Chapter 18
Eighteen
Thorne
We decided in the end to find Ekardo, since Azora knew where he was, while our spies hunted for any whisper of my sisters’ locations.
Jaia had been quick-thinking and had swept up the remains of the mirror, and now Azora—the only one of us possessed of patience enough—was piecing it together in hopes of being able to track the magic’s source from the other side.
And so the next day, I stood at the top of a set of stairs that led down to a very shady basement, listening to someone scream who had once tortured me.
Dare leaned against the wall beside me. “You’re sure it’s that asshole magician?”
“Yes.”
“And we’re rescuing him because—?”
“Because we can use him.” I started down. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
The screaming stopped as we descended, replaced by a mix of rough, angry voices and Ekardo’s weaseling.
Kaelan and Hanna waited at the bottom of the stairs. Kaelan’s expression was carefully neutral. Hanna looked as if she was reconsidering all her life choices.
“We could just leave him here,” Hanna observed.
“We need someone who understands mental magic,” Kaelan said, as if he weren’t entirely sure about saving his life either. “Ekardo is the best we have access to until we can get Alys.”
“He tortured Thorne,” Dare pointed out.
“I know.”
“And me,” Hanna added.
That would always hit Kaelan harder. But still, despite the rage that flashed across his face, he said, “I know that too.”
The door to the holding room burst open. A man stumbled out, clutching his face, blood streaming between his fingers. Behind him, someone was laughing, and Ekardo was speaking quickly, trying to smooth-talk his way out of a probably well-deserved death.
The man saw me and his eyes widened. I grabbed his collar and slammed my fist across his face, pushing him down on the stairs, and went inside.
The first man went down with a broken jaw before he knew I was there. The second reached for a weapon and lost the use of his arm. The third was smarter. He ran. Dare caught him, of course, but at least he had the right idea.
Inside the room, Ekardo was chained to a chair. Bruised. Bleeding. Restrained with chains that might keep his enchantment trickery at bay.
He looked up when I entered, and recognition flashed across his face. Then something that might have been amusement.
“Well,” he said, sounding haughty despite the split lip. “Princess of the Isle and her knights errant. This is unexpected.”
“She’s the Queen of the Ice Kingdom,” Kaelan responded coolly.
Ekardo gave him a look that suggested clearly she would only be that queen if Kaelan could make it so, but he kept his mouth shut. So he was capable of that when he had encouragement to do so.
I crossed to him. Studied the restraints. The bruising. The precise placement of injuries that would hurt without killing. Professional work. Better than the thralls he’d had torture us. But then, it was his practice commanding thralls that would make him useful to us.
“Thorne.” Ekardo’s voice was steady. “I don’t suppose this is a social call.”
I broke the chains without answering and let him fall forward. He made a barking sound as he tried to catch himself. It looked like he might have broken a few ribs.
He hissed in pain as he struggled up to his knees. “Not a forgiving type, hm?”
Dare made a sound that might have been a laugh. “You’re not going to apologize?”
“Would it help?” Ekardo looked at him, then at Hanna standing in the doorway. “The little dragon princess. I thought you’d stay in the Isle, safe and warm.”
“Don’t mock her,” I warned.
Ekardo’s eyes darted back to me. “Or what? You’ll torture me? I’m afraid someone’s already claimed that honor for the evening.”
“Who were they?” Kaelan put a hand under Ekardo’s arm and helpfully dragged him up to his feet.
“No one consequential. I borrowed money I couldn’t repay. Offended people who have very little sense of humor—kind of like you.” Ekardo limped toward the door, one hand pressed to his ribs. “The usual consequences of being brilliant and poor in equal measure.”
“You were hiding,” Hanna cut through his nonsense.
“Of course I was hiding. Alys was taken. So I drained my resources and ran.” He paused. “Unfortunately, I needed some help that turned out to be more expensive than anticipated.”
“Alys.” The name came out harder than I intended. “Tell me what happened to her.”
Something shifted in Ekardo’s expression. “Edric took her. Along with her youngest sister, if rumors are right.”
“When?” My hands curled into fists. “Where were you?”
“Thorne—” Hanna’s voice, warning.
I ignored her. “You knew she was in danger. You knew what Edric was capable of. And you ran.”
We were moving up the stairs now, Ekardo limping between us. The cold air outside the basement hit like a slap, but I barely noticed.
“What was I supposed to do?” Ekardo’s voice had an edge now. “Fight an army with parlor tricks and chivalrous intentions?”
“You could have sent word. Not hidden away while my sister rotted in prison.”
“I did what I had to do to survive.” He stopped, turning to face me despite Dare’s grip on his arm. “I’m not a soldier, Thorne. I’m not built for martyrdom like you apparently are.”
His words inspired just one more drop of rage, and I already had a full cup.
I had him against the nearest wall before I’d consciously decided to move my forearm across his throat.
“Thorne.” Kaelan’s voice was calm. “We need him.”
“I know.”
“Then put him down.”
I held Ekardo there a moment longer. I let him see exactly how much I wanted to hurt him. The only thing keeping him breathing was necessity. “Tell me what happened. All of it.”
Ekardo’s eyes were watering from the pressure on his throat. “They came at night. A dozen men. More than enough to overwhelm the house wards. I was—” He hesitated. “I was with Alys when they breached the door.”
My grip tightened.
“I tried to help,” he continued quickly. “Threw up defensive shields, bought her time to run. But there were too many, and they had a nullification mage. Someone good. My magic just stopped working.”
“So you ran.”
“So I dragged myself out a window while Alys covered my escape.” His voice went quieter. “She told me to go.”
The words hit like stones. I released him and stepped back before I did something we’d all regret. “She wanted you to get her help, Ekardo.”
I said his name like a curse.
“Or she wanted me to live.”
We’d been on the Isle, trying to figure out the goddess, while my sisters were stolen. “You’ve been hiding ever since.”
“Yes.” No apology in his voice. No shame. Just flat acknowledgment.
I turned away before I could hit him.
We kept moving through the streets, Ekardo limping between Dare and Kaelan. The pre-dawn light was gray and cold, turning everything the color of ash.
“What about Coril?” I asked without looking back. “Did they take her at the same time?”
I’d pried every detail I could from Jaia, until she threatened to beat me herself if I wouldn’t stop beating myself up. She had some interesting ideas about friendship.
“No. Alys and I were staying with friends. She’d warned your mother you’d bring more destruction to her door.” Ekardo’s breathing was labored from the pace we were setting. Must hurt with those ribs. Good. “From what I heard, your stepfather handed her over to save his own life.”
Anger quickened in my heart. “He wouldn’t do that.”
“Is that so?” Ekardo mused out loud.
But it was my suspicion that my stepfather couldn’t be trusted that was why I’d left him in the ruins of the prison.
We turned a corner, heading toward the city’s edge where we could shift safely. The streets were still mostly empty, but that wouldn’t last much longer.
“You could have done more,” I said.
Ekardo laughed, a bitter, ugly sound. “Could I? With what resources? What power? I’m one mage. Against Edric’s forces, I’m about as useful as a candle against a hurricane.”
“You’re not worthy of my sister.”
“That’s for her to decide, isn’t it?” He stopped walking, forcing the rest of us to stop too. “You want to blame me for not dying pointlessly? Fine. Blame me. But it won’t change anything. Just like dying in that room wouldn’t have.”
“It might not change much, but it’d make me a little happier.”
Dare moved between us. “Can we save the mutual loathing for later? We need to keep moving.”
“He’s right. We’re exposed here.” Hanna’s hand found mine, her grip steady and grounding. “Deal with him later.”
I nodded and kept walking.
Ekardo followed, still limping. After a few moments, he spoke again. “I would have gone after her if I’d had any chance of succeeding. But I’m one mage. Edric has armies. The math was rather simple.”
I didn’t believe him. “The math is always simple for you.”
“Yes. That’s why I’m still alive.”
“And Alys is in a cell somewhere. Because she’d protect you, buy you time, and you wouldn’t do the same for her.”
Silence. He didn’t try to point out that Edric wanted her alive and didn’t need him. I knew it, but I didn’t care. I would have done anything to protect my sisters, but I hadn’t been there. He was but he was useless. I wasn’t sure which of us I hated more.
We reached the edge of the city as the sun broke over the horizon. The rendezvous point was a abandoned warehouse near the eastern gate, close enough to the main roads for a quick escape. Jaia and Azora should already be there.
“What do you want from me?” Ekardo demanded. “You took me for a reason.”
“We need someone with experience working with thralls.” Dare’s voice was clipped. We didn’t want Ekardo to know more than he must.
But he gave Kaelan a wide eyed, amused look. “So it’s true! Your father owns your mind.”
I pushed Ekardo into the warehouse ahead of me, my hand on his shoulder harder than necessary. He stumbled and barely kept to his feet, reeling.
Jaia’s brows arched as Ekardo finally lose his balance and fell to his knees in front of her. Azora stepped back. And standing between them, looking small and tired and impossibly brave, was a familiar woman with long, silver-touched hair tied back, dressed in riding clothes.
My mother.
She looked older than I remembered. Her face looked thinner, her eyes shadowed. But she was alive.
“Thorne,” she said, and her voice broke on my name.
I became acutely aware of the violence still humming through my veins. Of the blood on my knuckles from hitting the men in the basement. Of the rage I’d been carrying like a weapon all morning.
Of how far I was from being the son she’d raised. But then, Edric had far more years to mold me than my mother.
“Mother,” I managed.
She crossed to me and pulled me into a hug that smelled like home, like herbs and rain and the particular soap she’d always used. I stood rigid for a moment, then let myself bend enough to return the embrace.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly against my mother’s hair.
“For what?” She pulled back, her hands framing my face. “I know, Thorne. You’re doing all you can.”
But her eyes went past me, landing on Ekardo. Recognition flashed across her face, followed by something harder.
“You,” she said.
Ekardo had the grace to look uncomfortable. “I’m glad to see you safe.”
The weight of her gaze was icy. “You could’ve sent me a warning when Alys was taken. I might have the chance to flee with Coril.”
Ekardo grimaced. Whatever he was going to say was cut off as Jaia interrupted. “We should move. This area won’t stay empty much longer.”
My mother’s attention came back to me. “Your sisters? Do you have a plan?”
“We’re working on it,” I said, which wasn’t quite a lie.
Her expression said she knew exactly how much I wasn’t telling her. But she nodded and stepped back, letting me breathe. “Have you seen my husband?”
“I have. I left him in chains in the prison at Piernan.” I met her gaze evenly. “Is it true he traded Coril for his own safety?”
“He disappeared in the night with her. Edric called her a ward. As you were once, he pointed out.”
I scoffed. “So you aren’t angry I left him?”
“I’d have done the same.” She patted my arm. “But it would be nice if you asked.”
I turned to find the others watching. Kaelan with careful neutrality. Hanna with sympathy. Dare with open amusement, his lips tugging up in a half-smirk. And Ekardo, looking slightly sickened over exactly how many people here wanted him dead.
“Right,” I said, pulling myself together. “Let’s move. We have work to do.”
As we headed through the warehouse to the far doors, my mother fell into step beside me.
“What are you going to do with Ekardo?”
“We need him to help Kaelan and Hanna.”
“Do you trust him?”
I thought about Ekardo’s justifications. About his casual admission that he’d let Alys fight while he ran. About the way he’d looked at me when explaining the simple math of survival.
“No,” I said. “But I’ll use him anyway.”
Somewhere, my sisters were waiting for me. For now, we would fly so we stayed free to rescue them.
And I would tear down every wall, work with any monster necessary to bring them home.