Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
“He wants us to bring him a goddess. We’re supposed to bring another divine creature to Silventine Wood. As if that’s even possible!” I fumed on the outside of the Wood’s metallic border. I was so angry I wanted to punch something.
After Diredan had made his stipulations known, I’d told him I would do my best, and then Kole and I had mistphased out of there before the god changed his mind.
Twilight filled the sky around us, the end of the day drawing near. The wind had died, leaving us standing in cold snow, but the metallic haze of the Wood shimmered not far away and made the land feel as if it were alive.
I glanced upward as the first stars began to emerge and forced myself to think positively, to try to see some kind of hope in this never-ending darkness. “At least I don’t have a curfew anymore. I don’t have to return to the palace anytime soon. That helps.”
Kole stood silently, watching me, a realist to his core and once again accepting of what was to come.
But I couldn’t accept it. Wouldn’t.
“I can find a way to contact her,” I said, pacing in the snow. “I will. Somehow, it’s got to be possible.”
Kole slipped an arm around my waist, effectively stopping my pacing. His face was carefully blank. I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled his intoxicating scent. He was growing hot again with fever, but he hugged me and pulled me close.
“No matter what happens, I will always love you.” His voice was low and filled with sincerity.
My heart cracked, and even though I knew he meant those words now, there was nothing to say if our mate bond would remain once he turned. The vamfeers were nothing like fae. They were nothing like me.
“How in the realm will I reach Nuleef?” I said against his chest. “Nobody’s heard from that goddess in eons, but there’s got to be a way, even if it seems impossible.”
Kole hmmed, his chin resting on the top of my head. “I don’t know, but I do know that contacting a god or goddess requires a temple, and we do know where a temple is.”
I whipped back, my vampire speed blurring my movements. “You’re right!” I grinned. “I nearly forgot about that, and we never destroyed Arnel’s temple. We could use that to contact Goddess Nuleef and plead with her to heed my call!”
Kole brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, and his hand slid down to entwine with mine. “Then I suppose we better go.”
In a blink, the realm dropped out from beneath us as we traveled as mist and shadows, air and wind.
“Maybe we won’t be able to use Arnel’s temple.” I tried to swallow down my rising fear, but I couldn’t. Not with what we were seeing.
Standing in the Wood and hidden by foliage, Kole and I watched the activity taking place on my uncle’s estate.
The entire castle grounds were awash with kingsfae.
The Imperial Council had obviously called them in to deal with my dead uncle, and the authorities were everywhere.
They’d even erected new wards around Arnel’s property, banning our entry onto his lands.
And since Kole’s infection was known by the Council, he was no longer allowed to partake in his duties, which meant they’d denied us entry when we’d requested it.
Using my activated eyesight, I counted all of the fae present and tried to figure out how we could get past them.
It would require strong magic to penetrate their ward, but all wards were breakable eventually.
Perhaps when they took a break, or maybe when they finished in the temple, we could try to force our way in.
But over a dozen kingsfae alone surrounded those stone pillars.
One of the kingsfae held a looking glass, recording everything they saw and found. The others were meticulously removing and turning over every stone of the temple’s flooring.
I didn’t even want to know how long they would be combing through the entire estate. Most likely, it would take weeks, even months before they left.
Kole placed his hand over mine. “Diredan never gave us a time limit. We can wait until their work is done and then return to use the temple.”
The sick feeling churning in my stomach grew. “That could take weeks, Kole. You could be a vamfeer by then.”
“True, but even if I do turn, Diredan could still change me back. He has enough power to do that.”
I winced. “But what will the kingsfae or Imperial Council do after you’ve turned? And who’s to say the kingsfae won’t destroy that temple once they’re finished.”
Kole’s lips thinned, and he didn’t reply, probably because he knew I was right.
It was unlikely the kingsfae would allow that temple to remain.
It would be destroyed, probably with dragon fire if needed, because there was no way the authorities would allow such a thing to exist, not after knowing what my uncle had accomplished with it. And as for Kole . . .
If Kole turned fully vamfeer, the authorities would kill him. They couldn’t allow him to live if he turned into a raving beast who murdered fae or sought to turn others into vamfeers.
No, we did have a time limit. Even if Diredan hadn’t given us one, Kole’s infection did. His end would come unless we went into hiding and I found a way to keep him safe from the kingsfae and Council. If that was even possible.
“We’ll find another way,” Kole said at last.
My brow furrowed, but I nodded. He was right. We would have to find another way. There was no way I was resting in this lifetime until I found a way to contact Nuleef. It was either keep trying or accept that Kole either died or be changed into a vamfeer who I forced into hiding.
And neither of us deserved that.
Nighttime had fully set in by the time we returned to the palace. In my chambers, Kole fell asleep almost immediately. He’d taken another potion to curb his fever, and my entire body seized at how quickly his infection was setting in.
But even though I wanted to spend every second with him, I didn’t bother trying to sleep, and I knew staying awake at his side would accomplish nothing. It was pointless to waste time in here, even if it was beside my mate, when I could be actively hunting for a way to contact Nuleef.
I left him to slumber and ventured silently into the hall. Answers had to lie somewhere. I just had to find them.
Without a nighttime guard standing at my door, it was easy to maneuver through the palace undetected, and once I reached the library and crept inside, I wasn’t surprised by the breadth and scope of the royal collection.
Thousands of texts, scrolls, and tomes waited for me to study them. I didn’t bother to ignite any of the fairy lights. My vampire and elemental eyesight made seeing easy.
Determination burst through me, and I began to peruse the collection, searching for any reference to the gods, goddesses, and how fae had contacted them in the past.
I was so lost in thought and flying through book after book so quickly that I didn’t hear the door open.
“Primelle?”
My sister’s voice startled me so much that I dropped the tome I was reading. I spun around to face her. “Lillith? What are you doing up?”
She closed the door behind her and went to the nearest table to ignite the fairy light. Bright light flooded the space, and I took in her wrinkled dress and unkempt hair.
A blush stained her cheeks. “I was out. With . . . Lordling Ary. But don’t tell Mother or Father. They don’t know about him.”
I smirked. “My lips are sealed.”
Her forehead furrowed as she studied the mess I’d made.
“I heard you when I was walking by on the way to our wing. It looks like you’ve been busy.
” She canted her head. “So, what are you doing?” She waved toward the numerous books scattered along the floor and open scrolls draped over the furniture.
“I’m looking for something.”
She came closer to me, her eyebrows furrowing. “In the middle of the night?”
Tears began to fill my eyes, and all I could do was nod.
She rushed to me, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders in a messy disarray. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
Something about her expression and compassionate tone broke through the determined resolve that had been filling me since learning of my mate’s fate. “It’s Kole,” I rasped.
She clasped my hands and guided me to the nearest couch, not once commenting on my skin temperature or the fact that I’d been reading in the dark. “Tell me.”
So I did. I told her all of it. How Kole and I had fallen in love while I’d been hunting the Stone, his betrayal when he had to follow the Council’s orders to take the Stone from me—which were really our parents’ orders—how I’d forgiven him when I realized it was not something he ever would have chosen to do, how our love bloomed in secret while he’d been guarding me, how the night of Koraline’s ball I finally realized he was my fated mate, and then how due to recent events, Kole had become infected by a vamfeer.
I left that last part vague, lest my uncle’s permanent command be triggered.
When I finished, Lillith gasped. “Kole’s going to become one of those creatures that infiltrated the maze?”
Numb, all I could do was nod, and I realized if she didn’t know, it was likely the Imperial Council and our parents weren’t sharing that news freely.
She balled a hand to her mouth. “Does anyone know? Is it safe to be around him?”
“The Imperial Council knows. They just found out last night, and yes, right now it’s still safe. He can’t infect anyone. Not yet, at least.”
She sat quietly, her look filled with so much compassion that my eyes blurred even more.
“What’s being done about it?” she finally said.
“The Council is trying to find a cure, but I know they won’t, not in time at least, so I went back to Silventine Wood today and forced Diredan to listen to me.”
“Diredan? The God of Vengeance?”
“Yes, he slumbers there.”
Her eyes widened to saucers. “You’re joking!”
“I’m not, and since godly magic seems to be the only way to save Kole, just like only the Wishing Stone, which is a relic from the gods, could save my uncle Timith, I had to seek Diredan for help.
” I told her that we’d found Diredan that afternoon, and he’d told me that if I could find a way to get his mate, Goddess Nuleef, to contact him, then he would save Kole.
“You have to contact a goddess?” she all but shrieked. She scanned the books scattered around the floor again. “And that’s what you’ve been doing. Trying to find a way to contact her.”
“Yes.”
Mouth setting into a resolute line, she stood. “I’ll be right back.”
She fled from the room, and I didn’t know where she was going or for how long, so I got back to work the second I was alone.
I was in the process of scanning a new book and still wiping the tears from my eyes when the library door opened again, and Lillith entered with Koraline right behind her.
Shock barreled through me.
The crown princess was still in her nightclothes, but she looked alert, and I had a feeling Lillith had woken her up, pulled her from bed, and filled her in.
Without saying a thing, they both went to the shelves and began pulling out titles.
“I hear that we’re trying to find a way to contact a goddess?” Koraline finally broke the quiet as she opened up a large blue tome. “And any reference will do?”
Numbly, I watched as she and Lillith began to scour their books, and a feeling of hope, love, and acceptance bloomed in me so brightly that I barely got out a reply. “Yes, that’s exactly what we’re looking for.”
Koraline’s chin rose, and she nodded at Lillith. “Right then. Let’s get to work.”
The sun had just begun to glow near the horizon when Koraline rushed toward me with a book.
“Prim, look at this.”
She thrust the book toward me, and I quickly scanned it, my eyes widening and my throat tightening.
“Do you think that might work, considering who Varkin is?”
I snapped the book closed and pulled her into a tight hug. “Yes, it just might. Thank you, sister. Thank you!”