Chapter 25
Grave Danger Lies Here, Leave and Never Return
With a stiff jaw, I stood in the shade of Slake and watched Alobaz, surrounded by his fellow soldiers and the boy, walk back up the street. His stride was purposeful, even while the boy skipped gaily alongside him.
Alobaz would glance back at me. He didn’t seem the type to play coy.
An electricity had passed between us, a frisson that had been pure physical attraction.
A base instinct. I’d never experienced an energy like it before.
And I knew he’d felt it too. I’d done a better job of concealing my surprise than he had.
His desire smelled like rain on a scorching day, when it evaporated in visible waves off hot cobblestones.
He wanted me, alright. Scents didn’t lie.
For me, the zing was welcome confirmation that I would succeed in my task—as if the demigods looked on, and Justice had sent a sign that she approved of my intentions: I’d avenge my darling brother.
Though it wouldn’t fill the gaping void in my heart Teo had always occupied, it was the first step in finding acceptance of what I could not change.
Once the emperor was without his wicked general, the stranglehold Junot had over most of our world would falter.
It might take some time—perhaps even a lot of time—to gather forces, but the Opalesians would fight back.
They’d take back what the emperor stole.
Zaraga would have a comeback. Alonso would reclaim his throne.
Rafaela would rule at his side. I’d once more be their crown princess.
When Alonso decided he was ready to pass on his rule to the next generation, that duty would land …
just on me. Centuries I could have shared with my brother, wasted away, now a torment I’d have to endure alone.
Though I watched until Alobaz faded from view, he proved more restrained than I expected. He didn’t turn back. Not even once.
What a gigantic asshole.
With Alobaz completely gone, the nosy Galmeenians finally continued on to wherever they were headed before he’d drawn their fascination. As they passed, some cast curious glances at me; others, condemnation. A few shot me pitiable looks that I despised more than all the others.
In their view, I was a prostitute turned down by a man who had no problem having sex with an entire horde of whores, none of whom boasted my sex appeal.
Stories used to be told of my great beauty, how no one could resist me, how I was enchanting beyond reason.
So much so that rumors suggested I’d come by my appearance via faithum.
No woman could be as perfect as I was without making a deal with a demigod or a dark sorcerer or something, claimed the whispers never spoken to my face.
At the time, I appreciated the stories because they distracted from the work I was doing. Being seen as nothing beyond a pretty package allowed me to spy in the open. I was welcome at every court, every estate, every party, where no one bothered to look beneath the surface.
Alobaz was supposed to take one look at me, dismiss all the other whores, and lead me away with him. I would have had my dagger stabbed through his evil heart the very instant he pulled out his dick.
Squaring my shoulders, I made myself appear unbothered as I took off in the same direction Alobaz had. I glanced toward the alleyway and caught Marina’s eye. She nodded.
An hour later, she caught up to me. Together we sat, hidden from the road, and leaned against the final tree before the land stretched, barren, in preparation for the chasm that cleaved it apart.
The tree was twisted, blackened as if charred and gnarled as if sickened. In actuality, it was neither. Affected by the energy that seeped without reprieve from the abyss, it was the only tree strong enough to withstand its proximity.
Whatever force emanated from the abyss felt like death.
It was a consuming cold that filled my bones, a despair that weighed against my chest, a sense beyond words that warned, Grave danger lies here.
Leave and never return. As we approached, the earth flattened, became hard, dry, and brittle.
In parts it was as black as the tree. In others, so pale as to be leached of all color.
Marina’s legs were tucked into her frock.
She hugged her knees to her chest while she chewed, eyes continuously jumping from me to the abyss beyond—and to the shadows that drifted up and out of it.
They danced like a serpunta; back and forth, the shadows undulated, slunk, and shuddered, creeping across the ground as if reaching for me and Marina. But they never got too close.
My gaze also jumping to the abyss and back, I broke off a chunk of bread, pressed some cheese to it, and handed it to Marina. Then I did the same for myself.
As a goblin, Marina was better suited to gathering supplies without arousing suspicion.
Especially since I’d drawn too much attention to myself already.
She’d brought food and drink, along with my two satchels of weapons and books.
She’d also pilfered a crossbow with three bolts from behind the bar at Slake.
The dead husband and wife wouldn’t need them.
“How could he just dismiss me like that?” I asked, already knowing she would have no answer. “Now I have to adjust all my plans.”
In fairness, “my plans” had been singular: a plan, and it had hinged on Alobaz reacting to me the way everyone else did.
“Now I’ll have to wait around town for him to come back, and who knows how long that might take? If my scar’s back by then, I’ll have to take him out long-range”—I patted the crossbow that leaned against a tree root—“or sneak up on him.”
Marina took a large bite. “How much easier it would have been if he’d just done what he was supposed to.”
“Exactly! It’s not like I can somehow show up at the castle and knock on the door. Like, ‘Oh, hey. Yeah, it’s me. You didn’t want me before, so I figured I’d track you down and pretty much force you to hire me to have sex with you.’”
Savagely, I bit a hunk of bread off the loaf. With it partially hanging from my mouth, I muttered, “Humiliating.”
Marina leaned her head against the trunk and flopped her big dragon-feet out in front of her. “Is it truly so impossible to infiltrate the castle as Rafaela says?”
“I’m sure. You know she doesn’t exaggerate much.”
Marina snorted.
“Okay, so she exaggerates. But not when it’s serious stuff. She doesn’t want me to get hurt, so this is serious to her. She says the Abysmal Fortress regards everyone as its enemy.”
“Except for her sister, now dead.”
“You heard that?”
Marina shrugged. “The fortress treated her sister like a pampered princess while making Rafaela’s life miserable.”
“What else did you overhear?”
“That you have to fly across the abyss to get there, and only then, if the castle allows you to land.”
I rose. “I’m gonna go see how deep the abyss is.”
“Rafaela said not to risk it. There’s no way to cross without a flying beast.”
“Or a spell.”
“Or a spell. Maybe.”
“I’m just gonna look. No harm in that. See what we’re working with, then head back to town, hide out, make a new plan. Then attack.” I grinned, though it was a little forced. “And kill him.”
Marina wiped a dusting of bread flour from her palms and stood too. When I walked, she followed, leaving our belongings behind.
When I was within twenty feet of the abyss, and the shadows licked at my boots and the hem of my skirts, I took one measured step at a time.
Marina stopped following. “Careful, Sora!”
I nodded. The shadows weren’t hurting me beyond a profound cold.
I drew another step closer. The shadows wrapped around my ankles.
Another. They climbed my calves.
More and more, until I was one step away from the edge, and the shadows hugged my torso.
My entire body trembled. My teeth chattered.
“Sora…”
I shuffled that final step.
Crouched down to peer ever so cautiously into the abyss—
I yelped, and jumped back when a bridge materialized in front of me.
One moment there was nothing but shadows, the next there was an entire hanging bridge that linked Ombrash Island and its Abysmal Fortress.
My heartbeat pounded. My breaths came too fast.
Marina gasped. “By the Ethers.”
The bridge appeared solid, though it was cast in ethereal tones of shadow and moonlight and mist.
“Bring me my stuff,” I said without taking my eyes from the bridge. It might vanish as quickly as it had appeared. “But not the books. Only what I’ll need to get the job done.”
“You can’t be thinking to—?”
“Please.”
In minutes, a single satchel was strapped to my back, the crossbow and bolts beside it.
“What will you do once you get there?” Marina asked.
“I don’t know. But I’m not wasting this chance in case it doesn’t come again.”
Tentatively, I tapped a toe against the bridge’s first board. When it held, I clutched a bar that supported the bridge and a silver-braided railing, and put some weight into my front foot.
From behind me, Marina whimpered. “I don’t like this.”
The shadows crawled up my throat, held on with eerie caresses, as if they meant to strangle me, and would after my very next breath, but would somehow do so lovingly.
I’m doing this for Teo.
This wasn’t about me. I had no need but to avenge him. To set things right.
I could not engage fear—would not.
Knowing I’d see Marina’s fear all over her face, I didn’t look back. “I’ll meet you in the alley across from Slake whenever I finish. Shouldn’t be long.”
“Ohhhh, do be careful.” I knew she’d be wringing her hands.
“I’ll be back with you before you know it.”
I leaned all my weight into my front foot. When it held, I didn’t allow myself to think.
I gripped the railings and sped across the bridge with the kind of speed that came from being a s?nglure—and knowing this illusion, this spell, might vanish at any second, launching me into the yawning, hungry chasm below.
I didn’t glance downward—only forward. I didn’t slow when I heard Marina yell. I was too concentrated to absorb it.
I ran faster than I’d ever run before.
Until the edge of Ombrash Island was in sight.
The bridge flickered.
Fuuuuuuuuuck.
It was about to disappear as quickly as it had arrived.
It would return from whencever it came.
“Nooooooooo,” Marina cried, sounding very far away.
Nooooooooo, I thought—and leapt, stretching forward, willing myself to land on solid ground.