Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
The Emberborn
Istruggled to grasp what was happening before me.
For an instant, time was broken. There was no other way to describe it—the world simply stopped around me.
Syra’s mouth was open, frozen in mid-snarl.
A bead of sweat that had flown from my head was hanging in midair.
Only Darion was moving, running down the alley. I was barely able to even turn my head.
Then time came rushing back like a torrential river, and Darion was gone.
The woman-beast Syra and the guards flew back like they’d been hit with cannonballs, careening halfway across the alley and crashing to the ground.
With no time to rationalize what had happened, I scaled the wall, pausing for only a moment at the top to look back. The beast peered up at me with black eyes like a predator hunting its prey. I raced away.
As I made my way across the rooftops of Analon, shouts came from below but quickly faded as I jumped from building to building. My mind was a jumble. Maintaining my concentration took everything I had.
The events in the alley were starting to sink in.
Darion was the golden-eyed thief.
The truth landed like a blow.
And he’d hidden it from me. That was his secret.
And last night, when he’d pulled away from our kiss, I hadn’t questioned it.
This was how it always went: I let someone in, and then they vanished.
Something deep within me cracked the slightest bit, subtle but fundamental.
My hands shook so badly I nearly missed the next jump.
I paused on a rooftop and sank down next to a chimney to try to stop spiraling.
But my brain wouldn’t slow down. Darion could vanish into thin air, leaving behind the scent of ozone and citrus.
And he could…what, manipulate time? And Syra had transformed before my eyes—she must have been the one who had stalked me outside the Charred Snake.
Some people have the ability to sense Emberborn, Mrs. Crowe had said. Did that mean that I could sense Emberborn, that Darion and Syra were Emberborn? The implications made my head spin.
I kept making connections and slotting truths into place that I had previously refused to accept.
It was Darion who had left me the invitation to the Emberlight Trials.
That was plain now. Had he been following me from the start?
Spying on me from the moment I first saw him at the Bleeding Oak?
Was this part of the Emberlight Trials? Did all recruits to the Emberlight Trials have someone to watch over them, as Darion had done for me?
Crouched on a rooftop, I replayed every moment, every interaction, everything he’d said to me. Were the things he’d said sincere, or was it all just part of the Trials?
And what of our kisses? I had leaned into them. I had wanted them to mean something. My heart ached at the possibility that it was all a deception, part of an elaborate ruse. He couldn’t care for me, not really. What a fool I had been. I didn’t even know how to find him again.
But there was one person who might have some answers. If I really wanted answers, that is. If I wasn’t afraid of what I’d find.
I jumped up before I could lose my nerve.
Mrs. Crowe’s shop in the Underworld was as dark as it had been the last few days. My gentle knocks went unanswered, and the shades over the windows concealed everything within.
“Mrs. Crowe,” I called, first quietly, then louder. The tavern next door was noisy, but even so, a few people standing outside glanced my way. When there was still no answer, I banged hard on the door and shouted, “Mrs. Crowe, it’s important!”
Finally the door creaked open until just a sliver of her face was visible.
“Are you insane?” she hissed.
“Mrs. Crowe, please let me in,” I pleaded.
She scowled and shut the door. I was about to bang on it again when the sound of chains rattling came from the other side.
When the door creaked open all the way, she waved me in. “Come, quickly!”
The moment I was inside, she shut the door and locked it.
“Thank you,” I said. “I have to ask you about Ember—”
She cut me off with a shush and a sharp gesture, then waved me into the back room, past a curtain. Countless metal and glass devices filled every horizontal surface. The two of us had spent many hours in here as I had refined my craft.
She cranked the handle of a large centrifuge, which emitted a loud whirring sound.
She leaned in close. “Tarnasau’s spies are everywhere. This should keep them from hearing us,” she said.
How any spies could hear us when we were locked deep in her house was beyond my comprehension. I hoped she wasn’t getting irrationally paranoid in her older years.
“Last time I was here, you said that some people could detect Emberborn. Can you tell me more about that?” I took a deep breath. “Because I think I might be one of those people.”
Despite the noise, she still cringed when I said the word Emberborn. “You ask too much of me.”
“Please, Mrs. Crowe,” I pleaded. “I need to understand what’s happening.”
She let out a long breath, as deep a scowl on her face as I’d ever seen. “I’m taking a perilous risk even talking to you. But I’ll be leaving soon anyway.”
“Leaving? Where are you going?”
“Thornfell.”
My jaw dropped. “Why would you go to that horrible place?”
Thornfell was a secluded town far to the east at the end of the Jagged Coast. Its only purpose was to serve Thornfell Keep, the king’s private citadel, where it was rumored that he conducted nightmarish medical experiments.
“I have…unfinished business there,” Mrs. Crowe said. “I’ll talk to you, but I have two conditions.”
“Name them.”
“First,” she said, “what I tell you must never be traced back to me.”
“Of course,” I said. “And the second?”
“You must never seek me out again.”
My mouth dropped open in shock. I had known Mrs. Crowe for years, and the thought of never seeing her again made my stomach churn.
Seeing my expression, she added, “Or you can leave now, and that second condition will still hold.”
“Guess I have no choice. Agreed.”
She studied my expression, then nodded. “How much do you know about the history of the Emberborn?”
“Not much.”
“Not surprising, given your age,” she said.
“Emberborn used to be common. Although they were not as numerous as non-Emberborn, thousands lived in Analon alone. Emberborn and humans lived peacefully side by side. Then, twenty years ago, King Tarnasau declared Emberborn a threat to the kingdom. He was afraid of their power. He and his Sentinels and Royal Guard began to hunt them down. The Butcher was the master architect of it all.”
At the mention of Orlik’s nickname, I flinched.
She continued, “Emberborn were either killed or conscripted into King Tarnasau’s army.
The ones who escaped fled the country or went into hiding.
Even mentioning Emberborn became a capital offense.
The king’s lackeys scrubbed the libraries, removed them from the history texts, and destroyed their artwork.
He literally wiped Emberborn from existence. ”
How does an entire race get wiped out such that only a few remain? The thought made me sick to my stomach.
“And I can detect them,” I said. “At least when they use their abilities, that is.”
Mrs. Crowe turned the centrifuge’s crank to increase the whirring sound. “Emberborn call their abilities Embers. What you’ve described is Veilsense: the ability to detect when Emberborn draw on their Embers.”
“And how did I get this Veilsense?”
Mrs. Crowe looked me directly in the eye. “Veilsense is itself an Ember.”
It took me a moment to absorb the implications of what she’d said.
“But…only Emberborn have Embers.”
She nodded. “Now you understand.”
I couldn’t accept it. It wasn’t possible.
I was Emberborn?
“But…but I’ve seen what these Embers can do—make people disappear or turn into beasts. I can’t do anything like that.”
Mrs. Crowe’s gaze looked like it could cut glass. “Turn into beasts? You’ve seen this?”
“With my own two eyes. Orlik’s bodyguard Syra.”
Mrs. Crowe looked visibly pained. She let out a long breath and continued. “Each Emberborn’s Ember is as distinct as their appearance or personality. Some Embers are innate and passive, like Veilsense. Others are more active and take great energy to perform and great skill to master.”
I still didn’t want to believe I had a “magical” power, but a growing feeling told me it was the truth. Perhaps a part of me had always known.
“Why didn’t my parents tell me?” I asked, not expecting an answer.
“Emberborn were hunted and murdered because of their Embers. Would you trust a child with that secret?”
My father had trusted me. You can hear whisperhawks, like me. It’s your special gift. But you must keep it a secret. Tell no one.
I had told someone. And it had cost me dearly.
It was hard not to feel betrayed. I’d been Emberborn all along, and my parents had chosen to hide that from me. Maybe if I had known what it meant—how dangerous it was—things might have been different.
“But how did I not figure it out?” I asked, more to myself than to Mrs. Crowe.
“Most people don’t develop Embers until their teen years. And Veilsense is innate, so it’s not that surprising that you didn’t even know.”
Until their teen years.
Oh no, Elena!
In all the commotion, I had forgotten about her.
The last time I’d seen her was at the Citadel Market, when I’d told her to go home.
Only now did I realize how critical that advice had been.
If Elena hadn’t heeded my warning and had stayed in the market, it was possible that Orlik could have found her.
And if she had some kind of latent Ember that Sentinels could detect…
“I have to go home and check on Elena!” I said.
“Just as well,” Mrs. Crowe said. “I’ve told you too much already.” She grabbed my shoulder with a bony hand. “You must know this: Veilsense is a rare Ember, and one coveted by King Tarnasau. All of his Sentinels have it.”
At the word Sentinels, a chill ran down my back. That I had something in common with them disgusted me.
Mrs. Crowe continued, “If he finds out you have Veilsense, he’ll do everything in his power to capture you and add you to the Sentinels’ ranks. That’s how he hunts down Emberborn. Be vigilant.”
The idea of Sentinels hunting Emberborn, hunting Elena and me, was horrifying. My mother’s dying request that I protect my sister took on a whole new dimension. Now I was doubly worried about her. “I have to go!”
Mrs. Crowe walked me to her door, undid the locks, and turned to me, her face drawn into a deep frown. “Remember, I’m leaving for Thornfell. Don’t ever seek me out again.”
I gave her a grim nod, knowing a significant part of my life had come to a close. “Goodbye, Mrs. Crowe.”