Chapter 48
Syneca
A room that feels bigger on the inside than the outside is feeding on something. Usually time. Sometimes guests.
The Master stepped forward, and the room fell silent.
Not the natural quiet of people choosing to listen. The oppressive, suffocating silence of everyone afraid to breathe too loudly. Including me.
His smile was the kind that belonged on something wearing a human face, but had forgotten how the expression was supposed to work.
“Welcome. Welcome, my devoted citizens, here to witness this glorious moment. An ascension. A gift bestowed upon one truly worthy. Tonight we have special guests. Honored visitors who have traveled so far, worked so hard, to be here with us.” His eyes found mine across the distance.
“Please. Give a warm welcome to Vestra’s Venatori. ”
Every head in the room snapped toward us in one synchronized motion.
Hundreds of eyes fixed on the three of us.
My heart slammed against my ribs. My throat went tight.
Instinct screaming that I needed to be ready, needed to fight, needed to run.
I needed water. The small fucking vials in my pockets weren’t going to do shit.
Wickett stepped closer, as if he could somehow protect me from whatever was about to happen.
Guards appeared from nowhere, materializing from the shadows between pillars.
They wore armor of the same black obsidian, fitted so perfectly it looked like a second skin, every piece polished to a mirror shine.
Their faces were visible but expressionless.
They carried no obvious weapons, but the way they moved suggested they didn’t need them.
They gestured us forward with movements that were too synchronized, too precise.
Not threatening. Not yet. Just... expectant.
“Come, come.” The Master beckoned with one elegant hand. “Don’t be shy. You’ve come all this way. Let us see you properly.”
We moved forward because what else could we do? The crowd parted, creating a path straight to the dais, and with every step my pulse ratcheted higher.
Wrong. This was wrong. We’d walked into a trap. And we’d known and done it anyway. We stopped at the base of the platform, and the Master looked down at us with a terrible smile.
“Venatori,” he said. “Bound by blood oath to hunt and kill Vitoria Nindle or die trying.” He tilted his head. “How’s that working out for you?”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from answering, because whatever came out of this mouth wasn’t going to be eloquent nor particularly kind considering he was holding two of my friends hostage.
“Sixteen days left, I believe?” His eyes glittered with amusement.
“Tick Tock. Time’s running out.” He spread his hands in mock sympathy and laughed.
“I’m only kidding, of course. You’re not here to kill my beloved.
You’ve come to break your oath—” He paused, the smile fading. “—or you’ll die here and now.”
Pip’s gasp was the only sound.
He said my name like he owned it. “Syneca Black. Come forward, witch.”
I didn’t move. Couldn’t make my legs work past the terror freezing me in place.
“Now.” Not a request. A command that pulled at something deep inside, something that wanted to obey despite every instinct screaming not to.
I climbed the steps on shaking legs. He met me at the top, and up close he was worse, beautiful in the way poisonous things were beautiful, dangerous in ways that went beyond physical threat.
I swallowed every emotion. I needed to turn it all off. Revert back to the Rune Weaver working at the Chancellery. Play the role. I could do this. I’d done it a million times.
The Master’s hand came up, one finger trailing down my cheek with horrible gentleness. “I believe you already have the blood? Vitoria was so helpful, wasn’t she? Gave you exactly what you needed.”
The vial felt like it was burning in my pocket.
I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go backward anymore. I wouldn’t stand by and let my friends fall victim to someone because of my own fear. “I’m not doing anything until you let Calder go.”
The Master blinked. Then laughed.
And then the worst sound that I could ever imagine followed. Vitoria joined him.
Not a nervous laugh. Not the uncertain sound of someone forced to play along. But genuine amusement, sharp and cruel and delighted.
My chest cracked open.
She was laughing. At me. At this. Like it was funny that we’d sacrificed everything to save her, that I’d defended her to everyone who called her a monster, that I’d been willing to die for her.
I couldn’t look at her. Couldn’t bear to turn my head and see the truth written on her face, that this wasn’t an act, wasn’t her being controlled or forced or manipulated.
This was a choice. Her fucking choice. This was who she’d always been underneath the terrible jokes and burned dinners and three years of pretending we were family.
The betrayal hit harder than any blade could have. Worse than the oath. Worse than the stranger’s threats.
Because she was laughing, and in that sound, my world was crumbling.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to stay calm, to fight against the fire that began to build in my veins. Not because I didn’t want to burn this fucking place to the ground, but because I needed answers. I needed to know why.
How... why?
“Let him go?” The Master swiped at his eyes like I’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard, wrenching me back into the moment.
“My dear girl, he’s not a prisoner. He’s exactly where he should be.
Where he was born to be. And once you break the oath, you will be free of all of this mess.
You may leave unscathed. Not a pretty red hair on that head will be harmed.
I offer you freedom, Syneca Black. But only once. ”
I finally turned to Vitoria, meeting her crystal-clear eyes. “Tell them. Tell them to let him go. Please.”
Vitoria stepped forward. The friend I’d known was gone.
This was someone else wearing her face now.
Someone cruel. “Come on, Synnie. Think really hard about what’s happening here.
” She stopped in front of me. “Who was the only person who had to join the hunt because he was the last of his kind? I had needed him from the beginning. The Heartless One. The Rune Eater with a Heart Stone embedded in his chest.” She gestured toward Calder’s glowing sternum.
“The perfect messenger between worlds. The perfect anchor. The perfect key.”
Key?
Between worlds.
But the only other world I knew of was the Underworld.
A place locked away by the Furies when they escaped after the fourth demon prince killed the fourth Fury sister.
That’s what Aureth had said. That was the only truth.
They couldn’t possibly mean they meant to enter the Underworld. Meant to speak with a real demon.
The Oracle’s warning crashed through my mind with devastating clarity. The one who will offer you your freedom, remember that no prison is meant to hold forever.
I stumbled backward, my eyes snapping to the Master. To the mark on his neck.
Not a man. Not even close.
The throne room tilted. Or maybe that was just me.
A demon. And from the way he held court, I’d wager he was a prince.
We’d fucking walked into a demon prince’s city, and he had Calder, and Vitoria had been working for him all along, and—
“Now.” His voice cracked like a whip. “You will break the oath that fool Tiberius Veyne bound you to. You will free yourself and your companions. Or you will die. And I will find you in the Underworld and unleash torments on you that will make death seem like mercy. I will peel your soul apart layer by layer. I will remake you into something that screams for eternity and never finds peace in silence.”
His hand gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes. “Break the oath, Syneca Black. Or learn what true suffering means.”
He squeezed so hard I could feel where the bruise would be.
I pulled the vial from my pocket with shaking hands. Vitoria’s blood—willingly given. A gift from a friend who’d never been a friend at all.
“The Oracle isn’t here,” I said, voice steadier than I felt. “She witnessed the binding. We need her to—”
“You need nothing.” His grip released, leaving my jaw throbbing. “My power supersedes whatever she witnessed. I am older than the fate she follows. Speak your little spell, witch. Release what was bound. Or die where you stand.”
I looked at the vial. At Vitoria just standing there. At Calder, empty-eyed and lost. At my companions who’d followed me into this nightmare.
Wickett, who wouldn’t meet my eyes. He didn’t want this, of course. But he couldn’t fault me, could he? Not when I clearly had no choice. And then there was Pip, who gripped the edge of her cloak so tight, she was shaking with fear. I just wanted to grab her and run away.
Silas was gone, though I felt his anger through our connection like it was born within me first. I didn’t need to search to know where he was.
Hidden in the shadows, sitting in the most optimal position to strike, should I need it.
But he was smart, and every bit the hunting feline, crouched and waiting for the perfect moment.
Through him alone, I found strength I didn’t know I had.
This bastard couldn’t break me. And I’d burn this fucking city to the ground before I let Vitoria get away with trapping Calder.
But I would do it on my terms. Just like Silas.
Sliding my hands into my pockets, I withdrew two vials—one of blood, one of water—and uncorked both.
I drew Vitoria’s blade from the strap on my thigh, the same dagger that had been used in the binding, the one she’d buried into Eda Mire’s back.
The three elements that had bound us would be the three that freed us.
Only this time it would be with her blood and not ours.