Chapter Thirty-Five
ELARA
Elara watched in dismay as Enzo was shoved into the hold of the ship. She heard Leo and then Merissa pushed into the cell next to them.
‘Santi,’ Elara implored. ‘Please?’
The quartermaster cast her a look of regret. ‘You shouldn’t have lied to us, Elara.’
He turned the key in the lock and disappeared up the stairs.
‘Well,’ Enzo sighed, looking down to his bound hands, ‘that went well.’
She heard a thump next door, then Leo swearing. ‘They’ve taken all my fucking weapons,’ he said.
Elara glanced down at her thigh—they’d also taken her dagger. Enzo, too, had no weapons to speak of.
‘Are you both all right?’ she called.
‘Fine,’ she heard Merissa reply. ‘What a mess this has become. But in only a day, we will be in Altalune.’
‘That’s if they don’t hand us straight to the authorities when we disembark,’ Leo said.
‘I’ll make sure that never happens,’ Elara swore. ‘Just…try to get some rest. And I’ll try to find a way out of here.’ She didn’t dare use her shadows to pick the lock like she’d done before.
When she turned, Enzo was seated, back against the wall, and strangely quiet.
She narrowed her eyes.
‘What?’ he asked, noticing her assessing stare.
‘You know that you could have obliterated anyone trying to imprison you in the blink of an eye if you’d wanted to. You could burn the ropes around your wrists right now. Why didn’t you?’
It had been a quick affair after Adrian had given the order, the crew advancing until they’d taken hold of all four of them, relieving them of their weapons and forcing them into the prison.
Enzo shrugged. ‘Because all that would have left us was a ship of corpses and no way to navigate the damned vessel to Altalune. We’re a day away; if we need to rough it in the brig, we can. Plus, I didn’t really want Adrian’s death on my conscience.’
‘I knew you liked him!’
‘No, I’m just not that much of a monster. He honoured his debt. That, I can respect.’
‘Well,’ Elara said, clearing her throat. ‘At least we know what’s wrong with me. I’m the Dark.’
‘It makes no sense,’ Merissa said from through the wall. ‘My mother never once uttered a word about the Dark in her tales of you all. And how could you be two Celestes in one? The Moon and the Dark?’
‘I don’t know,’ Elara sighed. ‘This whole situation feels like a tangled web of threads. The answer must lie somewhere in the midst of them, but I can’t find the way through.’
‘Enzo, can’t you use your powers to see?’ Leo asked. ‘I don’t trust Adrian. Nor do I trust mermaids. You can usually see to the core of people, see what makes up their soul. The truth.’
‘The last time he looked, he said there was only darkness,’ Elara said quietly.
Enzo nodded, eyes pained.
‘Eli told me to never speak its name,’ she explained. ‘He was scared of it. A god, scared.’ Fear indeed began crawling up her own throat. ‘And now I know it’s inside me.’
For a while, the only sound was the drip of water from above and the steady rush of waves from outside.
Elara was sure that Merissa and Leo had fallen asleep when she turned to Enzo.
‘I wish we had never awoken,’ she whispered. ‘I was fine before we did. We were finally happy. Together. Before the Stars wrought this upon us.’
Enzo shook his head. ‘There is so much of our past we know nothing of. I saw fragments in the Dreamlands. Past versions of myself—always searching, always seeking. And…I think I saw the Dark there too. It was the thing that taunted me. Morphed into the things I dreamed of…the person I dreamed of…before orchestrating the cruellest of tortures for me. Worse than my father ever did. It would make sense that it’s awake. ’
Elara reached out a hand next to his and stroked the damp wood. Enzo placed his as near as he could to hers.
‘And it was me all along. My shadow,’ she said. ‘I’ve also seen things. Done things. Things I don’t remember.’ She began to recount to Enzo what had happened in the temple and the pits, then in Eli’s manor. What she’d seen while walking through dreams.
‘Do you fear me?’ she finally asked hoarsely.
Enzo shook his head, eyes sombre. ‘Elara, I could never fear you. Even with your shadows at my throat. I swore it to you. I will never turn my back, never shun you for your flaws. If you’re to walk through the night, then I’ll be the light that guides you home.’
Tears began to spill down Elara’s cheeks. ‘I don’t deserve you,’ she said. ‘You deserve someone as filled with light as you are. As good as you are. Everything I touch, I curse.’
‘A curse by your hand is my sweetest benediction,’ he said softly.
‘Without your darkness, my light wouldn’t shine at all.
And don’t forget your own silver light, the moon’s very essence under your skin, the brightest light of all in the night.
Doubt your magick, Elara. Doubt yourself, if you must. But never doubt my love for you. ’
‘Gods, I wish I could kiss you right now,’ she said.
Enzo smiled. ‘Soon.’
‘What if the Altalunians don’t have a cure? What if there truly is no shadow madness, and this is just a part of me?’
‘They are the most gifted healers. I won’t stop until somebody can give us answers,’ he replied.
Elara settled down on the damp floor and felt a wave of heat as Enzo warmed her. She wasn’t sure exactly when she drifted off, until she was awoken by a tapping on her shoulder.
Her eyes flew open.
‘We’d better get you out of here, hadn’t we?’ asked the woman with deep-blue hair and clear eyes.
‘It’s you again,’ Elara said, sitting up. ‘Who are you? Adrian claimed not to know you.’
The woman laughed, crossing her arms. ‘Adrian knows me better than anyone.’
‘So he lied?’ Elara demanded. ‘All the while keeping us locked in his hold for doing the same thing?’
The woman shrugged. ‘If you want to escape, then the weakest link is Santi. He has such a big heart.’ Her eyes seemed to soften. ‘And I think he’s taken a liking to you. He has the keys. Maybe with a bit of sweet-talking he’ll let you go. Dawn is the best time to strike.’
‘But what are we to do when we escape? We’ll be on the open sea. We can’t exactly leave.’
‘You’ll have Santi by your side. Adrian is far more emotionally intelligent than you realize. With a common ally, if you speak to him—from the heart—he will allow you to remain in peace until you reach your destination. Just please…please, when you get there, don’t abandon him. He needs you.’
Elara recoiled. ‘Needs me? I hardly know him. And he certainly doesn’t act that way.’
‘There will come a time when you’ll be the only person he can turn to. Just make sure you’re there for it.’
And with that, she drifted away into the darkness.