Chapter 42
BLACK DAWN
SAERIS
“I FUCKING KNEW it! I knew that witch was up to no good. What did I say?” Lorreth’s hair was wet.
It had started to rain as the warriors made their final approach to the estate, and both Lorreth and Danya were soaked down to their skin.
Both left puddles of water on the floorboards as they prowled around Cahlish’s formal reception room.
All the furniture was draped in white sheets.
Dust motes eddied on the air, captured in the beams of cold light that lanced in through the windows and outlined Fisher where he stood, leaning against a table.
He groaned, pressing his fingertips into the space between his brows.
“I don’t think anyone really wants to hear ‘I told you so’ right now, brother,” he rumbled.
Lorreth’s nostrils flared, his hands in fists at his sides, knuckles white . . . but he inclined his head. “You’re right. That’s an asshole move. Sorry, I just . . . they’re witches,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“I know. I know.” Fisher sounded so tired. “We’ll deal with Iseabail later. Right now, I’m far more concerned with what you just told me. Run through what you saw again, would you?”
“Danya’s the one who saw it,” Lorreth answered. “You’re better off hearing it from her.”
The female warrior shivered a little as she stepped forward and began recounting what Lorreth had just told us in greater detail.
“Some of the fighters noticed it two days ago. The northwestern slope of Omnamerrin is streaked with black veins. The rot has formed channels, cutting through the snow. It made it down the mountain in a day and reached the camp shortly after. We tried to scorch the ground ahead of time to pen it in, but that didn’t work.
When Lorreth showed up yesterday, we tried to come back through the shadow gate to tell you what was happening, but we were too late.
It had already closed. We set off immediately to warn everyone here, but we lost another twenty-three warriors to the rot along the way.
It’s moving fast now. Way faster than before. ”
“And it’ll reach Cahlish in how long?” Fisher asked.
Danya shook her head. “Twelve hours? Sixteen max.”
“Gods a-fucking-live.” Fisher hissed between his teeth.
Lorreth stepped forward, tucking his thumbs into his belt. He seemed reluctant to speak but summoned the courage to do so. “We know about the book, Saeris. Perhaps now would be a good time to see if Lady Edina had any sage advice for us, given how dire the situation is.”
The book. Of course. I’d brought it downstairs with me for this exact reason, but the tension in the room had made me forget about it momentarily. I drew it out from inside my leathers—
“By all means, check it, Osha,” Fisher said. “But make sure that it’s your decision to do so. I have a feeling that my mother’s guidance was designed specifically for you and you alone.” My mate looked to Lorreth. “I know you don’t mean any harm by the suggestion, but she shouldn’t be compelled.”
The warrior ducked his head. “Of course.”
“It’s fine. If there was any time we could use a little advice, I think it’s now.” I held my breath as I opened the book, flipping through the pages until I reached where I had left off.
Consider a sixth. Only the golden-toothed wolf can be trusted.
I turned the page, and the words written there swam as I tried to focus.
Read on after Evenlight.
Damn it! I hadn’t even thought to check the next page after the ball.
I hadn’t considered how Edina might have communicated when I was supposed to receive guidance from her in the past. It turned out there were direct cues, and I’d already missed an entry.
My palms broke out in a cold sweat as I turned the page.
Do not undo Zareth’s work. You are as you are for a reason. Do not drink from the vial. Do not let your new Lord drink. The time will come, but not yet.
Gods. A shock wave of adrenaline traveled from the crown of my head to my feet.
I’d thought about it just hours ago. Being Fae and only Fae was an appealing prospect, but I needed my half-vampiric blood, at least for the time being.
Foley needed his, too. To what end, I could only guess, but Edina had foreseen a reason to tell us not to take Iseabail’s cure.
I’d nearly missed her warning. This was a lot to take in.
Too much, maybe, but I couldn’t afford the time to process.
Again, the paper rustled as I quickly turned the page.
Read on at the white cliffs.
I stared at Edina’s handwriting, desperately trying to make the elegant, slanted script say something else. Something that would be useful to us right now.
“What is it?” Lorreth asked. “What does it say?”
Frustrated, I snapped the book closed. “It says that I can only read on at the white cliffs, wherever that is. There’s nothing in there about how to deal with the rot.”
Lorreth’s attention immediately swung back to Fisher. “There we have it then,” he said.
“There we have what?”
“The white cliffs, Osha,” Kingfisher said. “That tells us what to do all by itself. We need to evacuate Cahlish and rally at Inishtar. We should move quickly. I need to open the biggest fucking shadow gate I’ve ever made, and we need to start shifting the troops. We have to get everyone to safety.”
“That’s the plan?” Danya said, voice stony. “Retreat? Based on a single line of scribble in a book? I know your mother was a powerful oracle, but this is ridiculous.”
“What else are we supposed to do, Danya? This isn’t an army we can face and fight. Our weapons can’t kill it. Our magic feeds it, for fuck’s sake. Every person it infects becomes our enemy in the space of moments. We need to regroup and figure out how to—”
“We need brimstone.” The room went deathly silent for a moment.
Danya’s chest heaved when she continued.
“Lorreth told me about what happened with Archer. He said that infected feeder was killed instantly when the brimstone came into contact with it. With enough brimstone, we could stop the rot in its tracks here, before it infects the rest of the fucking realm—”
“All right.” Fisher shoved away from the covered table and stormed across the room.
He reached for a dagger from the scabbard at his waist and slammed it against Danya’s chest. “Go on, then. Go down into the pyre and start killing our friends. Or wait. No.” He took the knife back.
“I’ll do it, shall I? I’ll go down there, and I’ll drain the creatures who swore to serve and protect my fam—”
“You’re being dramatic—”
They shouted over one another, their words lost to their anger. Lorreth cut them both off. “STOP YELLING, BOTH OF YOU!”
The pair fell silent . . . but only for a second. “You’ve forgotten how to lead,” Danya accused. “If you find yourself unequal to the task, then step aside. Sometimes sacrifices need to be made.”
The laughter that bubbled out of my mate was scathing and short-lived. “I know,” he said slowly, “that anyone willing to forfeit the lives of their people and tally their loss as collateral damage is no leader. Certainly not the kind of leader that I will ever be—”
“Then maybe you’re just not cut for the role,” Danya snapped.
Helpless: That’s how it felt, watching them fight like this. But if Danya spoke to Fisher one more time like that, I was going to fucking spear her to the fucking wall.
Lorreth held up his hands in a placating gesture, again attempting to be the voice of reason.
“You’re both right. We should absolutely evacuate Cahlish.
And yes, the brimstone is our best chance of destroying this infection.
But we don’t need to cull the sprites to gather enough brimstone to accomplish that, do we? There is another way.”
Fisher was already shaking his head. I’d never seen him look more vehement. “No. Absolutely not.”
There was a note of hysteria in Danya’s laughter. “You’re out of your fucking mind, bard.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “What’s the other way?”
“No,” Fisher repeated. “Lorreth’s wrong. There is no other way.” His tone brooked no argument.
“So that’s that, then? You want to leave the place you fought so hard to get back to, with no plan and no idea of how we’re going to get through any of this?” Danya demanded.
“We will figure it out.” Fisher’s voice was firm, but Danya did not look impressed. Even Lorreth looked a little uncertain.
“Come on. We’re not doing anyone any good standing here fighting among ourselves,” the warrior said.
“All mad as dogs,” Danya hissed under her breath as she stalked out of the room.
Fisher pointed the business end of his blade at her as she went. “So help me, Danya, I will kill you my fucking self if you touch a single one of those sprites.”
“Fisher—”
He faced me quickly, his pallor ghostly and haunted.
He placed a kiss against my forehead and then pulled away.
“I know what you’re going to ask. I know you want to understand.
And I will explain,” he said. “I promise I will. Just . . . right now, I need a moment. And your brother needs you, Osha.” He nodded his head toward the window.
The rain sheeted against the glass, but I could still make out the single figure, standing out there alone on the snowy lawn.
How long had he been out there, standing in the downpour?
How had I not noticed him? “Go to him,” Fisher said. “I’ll come find you soon, I swear it.”
He wasn’t wearing any shoes.
His hair was soaked and flat against his scalp, his curls driven straight by the downpour.
Hayden stared up at the sky, a deep frown carving into his forehead.
He didn’t look at me when I arrived beside him, but he knew I was there.
I held the jacket over my head, mostly to protect myself from the deluge, but also to ward off the bleak sunlight eking through the thick cloud cover overhead.