CHAPTER FORTY-NINE ISI #2
“Every thread and every distortion in the weave. When I approached the breach,” Addie stared down at the pendant in her hand, “the stones began to glow. Brilliant blue-white light pierced through our disguises.” Her voice cracked.
“My body started to flicker. I couldn’t control it, and our magical disguises collapsed. ”
Had Velacross enchanted it somehow to protect our mother, to mark her bloodline, to ensure those who came after would be recognized?
Trew shifted forward in his chair. “The pendant triggered your traveler abilities?”
“I don’t think that was it. I believe the veil did that.
But the pendant’s blaze revealed who we truly were.
” Addie’s hands shook. “The breach isn’t a natural tear.
From what you’ve told me, Velacross created it.
But someone has modified it. Warded it. Those wards were designed to detect Velacross’s bloodline specifically. ”
Horror crawled up my spine. “It was a trap.”
“I realized too late.” She pressed the pendant back into my hands. “Wear it for now. I’ll take it back if I need it.”
The phrasing struck me as odd. “What do you mean?”
She frowned, and the distant look crossed her face again. “I’m not sure.”
Trew and I exchanged glances. Something was deeply wrong here, beyond her veil-sickness.
“What happened after the wards broke my spells?” Trew asked gently.
“Skathes surrounded us. Dozens of them, closing in from all sides.” Addie’s voice went flat. “Fenmark and I fought. He killed three and wounded more. I took out two myself. But there were too many.”
“He told me to run.” Her jaw clenched. “Screamed at me to go while he held them back. I refused. I couldn’t leave him.”
Derren leaned forward, his expression grim.
“He grabbed me and shoved me toward the tree line.” A tear tracked down Addie’s cheek. “He turned back to face them. He’d picked up a stick, and he swung it. I saw him go down beneath a wave of claws and teeth. They captured him.”
The silver dragon on the perch released a keening sound, mourning along with her.
“You were captured as well,” I said.
“A second group had circled behind us. They were waiting beyond the trees.” Addie wiped her face with the back of her hand. “They dragged me to a tent. Two figures waited inside.”
Trew went very still. “Describe them.”
“I…can’t.” Frustration and fear ground through her voice.
“I remember a man and a woman. I remember them examining me, discussing my value. They looked at the pendant and confirmed something between them. But their faces…” She pressed her hands to her temples.
“When I try to remember who they were, there’s nothing. Just shadows.”
“Memory tampering,” Kerralyn said quietly. “Someone doesn’t want you identifying them.”
“The woman performed a ritual before they transported me to Caldrith.” Addie’s voice went hollow.
“She placed her hands on my temples and spoke words in a language I didn’t recognize.
It felt like she was carving pieces out of my mind.
” She shuddered. “Her last words were clear though, ‘Who needs to remember? Not you.’”
Rage burned through my chest. Someone had tortured my sister. Violated her mind. Stolen her memories to protect their own identity.
Trew’s hand found mine, squeezing hard enough to bring me back before I could spiral into fury.
“They transported you directly to Caldrith’s dungeon?” he asked.
Addie nodded. “One moment I stood in the tent, the next in a cell. He visited me regularly.” Her face contorted with pain. “When I try to name him, the pain overwhelms me.” She gasped, her hands flying to her head.
“Stop,” I said. “Don’t push it.”
She breathed through the pain, slowly lowering her hands. “He made me open pathways. Again and again. Forced me to tear at the edges of the veil until I thought I’d shatter completely.”
“To keep it open?” Kerralyn asked.
Addie shrugged.
“That’s what’s making you flicker,” I said, horror dawning. “Each crossing damaged you.”
“Thorne got me out before it became permanent. But the healing is slow.” She looked at Trew. “Fenmark is alive. I can feel him. But I don’t know where he is and neither does Nim, my drake companion.”
The parlor door opened, and Thorne entered carrying a tray laden with tea and small biscuits. A pot of jam sat on the tray beside them. He distributed cups, watching Addie carefully, concern etched in every line of his face.
I sank deeper into the velvet settee, the weight of the cushions pressing against my thighs like a physical reminded that I didn't need to be ready to strike. For the first time since I’d fled my father’s court, the tension in my shoulders began to unspool.
The steam from the herbal tea rose in lazy, perfumed curls, carrying the scent of dried herbs and honey, the exact aroma of my mother’s chambers on a rainy afternoon.
Addie reached for a biscuit, her fingers fumbling with the small jam pot. When the lid finally gave way with a stubborn pop, she let out a startled burst of laughter, a genuine, bell-like ring that echoed off the white stone walls. A sound from our childhood that I’d feared was lost.
Trew’s hand found mine, his thumb tracing a slow, rhythmic circle across my palm that matched the steady crackle of the fire in the hearth.
The clatter of spoons on porcelain and the simple, unguarded joy in my sister’s eyes made the wasteland outside feel like a nightmare from another life.
Here, behind my mother’s wards, the air didn't taste like rot.
It felt, for the first time in sixteen years, like safety.
“Did you know about our grandfather?” I asked Commander Thorne. “About what Mother could do?”
“She told me enough.” He settled into a chair, cradling his cup in his scarred hands. “Your mother confided in me when you two were small. She told me to watch over you both, that you’d inherited abilities that would make you targets.”
“Is that why you trained me?” I asked.
“I trained you because you were strong enough to take it. Because someone tried to hurt you, and I wasn’t there. And, yes, because Marlane asked me to ensure you could defend yourselves.” His gaze grew distant. “She knew something was coming. Knew the peace wouldn’t last.”