Chapter 17 #2
She reaches out and pushes my hands and the mug up toward my mouth, urging me to drink. I put the rim to my lips, notes of floral and cinnamon filling my nose as I take a sip.
“Good,” she says with a pleased nod. “Don’t drink too fast. When you’re finished, I’ll bring the broth and meat over.”
I give her an appreciative smile as she shuffles away, taking a deeper sip this time.
“You passed out in the cave.” Aster explains what happened after I touched the carving of Nightfall. He tells me how Zephyr was thrashing outside, trying to squeeze herself into the cave. He told me how her roars echoed so loudly that they shook rock loose from the ceiling.
“We got you back here—though your wyvern nearly took anyone’s hand off that tried to get you away from her.
She’s been waiting beneath the cottage since we brought you here.
” Aster pauses and rubs the back of his neck.
“We haven’t been able to wake you—it was like you were stuck in a sleeping state. ”
I swallow, my pulse picking up as he explains what happened. I know that telling them what I saw—who I saw—is the smart thing to do, but I hesitate. Having the blood of the gods changes things.
Changes how they might look at me.
I’m already the one Vidaris tricked to get into the temple. The girl who grew up in a magicless kingdom, not knowing about the fae or her own Essence. Adding another thing to the list of what makes me so different from everyone else…
It could change the way my friends look at me—the way Leda looks at me. I’ve already been a spectacle since arriving in Penyth, and this only heightens that. It makes me feel like I’m an animal stuck in a glass cage, being watched as if I were the entertainment of a party.
But as I look to Calix—his honey eyes warm and soft—then to Leda, her usual fiery gaze filled with worry instead of the anger she wears like armor, my worries ease. Even though my friendships with Sidra, Orla, and Maddox were recently formed, their faces are filled with concern.
Lastly, I look to Brielle. The warrior who never backs down. A woman who brought herself to the brink of death trying to save all of us—fighting one of her oldest friends in the process.
Surrounded by these people, I feel…safe.
I take a deep breath and say, “I didn’t just pass out. My subconscious, my soul—whatever piece of me that left my body—was brought to another place.”
The strange stars in the sky appear in my mind. Maybe it wasn’t just another place, but another world—a different plane of existence altogether.
“Another place?” Sidra questions.
I swallow and nod my head.
“And I wasn’t alone,” I whisper. “Nyx appeared to me with a message.”
Gasps ripple through the room for the second time since I’ve woken up.
My fleet, along with Leda, Willow, and Aster, watches me with rapt attention as I quickly tell them what Nyx told me.
Leda’s eyes blaze as the story rushes out of me, Calix watches with his mouth slightly agape, and Brielle pushes herself slightly off the wall with her arms crossed and mouth pinched.
When I finish, they all stare at me, processing.
“So, he thinks you’re the only one that can wield Nightfall.” Leda speaks up first, her sharp cheekbones on full display with her hair pulled back. “And that you have the blood of the gods?”
I nod my head, and Leda begins to pace, head shaking.
“But Daimon and Evelina are fae,” Brielle says, her voice sounding stronger than it did when I last saw her. “Evelina comes from a long line of Manors.”
Willow and Aster spin to her, and Brielle’s eyes widen, realizing what she said. Her gaze swings to me, an apology swimming in it. Nausea fills my stomach as the two warriors slowly turn their attention to me.
Well, better late than never.
“Daimon is…” Aster blinks, and Willow brings her hand to her mouth.
What is Daimon to me? A man who looked me in my eyes and didn’t show any emotion. The man who refused to help us get Graylen back and release the souls trapped in the Vale.
“My father.” The words taste like ash as they come out, but I manage to keep my voice steady. Father isn’t the best way to describe him. A father shouldn’t try to kill their daughter and her friends; a father shouldn’t abandon his people. “My blood and sire. Nothing more,” I correct.
A strangled noise comes from Willow, tears lining her bright eyes. She looks at Brielle and whispers, “Evelina’s wedding day?”
Brielle gives her a sharp nod. I make a mental note to ask what they mean later.
Leda steps forward, her gaze swinging to Brielle, too. “Of course we know our mother’s bloodline…but what do we know about Daimon’s?”
Brielle sucks in a sharp breath and starts to shake her head, turning to Willow and Aster. They’re the only three in this room who know him from before, when he was the commander of the Riders instead of the monster he is today.
“All he ever told us was that he lost both of his parents,” Brielle says slowly. “Everyone who knew him knew that Annora’s parents took him in at a young age, raising them as their own.”
Willow and Aster nod, a somber look passing between the three warriors.
Leda looks at me, and I can see the wheels spinning in her mind. I know what she’s thinking, because I’m thinking the same thing.
But it’s Calix who says, “Daimon obviously isn’t one of the Divine.” He takes a deep breath, and my muscles tense. “But what if he came from one?”
My blood rushes in my ears, dulling the words coming out of Leda’s mouth. I can see her lips moving, but no sound reaches my ears. Brielle says something back to Leda, their voices muted.
Strong fingers grip my shoulders, shaking me lightly.
“Lu,” a deep, feminine voice hisses. “Breathe.”
The world snaps back into focus, the sound of the forest assaulting my senses. I need off this fucking island. It’s too much—knowing Graylen is in pain. Knowing we weren’t successful in releasing the souls from the Vale. Waiting to see what Moros will do next.
It’s too much.
I shake my head and slowly push myself up, my body swaying as I stand. Calix jolts forward, but I raise my palm, stopping him.
“The only person that can tell us the truth tried to kill us,” I breathe, my voice shaking. “Whether it’s true or not, it doesn’t change anything. We need to focus on getting Nightfall.”
Aster clears his throat and says, “We can help with that.”
I search his gaze, waiting for more, but silence fills the room as everyone turns to him. He struggles to find his words, a war raging in his eyes.
Finally, Leda steps toward him, her head tilted to the side. “And this mysterious dagger that’s going to solve all of our problems is—what?” she drawls. “Let me guess, lost at sea and hasn’t been seen for millennia?”
“Actually.” Willow shifts her weight from one foot to another, her jaw clenching. “We know exactly where it is.”
My heart thrashes in my chest. They already know where the dagger is? All this time—taking us to the cave, showing us those carvings—they’ve known where Nightfall is at.
And yet, they’re here on this island with no dagger in sight.
Leda snorts and mutters, “Convenient.”
Willow’s eyes snap to Leda, two warriors assessing each other. While Willow is bright and sweet, there’s something darker in her gaze. The kind of weight only a soldier can carry.
“If it was convenient, then we would’ve found a way to get it years ago,” Willow says slowly.
Leda’s face brightens with the challenge, but I jump in before she starts a fight with the two people who can tell us where the dagger is.
“Where is it?” I ask.
Willow turns to me, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Aster may have hesitated, but she doesn’t.
“There’s a reason we all moved here to Kauri,” she says slowly. “We are the keepers of the wyverns, the ones that watch over them in their slumber and answer Eurydice’s call to wake them when the time comes.
“In devoting ourselves to keeping them safe, she allowed for everyone here to keep their wyverns even after the others were sent to sleep.” Willow’s eyes soften. “We haven’t been hiding away here. We’ve been watching over Eurydice’s blessing to our kind, guarding them and guiding them.”
I swallow. Their secretive nature makes far more sense now.
They haven’t been ignoring the return of the wyverns; they were the ones who kept them safe all this time—the ones who awoke them so they could come to the rest of the fae.
An understanding settles between the group, the remaining hesitation toward trusting them fading away.
But how does that help us find the dagger?
“What does this have to do with Nightfall?” I press.
“Eurydice didn’t simply trust us with the wyverns,” Aster answers, a crease forming in his brow. “When Eurydice appeared to Willow and I to watch over the wyverns, she gave us a warning—one we didn’t understand because we had no way of acting on it.”
Confusion ripples through me.
“No way of acting on what?” Calix asks, his voice hesitant.
Aster looks to him, a deep frown forming on his face. “Of surviving to get to where Nightfall is.”
My heart sinks, and I already know what she’s going to say before the words come out of her mouth. There’s only one reason they wouldn’t survive getting to where it is, one singular reason that would stop them from retrieving the blade.
Willow’s gaze darkens as she whispers, “Nightfall is in Crea.”