Chapter 5
Chapter five
The courtyard where the gate was located always gave Cassia chills.
Once, when she was eleven, she’d accidentally run into the black spiked door.
She’d been playing a game of tag with Cade and Finn and hadn’t been paying attention to the path in front of her.
If she lifted her chin, the tiny scar was still visible.
For a few years, her pride prevented her from ever returning to the courtyard where she had lost the game. But now…
Cassia studied the garden’s chalky, stone archways, the drooping flowers, and the thorny bushes.
Everything looked so lifeless. And then there was the door.
A noise radiated from it, almost like static.
A static that seemed to drain and suck every ounce of magic that dared to get close to it.
Absentmindedly, she wondered if that was the reason for the state of the plants.
When Cassia heard footsteps to her left, she jumped behind a bush.
She chastised herself for the ridiculous impulse, especially when she realized it was just Cade and Delphine walking toward the entrance to the gate.
She blamed the courtyard. It always made her jumpy.
Still, she remained behind the bush and strained her eyes to listen to their quiet voices.
Eavesdropping had become her only source of information lately.
“I checked on Marin again this morning,” Delphine said. “She still isn’t awake. This isn’t normal, especially for a Shaman…”
“What happened when Bridget and Archer went through the gate wasn’t normal. She was the one closest to the blast…”
Cassia’s interest piqued. Marin still hadn’t woken up?
When everyone had returned from Cavamyne, she remembered hearing about how the young Shaman had passed out after sending Bridget and the other Warlock through the gate, and that seconds later, a blast of magic knocked everyone to the ground.
Cade had also returned unconscious, but he’d awoken after a day.
“Do you think that’ll happen today?” Delphine asked.
Suddenly, Cade’s voice entered Cassia’s head.
Stop spying.
Cassia ground her teeth together and stepped toward them. I wasn’t. I was here first.
Your ridiculous attempt to hide behind that bush says otherwise. Are you here to watch?
Yes.
Watching the Andarrian girl cross the gate hadn’t been her original plan, but if Cade wasn’t actively telling her to leave, then she would go. A shiver went down her spine as she remembered the last time she crossed over. The process hadn’t been easy.
Cassia reached Cade and Delphine in time to hear her brother mutter, “I guess we’ll see. They’ll be sending Alexia through any minute.”
“I’m glad you’re here, Cass. I really didn’t want to go down there. Let me know how it goes,” Delphine shuddered. Cassia was glad she wasn’t the only one affected by the courtyard’s aura, but her spirits dampened when she caught Cade send Delphine a conspiratorial glance before she walked away.
Still sensing the tether to Cade’s mind, Cassia added, I’m surprised she’s leaving. I actually thought you would have some stupid plan in place to get her through the gate with Alexia.
I considered it, but our father threatened to kill her parents if I tried.
Cassia searched Cade’s face. He avoided eye-contact with her, a blatant tell that he was lying. More than ever, she was determined to follow him down to the gate to figure out his plan.
But that was Cade. Always on edge. Always planning. Always keeping it secret. More than ever, she wished for the time before Riker’s death when they’d been an actual family. One without the sense of impending doom riding on their shoulders.
“If Bridget was still alive…”
“She is alive,” Cade snapped.
“Fine. If she remembered,” Cassia corrected blithely, “do you really think this is what she’d want you doing? Not sleeping and obsessing over that Cora woman or the Sanguis? I talked to her enough to know—”
“You may have helped her a few times, for selfish reasons I might add, but you don’t know her,” Cade growled. “Whether she remembers me or not, I’m not going to let someone try to drag her here to Elyria again.”
Cassia bit her tongue. Her brother really was stubborn.
Maybe even more than her. If he didn’t want Bridget involved with Elyria anymore, why send Castor to find and check on her?
Why bother to hold on to someone he was never going to see again?
She couldn’t imagine feeling that way about anyone… or maybe she could.
But it was never going to happen again.
“At least fix… this,” Cassia said, pinching the rough stubble on his face. “And the hair. You look like a caveman.”
Cade recoiled and patted down his hair. “Whatever. It’s not that bad.”
Rolling her eyes, Cassia added, “Delphine mentioned something happened at the border.”
“There was… an animal. That’s the official story.”
Cassia tipped her head. “And the unofficial one?”
She forced her tone to stay casual, even as her pulse kicked up. Cade was talking to her—really talking to her—and a small, reckless part of her wanted to believe it meant things might finally go back to normal. Before everything broke.
The world around Cassia disappeared as Cade placed images in her head. Images of a burning building. Screams. A shadow careening soldiers to the ground. Bodies with black markings that oozed blood.
Finally, Cade’s voice pulled her out of the vision. No animal did that.
Cassia’s heart pounded as she tried to refocus on the landscape around her. His assault has been so vivid, she’d nearly forgotten she was safe at home. Please tell me that’s not blood magic.
She’d never seen it up close, only heard the stories. Magic always demanded a price, but blood magic destroyed. Cade met her gaze, the same grim understanding reflected back at her.
Finn will let us know, he answered.
“About what you said yesterday…” Cassia said, still shivering from the images, “I don’t want to help our father. I want to help you. I didn’t let him into my head on purpose that night. Believe me, I tried to fight him. I think… I think I know how to keep him at bay next time. I swear.”
Cade’s throat bobbed. His eyes moved to the ground. “I know.”
“I know I’m not powerful.” Cassia’s voice cracked. The admission was one she actively avoided, even to herself. But she knew it was the one thing she could say to get Cade to actually listen to her. “And I know I can’t do extraordinary things like Finn or Delphine, but I want to help…”
Suddenly, Cade whipped his head toward the black, spiked door in the center of the courtyard. “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” Cassia asked, hearing nothing but static coming from the entrance to the gate.
Face pale, Cade’s eyes darted around the courtyard. “I swear I heard…”
Cassia grabbed his arm when he didn’t finish his sentence. A trickle of anxiety went up her spine. She’d never seen her brother so rattled. “Are you okay?”
Cade squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. After a long moment, he grunted. “Let’s just get down there.”
Without a backwards glance, he strode forward and flung open the door.
The torches lining the winding stairs flickered on and off as he passed each one.
Cassia hurried after him, confused by his sudden change in demeanor.
They had been the only two people in the courtyard.
The deeper they went, the more goosebumps erupted on her arms.
In front of her, Cade sucked in a breath and fell against the stone. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the rough wall. “She’s screaming!” he bellowed frantically. “You don’t hear that?”
“No one is screaming,” Cassia answered as he darted down the staircase, following something she couldn’t hear.
She took off after him, nearly sliding down the steps from her speed, but still never catching up.
When Cassia reached the bottom step, she slammed into his back.
She grabbed Cade’s arm to keep from falling.
Only a Shaman, a guard, Alexia, and their father stood around the gate. The stone vibrated and glowed as the Shaman prepared it for Alexia’s crossing. Out of breath, Cassia asked, “What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know,” Cade mumbled. His entire body trembled as he stared at the gate.
“That was quite an entrance,” their father said. He spared Cade a second glance. Cassia could have sworn there was a tiny hint of concern. Gripping his rune dagger, he continued, “I’m surprised to see you two together.”
Cade kept staring at the gate, transfixed and frozen with something akin to… anticipation. Which frightened Cassia more than anything. Only one voice could pull that reaction from him. What exactly had he heard? And if Bridget was somehow on the other side of the gate…
She didn’t have more time to ponder it, though, with their father now staring them down. Clearing her throat, she answered, “It wasn’t planned. We ran into each other in the courtyard.”
Their father shrugged, and then turned to whisper something into his guard’s ear. Before Cassia could figure out what he was saying, Alexia caught her eye. The smirk on the other girl’s face made her stomach curl. “Is there something you have to say?” Cassia snapped.
The Andarrian girl shrugged, a little too smugly for Cassia’s taste. Especially since Cade’s face was still pale.
Their father snapped his fingers. “We’re ready. Let’s get this over with,” he grunted, motioning Alexia forward. Before the guard reached her, she turned to Cassia.
“Yesterday, you wanted to know I chose the gate.”
“Does it matter?” Cassia whispered, avoiding their father’s gaze. “In a few minutes, you won’t even remember your own name.”
She grabbed Cade’s arm and tried to drag him out of his trance. Whatever secrets Alexia thought she could dangle in front of them, Cassia didn’t care anymore. All she could hear was the shrill warning screaming through her bones that something was about to go very wrong.