Chapter Seventeen #2
We ate all the cakes—and the rest of the food—like we were at a fancy party and not sealed into a Lys’Careth palace. But hunger had to be sated, and I felt better—and less wobbly—afterward.
The room stayed chilly despite the warmth outside (or in my chest), so we started a small fire in the hearth and sat on the floor nearby to warm our feet.
It was getting late, and I was sure the Lady would expect Wren to return.
But I didn’t want her to leave. We’d slept in the same room together nearly every night for a decade.
I wasn’t sure I’d like sleeping alone, much less in this cold and cavernous palace.
“We need an escape plan,” Wren said. “In case things get dangerous, or he gets dangerous, and we need to get you out.”
“He said I could walk out.”
“Maybe that’s the truth. Maybe not. More likely he’ll let you go, and send Galen to follow you. It’s better to be prepared.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic. “Suggestions?”
She frowned. “You can’t scale the palace wall. It’s sheer and too high. But I’ve heard a rumor. The river runs under the wall on both the north and south sides; there are iron gates where water and wall meet. But supposedly they’re broken.”
I snorted. “Says who?”
“I heard garrison soldiers talking about it last night. They hunted in the prince’s wood when the palace was empty.”
“Very dubious.”
“Maybe. But it’s a way out.”
“Let’s try to find one that doesn’t involve me swimming through frigid water.” The river flowed down from Mount Cennet and carried the chill of melted snow.
I was relieved from listening to any more of Wren’s creative escape ideas when Luna appeared in her moth form, flitting about the room as if to inspect the surroundings.
We rose as she transformed, her chopped hair forever sleek and straight despite the flying.
She still looked pale, but she didn’t look angry.
“Are you all right?” she signed. I guessed she didn’t want to use unnecessary magic and was probably wary of the guards overhearing our conversation.
“I’m fine. He’s paying me—and the Lady—to stay.”
She looked relieved, then glanced around. “It’s bigger than your room.”
“And fancier and warmer, at least now that we’ve got a fire going. And the food isn’t bad. How mad are you?” I added.
“Mad?”
“I got myself into danger, and you had to rescue me again.”
“I didn’t rescue you. He was gone when I arrived. You stayed alive. You rescued yourself.”
That lifted some of the weight I’d been carrying.
“Tell me what happened before I found you.”
For the third time, I told the story.
“He showed up out of nowhere, wore a cloak and a golden half mask with jagged sides.”
“A golden mask?” she asked, fingers spreading across her face.
“You know it?”
“Worn by the Luminae, when they existed. They do not exist any longer. Not since the god left Terra. And as I said then, he is no Luminae.” She sounded absolutely certain. Which would have made me feel better if I hadn’t seen the scope of his power.
“How did he get the mask?” Wren asked.
“I don’t know.”
“He wants to build an army, Luna, and challenge the Lys’Careths. He knew I could see Anima, and he wanted to see if I was hiding other powers. He said he wanted to test me, and he pulled Aether into the room.”
“He opened a doorway between Terra and the Aetheric, allowed the Aetheric to flow into this world. That is how I located you—I felt the ripple and heard your voice. This time, he failed to hide what he was doing.”
“He was showing off.”
Luna nodded and moved closer. I unlaced my bodice a bit and showed her what he’d done. She lifted her gaze to me, and there was anger and sadness in it. “He did this?”
“I made the scratches. The pain was worse than any I’ve felt before.
” My hand was still fisted at my heart, the fire strong enough that it warmed my fingers.
“When he tested me, I thought it might kill me. It was like the Aetheric set my heart on fire. It still burns. And at the worst of it, when I was screaming, I felt something break.”
She went ghostly still. “Break?”
“Like something cracked in my soul.”
“Does it still hurt?”
I nodded. “Like a needle. Small, but sharp.”
“What did the practitioner say of your test?”
“He said I failed because the Aether hurt me. But he was surprised I survived it.” And I wondered for the first time how often he’d run the same test before—and how many had died because of it.
“He meant to kill you,” Wren said, each word bitten off like a bitter seed.
“Not exactly, but he wouldn’t have minded. He thinks everyone is disposable. Just tools in his quest for power and glory.” I paused, took a breath. “Then they left; maybe someone heard me screaming. He left me there, and you found me.”
“I’m glad I did.”
I nodded. “Thank you again. How did he appear and reappear?”
“Some practitioners can move in and out of the Aetheric.” She looked troubled by the possibility.
“The color was still wrong. The Aether he pulled in was golden-white. Kind of beautiful, really. But when he manipulates it, the residue left behind is sickly looking.”
“I think his magic is impure.”
“What does that mean?” Wren asked. “Impure?”
“Humans obtain Aetheric skills by absorbing Aether left behind by the god, or what little else seeps into this world. If he was truly a Luminae, there would be no residue.” But she frowned. “I am not sure what he is. I will discuss this with the other Guardians.”
“I’m going to check the palace’s library. Maybe there are books about Aetheric weapons or practitioners.”
“So you intend to stay?”
“You brought me here,” I reminded her. “I assume you did that for a reason.”
“He was the lesser of two evils,” she said after a moment. And she looked unhappy about it.
“You’re right,” I said. “I can’t leave. It will be harder for him to get to me here, and I don’t think I can survive another fight with him. Not if I’m alone.”
“Move her through the Aetheric,” Wren said. “Take her beyond the pass—somewhere he can’t get to her.”
“I cannot take her that far. I do not have that power.”
“I can’t always run,” I said. “Sometimes it’s not an option.” Like when you’re chased through flatlands with nowhere to hide. Or backed into a corner by a monster. “Is there something else I can do with my ability to see Aether? Some other way that I can use it?”
“You are not a practitioner.”
“I don’t want to be. I just don’t want to feel helpless.”
“Being helpless will keep you alive—and out of the Emperor Eternal’s sights. Stay in the palace and don’t leave until he’s caught.” Her words were hard, hands moving fiercely. “I’ll come to you tomorrow night.”
And with that furious pronouncement, she disappeared.
Wren and I stood in silence for a moment.
“She is pissed.”
“Yeah,” Wren said, brow furrowed. “Maybe because he took another Anima, or because she hasn’t been able to find him.”
“Or her god.”
But there was something besides anger in her eyes. Something I didn’t understand, and didn’t like.
There was fear.
Wren left, escorted by a soldier we hadn’t seen before, to ensure she safely returned to the Lady’s manor.
I closed and locked the door, listening until her footsteps faded. The room was too big, the palace too cavernous. It was silent but for the crackle of wood in the fire, and that wouldn’t last long.
I wouldn’t have imagined I’d ever miss our small room in the manor, or the sounds that filtered through the shoddy walls.
But those sounds had at least been familiar.
The curfew drummers, the servants chittering in the room next door.
Nheve calling out instructions before dawn, sellers making their way from residence to residence delivering goods.
I untied the gown just as Talia had shown me, slipped it over my head, and slid under the heavy bedcovers, kicking until they were loose enough that I didn’t feel like I was strapped down.
I stared at the walls, at the moonlight that slanted through the window, the unfamiliar shadows it made across the high, vaulted ceiling and the heavy wooden beams. I didn’t want to sleep, but my eyes drifted shut.
My mind may have objected to sleeping in a shrine to the Lys’Careths, but my body had no qualms at all. The traitor.