CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT ISI #2
Trew knelt, pulling me into his arms, his voice trembling as he whispered against my hair. He held me, letting me break against his chest while he kept watch.
Pherin cooed softly, nuzzling my neck.
My composure shattered, but I made myself hold it together. I could not fall apart now.
Rising, I stared at Fenmark’s blood on the restraints and felt something cold and final settle in my chest. Trew’s cousin. A man who’d risked everything to protect my sister.
It wasn’t hard to imagine the horror he must’ve felt when he realized he was trapped, when he understood that no one was coming to save him.
Had Addie been forced to watch? Had they tortured them together, using each other’s pain as leverage? The questions made my vision blur with tears I couldn’t afford to let loose, not while we were still trapped in this cursed place with evidence of atrocities surrounding us.
Stunned, I staggered, catching myself with a hand on the wall.
“I accepted everything as it was presented,” I choked out. “I didn’t question her death or who might’ve killed her. I rushed to your court, intending to lay waste to anyone who had hurt her, when all the while she lay here. And they tortured her!”
“No.” His rough voice cut through my spiral. “This isn’t on you. None of this is on you.”
But I made a promise to myself as I looked at those bloodstained restraints. Everyone responsible for this would pay. My father. Whoever controlled the Skathes. Anyone who’d participated in this systematic torture and murder. They would all die, and it wouldn’t come fast.
We pieced it together. Fenmark and Addie had been held here, though we didn’t know if they were here at the same time. My sister sick, perhaps from the same veil-sickness that killed Velacross.
Had they made her transport the Skathes here?
Thorne had only rescued Addie. Where was Fenmark now?
Maybe dead, drained of his magic.
“We need to see it all,” I said to Trew, my voice breaking. “We have to, for them.”
He helped me to my feet with a nod, and we moved to another area.
I studied papers covered in that same scratchy handwriting. Questions about Syllavar’s defenses. Veil research. The advance of the wasteland and how to maximize the benefits of it. They suggested using the Skathes as threats to make other courts comply.
References to “the two controllers” appeared multiple times.
Trew and I exchanged looks.
“Two controllers,” I said. “Working together.”
“This changes everything.”
We moved to the center of the room, staring around at the evidence of conspiracy and horror.
My mind raced, connecting pieces that had seemed random before.
“Father’s war preparations. The attempts on my life at Syllavar.
The Day of Mercy harvesting magic for someone’s use.
The Skathe research. The veil breach south of Syllavar.
Addie and Fenmark’s imprisonment and torture.
So many clues. It’s hard to squish them all together into one coherent thought. ”
“The maps show attack plans for Syllavar,” Trew snarled. “Intelligence gathered on my castle’s defenses and key people to eliminate to create full-on chaos. My name is first on the list.”
All the people who could work magic, waiting to be captured and drained.
I had to lean against him and close my eyes before the next horror revealed itself. Each discovery built on the last until I felt like I was drowning in it all.
My father hadn’t just planned to kill me or marry me off to a convenient ally. He’d been watching me for months, possibly years, documenting my every movement like a scientist studying a specimen. The violation of my privacy felt almost as intimate as a physical assault.
I pressed my palms against my eyes, trying to process the magnitude of betrayal before forcing myself to continue. There would be time to break down later. Right now, I needed to see the rest.
We discovered details about where the Skathes were massing and how to direct them to specific locations to assist in an invasion. Evidence that these people were trying to widen the veil breach, not close it, confirming what Eva said.
Proof they were going to host a Skathe attack from the south at the same time my father’s army attacked from the north.
“He isn’t attacking you to avenge Addie’s death,” I said.
“We’re another source of magical power.”
I found more notes tucked beneath the maps. References to Crestin as “pliable.” Mentions of manipulating him to “end this if necessary.”
Backup plans within backup plans.
My stomach turned.
“He wants to kill me,” I whispered. “Either through arranged marriage or assassination. He must worry I’ll figure it out and kill him first.”
Trew’s arm came around my shoulders.
“He won’t get the chance,” he said. “I’ll raze this land before I let him touch you.”
Danger! Pherin’s voice shot through my mind like lightning. People. Coming!
Footsteps echoed on the tower stairs below, followed by multiple voices.
If it was one person, I’d wait here and end this now. But it might be hard to take down multiple people without one of us getting hurt. Especially those who were drinking power to fuel their own.
We’d planned to leave by the stairs.
Trew and I looked at the grate we’d slid through, but the left tunnel led to the kitchen where staff would see us. We didn’t dare return to the dungeon.
The echo of footsteps came closer. Closer.
My heart leaped up into my throat.
We had to get out of here before we were discovered.
After replacing the grate, Trew urged me toward the only way out.
Rain had begun falling outside, fat drops splattering on stone. The wind picked up, carrying the scent of an approaching storm.
“Can you climb in this?” he asked.
I was already moving toward the nearest window. “Watch me.”
Pherin launched into the air, flying out into the rain to scout our route.
I swung my legs through the window opening, finding purchase on wet stone. The tower spiked down into darkness below, rain making the surface slick.
Trew followed, his larger frame barely fitting through the opening.
The door behind us swung open just as he closed the window.
We ducked down.
Thunder rumbled after, deep and low and ominous, and lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating our precarious position clinging to the tower exterior.
I froze, unable to move as terror grabbed onto me and ripped its way through my bones.