Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
The castle was a relic of another world. Moss and creeping lichen clung to pale stone walls crowned by brittle, long-dead vines. The wide, unbarred windows yawned open to the mist-heavy air, their frames streaked with water stains.
It wasn’t a fortress. Even in good repair, these walls would never have withstood the Arcanum’s forces. But now? The gate didn’t even close. When Jaxon came for her, he’d be able to walk right in.
“It’s smaller than I expected,” Araya said, staring down at the pier far below.
Nyra’s boat was still tied there, the female’s silver hair catching the weak sunlight as she scurried across the deck.
The only path down was the staircase they’d climbed—narrow and slick from constant moisture.
A fall from this height—Araya wasn’t sure if it would be better to smash into the rocks or hit the water and drown.
“This was never a primary residence,” Thorne said. “It was a retreat for the royal family and their closest friends. A place to honor the Goddess and learn from her acolytes.”
“But there’s a city?” Araya asked.
“Lumaria,” Thorne replied, glancing at her. “Eloria moved the court there about twenty years ago—to be closer to her people after her father died.”
“Is it far?” Araya stared down at the waves, keeping her voice carefully neutral.
“It’s about a half day’s walk, if you take the cliff road.” Thorne’s lips twitched, but he didn’t call her on her thinly veiled attempt to get more information. “The temple road is much shorter, but it runs through the forest.”
Araya frowned, glancing at the dark line of trees. “Why is that a problem?”
“Because not all of the shadows here are as tame as Loren’s.” Thorne gave her a faint, humorless smile. “Trust me. If you’re thinking of trying to run, do it during the day. And take the cliff road.”
There wasn’t much else to see. Thorne didn’t press her, just nodding in approval when she navigated them through the halls back to the guest wing without guidance.
Alone again, Araya rifled through the desk drawers. To her surprise, she found a neat stack of parchment, along with a quill and a small pot of ink. It wasn’t much—but it was something.
She sat down at the desk, smoothing the first sheet with a steadying breath. Then she uncapped the inkwell, dipped the quill, and began to write—carefully noting everything Thorne had told her. The coast road. The forest. Lumaria.
Finally, she sat back, staring down at the page and willing an answer to take shape.
None did.
The knock at the door made her jump, startling her so badly that she left a crooked slash of ink across the page. Araya set it aside, blowing on it hurriedly before crossing the room. She pulled open the door, expecting Thorne or Ilyana. Or—gods forbid—Loren.
But instead a strange fae female stood there. She tilted her head, her blue black hair cascading over her shoulders and her green eyes dancing with good humor.
“Well,” she said, her common accented with the lilting cadence of Valenya. “Look at you.”
“Can I help you?” Araya asked warily.
“I’m actually here to help you.” The female lifted a shimmering swath of amethyst fabric. “I brought you a dress for dinner.”
“Dinner?” Araya echoed. All of her meals so far had come on trays left outside her door—somehow always still piping hot no matter when she discovered it.
“Yes, dinner.” The female swept by her without waiting for an invitation, moving to hang the gown on the door of the wardrobe. “Someone brings you food. You eat it. Sometimes you even talk to your friends.”
“I don’t have any friends here,” Araya said warily.
“Not yet,” the female replied, hanging the dress with practiced ease. “But I thought you might want something nicer to wear. And maybe a little help getting ready.”
Araya’s gaze narrowed. “Did Ilyana send you? Or Loren?”
“Oh, no.” The strange female laughed, tossing her head back. “They’ll both be terribly cross when they find out I dropped in on you. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but they both seem to think they know what’s best for everyone.”
Despite herself, Araya smiled.
The other female grinned. “You can call me El,” she said, throwing herself down into one of the chairs by the fire. “Come on—sit. We don’t have to get ready yet, and I want to know everything.”
It was impossible not to like El.
Despite Araya’s resolve to keep her guard up, she found herself reluctantly drawn in by the fae female’s easy charm.
El had immediately made herself comfortable in one of the padded armchairs, draping herself over it as if they had known each other for years.
She chattered nonstop and laughed easily, filling the quiet room with a warmth Araya hadn’t realized she was missing.
And somehow, without even meaning to, Araya found herself enjoying it.
“And you worked?” El asked. “In the Aetherium? I’ve never heard of a fae female being allowed to do that before.”
“Well, it does require special permission…but I wasn’t the only one,” Araya said. “There was a whole workshop full of us to imbue amplifiers—but I stopped when I was bonded.”
“To a human mage,” El said, sitting up a little straighter and eyeing Araya with unabashed curiosity.
Araya tensed, twisting her fingers into her skirts. “It wasn’t like you’re thinking.”
“No?” El’s green eyes widened. “Then what was it like?”
“We were…friends first,” Araya said slowly. “Of a sort. He sponsored my apprenticeship—kept me out of the slums. Bonding is an arrangement that benefits us both—one I could have refused if I wanted to.”
“And yet you’re here—a world away from him.” El studied her, her expression unreadable. “Did you love him?”
Araya’s throat tightened as a flicker of memory surfaced. Jaxon’s grip, the press of wood under her cheek as she begged him to stop. But he hadn’t. He’d—
“Araya?” El asked softly.
“I don’t want to talk about this any more.” Araya stared at the fire, fixing her gaze on the flames.
“Alright.” El studied her a moment longer, the warmth in her green eyes dimming. “You must have questions of your own. This is your chance—ask me anything.”
Araya opened her mouth—then closed it. She had a thousand questions, most of them too revealing to ask outright. But if El was willing to answer them…
“People keep saying it’s dangerous outside the castle,” she said, choosing her words carefully. “Why? What’s out there?”
“Oh, the zal’vorr.” El shuddered dramatically. “They’re animals—or they were, before they were twisted by the shadows. They’re most active at night, but you could run into one at any time if you stray too close to where the shadows thicken.”
Araya only barely managed not to roll her eyes.
Fae might not be able to lie, but it didn’t make them immune from superstition.
Maybe the Veil itself was dangerous…but the mists that rolled off of it?
The fae in the New Dominion blamed them for everything from illnesses and disappearances to bad luck.
As if poverty, starvation, and the strict rationing of magic weren’t the obvious culprits.
It was just easier to fear the dark than to face reality.
Still, she nodded, schooling her expression into something neutral. “Good to know,” she murmured. “Does anyone else live here?”
“At Ithralis?” El raised her eyebrows. “No one really lives here anymore—except for you, Loren and Thorne now I guess. Everyone else is in Lumaria—”
To Araya’s surprise, El chattered on without hesitation. “Finn’s still in the New Dominion of course, but he’s always the mediator,” she said, grinning. “If there’s any conflict, you can bet he’ll be the one smoothing things over. But Nyra was probably the root of the problem in the first place.”
El rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a small smile. “She goes back and forth the most. She’ll set sail for the New Dominion with tonight’s tide now that her boat is repaired. I don’t envy her. It’s bad enough to sail through the Veil, but to do it at midnight?” El shuddered dramatically.
Midnight tonight. Araya couldn’t help how her heart skipped a beat in her chest, but she kept her breathing even, willing her body not to give her away. That was it—her chance. She just had to find a way to take it.
“Will Thorne go back with her?” Araya asked, struggling to keep her voice even.
“Not this time,” El said. “He’s staying—for Loren. They grew up together, you know. They’re practically brothers. Thorne has never forgiven himself for not being there when the Arcanum took the Aetherium.”
“He was at the Aetherium?” Araya frowned. “But…he’s part-human.”
“Oh, he’s half and half,” El said, waving a hand like it made no difference at all.
“His father King Corwin’s commander at arms and his mother was a human Healer.
She was close friends with the queen, actually.
Thorne was raised alongside Loren, taught by the same masters.
” She leaned back, her expression softening.
“I doubt there’s anyone Loren trusts more. ”
Araya stared at her, trying to reconcile the words with the history she’d grown up with.
The Arcanum had only overthrown the fae monarchy because they hoarded magic, refusing to share it with humans.
The idea that a half-human could have walked the halls of the Aetherium and trained alongside fae royalty—it just couldn’t be possible.
“Could one half-fae really have changed anything?” she asked quietly.
“There’s no way to know, is there?” El’s eyes turned distant, her gaze fixed on the crackling flames. “But should haves and could haves haunt us all.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. But then El leaned forward, resting her hand lightly on top of Araya’s. “We’re all very grateful to you for bringing Loren back to us, you know.”
“Oh—” Araya coughed, pulling her hand back. “I didn’t really do anything…”
“You were the one who got Serafina in to see him. And you removed the collar.” El cocked her head, frowning. “Without that, none of this could have happened.”