Chapter 16 #2
Zander laughed—sharp, humorless. “You can’t guarantee anything. Not where you’re going.”
The light from the torches flickered against the tension tightening between them. I could practically feel Kaelith’s discontent humming in the back of my mind.
“And if you think her dragon will stay behind with her that close to the enemy?” Zander continued, stepping forward until they were almost chest to chest. “Then you’re lying to yourself.”
Remy’s eyes narrowed. “Katama can mask us long enough to stay out of range—”
“Long enough for what?” Zander barked. “To teleport into the teeth of the Blood Fae and hope she doesn’t erupt into a storm that gets you both killed?”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“No, you don’t,” Zander snapped. “You’ve always used her, now you’re doing it again. Only this time, you’re dressing it up as loyalty.”
Remy flinched at that, just slightly. “This is bigger than any of us.”
Zander’s voice dropped, ice-cold. “Then why does it feel like you are using this mission to get back in her pants?”
I stepped between them, heart hammering. Both dragons were distant, but I could feel the pull of something deeper, territorial, ancient.
And terrifying.
“Enough,” I said, voice low but firm.
“This isn’t helping. Zander, I will go with him and try and get more information on the Blood Fae attacks. The information could help us find the Fae Sanctuary.”
“You are looking for the Fae Sanctuary?” Remy asked.
“Yes. And if you betray my trust again I will…”
“Never speak to me again. I got it, and I won’t.”
“You’re not taking her.”
Zander’s voice cracked across the courtyard like a whip, and the raw panic beneath it struck deeper than any anger could.
Remy didn’t flinch. He reached into his coat, pulled out a scroll sealed with crimson wax, and broke it cleanly in two with a flick of his fingers.
The royal crest shimmered in the torchlight.
“A signed order,” Remy said flatly. “From the king himself.”
Zander’s jaw clenched. His eyes burned like lavender fire in the dark.
“This is reckless. You’re forcing her into enemy airspace, unanchored, and untested.”
“She volunteered.”
“She doesn’t understand what she’s walking into.”
“I do!” I snapped, stepping forward. “This isn’t your call, Zander.”
Zander didn’t look at me. His eyes stayed on Remy, burning, until finally he turned on his heel and walked away, his cloak snapping behind him like a second storm.
The silence left in his wake was heavier than the air before it.
Remy exhaled and turned to me. “You ready?”
I glanced toward the stars creeping over the horizon. The sky was full dark now. No turning back.
“I’m ready.”
He called softly to Katama, and the massive light-green Catalan descended from the cliffs in silence, his emerald eyes glowing faintly in the night. The wind stirred as he landed, wings folding like silk curtains.
Remy looped a thick rope around the base of Katama’s neck, not because he needed it, but because I did. Then he mounted and reached a hand down.
I let him pull me up, settling in front of him as his arms closed around me to secure the strap. It felt like a ghost of another life, one I’d buried long ago.
I didn’t reach for Kaelith, not when I knew she wasn’t coming.
The ache in my chest deepened, but I shoved it down as Katama launched into the sky with a graceful, powerful leap.
Wind lashed against my face. We flew fast and low, the kingdom melting away behind us.
“Hold onto the rope,” Remy said, his breath hot against my ear. “The Phantom Step will feel… disorienting. Just for a moment. The landscape will blur.”
I didn’t even have time to reply.
The world shattered.
It wasn’t light or sound or heat. It was everything at once, twisting through my body like I’d been snapped out of place and shoved sideways through a slit in the sky. My stomach flipped, my ears rang, and for a heartbeat it felt like I wasn’t anywhere.
Then the air stilled.
The wind returned.
And the jagged rocks of the outcropping loomed ahead, rising from the sea like fangs in moonlight.
Katama descended in a slow, careful spiral and touched down on the narrow shelf of stone.
I barely managed to hold my composure as he landed, but the second we were still, I pressed a hand to my mouth.
The dizziness crawled up my throat, but I forced it down.
Remy started to dismount, but I shook my head, slipping from Katama’s back myself.
My boots hit the rock, and I steadied myself with a hand against his flank, eyes closed, breath shaky.
We were here.
But I had no idea what came next.
Remy moved quietly beside me, the ocean wind tugging at his dark cloak as he reached beneath his armor.
His fingers emerged with something small and gleaming, an artifact no larger than my palm, shaped like a teardrop of obsidian crystal.
Silver runes spiraled across its surface, glowing faintly like starlight trapped inside.
He held it out to me.
“Here,” he said, voice quiet. “Take the Wyrdglass and funnel your power into it. Don’t force it. Just... breathe. And focus on the Blood Isle.”
I took the artifact, surprised by its weight. It felt warm against my skin, like it knew me. Or maybe it was just waiting.
I glanced toward the horizon, squinting through the night.
The Blood Isle loomed in the distance, wreathed in curling black mist that clung to its shores like living shadow.
It pulsed and moved like breath, swallowing the land in unnatural darkness.
Even the moonlight avoided it, bending away as if the island repelled the very idea of illumination.
I closed my eyes.
Focused.
But nothing came.
Just the thrum of blood in my ears and the growing ache in my temples.
A hand touched my cheek, soft, familiar. Like a memory I didn’t ask for.
“You can do this, Ashe,” Remy whispered. “You were always stronger than you realized.”
I clenched my jaw, drew a breath, and pushed. Power flickered at the edge of my senses, raw and chaotic. It licked through my chest and into the artifact.
And then—I heard it.
A voice. Deep. Commanding.
“Find the crystal. We are running out of time.”
My eyes snapped open. “They’re looking for it too.”
But before I could dig deeper, the connection shattered. The mist broke apart like torn silk, and the artifact dimmed in my hand. My knees nearly buckled.
I sagged back, breath ragged. “We should’ve brought Kaelith. I feel… weaker when she’s not near.”
Remy gently took the artifact from my hands, his touch lingering longer than it should’ve. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “This was just a test—to see if you could use it.”
“A test?” I stared at him, still catching my breath.
He smiled faintly. “I knew you were special the minute I met you.”
My heart twisted, and cracked.
“So special you walked away without a word,” I whispered. “Let me believe you were dead.”
His smile faded like a dying star. “I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice,” I said. “Yours just wasn’t me.”
His eyes darkened, pain flickering behind them. “I love you, Ashe.”
And gods help me, part of me still wanted to believe him.
I stepped back from Remy, the cold air off the sea sharp against my skin, but not as sharp as the words I needed to say.
“I’m not doing this with you,” I said, voice low and even. “We are over.”
His expression froze, mouth parting slightly, but I didn’t give him the chance to speak again.
Kaelith’s growl echoed in my mind, deep and livid.
You left with that traitor.
It was a mission, I replied, my thoughts tight. But it’s over. I couldn’t channel enough magic without you. You know that.
Why did he take you without me?
I hesitated. He said he can’t Phantom Step with both of us. Only Katama.
Kaelith’s growl became a snarl, coiling deep in my head. He continues to lie.
I flinched, not because I didn’t believe her, but because part of me didn’t want to know the truth. Not tonight. Not after hearing the Blood Fae were searching for the same crystal we were.
I just… wanted to go home.
Remy’s gaze flicked toward the black mist over the Blood Isle, jaw clenched. “We must leave.”
He swung up into Katama’s saddle and reached for me without waiting for an answer. I let him pull me up, still numb, still angry, but mostly… tired.
Katama launched into the sky, and just like before, the world shattered.
The Phantom Step ripped through reality, the air folding in on itself, bending time and space until everything went quiet and cold and unreal. A blink, a breath, and we were flying above the sea again, Warriath’s silhouette distant ahead.
But we weren’t alone.
I turned my head as the wind whipped through my braid.
To our right, a gleam of violet caught the moonlight.
Kaelith.
Her massive wings beat in perfect rhythm beside us, a snarl rolling off her in my mind.
Next time he tries to take you without me, she growled, he will not live to regret it.