Chapter 26
The air felt heavy. I crushed Ash’s arm until he whimpered, but I needed him to keep me from falling apart.
Reiven didn’t look at me. He kept his eyes fixed on the two women at the throne—eyes that once were onyx, but now shone crimson beneath his dark brows and lashes.
His lips twisted into a mild smirk as he ran his fingers through his hair, giving me a glimpse of the slight, pointed tips to his ears before his hair fell back into place.
And his hands…They were pure black, just like the older woman’s, though the coloration extended up his forearms, inky tendrils crawling towards his elbows. The curse marks on the backs of his hands were still present, but they glowed an angry red, like trapped fire.
“Finally,” he murmured. “I’m not ruining your plans or anything, am I, Aunt Tamayo?”
The woman pressed her lips in a thin line and swirled her hands about in front of her until a glimmer of red light gathered between her palms.
“No, wait!” The girl on the throne cried, jumping to her feet. The bead of light shot straight towards Rei, and all he did was shove his hands in his pockets as it burst into a ball of flames.
I wanted to scream for him to get out of the way, but my voice caught in my throat.
Apparently, Reiven didn't need me to worry. That same orange circle of magic which appeared below us on the ship manifested before him, blocking the fireball. A scorching gust burst past us, harmlessly ruffling our hair and clothing as the flames dissipated into thin air.
“It isn't possible. The curse should have killed you the moment you set foot on the island,” Tamayo snarled. “You haven't dispelled it.”
“Do you think I'm some ignorant outsider who doesn't know our laws?” Reiven said haughtily. “I'm ‘a person come from afar to challenge the Flames Below.’ I’m under the Fire Spirit’s protection until after I return from Hell, and I always liked to think that the power of the Spirits was stronger than any of your dark magic.”
The younger girl crept down the stairs of the platform that raised the throne high.
She gripped the velvet gold fabric of her dress tightly, staring at Reiven as if she blinked, he would disappear.
“Aunt…don’t you see? He's come back…Rei has come back to complete the stipulations you put on him to break his curse. He brought a Siren.” She didn't even look at me as she continued down the stairs. “And when he kills her, he'll be free.”
The floor might as well have fallen out from under me, or maybe the walls crashed on top of me without warning. I could hardly breathe and barely managed to squeak, “Wh-what?”
The girl giggled and dashed across the room to throw herself at Reiven with enough force to make him stumble. She seemed far less than the distinguished royal I had thought she was, perching on that throne. Now she seemed like nothing more than a little girl. “Welcome home!”
“Glad to be back, Akina.”
Puzzle pieces fell into place in my mind. They had the same defined cheekbones, similar noses, practically identical dark hair—siblings. He had told me he had a brother, but didn't say anything about a sister. She must be a few years younger than him, maybe twenty?
Akina beamed up at him, cradling his face in her hands, lustrous scarlet eyes filling with tears. She cast a glance my way. There was no malice in her gaze, but I nearly shrank away. “It’s…a shame you have to do this. Mother and Father always hoped there would be another way.”
“Me too,” Reiven said evenly.
A shiver rippled across my skin. The longer I looked at him, the more I realized I must have fallen for his trap—a fucking Mourner trap.
To their credit, both Ashkade and Calinia stepped in front of me protectively.
Ash raised his voice. “You'd better start explainin’ yourself, Reiven.”
“I'm sorry I couldn't tell you. I didn't get a choice in the matter.”
Calinia urged an arrow to float out of her quiver, hovering in the air before us. “I knew there was something strange about that man, Zephra.”
I held back a strangled sob, but I couldn't keep my lips from trembling as I finally spoke up. “No. Reiven, you wouldn't…h-hurt me…I trusted you.”
Not again. This can’t happen to me again.
For the first time since his aunt revealed what he was, he turned to look at me. Where before I had taken comfort in his gaze, now I felt like nothing less than a fool. Pain splintered my chest until the surface dweller air evaporated from my lungs.
Was everything a lie?
His gentle touch. The way he smiled at me. How he kept himself between me and Vaetrik, endured days of torture to keep him away from me. All an elaborate trick.
A door off to the side of the room flew open with a crash, and a youthful voice rang out like a wind chime.
“Rei! You're back!” A teenage boy around Ash's age sprinted into the grand hall, wearing a huge grin.
He had the same black hair as Reiven and Akina, and similar features, although he didn't have the same strong build and height as Reiven.
One half of his face was covered by burn scars, reddish, shiny blisters.
The whole right side of his body might have been marked by similar scars, from what peeked out of his loose-cut gray shirt.
Reiven blinked once, twice, and froze as if he had been petrified by a spell. It wasn't until the boy tackled him to the ground in a hug that he shook his head and slowly, slowly put his arms around him. “No…no way. This must be a dream. You died. I carried your body to Father and Mother.”
“Flames Below, I'm not dead, you idiot.”
That must have been his brother, Jin. Akina dropped to her knees, and the three of them held each other in their arms. A family reunited.
Maybe I should have been happy for him, that he was with his siblings again.
But the younger boy glanced over at me and said, “Spilling a Siren's lifeblood was the condition to get rid of the curse, wasn't it?” He then turned a glare on Tamayo at the front of the room. “I hope you’re satisfied that you’ve driven your nephew to murder an innocent person. Witch,” he spat.
I felt cold. So cold I couldn't move. I shoved away memories of his lips on mine, his sweet words, his protection from Vaetrik, his decision to break the bond without my demand.
Every confusing act meant to blind me to his real purpose for keeping me close.
He was going to get everything he wanted at the expense of my life, and he must have been planning to do so since he first met me.
I fumbled for my knife and drew it.
Reiven carefully stood, keeping his scarlet eyes trained on me. “I know what the condition is, but she's no sacrifice, not to me. I won't be staying long, because I'm not breaking the curse.”
His aunt cackled. “Is that so? Our monstrous princeling ventured out into the world and befriended a Siren of all people. Well, I suppose you signed your own death warrant returning here, Reiven.”
“I know,” Rei said.
What the fuck is going on?
The entrance to the throne room opened with a scrape of stone on stone, and in walked the only two people who could possibly make the day worse.
Shaddan and Vaetrik strolled inside with condescending smirks at the surprise on all our faces.
How in the Mourner Hell did they get here after Reiven blew that massive hole in their ship? Nausea roiled inside my stomach.
“More outsiders,” Tamayo growled. Orange sparks flitted in the air around her, and the shadows tossed about the room loomed longer at her irritation. “I take it you two are also here to challenge the Flames Below.”
“Aye.” Vaetrik spoke up before Shaddan, and the Druinn general narrowed his eyes to slits.
Tamayo smoothed back her already perfect hair with a sigh, and the sparks and shadows retreated.
“Very well. In accordance with the laws of our people, and the order of the Fire Spirit, those who come from afar to challenge the Flames Below are not to be harmed by a Mourner until their challenge is complete. You are under our care—for now, outsiders. We give you one night of protection here in the castle. Mind you cause no trouble, not even amongst yourselves, or if you do survive the Flames, you will not live to leave this place. Now begone.”
At her order, several guards that had followed Vaetrik and Shaddan inside the throne room motioned for us to follow them.
I shoved my knife in the air towards the one that approached me. “Stay away from me!”
I should have known not to come to this place. Maybe—maybe I can just run. Before he kills me, just like they said.
“Blue.”
I whirled and pointed the knife at Reiven as he came closer. The glowing red veins in the Obsidian dagger snaked beneath my fingers as I gripped the handle—a Mourner weapon in the hands of a Siren.
“Blue, look at me.” My hands, my whole body, trembled.
I met his horrifying eyes with a glare, though his brows lowered at the betrayal he probably saw.
“Follow them. Let me explain. I'll tell you everything now that I can.” He reached out to touch my cheek, but I recoiled.
“Please…Zephra.” His voice dropped to a whisper.
“Everything I said to you on the island was true. Everything. Wait for me, please.”
Ashkade and Calinia hovered on either side of me from the moment we left the throne room.
After following the guard to an empty bedroom in one of the castle towers, I begged them to leave and give me some space—I appreciated their concern, but their presence was stifling my already jumbled thoughts.
The moment they obliged me, I paced back and forth so briskly, it was a surprise I didn’t wear straight through the luxurious maroon carpeting.
In one direction, I would consider the merits of slinking out of the castle, back to the ship to beg Lyneca and Captain Larsel to sneak me away from Ghrysim Isle.
When I’d pivot and pace in the other direction, my thoughts would drift back to Reiven’s reply when I asked him how to dispel his curse.