Chapter 19 Hollow Festival #2
“Good, you’re done, too.” Kasper approaches us from behind, doing a double take in my direction, and I swear I feel some claws on my mental shields, before he looks to my neck, rolling his eyes.
He’s been cold since Morgan’s disappearance.
Frankly, every time I look at him my fury sparks, knowing he left me with a wolf and seemingly hasn’t cared since, blaming me for Morgan’s actions.
He leads Ember off, the two talking in low, intimate voices.
“We’ll see you and your date tonight.” Amaya gives me a wink, linking her hand with Cleona’s and I nod, heading off to my Hearth.
“Rune!” Wynter hurries after me, chasing me out of the study hall.
He swallows, gaze scattering everywhere but my eyes as he catches up to me.
His brows furrow, focusing on my hair. “I keep meaning to say that I like what you’ve done.
” He gasps for a stronger breath, meeting my eyes finally. “Are you going with anyone tonight?”
The silver in that gaze is so bright, hopeful. Draven’s words hit me again, this is the cost. Wynter is someone I could be happy with.
But I didn’t come here for happiness. I came here for justice. And vengeance.
At Draven’s side I’ll get both.
But there’s more to it than that, and my interest in Wynter has faded under the heat of being with Draven. Even if it’s pretend on his part. I lift my chin.
“Yes. I’m going with the prince.” Meeting Wynter’s gaze feels impossible, but I manage it and watch the sad acceptance pass through his eyes before he hitches a brave smile to his lips.
“Oh, well, I hope you have a good time.” I think he means it. He takes a deep breath and I note the flush creep up his face, as if he just smelled the lie we’ve planted, drinking it up as truth. He nods to me, face heated. “I’ll see you both there.”
I nod and force myself to leave. Why is there a stone suddenly in my gut? Shoving thoughts of him aside I turn toward my Hearth, hurrying off, the cool autumn breeze blowing through my curly hair.
As I walk up the steps, Magda’s marching out of it, looking irritable. Stepping aside for her to pass, I break her constant muttering with, “I haven’t seen you in a while—”
“He is on one tonight!” Her hair’s frizzled, though I notice she’s gripping another spying crystal in her fist. She takes a deep breath as we stand in each other’s presence, and I can spot the understanding clicking in her mind. Her lips quirk a bit. “Watch yourself, girl.”
I lift my chin, knowing those bite marks are even more visible as I do it, and slip inside. Draven’s door is open, and the sounds of him clanging around his room filter out. I move toward the door, leaning against the jamb, watching as he packs a suitcase, his back to me.
He stiffens before I can say a word, turning to me.
“I think Magda got what she was looking for,” I say with a grin and he gives me a cocky smile as he takes in my neck, my lips. “Even if she couldn’t plant any crystals today. How did your exams go?”
“Fine. Despite someone’s distracting thoughts pressing against mine all day.” He gives me an arrogant, knowing look as he takes me in. “And you?”
I check my nails, clenching my jaw a little to bite back what being this close to him threatens to unravel in me.
“I know how to stay focused.” Even if that claim has chafed through me all day.
I change subjects, because I’ll be damned if I admit to it.
“So, Alfheim? What are we being sent there for again?”
“To pick up some dark zenith crystal. They recently discovered it was in a toxic drake’s lair.” He acts as if it’s a boring task but my attention snags, alarm bells ringing.
“A toxic what now?” I can’t help but notice he failed to mention that part before.
“A drake. Large, dangerous, usually rows of sharp teeth. There’re a few kinds; this one is one of the worst of the breeds.
” He gets lost comparing jackets for a moment, but I’m not sure how he can possibly be thinking about that when my skin prickles, every fable I’ve ever read about mythic beasts playing out in my head.
My heart slams into my ribs, looking for escape. “You’re taking me to fight a dragon?”
Draven scoffs out a dark laugh. “A drake is hardly a dragon. Drakes are maybe a third of the size. This one would’ve been able to spit toxic gas or acid, but not fire.
Bigger than the wyverns you saw when you came in, but they’re wingless, and best of all weak against our magic.
Formidable, but not nearly as dangerous as a dragon. ”
I keep staring at him—is he insane? An actual gigantic magical lizard.
He finally notices how still I’ve gone. “They’ve assured me the cave is empty, and the drake is dead.”
“Consider me reassured.” I note the way he huffs a sigh at my sarcasm. “I just don’t like the idea of absconding from our safe institution to stick my neck in the lair of a wingless dragon—”
“A dragon can burn mountains to molehills. One burned an ocean and all the mer living beneath it, until nothing was left but bones and desert sands.” He crosses to me and leans into my space, capturing my eyes as easily as a cat pouncing on a mouse.
“A drake isn’t anywhere near that level of power, and as I said, it’s dead.
I would never take you somewhere I can’t protect you. ”
“Anything else I should know?”
“This discovery site is the largest undisturbed collection of unrefined zenith, and from the reported size of it, the amount could power the Forge for several centuries on its own.” He points to the lamps and the strange energy within them.
“But I’m hopeful it will give us a chance to look for signs of your family and the Arcadian Artifacts. ”
My heart rate settles at the certainty he displays.
He and his father might have a strained relationship, but it seems unlikely that the king would put Draven in actual danger.
I’m sure I can miss a few days of classes now that our midsemester tests are finished.
I observe that map on his wall, though the markings are gone, as if he erases them each day.
I glance at the zenith in the lamp at his desk, my eyes narrowing.
“So, we’ll be collecting this?” I ask, the crystal smoothed and polished like stained glass.
“Well, that’s refined zenith.” He picks a jar off his shelf and shows me a sliver of dark crystal so pigmented it looks like midnight turned solid. “This is what it looks like in its unrefined stage, where it’s more powerful and dangerous.”
“You know, it looks familiar …”
Blinking, I put it together, all the tomes of boring archaeology, myth, and history compounding. “Do you still have that book with the diagrams of the Arcadian Artifacts?”
“Of course.” He runs a hand through his hair and tracks over to his desk, leaning against it as he searches a neat stack of books, my eyes dragging across the length of him.
His head leans to one side, that claim mark on full display, and I’m certain it’s no accident.
I can still feel his stubble against my bare neck, chest peaking, and I cross my legs, fingering the bite mark on my neck and wishing I could hide this want better.
How can one man be so fucking devastating?
He hands it to me when he finds it. “Why do you ask?”
I flip it open until it lands on the wand.
The dark slender Artifact looks chiseled, and I’d assumed its spiraled form was made up of wood before, but seeing the unrefined zenith in front of me, it looks a lot more like stone.
Our arms brush and my skin heats. “I think the wand might be made of zenith, judging by the renderings of it, and it says here it has the ability to transport itself …”
Draven leans sharply over the book, hand splaying over mine, heat rising in me as his eyes absorb the page. He breathes, “And no one’s explored the cave.”
“Is there a chance the wand returned to its original source?” I yank my gaze from settling on his full lips and meet his eyes, dancing with anticipation. “Wasn’t there some saying about the wand … darkness seeks darkness?”
Draven’s eyes lighten as though he can’t help but let his enthusiasm over the subject shine through.
“They call the wand the Darkstone, or Worldwielder, depending on who wrote the history. It has a unique ability to splice open dimensions between realms.” Draven’s gaze traces over me, lingering on my mouth.
He shakes his head, blinking a long moment before his hand grazes the page again, brushing against mine.
“Some say a legion of hells’ finest could be summoned with it.
Or it could open doors between worlds. But …
it also has the power to hide itself. The legends say it calls to people.
That it can move itself to where it needs to be. ”
“As if it’s almost alive.”
He nods. “Whatever its power, no one’s seen it in eons, but the last sighting of it was at a battle near another huge source of zenith in our kingdom.”
“So, you think it could be in that lair?” I meet his gaze, and he bites back a smile, excited at the potential lead.
“I think there’s a chance. It’s the druid Artifact, but the lines on the maps changed, and this location was once within our borders.
” Draven shrugs. “The fact that this cavern’s so untouched has me wondering if this is where it originated.
It’s a stretch, but dark power loves company, so maybe without an owner, it returned home, before that drake happened upon it, attracted to the zenith’s power.
It’s the best lead we have. But we can’t tell anyone we’re searching for it, lest it gets back to the kings. ”
“What would your father do if he found out that we were searching for it?”