Chapter 13
Maren came far too close to that room.
The one room in this entire blasted castle that I wouldn’t be able to just explain away. It was the one with the evidence. The place where I, and all of Eroth, was cursed.
Nico was the only person that knew about it, but it was a rare occasion that he was ever allowed inside it.
How had she even found it? It was a maze of hallways to get to it, tucked deep inside the castle.
How long had she been wandering around unchecked?
For the first time in many years, I wished there were other servants here, someone I could assign to watch her, to keep her out of places she shouldn’t be.
But instead I would have to keep an eye on her. Hence why I was following her as she went back to her chambers to make sure she kept her nose out of places it didn’t belong. When she finally slipped inside and the click of the lock echoed, I let out a long breath and headed for my own chambers.
I was a prince. I should have had better things to do than watch her every move.
But there was no one else to do it. I couldn’t have asked Nico.
He was too young, and he’d likely tell her everything, and that couldn’t happen.
Plus, he had a habit of befriending people, and I didn’t need him getting attached to her.
I had learned that lesson the very first time.
I wasn’t willing to go through that again.
Besides, it wasn’t like I didn’t have endless time now.
Ever since I’d resigned myself to my fate and had quit looking for someone to break the curse, I had nothing but time.
Every waking moment used to be consumed with searching other worlds for the one the curse required, but after decades and decades, failed attempt after failed attempt, I’d given up.
The hall was brisk as I turned down the one that led to my chambers.
My steps slowed as I found the door slightly ajar.
Someone was inside. Had I found an intruder in my room before the curse had weakened my magic, I wouldn’t have even hesitated, wouldn’t have felt the tiniest bit of trepidation.
But now? In the weak state my magic was in, there was an infuriating quickening of my heart.
It couldn’t be the girl. I’d sent her back to her room, putting an end to her poking around. Nico, perhaps?
As soon as I put my hand on the wooden door to push it open, I sensed him. Every muscle in my body tensed, preparing for a fight.
The door silently swung open.
“You really should keep your castle better locked up, Rhydian. You never know who might waltz right on in,” a familiar voice said before he stepped out of the shadows next to my window.
He was dressed in all black, a long chain with a large medallion resting around his neck.
All the royalty of Avalea wore similar ones.
I gave mine to Nico years ago to keep him safe in case there came a day where I couldn’t.
“Carrow,” I bit out. “How did you get in here?”
His too-white smile gleamed in the dim light of the room as he lifted his head in an arrogant way. “Good to see you too, cousin.”
“I wish I could say the same,” I replied.
Carrow held his arms out to the sides. “Is that any way to treat family, Rhydian?”
“You are family in the loosest sense of the word, cousin.” I spat the word. We were only distantly related, and it was because of him that I was stuck here in Eroth. While he wasn’t the one to lay the curse, he had set up the events that led to it.
It had been years since I’d laid eyes on his silver ones, and it instantly brought back the memories—the pain—of what he’d done.
My magic flared, white-hot and burning, and I squeezed my hands into fists to keep it at bay, to keep it from attacking like it did in Maren’s world.
Not that it would do much against his violet magic.
Thanks to the curse, my magic was far weaker than his.
I loathed that fact since I used to be the most powerful Fae in Avalea, a fact that had always gotten under Carrow’s skin.
Carrow missed nothing, noting my fists and the tense set of my shoulders.
“The years have not been kind to you, Rhyd,” he said, though there wasn’t a trace of sadness in his expression. In fact, he looked almost…gleeful. I clenched my jaw at the nickname I hated.
“You can thank yourself for that,” I retorted. “Get out.”
He clicked his tongue, doing no such thing as he made himself at home on the chair next to the fireplace, lifting his legs up onto the low table in front of him. Mud was caked to his boots, leaving smears of dirt behind on the furniture.
“Your time is almost up. I came to see how you’re faring.
” The arrogant smile on his face told me all I needed to know about what he thought of me now.
“I heard you finally gave up. It’s about time, especially after the…
outcomes of the others.” His thin lips stretched into a gruesome smile, and I swallowed down bile at the memories his words summoned.
“I’m honestly impressed you held on for so long. ”
How he had heard that I’d stopped searching for a cursebreaker was a mystery.
The only person to hear it from would have been Nico, and he definitely wasn’t talking to Carrow.
Nico might have liked to bend the rules sometimes, but I would have known if he had been sharing secrets with our enemy.
He hated this Dark Fae nearly as much as I did.
“I don’t see how it’s any of your business,” I snapped. “You won. Go crawl back in the hole you slithered out of.”
Carrow’s eyes narrowed, the only sign that my words bothered him. The frustrating thing about him was that he always thought he was right, and didn’t like being challenged when he had done something wrong. He didn’t like being referred to as a snake, a bad guy, an enemy.
He thought he was doing Avalea a favor when he convinced them to place the curse on me. With me out of the way, Carrow could do whatever he wanted. If only they had realized that the one they should have cursed was him. He was more of a danger now than I ever was.
But the thing about my cousin was that he was incredible at becoming whoever he needed to be to get his way. A master at manipulating words and using others’ desires to achieve his own.
Plus, his magic was truly something to be feared.
Thus, here we were.
I was about to open my mouth, to tell him to leave when Nico burst into the room.
“Rhydian, you need to come with me. The girl—”
Before I could think it through, my magic burst from my hands, sealing Nico’s lips closed before he could say another word.
At first, his eyes were wide, disbelief shining in them that I would use my magic against him.
But then they flicked to where Carrow sat muddying up my table, lounging like he owned the world.
A small sliver of fear sparked in his eyes when he finally looked back at me.
I had done my best to protect Nico from Carrow, but he was not ignorant about who exactly he was.
“Girl?” Carrow’s brows lifted comically high.
“You have a girl here?” His lips slid into a wicked grin.
“I thought you’d given up, Rhydian.” He stood, leaving a pile of mud on the table.
“Well,” he said with a chuckle. “A glutton for punishment, I see. You just don’t seem to learn your lesson.
” He clapped his hands together and then rubbed them excitedly.
“Let’s meet the poor thing you’ve chosen to die for a chance at freeing yourself. ”
I had to put a hand over Nico’s mouth this time to keep him quiet. He always tried to defend me, especially with Carrow, but it was always to his detriment. It was better that he stayed silent. I pulled him behind me.
I shook my head. “Absolutely not.”
“Oh, come now, Rhyd. I won’t hurt her.”
“Like you didn’t hurt the others?”
Carrow waved a hand in dismissal. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Sure, you don’t.
Images of dead, twisted, broken bodies left in the dark flashed through my mind, and my eyes slid shut of their own accord, trying to banish the pictures.
“Come on, take me to her.”
My eyes snapped open. “No.”
Carrow stepped closer, and while his proximity usually made me trepidatious, this time I was more concerned about keeping Maren safe. It was doubtful that she’d ever break the curse, but there was just…something about her. I couldn’t seem to shake the need to protect her.
It was actually quite annoying.
“She’s not what you think,” I said. “And you will stay away from her.”
Carrow cocked his head, every bit the predator. “Afraid she might prefer me, Rhydian?” His lips lifted into a sneer. “Like the others?”
This time, Nico had to hold me back, grabbing my arm to keep me from punching Carrow in the face. Who needed magic when you had perfectly good fists?
Carrow clicked his tongue again. “Now, now. There’s no need for that.
You know as well as I do that I could just go find her myself.
Wouldn’t it be better if you brought me to her?
Then you can at least try to be the hero.
” He had the audacity to pat me on the cheek.
His voice lowered. “You can try, Rhydian, but we both know what you really are.”
Nico’s fingers tightened on my wrist, the only thing keeping me from lunging at my cousin.
But he was right about one thing. Carrow could easily find her himself when I wasn’t there. If he was going to force me to show her to him, then it should at least be on my terms, not his.
I really didn’t have a choice.
When I told her there were scarier things hiding in the shadows than me, I meant it.
Carrow was one of them.
“Fine,” I said between clenched teeth. Nico let go of my wrist and, without being asked, silently led the way to Maren’s chambers.
Every muscle in my body was coiled tight into knots as we walked down the hall, Nico in front and Carrow behind me.
I hated having my back to my enemy, but there was no way I was going to let him an inch closer to Nico.
My shoulders bunched to my ears, tensing with each step we took.
Each clap of our boots on the hard floor, every too-loud exhale, grated on my nerves.
My thoughts came to a halt as Nico stopped in front of a wooden door. The girl’s chambers were on the opposite side of the castle and yet I hadn’t even realized how quickly we’d arrived. I hadn’t been paying attention, lost in thought over all the ways this could go wrong.
Nico hesitated, looking back at me.
“Let’s get this over with,” I said.
Maren thought I was something to be frightened of. Now we’d find out what happened when she met a real monster in disguise.
Nico raised a fist and knocked on the door.
There was a pause in the air on the other side of the door, heavy with either anticipation or dread.
I couldn’t quite tell. My enhanced hearing picked up the faint rustle of the blankets on the bed moving, followed by the quiet patter of her bare feet on the cold floor as she came to the door.
“Who is it?” she asked.
I tapped Nico on the shoulder, silently telling him to speak up. If she knew I was here, she might not open the door at all.
“It’s Nico,” he said.
Another long pause before the lock slid free and the door opened to reveal Maren.
She had changed out of the large sweater and pants she had worn in the Hall of Feasts last night, and now wore a simple black dress that offered much more warmth than the clothes she’d arrived to Eroth in.
Nico must have scrounged it up for her. It was strange to see her in Avalea’s fashion. Strange and…nice.
No, not nice, Rhydian. Be reasonable.
At least it was something more substantial and less distracting than what she had been wearing before. Not that it had been a temptation to me or anything. She simply would have frozen to death in Eroth if she didn’t wear more than those shorts and pathetic excuse for a shirt.
Instead of looking at the boy in front of me, her fierce gaze went straight to mine.
“What do you want?” she asked, partially covering herself with the door.
But before I could speak a word, my cousin stepped forward and into her line of sight.
I watched as every ounce of the pink tint in her cheeks drained away, her tan skin going pale as a ghost. Her reaction was warranted—Carrow was terrifying, especially to someone like her, who didn’t have magic to protect her.
Though it was faint, I felt the spike of her fear.
It was good that she was afraid of him. It was better for her to be on her guard.
“Maren,” I began, wishing I didn’t have to do this. “This is Carrow. He requested to meet you.”
Her brows lowered over her eyes, and I could feel the unease radiating from her. “I thought you said there was no one else here.”
Carrow’s unamused laugh was a serrated knife on my skin. “Oh, I’m not from Eroth, pet.” His lips curled into a snake-like smile as he looked her over, his eyes resting on her for far too long.
Much to her credit, when I expected her to balk and run away, the only sign of her nerves was a bob of her throat as she swallowed. But still, she lifted her chin. Even in the face of a monster.
Of course, she had no idea what Carrow was.
I could tell she wanted to ask more of her inane questions, but instead of voicing any of them, she simply looked at me and waited.
With a sigh, I gestured at him and opened my mouth.
“Allow me, Rhydian,” he interrupted before I could say anything. Then he shoved me out of the way and stepped far too close to her. Her gray eyes grew wide, a pulse of fear quickening her heart.
“Hello, Maren. I am Carrow. Prince of Nefaroth—the Land of Dust and Decay.”