23. Chapter 23
The forest is cloaked in darkness and veiled in shadow, reminiscent of a dream.
And just like that, my frantic beating heart can’t get him out of my head again.
Augustine. The whole reason that I’m in this predicament in the first place.
The devil incarnate who strolls so carelessly into women’s lives, uproots them from their homes, and drops them off in his castle where he holds them captive forever—just as my sister was dropped across the stars.
He’s a monster. The very bane of my existence.
An intoxicating drug who has quickly spread through my bloodstream until reaching my heart, igniting a sizzling storm within me that grows wilder every time his memory resurfaces.
You cannot fall in love with him, Shay, no matter how much your pounding, thundering heart yearns for his touch.
You’ve made a promise to your friends, but more importantly… a promise to yourself. You must resist.
“And please don’t say it’s from some book you read with your enormous brain,” Maxine says, holding her dagger at Bella’s throat. “Your accent sounded far too polished, like you’ve lived it firsthand.”
Bella squeezes her eyes shut and slowly lifts her hands.
“What’s going on?” I blurt out, reaching for Maxine’s arm and forcibly lowering her blade from Bella’s throat.
“Bella is a spy for the enemy, that’s what’s going on,” Maxine snaps, jerking her chin toward Bella. “She led us right into their trap. Tell her, Bella. Tell her that this was all part of your evil plan.”
“Oh, don’t be ridiculous.” I force out a laugh.
“Bella is the only reason we’re not locked behind some resin-encapsulated jail cell right now.
You know damn well that none of us would’ve found the exit without her.
Right, Bella?” I whip my head toward her, suddenly feeling nervous that perhaps I’m wrong.
Bella gives me a grateful nod, and relief floods through my heart.
“But she knew their language!” Lily squeaks, hugging her dress against her body.
“And I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical reason for that,” I determine between clenched teeth. “One that doesn’t require a blade to the throat in order to explain. In fact,” I rip the dagger out of Maxine’s grasp and hold it just out of her reach, “I’ll be taking this.”
“Hey! Give me that back!” she gripes.
“Only if you promise not to point it at Bella again,” I counter.
“Fine!” Maxine relents, scrunching up her fingers at her sides, as if itching for the blade. “I vow never to wield a dagger against the throat of any of my friends ever again, even if they’re trying to get me killed. Now give it back.”
As I’m warring internally over whether or not to give her the blade, Bella crouches down to analyze a trail of footprints just off the beaten path, which are glowing faintly beneath the light of the silver moon.
She traces her fingers over the gentle curves in the soil and says, “I learned Tannerian from a set of forbidden books buried in my family’s wine cellar.
” She pauses to brush her hands together in an effort to ward off the dirt.
“I would show you the books, but unfortunately, they were confiscated by the gods.” She pulls herself to a stand and looks around at each of us, her eyes locking on mine.
“I did something foolish, something irreparable. I…” Her legs wobble, like she’s trying to stay strong but failing.
“What happened?” I ask, dropping the blade and rushing to support her before she collapses. Maxine scoops the dagger off the ground and does a victory dance behind me.
Bella gasps against my neck, leaning her full body weight into mine.
“I carried one of my grandfather’s forbidden tomes into Grenora with the intention of reading it beside my favorite fountain,” she says, her voice tinged in hysterics.
“But when I got there, it spilled out of my bag and someone spotted it. They reported me to the gods in exchange for bloodmagic, and…”
“And the gods came to confiscate it,” I guess, helping her find a rock to sit on.
Bella nods as I gently lower her onto the rock.
“It was the God of Wisdom,” she says, a tear slipping down her cheek.
“He showed up at my family’s cottage. My parents did everything they could to hide me.
” She pulls her knees against her chest and begins rocking back and forth.
“He wanted the book so badly, but they wouldn’t give away my location, so he kill… he killed… them.”
A shudder sails down my spine. “He did… WHAT?”
“Gods be damned, Bella,” Maxine gasps, stopping her victory dance to collapse next to Bella on the rock. “Thalmos killed your parents?” She sheathes the dagger, scrubs her hands over her face, and blows out a breath, adding, “I’m sorry for calling you a spy. I didn’t mean—”
“It’s alright,” Bella says, her shoulders shuddering like she’s caught a chill. “I don’t blame you for thinking so. No one else knows Tannerian. It’s a dead language. Or at least, it was a dead language. I suppose now it’s been brought back to life.”
“How’d you end up in the castle?” Lily asks, draping her holey dress over Bella’s shoulders like it’s a blanket. “You were the first one to arrive.”
“Before their corpses were even cold…” Bella says, staring blankly ahead.
“Well, he… he made me promise never to tell anyone what I learned from the books. I was sworn to secrecy about the dragons, about the Valenorians, about the Curse of Love. All of it. So long as I live. Or else he’d…
” She gives us a feeble smile, but she doesn’t finish her sentence.
“Or else he’d kill you too,” I realize as the leaves rustle overhead.
Bella nods. “I think the only reason he didn’t kill me that night was because he saw my spellmark.
” She glances down at her arm and tugs back her sleeve, analyzing her spellmark with a crinkle of her nose, as if she’s fighting back an onslaught of more tears…
and failing miserably. “He must’ve thought that my Memorykeeper magic would benefit him somehow.
That locking me away and forcing me to love him would be a better solution than digging a grave for me.
Because the next thing I know, I’m waking up inside the castle, and Regent is telling me that I have seven days to fall in love with the very monster who killed my family. ”
“Regent at the scene of the crime,” Maxine snorts. “Typical.”
“Surely, Thalmos isn’t stupid enough to think you’d ever love him after this?” I ask, my voice fading with the wind. “He’s the God of Wisdom. You’d think he’d realize…” Silence ensues for a moment as we all mull this over.
Maxine works her jaw, as if trying to sort this fact out for herself. “He thought that fear would make you submit to marriage?”
Bella slowly nods, her eyes glistening with tears.
“I imagine that he did,” she whispers, tugging her sleeve back down over her arm.
“Little does he know,” she goes on to say, “I would rather die than marry him. He should’ve killed me with my family when he’d had the chance.
Because now, I will do whatever it takes to ensure he suffers an eternity in Purgatory.
Even if I must sacrifice myself at the very end.
With the queen’s blade lodged in my neck, I will ensure that he goes down with me. ”
The image Bella describes sends a shiver down my spine. “We need somewhere to hide,” I say, digging my nails into my palms. “It’s not safe out here in the open. Who knows what’s lurking in the woods.”
Like wolves.
“Where do you propose we go?” Bella croaks. “I’d hoped that the Valenorians would provide us refuge, but instead…” She doesn’t have to finish her thought for us to know exactly what she means.
Instead, it feels like everyone is against us.
“I have an idea,” Maxine says, jumping to a stand.
“My family’s estate in Moongrove. My she-demon of a mother won’t even notice you’re all there.
And my father? Well, he practically lives at the brothel across town, only coming home to shower and eat on occasion.
You can hide in my bedroom if you’d like.
It’s only a temporary arrangement of course, until the seventh day of the week passes and the gods are banished to Purgatory on the heels of that curse.
That’s how we avenge Bella’s family. We refuse to fall in love with those monsters.
We hide from them to avoid their wrath. And then we let them fester in their own self-grandeur and abusive behaviors until they’re banished into exile. It’s brilliant.”
We refuse to fall in love.
Right.
My swallow is rough as I think of Augustine.
“While I appreciate the gesture,” Bella rubs her hands over her face and sighs, “the queen will stop at nothing to track us down. She’ll do the same thing to your family that Thalmos did to mine. The only place that was safe was Valenoria. And now?”
“We could try venturing to my home instead,” Lily cuts in. “It’s abandoned. So, the worst thing that could happen is the gods find us and drag us back to the castle.”
“Your home is abandoned, Lily?” I ask.
Lily nods. “My grandmama died in the winter,” she says, forcing a tight-lipped smile. “My mother died in the spring. They were all I had left, until that is, I met the three of you.” She walks up to Maxine and grabs her hand. “Whatever happens, we have each other at least. Even you, Maxi—"
Something rustles in the leaves.
“Shhhh…” I say, raising a hand to silence everyone.