Chapter 29
My feet shuffle over rocks and piles of dirt as I scurry through the tunnel to keep up with Thane. I stumble and end up bumping into him because I keep glancing back at the mouth of the cave, which is now just a pinprick of light in the distance.
“What did Frevella mean by secrets?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Thane grumbles. “But I know elder sorcerers like doing things the old-fashioned way. They don’t care for debts. They just want to mess with your head.”
He says that like it’s a good thing.
When we reach the end of the tunnel, it feels twice as warm.
I spot more flames flickering in the distance, but those are normal, not purple.
We walk down three stone steps and round a corner, entering a room shaped like a half-circle with rocky gray walls peppered in silver.
The silver catches the fire blazing in the hollow of one of the walls.
The only sounds are crackles and pops, but there is no wood for the flames to scorch.
It smells like so many things at once—fish, spices, sulfur, flora, a corpse. I shudder at the idea that dead bodies could be hidden in this cave…and how easily we could be joining them. But hey, at least there aren’t any eyeballs floating in glass jars.
I spot Frevella to our left, standing next to a table that’s been built from alvanite. She slaps a thick book closed, startling me as she faces us. That snake of hers slides off her shoulder and slithers in our direction.
I draw in a breath as it coils around Thane’s ankle.
He doesn’t stir, even as it creeps all the way up his body and winds around his shoulders.
When it makes its way back down, the snake roams over my foot and slides up my leg.
I fight a tremble as it circles my waist, then slinks to my chest with its tail wrapping around my ribs.
It moves back so its face can hover in front of mine, eye to eye.
I hold my breath, staring into its glowing red eyeballs.
Its black tongue rapidly flickers through its lips before Frevella says, “Good.” And just like that, the snake drops to the ground and slithers back to her.
My hands shake so violently, I have to fold my arms and tuck them beneath my armpits.
“Sit.” Frevella gestures to two rickety-looking chairs in the center of the room.
Thane goes first. I follow him. I hate that the chairs face each other. It’s hard not to look at him, especially now that he has his mask lowered. His sharp jawline is peppered in stubble, his lips are pressed into a thin line due to his agitated mood, and his eyes dart from me to Frevella.
“How long will this take?” he asks as she glides toward us.
“However long it takes.” She stands behind him, but the snake slinks closer, stretching up to his eye level. And then it dawns on me—she’s seeing us through the snake’s eyes.
The hairs on the back of my neck rise and a shiver rattles through me as she asks Thane, “Why are you traveling to Elphar’s temple?”
“She needs a prosperity stone,” he answers.
Frevella is quiet for a beat. “And what do you need?” she probes, walking around his chair. Her head is tilted up while her snake studies him intently.
“I’m simply her protector.”
Frevella snorts.
He scowls.
“You. Girl. Why do you willingly risk your life going to Elphar’s temple?”
“For my sister,” I tell her.
“She needs your help, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, poor girl. You would do anything for her, wouldn’t you?”
My heart drums faster as the snake studies me more closely. “Anything,” I whisper.
The cave falls into a tense silence as she makes her way around the room, her fingertips pressed together.
Sweat accumulates on my forehead and upper lip from the heat…
and probably from the nerves, too. The fire is unnecessary, but perhaps she’s cold.
Or maybe the fire is her only source of light.
Either way, I can feel my clothes sticking to me, like honey to my fingers.
I swipe at the bead of sweat dripping down the side of my face.
“You want my Kelvanite Sphere.” She stops between us. “Very well. I can give it to you.”
I perk up a bit.
“But, as I mentioned, there is a price.” Her snake looks between us, and my hope deflates. “Two secrets must be shared. One from each of you.”
Thane frowns. “Seriously? A secret?”
Frevella doesn’t answer. She remains completely still, her face pointed forward, the snake examining us for her.
“Fine.” Thane’s seat creaks as he adjusts his position. “I kept a dagger on me. It’s tucked in my left boot.”
Frevella’s head tilts backward as she unleashes another one of her croaky laughs. He and I pass a look between each other. This woman is mad.
She faces Thane and leans in, coming face to face with him. “If only it were that simple.”
“I don’t understand what you want.” His words come out through gritted teeth.
“I don’t want your surface secrets. I want to know the deepest, darkest fear that you’ve never shared with anyone—the one that torments you so much, it turns your sweetest dreams into cruel nightmares.
” She turns her face toward me. “I want you to tell me about the fear that eats you up inside. That is the secret I want in exchange for my irreplaceable sphere.”
When she moves out of the way, Thane’s amber eyes clash with my dark brown. His teeth grind when he turns away from me, focusing on the fire instead.
“I’ve poured many of my spells, secrets, and energy into the very sphere you seek,” Frevella goes on. “It is dear to me and has saved countless lives. You want it to save yours, then you must reveal yourself.”
As she speaks, the cave becomes hotter. I’m dripping with sweat, and I’m certain the jagged walls are closing in on us. Everything, including the table and bookshelves, feels closer. Even the energy flowing off of Thane feels stronger, like he’s right in front of me.
Frevella grips our shoulders, and a shock courses through my bloodstream. Thane clearly feels it, too, because his eyes ignite a fierce gold.
“Look at each other,” the sorceress orders.
I stare into his eyes as he does mine. I can’t look away even if I try.
“You speak first, Thane Valkor.” I can hear the satisfaction in her voice. She’s pleased to have us under whatever spell this is—to have us as pawns in her hands.
Thane grunts as he tries resisting, but Frevella grips him tighter, her nails piercing into his buffers.
Rynthea’s words ring in my head. Make sure the sorcerer doesn’t fuck this up for us. I try telling him to just reveal something so we can get the sphere, but it’s not my turn to speak yet. Frevella won’t allow me.
“My greatest fear is not getting vengeance,” Thane confesses. He closes his eyes as if those words—that don’t surprise me in the slightest—are an earthshaking declaration.
“That’s a start,” the sorceress says. “But you must give me more. I must know why. Continue.”
Lips clamped tight, he takes several deep breaths through his nose as if he’s fighting to keep silent. “I…had…a brother…” His words come out strained and painful. “He… Fuck… I can’t.”
I have the urge to reach out to him, but I still can’t. My body is completely under her control. My emotions are not entirely my own, either. I can feel so much in this moment.
Anger.
Worry.
Fear.
Thane’s emotions have entwined with mine. I didn’t think he feared anything, but seeing him now in such a vulnerable state, fighting with his truths, makes me wonder…
“Do not resist,” Frevella commands. “Speak your truth. Your greatest fear. Your pain, I must feel.”
Maybe she feeds off emotions and gets her power from that somehow. I try to look at her, but the spell holds my gaze firmly on Thane’s face.
He manages to close his eyes. Frevella hangs on, and the tension finally leaves his body as he parts his lips to speak again.
“His name was Koa. He was… He was my little brother. He was killed in his nineteenth year, and…it was my fault.”
My throat thickens as I study the man across from me. His head sways with shame, and his mouth quivers. His eyes remain closed as he tilts his head back and swallows, the lump in his throat going up and down.
“I still see his face when it happened. I…I can’t forgive myself or the people who killed him.
I never will. He told me all the time that he wanted to be just like me, but…
I’m the worst person. My existence is riddled with disappointment and bathed in blood.
I come from nothing, but he had the potential to become everything.
It’s my fault he’s gone, but I want to make it right.
I must make it right. My greatest fear is that I will fail him. ”
Hot tears run down my cheeks as I watch him struggle with his secret.
His fear.
His truth.
Now I understand why he’s so guarded and angry—not only because of the past Algar told me about, but this, too.
Now I understand why he wants to increase the power of his magic.
Did his brother die because he became a shadow assassin?
Or did he become a shadow assassin because of his brother’s death? How was it his fault?
So many questions run through my head, but they slip away as Frevella squeezes my shoulder and says, “Speak, girl.”
I can only stare at Thane, whose eyes open to focus on mine. “My greatest fear is…” I bite my lip. It seems cruel to say “losing my sister” after Thane’s retelling of his own brother’s death, but whatever spell she has us under compels me to speak. I decide to start from the beginning.
“I still have nightmares about my last day in Ember Coast,” I confess. “I’m a native. I loved it there and was so happy, but then the Ruvain attack happened.”
Frevella’s grip on my shoulder relaxes.
“I…I remember the explosions. The raids. The screams. Some of my friends’ bodies on the streets…
dead. There were fires everywhere, and I was so scared.
” My voice breaks as Thane’s eyes soften at the corners.
“I still remember the desperation in my father’s eyes and the fear in my mother’s before Analla and I were hauled away to safety by soldiers from Meriva.
The attack had gone on for four days before they found us.
“We’d been hiding in a fortified building, and we were lucky because not many of us made it there.
But when we were taken, my parents insisted on staying behind to help.
My father was a doctor and my mother a nurse, so it was in their nature to take care of others.
Meriva won and drove out the Ruvainers, but…
I never saw my parents again after we were removed from the coast. My sister and I saw so many of our friends reunited with their parents, but it never happened for us.
Instead, we were sent to a refugee center for orphaned children in Meriva. ”
I drop my chin as hot tears slide down my cheeks.
“I know you think it’s reckless, Frevella, that we’re going to Elphar’s temple, but this journey is important to me.
I’m doing it because I had everything ripped away from me before, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
Now my sister will be taken away from me, too, if I don’t act.
She’s the only family I have left, and the truth is…
” I fight through the emotions clogging my throat.
“Well, the truth is I’m afraid to be alone.
Without her, I’m afraid loneliness will swallow me whole.
I hardly even have friends,” I say with a humorless laugh.
“I have no one else. I need her, and I don’t care what I have to do to get her back.
You ask what my greatest fear is? My greatest fear is not being able to save her.
It’s knowing that if I fail, there will be no one else left in this world who loves me back. ”
The cave drowns in a deafening silence.
Frevella releases our shoulders, and the shock coursing through my bones melts away.
I draw in a full breath before exhaling, trying to calm myself.
I can feel Thane’s heavy gaze on me, curious, lingering.
I’m sure he has a million questions just like I have for him, but I’ve revealed enough for one day.
I’m too ashamed to look at him right now.
Talking about Ember Coast, about my parents, about my past…it’s always been too much for me to bear. In the beginning, the mere thought of it made me curl over and weep. Each year, it becomes a little easier, but I still have moments where crying is the only way to cope with my reality.
I can’t do that here, so I clear my throat and shove away my frustrations.
“Can we have the sphere now?” I ask in a softer voice.
Frevella angles her chin higher. “The sphere is yours.”