29. Chapter 29 #2
“I can see that you’re feeling quite moved by my gesture,” Sylas adds conversationally.
“You’re more than welcome to join us, you know.
Although I fear I might have to carry you through the catacombs…
given your condition.” He glances down at my leg and frowns.
“Especially with those pesky bats on the loose.”
“I can walk just fine,” I huff, leaning down to scoop up my sword and sheathing it on my back. Sylas casts me a dubious look.
“I’m coming too!” Maxine interjects, looping her arm through Bronk’s.
His cheeks flush beet red.
“Who are all of you?” Bella asks as she crawls out from behind the bookshelf and dusts off her gown. “And why are you offering to help us?”
Sylas’s smug gaze sobers instantly, and he looks between me and her. “You haven’t told your friends about me yet?” he asks, sounding almost hurt.
“Told us what?” Maxine asks, her face falling.
“Me and Shadow had a delightful exchange in the forest earlier today,” Sylas explains, running his hand over the back of his neck. “I really thought we hit it off, but I guess it wasn’t even worth mentioning…”
I roll my eyes at him.
“That’s where you disappeared off to earlier?
” Bella asks, her gaze oscillating between me and him, pausing to rove over him in suspicion.
“You were hiding out with some mercenary? Pirate? What are you, exactly?” she asks, surveying his armor closer.
“Other than someone with a cure for Dreamshade Poisoning. Which, by the way, I thought was unheard of.”
“I am Sylas Skornborn,” Sylas says, holding out his hand in a peace offering.
She doesn’t take it. He chuckles softly.
“Now, shall we get going? Before the queen arrives?” he asks, looking around at the rest of us.
“After all, time is ticking! Don’t want her to remove our heads.
That would be a mess. Just ask him.” He points toward the bloody head on the table.
“I don’t trust you,” Bella says, snarling at him. “But I see your point. Just know, one wrong move, and mark my words, I will scramble your brain. Do you understand me?” She holds up her hands, and her fingers ignite in golden magic.
“Crystal clear,” he grumbles in discontent.
“Good,” Bella says, following Maxine through the exit.
After they’ve all disappeared into the cave, Sylas presses his fingertips against his eyebrows and inhales deeply. “Do you have any more friends hiding within the nooks and crannies of this humble abode? Or shall we go?” he asks me quietly.
“Just the ghost of my regret,” I mumble, staggering after him through the door.
“Are you quite certain that you don’t need help?” Sylas asks a few moments later as we stroll through the cave after the others.
“I’m perfectly fine,” I grumble, despite wincing every time I take a step.
“You don’t appear fine,” he points out.
I rub my hands together to warm myself in response.
I suppose this aching chill is par the course for a place as hollow and empty as this, but with all my blood re-routing to my leg, it makes me feel colder somehow…
like I’ve stepped into a vat of ice and it’s gnawing through my bones.
The others seem perfectly content, at least. Maxine is hooked to Bronk’s hip about thirty yards ahead, barreled over in laughter thanks to something he said.
Bella is trailing closely after Axel, her eyes fixed on Lily, likely to ensure she doesn’t slip off his shoulder or something tragic.
Occasionally, she’ll throw a glance back at me, her brows furrowing in worry.
I wonder whether she’s realized they’re dragons.
I hope so, because I’m starting to feel bad I didn’t warn her.
“It wouldn’t be trouble,” Sylas says, jerking my attention back toward him.
“What wouldn’t be trouble?” I ask.
“Carrying you,” he points out.
I stifle a laugh. Not because I think Sylas is particularly charming or funny, but because Augustine wouldn’t have even batted an eyelash at such a ridiculous question.
He would’ve already scooped me up and tossed me over his shoulder despite my ample protests to the contrary, and then he would’ve carried me to safety.
Or perhaps he would’ve magically healed me with his magical god hands already—not that I really know what those hands are capable of.
But Sylas is not Augustine. He’s a Dragon King. And he’s looking right at me.
Fuck, say something.
“Why did you come here?” I ask, wincing with my next step.
Sylas’s expression is carefree in a way that an apex predator’s should be, seemingly only concerned by one thing.
Me.
“Actually…” I pause, planting my feet on the trail. “How did you even know we were down here in the first place?”
He stares at me silently.
“Someone in the throne room must’ve told you,” I deduce, racking my mind for some sort of explanation. “But who?”
He blinks.
Right. Guess I won’t be getting an explanation out of him anytime soon.
Pressing my lips together, I trudge on ahead in ashen silence, despite the throbbing ache in my leg.
It’s a silence that permeates all the way to my thigh bone, dusted off only by the image of Lily’s arms dangling over Axel’s shoulder like a broken marionette doll, swaying with every step he takes.
He better be able to save her.
“Hey,” Bella says as I catch up to her. “Are you okay?”
“Never better,” I lie with a huff. “You?”
Bella inhales sharply. “I was just thinking about what they said, regarding the cure for the Dreamshade Poison.” She kicks a rock off the trail, and it tumbles over the edge. I never do hear it land at the bottom. “The last I knew, Truth Serum didn’t work on such an affliction.”
“What are you saying?” I hiss, cutting a glance over my shoulder at Sylas. He’s leagues behind us, walking with such graceful fluidity, I imagine he’s traversed this place a thousand times before.
“What I’m saying,” Bella chews her lower lip, “is that only the dragons have access to such a magic. The Floradragons, to be precise. They once had the ability to conjure up plants with specific properties that would act against the Dreamshade Poison, effectively reversing its effects. Of course, when they were locked away in Purgatory, the world lost the ability to access that specific plant. I don’t know why I didn’t realize it sooner… ”
“They’re dragons,” I answer her question. “Yes, that is correct.”
Bella goes pale. “I suspected as such, given their armor and their spellmarks. But I’m still having trouble comprehending that they’re back.
Plus, I thought they wanted to kill us?” she whispers, looking around at all of them in suspicion.
Bronk and Axel are yards ahead, chattering with Maxine in a perfectly normal manner.
They don’t appear like they want to kill her.
In fact, they seem tickled pink by whatever she’s saying.
Plus, Axel seems to be taking quite care to ensure Lily doesn’t slip off his shoulder.
I cut another glance back at Sylas, who is still trailing far behind, his eyes now fixated on mine.
Fuck. I immediately jerk my gaze away, feeling shaken by the way he’d been looking at me.
“I don't think they're here to murder us, if that's what you're wondering,” I grumble hotly.
“Oh, Great Mother, they must want something. But what?” Bella asks, shaking her head.
Great Mother. The Mother of Chaos. That’s it.
I grab Bella’s arm to steady myself so I don’t trip on my own feet, suddenly recalling Solara’s mention of the statue and how it’s still in one piece. With all the commotion back there, it’d nearly escaped my mind. But there’s still a way out of this mess, a way to defeat the gods and find Solara.
“I have to go back to the castle,” I say. “I’ve forgotten something.”
“What? Are you crazy?” Bella winces like she’s just eaten a piece of sour candy. “Why in the devil would you do that?”
“It’s hard to explain.”
“Allow me,” Sylas cuts in, his sudden materialization making all the hair on my neck stand on end. “Shadow is looking for the statue of the Mother of Chaos, as she intends on freeing her so that she may receive a wish. Have I gotten it right thus far, Princess?”
Maxine howls with laughter from yards ahead, playfully slapping Bronk’s spell-marked bicep. I can’t see his face, but I just know that bastard must be grinning from ear to ear.
“What’s he talking about, Shay?” Bella asks, her eyes widening.
My mouth opens, but no sound comes out.
“You intend on freeing the Mother of Chaos and fulfilling the prophecy?” she asks, her mouth swinging agape, her eyes laden in liquidated shock.
“No! That’s not—”
“That’s exactly what she intends on doing,” Sylas answers for me.
How the fuck does he know that?
“It’s not like that,” I choke out.
“What is it like, then?” Bella crosses her arms.
“It’s... complicated.” I shake my head, too frazzled to partake in this conversation any longer. “I don’t want to bore you with all the details.”
Or make you panic, like you’re doing right now.
Bella pierces me with a glare that hurts so much more than my wobbly, aching leg does. “And just to think,” she grits out, “I was under the impression that you wanted to avoid this route. You know, the one that leads us straight to the end of the world? Doomsday’s wrath, remember? Ring a bell?”
“You said so yourself… the prophecy is a crock of beetle dung,” I remind her.
“Yes,” Bella says with exasperation. “Unless you follow the damn thing word for word! Then it’s bound to come true!” With that, she takes off running to catch up with Maxine, leaving my heart concaving in my chest cavity.
“I hate you,” I say, just loud enough for Sylas to hear. “If you think I’m still coming with you after that little stunt, then you’re sorely mistaken.”
“You won’t find her, you know.” Sylas grins, seeming to savor every word that he’s delivering.
“What are you talking about?”
“The statue. She’s not where you’d expect.”
“And why is that?” I scowl, summoning the most baleful look that I can muster.