattered most right then. She pulled his mouth to hers and infused all the love she could muster into a single fierce kiss. Castien clung her to her like an anchor in a storm.
Wren pulled back and whispered, “I am so proud of you.”
“The words didn’t mean anything to me, Wren. I don’t know if they ever will,” he confessed.
She brushed her lips against his. “One day they will.”
“Perhaps years from now,” he said with a heavy sigh.
“We have forever.”