Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
“There is a secret door that leads to the old nursery behind a tapestry of a stag hunt in the library. It’s what I once used to…” Godric’s mouth tightened. “I don’t think Harrow knows about it.”
What he once used to smuggle Kaelric and Elia out?
The idea that Harrow slept with Maelis next door to him to be at his beck and call turned my stomach. I tightened my grip on Valkaryn.
‘Keep your mind still,’ Val said. ‘You will need your anger later.’
We climbed the steps. Godric’s limp shortened as we went, like a man warming into a familiar ache.
He moved with the confidence of a commander, even half-healed.
He was sure of himself, of this place, like he’d walked its halls a hundred times.
He knew where all the alcoves were to hide us.
He knew where the stones were loose on the stairs.
On the first landing, a trio of servants pushed down the hall with baskets of linens.
Did Harrow make them work all night? I’d assumed the castle would be dead as everyone would be sleeping.
But it seemed Harrow had people working overtime.
Godric and I sucked into the alcove until they passed, then we were out again.
We reached the second floor and paused beneath a stone archway. The corridor beyond was paved in black stone, each tile so polished it looked wet, like a river frozen mid-flow. Heavy tapestries swallowed the walls, thick with dust and metallic thread that glinted under the torchlight.
Music drifted from somewhere deep inside the castle. A flute, soft and sweet, tangled with a woman’s voice. The sound slid over my skin, too gentle, too careful. The hairs on my arms rose, warning me it wasn’t meant to comfort.
‘I’m shielding you both,’ Val murmured from the sword. ‘But don’t listen long.’
“I hear it,” I whispered.
“Mind Render,” Godric said, barely moving his lips. “His pull works like the tide. The closer you get, the more it tries to pull you under.”
I swallowed.
Whoever was singing was being forced. And why were people awake at this hour unless Harrow was waiting for me? Maybe he was smarter than I thought.
My chest tightened. I pulled on my anchor, something bright I could hold on to.
I pictured Kaelric and me fifteen years from now, our children, maybe six of them, maybe more, running through halls like these.
Their laughter would echo like sunlight, their footsteps soft against marble.
Whether that future happened or not, the image steadied me.
Val warmed against my palm, as if pleased. She wrapped herself around that memory, guarding it like something sacred.
‘Good,’ she said. ‘Hold it if you feel your thoughts shift.’
We crossed the corridor. Two Wolfkin guards stood at the far end and came toward us.
“Where are you headed?” one called.
Godric straightened like he meant to salute, then stumbled as if dizzy. I ducked under his arm, letting him lean on me.
“Orders from the commander,” I said. “He is to be seen in the infirmary at once. Harrow does not want his trophies dying below.”
The nearer guard squinted. “Commander?”
Total guess. Wrong one.
His gaze dragged over Godric, the shoulders, the shape of his face, recognition starting to spark.
He opened his mouth to shout, and I lifted Valkaryn like I was just pointing directions.
A tiny flare of light flicked from her tip, and the second guard dropped like his strings were cut.
The first guard spun, grabbing for the horn at his belt.
Godric moved faster than his ruined knee should allow, caught the man’s wrist, and slammed him into the wall.
The horn hit the floor. One hit from Godric’s hilt, and the guard sagged.
We ran.
The music swelled, pressing at my senses, as we reached the next stairwell. My vision blurred at the edges like fever. Val shoved back against the pressure, and the music faded again, like someone had shut a door.
On the third floor, the air changed, spices and rosewater carried over the burn of oil lamps. A long gallery opened left, lined with top-to-bottom mirrors and glass cases stuffed with jeweled hairpins and bracelets, glittering like they had eyes.
Behind a pair of blue velvet curtains, I heard laughter. Women’s laughter, sharp, wrong, the kind a person makes when they’re forced.
Anger shot through me.
Godric tapped my elbow, steering me away from the curtains. He led me to the opposite wall, where a huge tapestry of a stag hunt hung from copper rings.
Godric slipped his fingers behind the edge of the tapestry. Something clicked. The whole thing sagged as a narrow door cracked open into darkness.
“Stay close,” he said.
We slipped inside a narrow hallway, another secret tunnel.
The temperature dropped; old dust and cedar mixed in the air.
Through tiny cutouts in the wall, I could still see the women in the gallery, one trailing a shawl of gold beads, another re-pinning her hair, another dancing like her body wasn’t hers.
Mind Render’s song still threaded through everything.
Fury rolled in my gut.
“He’s controlling them,” I whispered
“Yes,” Godric said.
‘We will kill him slowly,’ I told Val.
She hummed her agreement. Forcing your will on a woman was about the most disgusting thing I could think of. I’d carve him up for it.
We reached a landing where the passage split. One way climbed to the fourth floor. The other sloped left toward a low door, barred from our side.
“If I am correct,” Godric said, “Maelis’ bedroom chamber is just outside this door, connecting to the gallery. Beyond it is Harrow’s private bedroom.”
I nodded and eased the bar free. It clanked way louder than I wanted, and I froze, but no one shouted. I pushed the door open.
The room beyond was soft and quiet, pale silks at the windows, a bowl of figs on a table. A woman sat on the edge of the bed, brushing her long, dark hair. She lifted her head like she’d expected us. Her eyes found Godric first.
He swallowed hard; his jaw locked when he saw the bruises circling her wrist.
“Sister,” he said.
“Brother?” Her voice sounded like someone waking from a dream. She stood slowly. The brush slipped from her fingers and fell to the carpet.
“Maelis,” I said. It simply felt right to say her name.
‘He knows you’re here,’ Val warned. ‘I see him controlling her. Be ready for—’
Maelis lunged at me with a snarl.
I caught her midair, turned her sharply so her back hit my chest, and crossed her arms tight against her. She bucked hard. Godric stared at us like his mind couldn’t process what was happening, no doubt horrified that his sister was being used like a puppet.
“You need to take her and get out of here,” I told Godric. “Take her to the woods and await my call. Do not come back for me.”
Godric shook his head. “I am not leaving you.”
Maelis screamed, throwing her head back and nearly cracking my jaw.
‘I can sever his control on her for a minute,’ Val said, ‘but I’m also shielding you and Godric. I want to stay sharp for Harrow.’
I agreed. I needed everything we had.
“You are taking her and getting out of here. That is what Kaelric would order,” I said to Godric. “And you know it.”
Maelis suddenly sagged in my arms. Val must have cut the thread. I let go of her.
Godric looked like I’d stabbed him. Maelis blinked, confused, and grabbed her own arms like she couldn’t believe they’d just attacked someone.
“I’m so sorry, I… what happened?” she whispered, seeming to come to.
She looked more alert, glancing from her brother to Valkaryn on my hip.
“I’m not leaving you,” Godric growled.
I glanced at Maelis. “You need to leave with him. Now.”
“She wields Valkaryn,” Maelis said quietly. “We must listen to her.”
‘Order Godric to go. Now. Trust me,’ I sent to Kaelric.
‘Why? Are you in danger?’
‘No.’ It was the truth. ‘But they will be if they don’t go now.’
It was too much for Val to shield them from Mind Render and fight Harrow once he came at me full throttle, which I expected to be very soon.
Godric shut his eyes once, then opened them, and they were yellow.
“Damn you, Brynn. You'd better know what you are doing,” he growled. Kaelric had given the order. “Meet us at the river. If you are not there by dawn, I'll come back inside, and I'll bring the whole damn army with me.”
“Deal,” I said, and meant it.
There was a pounding on Maelis’ door.
“We have to go!” I snapped.
We all eased back into the passageway then, as the music beyond the walls shifted to something slower.
We took the passage up to the next floor, where it ended in another barred door.
Godric lifted the bar and led us into a small chamber tiled in blue.
Steam fogged the windowpanes. A bathing room.
Maelis ran over and cracked a window, and cold air rushed in.
“Guards,” Godric said, and nodded toward the hall. Heavy boots passed. We waited. Another pair passed. Someone laughed. Someone swore about wine. Then it was quiet.
“There is a rooftop below this window. I’ve dreamed of running across it and escaping every night for a decade.” She sounded like she was stuck in a dream, not used to being able to speak her thoughts, control her body.
Godric grasped her shoulder lightly. “You go first.”
Maelis swung the window wider and climbed through first, with a haste that told me she had dreamed of taking this path for years. Godric followed, then reached back to look at me.
There was terror in his gaze. “Say the word, and I’ll stay,” he whispered.
I loved him at that moment. Godric had become like a protective uncle to me.
“Go. I’ve got Val. I’m going to kill that bastard Harrow,” I vowed as the music suddenly stopped.
Godric’s eyes widened, and I nodded.
It was time.
“Go!” I snapped. I needed to focus on finding Harrow and destroying him.
‘He’ll find you,’ Val promised, and chills broke out on my arms.