Chapter 9 #2
“If it falls,” he said quietly, “they can march straight through Sorrowsea, Shadowmere… even Velmere.”
“And if it holds?” I asked.
“Then we might just stand a chance,” Phoenix said. “If soldiers can’t cross here, they’ll have to come by sea. But with Sorrowsea’s armada, and the wards hiding Shadowmere, they can’t cross easily.”
I gestured to a shadowed landmass near the edge of the map. It was massive, mountainous, barely marked.
“What about here? What’s this area?”
Phoenix leaned in. “Ah. Those are the Wilds.”
“The Wilds? There are no colonies?”
“If there are, they’re off the map,” he said. “The terrain’s brutal—rocky, snowbound. Mostly uncharted. That spike there?” He pointed. “That’s Mount Emberflame. Tallest mountain in the world. It’s said to burn at the summit, even in winter.”
I stared.
“No one rules it?”
Phoenix shook his head. “No one can. The Wilds don’t answer to anyone. They barely answer to maps.”
He paused, then added, “There’s a legend… that the magic-born—people like us—originated from there. From somewhere deep in the mountains, before kingdoms, before records. A time when magic was still wild.”
I looked back at the map. The land was shadowed, vast. Empty.
But something about it made my skin prickle. “Have you ever been there?”
“No. Not personally, but…”
Phoenix hesitated, his fingers brushing the edge of the map.
“Thorne came from there. Near the coast—on the edge of the Wilds.”
I blinked. “Thorne?”
He nodded. “There’s a small town tucked into the cliffs. Green Valley, it’s called. Isolated. Half-forgotten. Most maps don’t even mark it anymore.”
“He never said anything.”
“He wouldn’t,” Phoenix said softly. “He doesn't talk about it. But that’s where he was born. Just past the treeline, before the Wilds swallow the rest.”
I looked back at the dark mass on the map—so vast, so empty.
“He came from that?” I asked.
Phoenix’s mouth twitched. Not quite a smile.
“He survived that,” Phoenix said quietly. “He and his family. Thorne and… Allison. They were both mind mages.”
My brow furrowed. “Allison? I thought she was Leo’s sister.”
Phoenix shook his head slightly. “She became everyone’s little sister. Especially Leo’s, he really loved her. But no—she and Thorne were blood. Twins, actually.”
I blinked. “Twins?”
He nodded, eyes drifting, like he was seeing something far away.
“She was ten minutes younger. That’s why he always called her his baby sister. I was fourteen when I met them. Thorne and Allison were dragged into the Citadel in chains. Two feral little things from the edge of the Wilds. No training. No control. Just raw magic—and fear.”
I tried to picture it. Thorne, young and wild. Little Allison.
“They tried to separate them once,” Phoenix said softly. “It didn’t go well.”
I looked at him. “But Thorne’s so…”
“Controlled? Calm?” Phoenix gave a faint, humourless smile. “He didn’t start that way.”
I hesitated. “What was her power?”
“Illusions,” he said quietly. “But not just tricks of the eye. She could make you see anything—and believe it. It would feel it like it was real.”
His voice dropped a little.
“She could crawl into your mind. She could show you every memory you’ve ever had—all at once. The beautiful ones. The terrible ones. The ones you didn’t know you’d forgotten.”
A chill crept down my spine.
“She didn’t always mean to do it,” Phoenix added, his voice softer now. “Especially when she was younger.”
I swallowed. “What happened to her?”
He hesitated. Then:
“Having access to power like that… Allie was never exactly stable. Thorne used to manage her emotions—to keep her calm, grounded. Maybe that’s where his control issues started.”
His eyes darkened.
“But once Ashton figured out what she could do, he started pushing her. Harder. Crueller. He wanted more control, more precision, more… pain. He turned her mind into a weapon. And she broke under it.”
“Where is she now?” I asked.
Phoenix’s expression tightened.
“Ashton keeps her like a doll in the Mirror Room, back in Blackspire.”
My stomach turned. “Thorne mentioned that once. But he didn’t tell me what it was.”
Phoenix nodded, jaw clenched.
“It’s like an amplifier. For her magic, her mind, everything. He had it built specifically for her. You sit in that room, and you watch… everything. Memories. Illusions. Regrets. Some of it’s real. Some of it isn’t. And after a while…”
He glanced at me, eyes dim in the candlelight.
“You stop knowing which is which.”
A silence fell between us. Heavy. Shaking.
“I…”
The words caught in my throat. I swallowed hard.
“What?” Phoenix asked gently.
“I dreamed of him,” I said. “Just now. Thorne. He was in a room like that. Surrounded by mirrors. And there was a girl with him.”
Phoenix went still.
“What do you mean, dreamed?”
“I mean I’ve been… seeing him. In my sleep. When I’m awake, sometimes too. I don’t know if it’s real, or just some twisted nightmare, but—”
“But it feels real,” he said, finishing the thought.
I nodded once.
“What did the girl look like?”
“She had golden hair,” I said. “Straight. Pale skin. Her eyes were just… empty. Like no one was home.”
My voice dropped.
“She was in a wheelchair.”
Phoenix went pale.
“Ashton…” he said, almost under his breath. “He broke her spine.”
His hands curled slightly on the table.
“Allison’s. When she refused to help him. He—”
He swallowed hard.
“He crippled her.”
“Do you think – could he be…”
“I don’t know.” Phoenix rubbed the star shaped scar on his wrist again. “I don’t feel him…”
“What if he’s trapped.. blocked somehow.”
He didn’t answer right away.
Just stared down at the map—at nothing.
“Then we left him. To be tortured.” Phoenix exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down his face like the weight of it had finally landed.
“Gods, Thorne…”
“We have to find out. We have to know – “ I said, my voice tight. “Tomorrow we’ll go back to Varrowmere – we’ll hunt him out!”
“We can’t,” Phoenix said.
“Phoenix—”
“We can’t, Elle!”
His voice cracked — more fear than anger.
“We’d be going in with nothing. No plan. No allies. The Shades are still programmed to hunt us down. They’d sense us the second we stepped off the boat.”
He ran a hand through his hair, visibly shaken.
“We wouldn’t be rescuing him. We’d be walking straight into a death trap.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Maybe you can’t, but I could.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Why not?” I demanded. “I could hide in my shadows. They would never see me coming.”
“You think that would matter?” Phoenix said, voice low. “They don’t need to see you—they’d sense you. Just like we could.”
“I won’t leave him there!”
“We don’t know anything!” His voice rose, rougher now. “So before you run off half-cocked, we need a plan.”
“Whose plan?” I shot back. “Who would even bother to help us rescue a Shade?”
Phoenix exhaled through his teeth, trying to rein himself in.
“Lacey,” he said. “She’s been living in Varrowmere for years. If anyone can get us information, it’s her. But we need to talk to her—first.”
I stood up, eyes narrow, shoulders tight.
Phoenix rose with me.
He stepped close and placed his hands gently on my shoulders, steadying me.
“I know your first instinct is to fight,” he said quietly. “You do it for everything. It’s who you are.”
His gaze held mine—firm, not unkind.
“But this time… we need to fight smarter.”
I shook his hands loose. “Fine. I’ll wait, for now.” I snapped. “But not forever.”
He offered me a watery smile. “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He sat back down. “Try to sleep, Elle. We’ll figure it out—together.”
I nodded. But both of us knew this wasn’t over.
Not by a long shot.