Chapter 8
MARLAK
Astra’s eyes are tight as I cup her face, the late morning sunlight illuminating her features and reflecting on her beautiful hair.
“It’s just the castle,” I say, repeating it for what must be the fourth or fifth time. “We’ll be in and out.”
She gives me a tense nod. “I know. It’s just…I can’t help but remember the last time we parted.”
“When I said I’d be right back, and it turned out I was wrong. It was a distant land. A magical prison…”
“I know. My heart’s the one who refuses to understand.”
I run a finger over her cheek. “I like your heart. Overreaction and all.”
Perhaps I like the way she looks at me, so much love under that layer of worry. And to be honest, leaving her also fills me with dread, but I have to trust that she won’t get in trouble this time. It will be fast and not too dangerous.
I add, “I have a good reason to rush back.”
Her eyebrows shoot up, and I continue, “You told me you’d do the oral intake experiment.”
She looks confused for a second, but then smiles. “I will, Marlak.”
“No crass asshole this time? I’m going to miss the endearment.”
Astra smirks and shakes her head. “I’ll keep you too busy to miss anything, husband.”
I pull her in for one last kiss, delighting in the feel of her lips, of her body against mine, wishing I could just kiss her for as long as I wanted, with no trouble hanging over our heads, with no fear overshadowing our moment.
Astra’s the one who parts the kiss. “You’d better go.”
“And you’d better stay. For once, azalee, stay on the island.”
“Then come back.” Her smile is all that’s beautiful in the world.
“I will.”
Ferer and Lidiane are waiting for me at the edge of the island, as Azur and Ziven stare at us from a distance.
The siblings cross the river together, swimming, and then I follow them using my air magic. When I land at the shore, I turn to give Astra one last parting look, and see her standing at the edge. I wave at her, then walk to the faerie circle.
Ferer transcends us, and soon we’re far from the Endless Mountains, far from the Queen’s River, far from Astra. We step out of a circle in the woods near the hills at the Western Domain, close to the castle’s location, at least as far as last night.
Last night, when we spent hours there, undisturbed, when Renel could have shown me the location of these journals.
I take a deep breath. Being annoyed at my brother isn’t going to help, and it’s not as if I don’t already have a mountain of grievances against him—which I shouldn’t have remembered, if my goal was to ignore them.
We pause for a moment for Lidiane to work her magic.
Her glamour usually feels ticklish, but this time it’s more like a subtle vibration, I guess because the goal isn’t to change our appearance, but to make us unremarkable.
When she’s done, we advance through the forest, and soon I see part of the Crystal Castle, sunlight gleaming from its tip.
The sight makes me uneasy. I don’t want to face Zorwal, at least not yet, and, most of all, I don’t want to face my sister again, or even accept the fact that she joined that cruel man.
Once the Witch King is defeated, I’ll find a way to rescue her, put some sense into her head, but now’s not the time.
We walk some more, until we can see the base of the castle and the guards surrounding it. The guards that in theory should be answering to my brother, except that now I suppose their loyalty is anyone’s guess, and they could challenge us.
Lidiane told us her magic will allow us to walk right through them, and even though I trust her, it feels somewhat foolish to simply walk to the castle and hope to enter through the servants’ door unnoticed.
To make things worse, I must avoid using my magic at all costs, lest some bloodpuppets come my way.
My heart speeds up as we approach the back door and continues speeding as we cross the two guards watching it.
The door is open, though, and we pass through as if we were invisible.
After that, we head to the interminable stairs climbing up to the main part of the castle.
Ferer goes first, followed by me and then his sister.
I turn and give her an appreciative nod, grateful for her magic, and she narrows her eyes, perhaps thinking I doubted her, which is not true.
I swallow a chuckle and continue climbing, hoping that the way will be clear to that hidden compartment with the books.
If there’s a compartment. I’m placing a lot of trust in my brother, which is odd, but I trust Renel’s survival instincts to know that he would want to see the Witch King defeated.
When we’re almost reaching the living quarters, a door slams open above us. As agreed, we keep climbing without breaking our pace, and yet my stomach chills when I realize who’s waiting for us.
My sister. Standing in the middle of the stairs, arms spread out, forcing us all to stop.
“Marlak, it’s a trap,” she hisses between gritted teeth. “Zorwal is expecting you to come to the castle. And he has bloodpuppets after you. Turn around while you can.”
Is she… trying to help me? Trying to discourage me from finding the journals? How did she even notice us coming? Should I threaten her? Plead with her?
At a loss for words, only one sentence comes to mind. “I don’t want to fight you.”
She raises an eyebrow and huffs. “You sure better not. Not with magic, at least. Turn—”
Doors open above and below us, and a multitude of steps echo in the staircase. There must be at least some eight guards. Not a lot—if I were to use my magic. Mirella’s face is impassive, until she turns to look at something.
Someone. My stomach sinks even deeper.
Zorwal is descending the stairs and smirks at her.
“Well done.”
We’ve been caught. The longer we dwell, the worse it will be to escape.
At this point, hiding my magic would be pointless, and it’s not like there’s enough humidity in the air for Ferer to defend the three of us.
I throw a blast of air at Zorwal—and it does nothing.
It’s as if the air disappeared when getting close to him, and yet it doesn’t look as if he used air magic to counter my blow.
Use your fire.
I hear it in my brother’s voice, and yet Zorwal’s close to Mirella, and I don’t even know if the blast will reach him. I don’t know if it will hurt her. As I’m measuring my options, I hear a scream. Behind me, Lidiane is trembling, her face contorted as if in pain.
I move toward her, but then hear Zorwal’s sharp, horrific voice.
“Stand down or I’ll kill her.” He’s descending the steps, approaching us.
“Stop hurting her!” I yell. “She has nothing to do with this.”
Zorwal tilts his head. “Should I hurt you instead?”
Yes would be the obvious answer, but the truth is that this is a trap. If I say that, he’ll break his oath not to hurt me, and there’s no guarantee it will help us escape.
“What do you want?” I ask, toning down the fury in my voice.
He passes by me and reaches Lidiane, placing a hand above her head.
At that moment, a strong whirlwind sucks me away. Away from this place. Azur must be here.
This is my chance to flee—but also the perfect distraction.
Condensing some of the water in the air, I create a cloud of mist, and hope I’m not fumbling my one chance to escape.
AZUR
Ihave her. I got her brother and Marlak too, except that the murderous prince is slipping from my grasp.
One more second here in this castle, and I fear my magic will weaken, fear the Witch King will find me. Meaning he will find us. Worse, find her. I have only one choice.
Right when I sense some other force about to pull me, I transcend us back to the river by the island. My head and upper body emerge from the water and soon I see Lidiane’s head emerging as well, her smile grateful, but her eyes stained with a pinch of worry.
“That was reckless, Azur.”
The nerve. “Yes, incredibly reckless to go to the castle controlled by Zorwal. I warned you it was dangerous.”
Her brother emerges from the water as well, and climbs to the rocks, while she swims in my direction and says, “Transcending, I mean. We could all have ended up—”
“I know. The decision tore me apart. But it was that or letting Zorwal kill you. And it worked.”
Her smile is sincere now. “It did.”
I don’t know why there’s something so intimate about swimming, why seeing her wet does something to me, why I want to bring her close to me and wrap my arms around her.
But I can’t. I shouldn’t even be transcending anyone.
The look she gives me has so much yearning and affection that it feels like another dagger tearing through my chest.
I turn away from her and get to the rocks, my breath unsteady, my thoughts torpid.
Lidiane climbs out of the water after me, then asks, “Where’s Marlak?”
The question was coming.
The condemnation is going to follow, I know it.
Astra and the human prince stand by the shore. Renel too, whom I freed from the stupid, childish shackles his brother subjected him to.
His brother, who’s not here. And then there’s Lidiane and Ferer, all staring at me with eyes both curious and mistrustful.
“He slipped,” I blurt.
Lidiane frowns at me, reproach clear in her features.
“It’s the truth,” I insist, looking at Lidiane.
“When I transcend people without holding their hands, I use magic to bring them with me, to hold them, let’s say.
But I couldn’t hold him, and if I kept trying, you could have gotten hurt or all of us would have been taken to the Witch King’s cave.
” I turn to the others. “He slipped, even though my intention was to bring him.”
Astra’s eyebrows are pinched in thought. “What happened?”
I cross my arms, my drenched gloves chilling my chest. “I sensed something wrong with Lidiane and saved her. It’s what happened. I tried to save her companions, but I failed.”
“Zorwal,” Lidiane explains. “He found us.”
Astra’s eyes widen and her lip trembles. “So he has Marlak?”