Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
The door creaked open just as we were beginning to relax, the sound of boots dragging across the wooden floor breaking through the stillness of the barracks. Teren entered, his face set in stone, eyes flashing with restrained fury.
“Shit,” Jax muttered, straightening on his bunk. “That’s his pissed-off face.”
I stood from where I’d been sitting near Tae’s bed. “What is it?”
Teren’s gaze jerked to Tae’s still unconscious form. He was breathing steadily with one arm slung over his chest, his brow furrowed even in sleep. “Is he okay?”
“He will be,” I said softly. “He just needs rest.”
Teren exhaled and nodded, then crossed his arms and leaned against the nearest wall like he was about to deliver a blow. “I have a contact in the Varnari.”
That earned a reaction. Naia sat forward quickly, Ferrula froze mid-polish of her blade, and Cordelle looked like he’d swallowed a stormberry whole.
“Don’t ask me who,” Teren warned. “I won’t tell you. But she says Theron… he’s their number two.”
“What?” I breathed.
He nodded. “She thinks Theron plans to rule Warriath, but he has a partner. They are consolidating power to take the rest of the kingdoms.”
“But we aren’t at war with any of the other kingdoms in Earendall,” Naia said, her brows furrowed. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“They’re fractured,” Teren said grimly. “Just like the guilds. My contact says some follow Dorian, some Theron. None of the outer regions is unified anymore. And the Varnari… they’re not just a rogue group anymore. They’re turning into a shadow government.”
Silence settled around us like a heavy cloak.
“If that’s true,” Ferrula said slowly, “then the king wasn’t just poisoned for the throne. He was silenced for resisting the Varnari’s influence.”
“Exactly.”
“Is there any way to substantiate this?” Zander asked, his voice tight with tension.
Teren shook his head. “Not unless we can find out who’s leading the Varnari.”
Remy muttered a curse and stood. “Then we dig until we find them.”
Zander looked at me. This changes everything, he said through our bond.
I nodded. No. It just confirms what we’ve feared all along. Warriath is already at war. The rest of the realm just hasn’t realized it yet.
Ferrula grabbed one of the biscuits from the plate Naia had brought up, tearing a chunk from it with her teeth like it had insulted her. “How do we confirm Theron’s aiding the Varnari?” she asked around a bite. “Do you think we can use him to find their leader?”
“Maybe,” I said. “But first, we should find out who the cloaked woman was. The one giving those Crimson Sigil men their orders. She came from the castle. She’s working with Theron.”
Ferrula coughed once, sharp and sudden, and swallowed. “Maybe it’s his new bride,” she said, brushing crumbs from her shirt. “She’ll be queen when Theron ascends. That’s motivation enough for a woman like her.”
“And what kind of woman is that?” Jax asked, stretching out across the foot of his bunk with a bemused smirk.
Ferrula rolled her eyes. “All window dressing,” she muttered, reaching for the biscuit again.
She didn’t get another bite down.
Ferrula coughed hard—once, then twice—and then her hand went to her throat as her eyes went wide. The biscuit dropped from her fingers and hit the floor with a dull thud.
“Ferr?” Jax was already on his feet, moving fast. “You okay?”
She shook her head, a panicked look overtaking her features. Her breaths were coming in short, ragged gasps. Her lips parted as she tried to suck in air, but the sound was wrong, tight, shallow, desperate.
Zander dashed out of the room as I went to Ferrula’s side. “Zander will get Meri. She will be here in a minute. Just try to take small calming breaths.”
I could see Ferrula trying, but it was as if her throat had closed, or something was blocking her airway. Her skin took on a bluish color before Meri rushed in.
Her hands were glowing as she reached for Ferrula. “She’s choking,” she said quickly. “No. Wait. It’s something else.”
Ferrula’s hand gripped Jax’s arm like a vice as she sank down onto the edge of her bed, her face paling as her throat swelled.
“She’s not choking,” I said, ice forming in my gut. “She’s been poisoned.”
Cordelle bolted for the door. “I’ll get help—”
“No,” Remy barked. “We don’t know who we can trust in the halls.”
“She needs help now,” Naia snapped. “Meri?”
“I’m trying,” Meri said, her voice thin, focused as light pulsed harder from her fingers into Ferrula’s skin. “But this isn’t something I’ve seen before. Whatever it is… it’s fast.”
Zander knelt beside her, his face set in grim lines. “Hold on, Ferr,” he said. “You’re not dying today.”
But Ferrula’s hands were trembling now, her breath rattling through her chest as her eyes rolled.
Ferrula’s body shuddered violently, her lips tinged with blue as her head lolled back against Jax’s chest. He cradled her there, arms locked around her like he could hold her soul inside her skin by sheer will alone.
“Stay with me, Honey,” he whispered, brushing his finger over her clammy forehead. “You hear me? I’m not letting you go. So don’t you dare give up on me.”
Meri’s hands trembled as she pressed her glowing palms to Ferrula’s chest. “This is an aggressive poison,” she said, breath catching. “It’s already in her bloodstream and spreading fast.”
“You’ve got this, Meri,” Tae said from behind her, his voice firm. He was out of bed now, pale and still recovering, but sure on his feet. “Come on. You can do this.”
Cordelle’s face had gone pale. “I’m going to the archives. There’s a book on bloodborne toxins. I saw it last week.” He didn’t wait for permission. Just turned and sprinted out the door, his boots echoing in the hallway.
I knelt beside Meri, fumbling beneath my armor for the vial nestled at my chest. My fingers closed around the cool glass as I yanked it free.
“Give her a drop of this,” I said, thrusting the vial into Meri’s hand.
She didn’t hesitate. Just uncorked the top and tilted the vial, allowing a single glimmering drop of the fae elixir to fall between Ferrula’s parted lips.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Ferrula sucked in a short breath, her body jolting like lightning had kissed her chest. Her limbs stiffened, her back arching, and Meri pressed harder into her sternum as golden light flared.
“I can see it,” Meri murmured. “The poison. It’s disintegrating.”
Her fingers danced faster now, tracing glowing patterns through the air that Ferrula’s body seemed to respond to. The tremors slowed. Her color returned by degrees, flushing her cheeks with a healthy warmth. The tight wheezing gave way to longer, deeper breaths.
Then, sluggishly, Ferrula’s eyelids fluttered open.
“I smell... seaweed,” she croaked.
Jax let out a choked laugh. “That’s likely the elixir.”
Ferrula blinked, then groaned and lay her head back against his chest. “Well… that was dramatic.”
We all exhaled at once.
“She’s stable now,” Meri said, slumping backward onto her heels with sweat streaking down her brow. “But someone tried to kill her. That wasn’t an accident.”
My hand tightened around the elixir, the vial still glowing weakly.
Someone in this castle wanted her dead. And they almost succeeded.
Naia grabbed the plate of biscuits and tossed them in the garbage container. “It could have been any one of us.”
“Or all of us,” I said.
“Someone wants Thrall Squad off the playing field.”
Kaelith’s voice tore through my mind like a thunderclap. Find Kasstovian’s rider. Now. He cannot connect with him.
My heart stopped. Cordelle.
I didn’t wait. My legs were already moving, boots slamming against the stone as I bolted for the door. “Cordelle!” I shouted, panic turning my voice raw.
Zander was right behind me, his Dark Fire already rippling across his arms. Riven cursed under her breath as she overtook me on the Ascension Grounds. Remy’s face had gone pale, but he sprinted beside us without hesitation.
We burst into the castle, storming through the main corridor. We rushed to the archives and I shoved the door open so hard it cracked against the stone wall.
The room appeared empty.
Then I saw it.
A book lay splayed across the floor, open to a page marked with curling script and a vivid illustration of hemlock root. One of the deadliest toxins known to the kingdom.
I dropped to my knees, lifting it. “He found the poison book… he was here.”
“Where is he?” Zander asked, scanning the room like he expected an ambush.
“Cordelle!” I called, louder now, my voice echoing through the stacks. No answer.
We fanned out, weaving between towering shelves, knocking over chairs, books tumbling from the desks.
“Check the corners,” Remy ordered. “He could be unconscious, if they poisoned him—”
“No,” I whispered. He’s not unconscious. He’s gone.
I stepped back to the doorway, clutching the book as I tried to breathe around the rising dread.
Kaelith, can Kasstovian feel him?
Her answer was immediate. A little. He is disoriented. There was a magical severing. It was temporary, but unnatural. This was no illness. It was sabotage.
Zander stood at the opposite end of the archive now, his eyes laced with Dark Fire. “We need to lock the castle down,” he said. “If someone took Cordelle, they did it knowing we’d be too distracted.”
“Two riders attacked in one night,” Remy growled. “And Iron Fang is conveniently on a secret mission.”
Kaelith do you know where the dragons who serve Iron Fang are?
They are just outside Thubia. Theron is looking for Dorian. The squad has orders to bring him back to Warriath unharmed. They had nothing to do with events that transpired at the castle.
I relayed what Kaelith told me to the others.
Riven glanced at me, eyes fierce. “What now?”
I looked down at the poison book again, fingers clenched around the page Cordelle must’ve found before he vanished.
“We hunt,” I said. “We find who did this before they decide they want more of us dead.”