Chapter 65
Sixty-Five
Zoisite
The dagger we’re looking for hangs around Opal’s neck, taunting me with a quiet hum that pulls me toward it like a beacon.
“The duke gave that to you?” I whisper shakily.
She nods slowly. “He told me it wasn’t safe in Crea anymore, but that I would be safe in here.
” Opal huffs and leans her head back against a shelf.
“Safe. More like tossing me in here so he isn’t bothered by my nightmares.
He gave me this as a gift for needing to stay cooped up—said it would protect me. ”
Opal peers down at the dagger, her fingers playing with the point.
My insides twist.
He locked her up in this room and stuck her with the most dangerous weapon in the two kingdoms—all while she’s none the wiser. Opal is a human, so it couldn’t have done anything to her…right? But if it did harm her in some way…
My stomach sinks.
I’m going to kill him.
“Opal,” I say gently. She looks up at me, her bright blue eyes shiny. “Can I see that?”
Something flashes across her eyes—too fast for me to understand it. She pulls the dagger closer to her chest, clutching the handle.
“He told me that I’d regret giving it to anyone,” she whispers. “That it’s meant for me and no one else.”
My heart thumps painfully as I watch fear swirl in her gaze. What has he done to make her so afraid of him?
“I won’t let him hurt you,” I tell her. “You know me, Opal—you’ve seen me fight. I’ve only gotten stronger since I left. I can protect you.”
My magic stirs, peeking open a curious eye as if beginning to blink itself awake. Relief floods my body. Finally.
It spurs on my confidence, and I pull myself up to stand, offering a hand to Opal.
She hesitates, but places her palm in mine.
“I promise—”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” she whispers, her eyes sad. “He’s my husband now, Lu. Even if you could help me, what would you have done? Wyman is powerful—in more ways than you could imagine.”
My blood boils at the images that assault my mind—of the possibilities of him using his dark magic against her. Opal isn’t like me—she’s strong, but in a softer way. Her edges aren’t as sharp as mine.
Fire coils in my chest, sparking along my veins as it spreads across my shoulders and down my arms.
I want Opal to feel safe, to realize how much stronger I am now—that I can help her. The worry of Moros finding out I can harness my magic tugs at my mind, but I know now I can’t let her go back to him.
If she stays with me, even if he can access her thoughts somehow, it won’t matter. I can keep her safe.
“Things are different now,” I explain, holding my right hand up between us. With a deep breath, I tug on my fire—praying that it answers me this time.
A flame flickers to life in the center of my palm, smaller than that of the candle on the table. I have to reunite the shard with Nightfall.
“How?” Opal gasps and leans in closer, the fire dancing in her gaze as she examines it. “I always knew there was something special about you, but…magic? You have magic?”
A shy smile spreads across my face. “I have a lot to tell you, but what matters right now is that you stick with me. Okay?”
She nods absentmindedly, her eyes fixed on my hand as the flame dies out. My magic already feels empty again, as if that small burst of energy took all that was left. But it’s there. And that’s what matters.
Opal takes a steadying breath and looks up at me. “You’ll keep it hidden?” she asks, reaching for the dagger to toy with it.
“It won’t leave my side,” I promise. “And we’re getting you out of this room.”
She swallows, but stands taller. “Promise me one last thing,” she says sharply.
I nod, knowing that I would do anything for my best friend.
“Make him pay, Lu.” Her eyes are hard, her jaw set.
With a quick dip of my chin, the promise is made. She has no idea just how much he has to answer for.
Opal takes off the necklace, holding the handle of Nightfall, the chain dangling between us. Without a second thought, she shoves it toward me as if she can’t wait to be rid of it.
She drops it into my open palm, my fingers curling around the hilt instantly.
The pearly white blade gleams in my grip, a small chunk missing from the bottom left-hand side where the shard goes. It feels like a normal blade in my hand—no rushing of power or visions like the shard gave me—but looking down at it, I can practically see the darkness surrounding it.
It is beautiful, but somehow…haunted. Dark.
Suddenly, a sharp pain pierces my chest, and I cry out.
“Lu?” Opal asks nervously. “What is it?”
The pain increases. The shard in my vest—it’s hot. Searingly hot. It’s heating up by the second—as if it can sense the closeness to its missing home. My hand wanders to my vest of its own accord, my vision growing black aside from the bone-like blade of the dagger.
“Lu?” Opal repeats, louder this time, jerking my attention away from Nightfall.
I blink, forcing my hand back to my side. We don’t know what putting it back together will do. There could be a ripple effect, burning everything around it. Or it could scorch anyone who isn’t holding the blade within a hundred paces. I can’t connect it here—in front of Opal and without Graylen.
Graylen.
Why isn’t he here yet?
The sound of a book crashing to the ground startles both me and Opal, the echo bouncing around the room.
Adrian’s signal—someone’s here.
“Out for some late-night reading, Adrian?” An amused and muffled voice turns my blood cold.
I spin around, reaching for Opal and shoving her behind me in the same motion. She grasps my free hand. I tuck Nightfall into my pocket.
Moros is here.
“Something like that,” Adrian drawls, his voice far more relaxed than I expect it to be. “It seems you are as well, Uncle.”
There’s nowhere for me and Opal to run to—nowhere to hide, for that matter.
“Graylen,” I shout through our connection. “Moros is here—in the library. I have Nightfall. Hurry.”
I wait for his response, but silence follows.
Shit.
What if Moros is blocking our connection somehow?
“Though it’s a little late for some of your age to be about at this hour,” Adrian says smoothly.
My mouth parts in surprise, the scared boy from when we first arrived gone. I almost forgot Adrian is the king now—but that doesn’t change the fact that the majority of the guards seem to turn to Moros for directions.
Moros chuckles. “We have much to discuss, Adrian. Perhaps we both need a good night of rest so we can be refreshed in the morning.”
“I’d prefer to get my mind warmed up prior to that.” Adrian’s voice is slightly muffled through the door, but I can hear the calmness in his tone tighten just a little. “You can find me in my throne room in the morning, just after sunrise,” he says dismissively.
Opal shuffles closer to me. We both hold our breath, waiting for Moros’s response.
“Of course,” Moros relents. My shoulders relax just as the door whooshes open, revealing him standing on the other side, Adrian wide-eyed behind him. “I’d just like to collect my wife first.”
Moros looks to Opal, and my hand finds the regular dagger sheathed on my thigh as his beady gaze locks on hers.
“Sweetheart,” Moros coos, stepping into the small room. “Why don’t we get you to bed. Was it another nightmare?”
Opal begins to shake, and I instantly grab her hand to pull her to my side. She doesn’t move, still positioned behind me.
“She can stay with me tonight,” I say evenly. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”
Moros’s answering grin turns my stomach sour.
Nightfall pulses warmth in my pocket, along with the shard in my vest. They’re begging to be reunited, begging me to use them.
“Of course,” he says with a slimy smile. “I’ll arrange a meeting for you two tomorrow in the manor.”
Over my dead body.
Moros steps forward—hand outstretched for Opal—but I shift so that I’m fully in front of her. She’s taller than me, her eyes likely peering over the top of my head, but I don’t care. I’ll cover as much of her as I can.
“No,” I snap, fury rising in my chest as I spit the word out.
He frowns, his gaze narrowed on me now. It’s too late to keep the ruse up, not when he knows how deeply I care for Opal and with his past threats of harming her. Moros knows I’d never let her go with him now.
“I’ll go,” Opal whimpers as she tries to step around me. “Just don’t hurt Lu.”
The sound of her voice—weak and timid—is so unlike the strong woman I trained with growing up that I pause, my heart twisting.
But it only takes a second for that pain to morph into something else. Something stronger. Fire erupts beneath the surface of my skin, itching and clawing to be set free.
She moves to step past me, and my arm flies out, stopping her from going to him.
“You’re staying with me,” I growl over my shoulder before turning back to Moros.
Moros grins, as if expecting this. “Perhaps it’s time the three of us had a chat.”
He steps fully into the dimly lit room, and with a flick of his hand, the door slams shut behind him.
Immediately, Adrian begins pounding on the other side—demanding that he open it up. A memory of Adrian doing this as I waited on the other side of the portal to Penyth flashes in my mind, of him clawing at the bark of the lemon tree on Linnick’s farm.
“Now that it’s just us,” Moros says slowly, “I feel we can all be a little more honest.”
My nostrils flare. I have to get the shard connected to Nightfall. Being here alone with Moros—while trying to keep Opal safe—isn’t the best place to do that. But with my magic barely holding on, I don’t have much of a choice but to figure out how to get it together before he kills one of us.