Chapter 40
“Maeve.” Fen’s hands were on me as soon as the cave faded back into view, touching my arms, back, shoulders. “Are you alright?”
I nodded, unable to speak. The Orb sat easily in my hands. It was lighter than I’d expected. It also felt like it was part of me. The light at its center pulsed softly in time with my heartbeat. It made me feel both comforted and vulnerable, as if a vital part of me was now outside of my body.
“You disappeared into a cloud of shadows. I couldn’t get to you or sense if you were okay.” His gaze was frantic and worry permeated our bond.
Tucking the Orb under one arm, I slipped my other around him, burying my face in his chest. The feel of him against me, solid and hard, contrasted with the lightness that filled my chest. When he wrapped his arms around me and breathed into my hair, I let out a small sigh of relief.
This was real. I’d passed the three trials and received the Orb. I had a chance to right the imbalance of the realm.
“You have earned the right to challenge Death for her place.” The Guardian’s voice startled me.
Pulling away, I turned to face them. Fen stood at my back, close enough that my shoulders touched his chest, his hands at my waist, as if he couldn’t bear to be separated from me. I soaked in the contact, not knowing how much more time we had together.
“Go to the Pomegranate Grove,” the Guardian continued. “Use the Orb to summon a new tree to begin the challenge.”
“A tree,” I repeated, making sure I’d heard them right.
“The pomegranate is a symbol of life, fertility, new beginnings and death, through which all things are reborn. It’s why the Orb is shaped as it is.
A true Successor of Death will be able to use it as a seed to bring forth a tree.
Once you’ve done so, Death will be summoned, and the challenge will begin.
It will end when only one of you is left standing. ”
It was what I’d expected, a battle that only one of us would survive, but hearing it confirmed made me shiver.
“You will need witnesses from both castles. At least one from each. They will be protected,” they added when I blanched at the idea of fighting around them. I wouldn’t put it past Death to use them as a shield. Or to simply shred them.
“Does Bea count as coming from Death’s castle?” I asked Fen in a low voice.
“Yes,” the Guardian said, answering my question. Before I could ask anything else, they disappeared in a flash of light.
Well, then.
Fen created a bag with his shadows and offered it to me. I placed the Orb in it and looped it over my head and one shoulder. Then he wordlessly offered me his hand. I took it and we shadow-stepped back to the castle.
* * *
We arrived in Titus’s room in the infirmary, Bea in tow after heading back to our dining room first. The worried look on her face had sent us here.
“How is he?” Fen asked.
“He took a turn for the worse not long after you left,” Marcus said. He stood at the foot of the bed, gazing at Titus with anguished eyes. That more than anything else frightened me. Marcus was always so calm.
Daphne sat in her usual place next to the bed, holding Titus’s hand tightly.
His skin looked noticeably paler, and the black patches covered more of his skin. His chest still rose and fell, but his breathing was labored. Every time he exhaled, I found myself holding my breath until his chest expanded again.
“I don’t understand.” I said. “He’s been stable for so long.”
“Do you think it has to do with the bridge breaking?” Bea asked.
I swallowed, guilt eating at me. He wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for me.
“Does he need anything?” Fen asked.
Daphne shook her head. “The healers have done everything they can. His only hope is…” Her voice broke and she sucked in a breath, trying to keep it together. When her eyes met mine, they were lined with silver.
My chest tightened. Titus’s only hope was for me to become Death so I could heal him but, looking at him, I didn’t know if he’d last that long.
“Did you figure out the third trial?” Daphne asked.
Reaching into the bag at my side, I pulled the Orb out. “I did more than that.” My lips curled in a shy smile at her gasp.
“So, you’re ready to challenge her.” The hope in Daphne’s eyes made my heart ache.
I swallowed and nodded, trying not to flinch as the enormity of the task ahead hit me.
With nothing standing between me and the battle with Death, I could no longer avoid the sinking feeling that I was completely outclassed.
What chance did I have against her when I’d only had my powers for a matter of months? She’d had hers for centuries.
My gaze flitted to Titus, the tightness in my chest spreading to my shoulders and neck. There was so much riding on the outcome. Failure was not an option, but I didn’t know how I could possibly succeed.
“What happens now?” Marcus asked.
“Maeve takes the Orb to the Pomegranate Grove,” Fen said when I couldn’t get my voice to work. “Bea and I will go with her as witnesses. We need one from each castle.”
Bea nodded, like he’d asked her to go for a walk and not witness a battle that would determine the fate of the realms.
A hysterical laugh bubbled in my throat, but I swallowed it back down, determined to keep it together. “What’s the Pomegranate Grove?” I asked instead, tucking the Orb back into the bag at my side.
“It used to be the most sacred spot in the In Between,” Fen said, his voice filled with reverence, and grief. “It was filled with pomegranate trees that connected this place to the World of the Living.”
“Like the one in the convent I came from.” I remembered the one in the cloisters, and how it produced one fruit a year that contained the anchors for the Ritual.
He nodded. “The roots of those are connected to the ones here.”
“You said it used to be the most sacred spot,” Bea said. “What happened to it?”
His expression hardened. “Not long after I ascended, the soil turned bad, like it was being leeched of life. Trees started to wither and die. Overnight, Death transported most of the remaining ones to a greenhouse in her castle, so that the connection with the World of the Living could be maintained.”
Daphne and Marcus looked like they’d tasted something sour.
“Did you take any?” I asked.
“There weren’t many left by the time we realized what she’d done. We salvaged what we could.” Fen’s voice was almost a low growl.
“Do your Orders in the World of the Living have them too?” I asked.
“Yes,” Daphne said. “Though not as many as before. It’s why there are fewer Tempter trainees than Judge trainees.”
I pressed my lips together. Another offense to lay at Death’s feet. “How do we get there?”
“There’s a portal,” Fen said.
Everyone looked at me, their gazes expectant. I resisted the urge to squirm or turn and run. There wasn’t any point in delaying. It was time.
My gaze shifted to Titus once more. A lump formed in my throat as I realized I might never see him conscious again. “Can I have a moment?”
The others nodded, and there was a bit of shuffling as they left the room.
Fen pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “We’ll be right outside.”
I sat heavily in Daphne’s usual chair next to Titus. His hand had a large spot of black on the top, but I gently took it in both of my own like I’d seen Daphne do. So many things crowded on my tongue it took several moments to figure out where to start.
“I miss you.” The words came out as a whisper.
I cleared my throat and tried again. “I know you were just trying to help, but I wish you hadn’t.
My family tried to help me once and they ended up dead.
” An angry flush crept up my neck. “Why did you have to try to be a hero? If you’d stayed away from me, you’d be awake like you should be instead of lying there unconscious.
No one makes dirty jokes to try to make me relax.
I’m a mess. I could really use that right now. ”
My throat tightened and I blinked back tears.
“I made it to the challenge, and now I don’t know if I can win.
” Saying it out loud made the tension in my chest loosen a fraction.
“But I have to or you’ll fade away, and I’ll never get to yell at you for trying to take care of me.
Seriously, who tries to grab a human lighting rod, Titus? What were you thinking?”
With a sniff, I looked down at his hand in mine. “Hold on, okay? If I win and find you’ve faded before I can heal you, I’m going to be so angry.” I wished I had a stronger threat to make, but then I wished a lot of things were different.
Standing, I laid a chaste kiss on his temple and left the room.
The others waited for me in the hallway outside.
“We’re coming with you,” Daphne said, her arm linked with Marcus’s.
My brows rose. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with Titus? Just in case…” I couldn’t bring myself to say “if I lost”, but I thought they’d want to be together.
“He doesn’t know we’re there,” Marcus said. “It won’t make any difference. We’d rather watch you defeat Death.”
Daphne’s chin jutted forward as her jaw set, like she expected me to argue with her.
Part of me didn’t want a bigger audience, but the rest of me was touched by the gesture, so I nodded.
* * *
Fen led us all to a room on the first floor of the castle that I’d never been in before.
It looked like a sanctuary—austere and yet beautiful.
Black marble floors and shadowed walls inlaid with silver; a sunken fountain in the middle with benches surrounding it like people were meant to wash their feet, except it was empty of water.
Silver sconces provided light and warmth.
The portal arch was on the far wall, its shape outlined in silver filigree.
It looked just like the others I’d seen and different from the walls. Like rippling silk instead of cotton.
They let me go through first.