Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
Aleksander
It had been nearly an hour since the moment in the loft, and Nova still had not returned from her alleged tour with Kaelen.
Not that I was counting the minutes.
But something didn’t feel right.
“Why don’t we just go look for her?” Zayn suggested. Again. And again, Rowen and Farren agreed with him.
Still, I didn’t move.
“She’s capable of taking care of herself,” I said, my voice low so as to avoid waking Red, who had curled up against my side minutes ago and promptly fallen asleep. I had no idea why this child insisted on clinging to me, but it was the least of my concerns. At least she was being calm and quiet.
“We don’t have any idea what the princess is really capable of, though, do we?” Rowen pointed out.
“I believe she’s capable enough to deal with the likes of Kaelen, should he attempt anything,” I replied.
And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking of the moment last night, when I’d spotted her sinking below the dark water of Lake Nyras. The panic that had gripped me, and the… fear .
I’d actually been afraid.
Not an emotion I often experienced. Especially not for the sake of someone else.
But of course I was afraid to lose her; she was my shield against the deadly energies of this realm, and our potential ticket out of this hell. When I considered her usefulness to me, I had to admit that Zayn and the others had a point: She’d been gone too long. We were playing with fire, letting her out of our sight. What if she was off with Kaelen concocting some elaborate plan to leave us behind to fend for ourselves?
I was still weighing the pros and cons of tracking her down when Thalia stepped into the courtyard where we sat. Her expression was distracted. Her hands fiddled restlessly with the gems adorning her staff, and she startled as she drew near to us, as though she’d just noticed us sitting there.
“…Where is Nova?” she asked.
“The question of the hour, it seems,” Zayn replied with a yawn. “But from what I’ve gathered, this dumbass made her mad—” he jerked his head toward me “—and she retaliated by running away with Kaelen so they could start a new life together that didn’t involve arrogant kings and other annoying things.”
“That’s not exactly how it happened,” I said dryly.
Thalia gripped her staff more tightly. “She’s with Kaelen?”
“We assume,” said Rowen.
The necromancer woman rarely showed any sort of strong emotion; I liked that about her, generally speaking. But it was frustrating to not be able to get a read on her now. What did she know about this Kaelen character that she wasn’t telling us?
I decided to be blunt. “I overheard you arguing with him earlier. What was that about?”
She fixed her still-unreadable gaze on me, and simply said, “Nova.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. “What about her?”
A pause, and then she averted her eyes as she finally said, “She’s more than she seems. I had my suspicions about her, but nothing definite in my mind until I saw what the two of you did at Lake Nyras. And even now, there are still a lot of questions…”
“What do you mean by suspicions ?” I asked. “And why haven’t you mentioned anything about them before now?”
She didn’t reply, instead returning to her task of assessing and adjusting her staff’s gems.
Farren and Rowen tensed and sat up straighter, their fingers dancing over the hilts of their sheathed swords.
Zayn rose from the chair he’d been carelessly lounging in. He was still smiling as he stepped toward Thalia, as per usual, but this was the sharp, slightly feral smile that usually came before he pounced on an unsuspecting victim. “I think we’ve all had enough of your half-truths and evasive answers to things.”
“I’m taking you to better answers,” she insisted, leveling a glare on him. “But there were things I needed to arrange, first—and none of those things can be spoken of in any detail as long as we’re here.” She lifted her chin. “If it makes you feel any better, that’s what Kaelen and I were arguing about as well—my half-truths and evasive answers . I wouldn’t tell him everything he wanted to know. Which is why I’m sure he plans to keep Nova here as long as he can, to bleed what truths he can from her.” She fixed me with a hard stare. “And you shouldn’t have let her out of your sight.”
“I am not her bodyguard,” I growled, despite the uneasiness the words caused me.
I wasn’t responsible for her.
But I couldn’t deny the regret and concern settling heavily in my chest.
I shouldn’t have let her go.
I stood, carefully slipping out of my coat and sliding it underneath Red’s head to keep her from waking. Pacing the yard, I tried to come up with a rational next move. It had been a well-honed skill of mine, once upon a time—the ability to make plans in the face of any disruption or danger. But now…
I felt unbalanced.
Even when she wasn’t close to me, her infuriating chaos persisted.
Farren started to offer up a plan, only to be interrupted by a low growl as Nova’s ghostly dog rose to his feet. The beast sniffed the air, his body rippling with dark energy, the solid form underneath growing more and more fluid. The distress rolling off him was palpable. The heaviness in my chest grew worse as I watched him, wishing I shared Nova’s ability to hear his thoughts.
He stayed in his dog-like form but grew larger, his chest rumbling with another restless growl. His pale eyes shifted in my direction, staring without blinking, as if trying to force whatever he needed to say directly into my mind.
“…Something’s happened to her, hasn’t it?”
He let out a low whine.
In the same moment, the flames in the torches along the manor’s face began to flicker, to dance and fluctuate and eventually flare brighter.
Thalia stared at the flames, wincing at their brightness, her face finally betraying a hint of emotion— fear .
“What does that mean?” I demanded.
She took a deep breath, as though preparing to plunge into deep water. “It means go grab your things. Quickly. We need to find Nova and get away from this place. Now .”
While Rowen and Farren collected our belongings and followed Thalia out of the city, Zayn and I made our way through the manor’s grounds, scrambling to keep up with Phantom as he tracked his master down.
Thalia had taken Red with her, instructing us to meet them at the northern gate of the city. She’d given us hasty directions, an even more hastily-drawn map, and we’d parted ways before anybody could second-guess our escape plans.
The sky was the color of dark rust. The air smelled like the smoke wafting off the blue flames all around us, and it seemed to sizzle with something volatile. I pressed against a rough stone wall of the manor’s dead gardens, watching shadows flicker and warp in the light of the shifting fires—fires that were suddenly brighter, just as they had been in the courtyard.
“Is it just me,” I began as Zayn caught up to me, “or does every damn day in this realm somehow end up worse than the last?”
“We’ve made our way through more dire things than this, surely,” he said.
Ever the fucking optimist.
“Have we, though?”
“All this sneaking around actually reminds me a bit of home.”
“How could it possibly make you think of home?”
“The countless times I snuck my way out of whatever boring duties they tried to saddle me with…this labyrinth around us reminds me a bit of the gardens in the Graystone District, even. Don’t you recall any of our late-night escapades into the seedier sections of Solaryn?”
“You forget: I didn’t accompany you on most of your clandestine adventures in the royal city.”
“Ah, that’s right—you were the grumpy, boring one who stayed home.”
“I was the responsible one,” I corrected, “with a hundred eyes on me at any given time. Your house was much easier to sneak out of.”
“Well, that’s true enough, I suppose.”
“But I’m glad I could keep all the attention on me so you could live your life of debauchery to the fullest.”
“Many thanks for that, by the way,” he said, grinning.
“Don’t mention it.”
He continued to quietly reminiscence about the life he’d left behind. I only half-listened—just enough to distract myself from the fears trying to rise in me. It wasn’t that I’d had no taste for questionable adventures and breaking rules back home; it had merely been impossible for me to partake without severe consequences—the reality of being the heir to a throne held by a king and queen not expected to live to see their only son grow into adulthood.
As far as anyone knew, my mother had perished in a riding accident, and my father had taken his life soon after. That was the story long ago decided upon, scripted, and eventually performed to perfection.
The truth was far more complicated. But, in short, they had been sick for a long time before their deaths. So I had been raised with the expectation that I would have to take over the rule of my kingdom at any time—and the Keepers of Light had been cruel, strict masters while preparing me for that inevitable rule.
Or what I’d thought was an inevitable rule, at least.
Clearly, plans had changed.
Phantom let out a sharp bark, urging us toward him. I gave my head a determined shake. None of our memories or plans would matter for much longer if we didn’t find Nova and get the hell out of this place.
Her dog continued to lead the way. I followed closely, even as he radiated waves of cold, unsettling energy; I was getting more used to the chill of Nova’s magic—and to her beast’s magic by extension, I supposed.
I needed to keep close, too, because the farther we ventured through the dead gardens, the thicker the smoke in the air became. A strange fog was settling as well, making matters even worse. Every now and then, we’d catch a glimpse of blue among the smog—a flame flickering. Sometimes stationary. Other times, carried by wraiths careening wildly past us, racing recklessly toward some unknown target.
They all seemed to be converging in the same general direction we were traveling in, and soon, we stumbled upon an entire, organized line of them.
Phantom tore directly forward, the billowing, ghastly cold energy rushing out from him and causing a brief panic, creating an opening as the wraiths scattered.
And there, on the other side of their broken line, we finally spotted Nova.
She was eerily still, standing with her head bowed, shadows coiling and snapping around her body like living, protective snakes. Several limp wraiths were scattered across the ground at her feet. The ones who remained upright kept a wide berth, even as they calmed and fell back into a somewhat organized line. They watched her intently, hungrily, but didn’t dare approach.
I didn’t blame them.
I had no idea what Nova had done to the lifeless beings on the ground, but looking at her now…
My heart skipped several beats.
She was terrifyingly brilliant, her shadows sharp and shining with energy and casting her in an unearthly glow, making her look every bit like a goddess of chaos and death.
Except she was also… bleeding .
A reminder of her mortality pooled heavily beside her. Her sleeve was soaked in the same crimson dampness. And as I drew closer, I noticed her face was even more pale than usual; she was so obviously drained of energy that I had no idea how she was still managing to stand up.
A strange heat shot through my gut, incinerating the fear I’d felt, leaving space for something far darker to rise up. Something far more violent . My gaze swept around the area, searching for the one who had done this to her.
Where was Kaelen?
Where the fuck was Kaelen?
“This doesn’t look good,” muttered Zayn, unnecessarily.
While he stared at the blood-soaked ground, I rushed forward—
Only to slow just out of Nova’s reach, remembering the last time I’d charged at her while those solid shadows were snaking around her body. I wondered, briefly, if there was an even deeper hell than the one we currently stood in. If her shadows might send me crashing down into it if I made another wrong move.
But then she let out a small gasp—one laced with pain—and I no longer thought of the danger I might have been putting myself in. I raced forward without hesitation, placing my hands on her hips, steadying her.
Her shadows rattled with renewed awareness, and cold enveloped us both. Reflexively, I summoned light to my hands to counter the chill—just enough warmth to create balance.
She blinked. Lifted her head. Blinked again, trying to focus on my face. A flicker of recognition brightened her eyes after a brief struggle. Relief washed over her, the tension slipping from her shoulders…but without that tension, she didn’t seem to be able to keep upright any longer, and her legs crumpled underneath her.
I caught her as she fell, doing my best to avoid the wound on her shoulder. It looked deep.
How much blood had she already lost?
Carefully, I picked her up. Her shadows shifted into less solid versions, easing away as if they somehow realized I meant her no harm. She was still blinking rapidly, drifting in and out of awareness, as she tilted her gaze toward mine. “You’re here.” Disbelief clung to the words. “You…you came for me. Again.”
I gathered her more completely against my chest, my eyes still searching for Kaelen as I said, “Yes. We’re stuck together, I’m afraid.”
I glanced down just long enough to see the beginning of a wry smile twitching her lips. She faded again before it could fully take hold, burying her face against me. Shaking her and calling her name failed to wake her.
Muttering curses, I steadied myself under her weight and turned back toward the line of wraiths I’d crashed through a moment ago.
They were moving toward Nova without fear, now that her shadows had eased into less solid versions. They seemed drawn to those safer, wispier versions of her power, in fact.
A particularly large one shoved its way to the front, rushing to within mere feet of me before stopping. His lips parted, revealing a black abyss of a mouth that contorted gruesomely as he hissed, “ Give her back to us .”
“No.”
“ She belongs to us.”
“The fuck she does.”
His hiss was unintelligible, this time, as he lifted a small metal lantern toward me. A blue flame burned within, and I watched as it seemed to suck in the wisps of Nova’s shadows and grow brighter with the effort.
So it wasn’t merely blood loss; they were draining her of her magic, too.
Fury brought my hand forward. Jagged cracks of light glowed down my arm before lifting from my skin, gathering into a swift dagger of energy that knocked the lantern from the wraith’s hand. He fell to the ground, chasing after it. I aimed another javelin of light into his back. The air crackled with a scent similar to rotting and burning flesh as he writhed about in pure, obvious agony.
It made little difference—several more simply appeared to take his place.
I shifted Nova’s weight in my arms as I dodged clawing hands and knocked away more receptacles full of flames.
Phantom bounded to my side, a frigid burst of energy accompanying his approach, driving several of the wraiths backward.
I felt a surge of warmth behind me and twisted around to see Zayn stepping between me and another line of the approaching fiends. Light magic sparked around him, feeding off what I’d already summoned. He’d withdrawn his sword as well. As one of the wraiths charged, he swung, gathering light to the sword in the same motion. It sliced cleanly through the wraith’s neck, severing its head and sending it flying.
“Still solid enough to lose their heads, as it turns out,” he said to me, while flashing a taunting smile at the other wraiths, who were now hesitating. “I’ve been wanting to test that theory.”
“Keep gathering evidence for that theory, why don’t you?” I said, twisting to avoid an attempted sneak attack.
Zayn gave me a little bow, accepting the challenge in one instant and spinning to slice his sword through my attacker’s neck in the very next.
Phantom took up the challenge as well, slashing and ripping his way through the swarming wraiths for several minutes, trying to clear a path so I could carry Nova away from them. But it was hopeless; there were simply too many.
“We need a different plan,” I growled, catching a wrist as yet another fist swung my way, and finishing my counterattack with a burst of blinding Light magic that sent the wraith stumbling backward, shrieking as it went.
I wasn’t certain Phantom could understand me the way he could understand Nova, but in the next moment, he was shifting his form.
When he finished, he resembled the beastly stallion Thalia rode—aside from his head, which was more dragon-shaped than equine-shaped. He snapped that head toward me, his gaze burning and expectant.
Understanding, I carried Nova toward him, hoisting her onto his back as he kneeled down.
She woke enough to clutch at the dark strands of his mane, but her grip was feeble, her balance still off; I had no choice but to swing up behind her to continue to steady her—a move that earned me a haughty snort from Phantom. He seemed to understand the necessity of it, though, and managed to refrain from tossing me to the ground.
I hesitated, glancing over my shoulder in search of my cousin.
Our eyes met through a haze of smoke and magic just as he finished beheading another wraith. He seemed to be enjoying himself entirely too much, given the circumstances.
“I’ll catch up!” he assured me.
Before I could protest, Phantom’s muscles coiled with power and he lunged forward, knocking several bodies aside as he went. It cleared a wide enough path for Zayn to follow, at least—though I worried he wouldn’t be able to keep up.
We moved too fast for me to look back again, either way.
The city blurred around us. I kept one hand tightly woven into Phantom’s mane, while my other arm circled Nova’s waist. I tried to keep her from being jostled too much, though this was mostly in vain; every rough step or sharp turn drew whimpers of pain from her. The sound of them undid me in ways I wasn’t prepared for—ways I wouldn’t take the time to wonder about now.
Rowen and Farren met us at the northern gate, as planned. Rowen held the reins of Uldrin, Thalia’s stallion. Red was clinging to the back of that massive beast, wide-eyed and trembling.
Despite myself, I exhaled a small sigh of relief to see her safe.
Nova seemed aware enough to keep her balance for a moment, so I slipped from Phantom’s back and strode toward my soldiers.
“Where is Thalia?” I demanded.
“We’re not sure,” Farren informed me with an uncertain frown. “She disappeared shortly after bringing us here and speaking with the guards at the gate.”
I sized up that gate, wondering how the hell we were going to get through it.
Not that I was leaving yet—not without my foolish cousin.
I was a moment away from racing back into the city to find him when, finally, he appeared, racing down the street with his usual foolish, cocky grin on his face.
He wasn’t alone.
No less than two dozen wraiths were chasing him. He was well ahead of them, but they were closing the distance at an alarming rate.
My hand gripped the hilt of my sword, but I didn’t draw it out. How many more enemies would follow? We couldn’t behead the entire city. We were outnumbered, with no time to keep up this aimless butchering.
Phantom was pacing restlessly, sizing up the gate as I had done, looking as if he was considering trying to jump over it.
He understood as well as I did: Nova needed treatment. She needed out of this city.
Jagged lines of light split across my skin once more, as if in response to this thinking. I still had no real plan, but I embraced my magic and the thoughts that had summoned it. Thoughts of healing her. Protecting her. The light expanded, the bolts of it crackling out toward the approaching mob of wraiths just as Zayn raced to relative safety behind me.
Before I realized what I was doing, I was following the path of those bolts, walking directly toward our enemies.
Though she remained barely conscious, Nova’s shadows lifted and chased after me, the threads of her magic weaving around mine and giving it more weight. My steps, too, felt heavier, more purposeful.
I inhaled, breathing in the greater power building in the air all around me. But before I could wield a single scrap of that power, Thalia seemed to appear out of nowhere, grabbing my arm and roughly jerking me to a stop. “ Don’t .”
I shot her a furious look, but stayed my hand and my magic—for the moment. “What do you mean, don’t ?”
“If you two summon any sort of magic like you did on Lake Nyras’s shore, it will draw the entire city down upon us. Every wraith in here will come to try and take it for themselves—you can’t unleash something so powerful, something you have so little control of, within this desperate place. It will lead to pandemonium.”
“Then what are we—”
She shoved me back toward Nova. “Just take her and run. I’ll be right behind you, along with your soldiers. There’s help waiting on the other side of this city.”
“Help?”
“I told you: I’ve been arranging things.”
Skepticism flooded through me, rooting me to the spot.
But then, what was our alternative?
I looked back to Nova. Her shadows were still drifting, circling around her with what seemed like a conscious anticipation; she was upright and balanced, yet her eyes were closed, her head bowed just as it had been when I’d found her earlier.
“I’ve already paid off the guards, too,” Thalia urged, waving me toward Nova. “Go before they decide to cheat us out of our exit. Run straight for the gate and trust that it will open. Now !”
Zayn was already swinging himself into the saddle of Thalia’s horse and securing Red in front of him.
Seeing no better options, I backed quickly toward Phantom and followed Zayn’s lead, hoisting myself up and pulling Nova against me once more.
My pulse pounded against her back as I threw one last glance over my shoulder. It all felt… unfinished . Too many questions unanswered. Too much magic lingering in the air. Too many possibilities unmet. But my mind was made up; I had no intention of dying here.
The gates creaked open.
We raced through without hesitation, the city and its monsters howling at our backs, all its blue flames flickering desperately against the deepening night.