Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
The evening sun bathed the streets of Farhallow in gold, warming Loren’s skin and casting his shadows into sharp relief. They spilled across the stones, stretching long and wide as if luxuriating in their freedom.
The fae manning the barricades greeted Loren and his shadows alike with smiles and clumsy bows. It had only taken two weeks for terror to fade to curiosity, fae craning their necks for a look at the darkness that had driven the Arcanum from their streets.
“People are getting used to them,” Finn observed. “It looks like the tea is helping.”
Loren lifted a hand, watching one of the shadows twine around his arm.
It moved sluggishly, like a snake turned dormant by the cold.
They were certainly more docile, their myriad voices reduced to a dull whisper instead of a scream.
Finn and Serafina were pleased, and Raelle and the other rebels had made no secret of their relief—it was much easier to work with a dara’el that wasn’t ready to kill at any moment, whipped into a frenzy by the soul-deep knowledge that his mate was in grave danger.
He hated it.
He couldn’t feel her, only a gaping hole in his chest where she should have been. Almost as bad, the little shadow that had been so attached to her had abandoned him, dissolving back into the whole. Somehow, that felt like losing her all over again.
He didn’t even know if she was alive or dead.
“The Arcanum has pulled back,” Finn said. “Scouts report they formed a perimeter two blocks back. They have numbers, but they can’t make it through the gates more than a few at a time now with the barricades.”
Loren looked past Finn at what had once been the main gate into Farhallow.
The guardhouse lay in ruins now, its broken stones heaped against the iron gate.
Any Arcanum soldier that did make it over would have to navigate the maze of splintered timbers and debris that choked what had once been a wide thoroughfare, making them easy prey for the fae stationed along the perimeter.
“They’re done?” Loren asked, glancing up at the barricade.
“Finished the last one this morning,” Finn confirmed. “Fully manned with rotating six-hour shifts. Raelle has runners posted on the rooftops, so if the Arcanum does decide to test us we’ll be able to put the rest of our forces where they’re most needed.”
“Children?” Loren asked, glancing up at the roofline.
“Against my better judgement.” Finn frowned. “Raelle argued that they had every right to help defend their home. And they’re not truly in any more danger up on the roofs than they would be anywhere else.”
Because if the Arcanum broke through those lines no one would be safe. He’d signed a death warrant for every fae in Farhallow with his actions.
“We’ve consolidated anyone who can’t fight inside the perimeter,” Finn continued, leading them back the way they’d come.
“People are used to collecting their rations at the community hall, so it just made sense. That’s something else Raelle will want to talk to you about. No one is starving yet, but—”
Yet. Loren grimaced. Maybe the Arcanum wouldn’t attack them. Why should they when they could just wait for them to run out of food instead?
They passed three more barricades, all of them manned by fae wearing makeshift armor and wielding scavenged weapons.
Layers of armored defense surrounding a soft, vulnerable center.
Loren dipped his head at a pair of fae females as they passed, his heart aching as one of them pressed her fist to her chest, pride flashing in her eyes.
A warrior’s salute. Given with pride. It weighed heavier on his heart than any crown. Even with no magic and no weapons, children clinging to their skirts—they had more pride than half the warriors Loren had known.
If he wasn’t here when the Arcanum finally tested them—because they wouldn’t let this insult go unanswered forever—these people would pay the price.
Finn veered left, heading for the ramshackle community hall.
Where fae had once been discouraged from lingering by a permanent Arcanum guard post, fae now crowded the street, voices rising high in conversation and laughter.
The guard post stood empty, the iron door torn from its hinges and the barred windows shattered.
No human would ever again stand inside and tell fae where they could gather.
“Loren!” Maya’s high voice rang out across the street, her silver hair flashing in the evening light as she dodged a pair of startled fae. She skidded to a stop in front of them, breathing hard.
“Maya,” Loren said, smiling despite the twinge of guilt that needled at him every time he saw Maerin’s daughter. If it weren’t for him, she’d still have a mother. “What do you need?”
“Raelle sent me to find you.” She bounced on her feet, not flinching away from the curious shadows that brushed her boots. “I ran all the way to the wall, but you’d already left. So I had to run all the way back—”
“Why did Raelle send you to find us?” Finn interrupted.
Maya glared at him, her red-rimmed violet eyes narrowing. “She sent me to find Loren,” she said. “Not you. Kai Sterling is here—”
Loren’s heart did an odd flip, simultaneously trying to drop into his stomach and leap into his throat. They hadn’t heard anything from the runesmith since that terrible night. He’d completely vanished along with the Shaws, taking any information he might have about Araya’s condition with him.
“Where?” Finn asked.
“He’s with everyone at the community hall.” Maya crossed her arms, scowling. “That’s why I said I had to run all the way to the wall and all the way back—hey!”
Loren broke into a run, the shadows trailing behind him sending fae scrambling out of his way. But he didn’t slow to apologize, every beat of his heart driving him forward toward the one person who might know something, anything about his mate.
He found Raelle leaning on the wall beside the door into the back room. She straightened, her eyes widening as she took him in.
“Is he in there?” Loren demanded.
“He is,” she said. “But they need a moment—”
Loren shoved past her. He didn’t have a moment. Not when Araya was out there somewhere with Jaxon Shaw, enduring Goddess only knew what.
Caela sprang back when he burst through the door, her tear-streaked cheeks flushed. Kai stared after her, his expression dazed and his hair disheveled.
“Where have you been?” Loren demanded.
“Where has he been?” Caela scrubbed a hand across her face, wiping away her tears. “That’s how you greet him after everything he’s done for us?”
“It’s alright, Caela.” Kai reached out, taking her hand. Looking back at Loren, he said, “I was at an Arcanum black site with the Shaws. They wouldn’t let me leave.”
“A black site.” Loren’s heartbeat pounded in his ears. “They took her to a black site?”
Terrible things happened at black sites. Awful things. He would know, having spent twenty-five years in one. If they’d taken Araya to one—
Kai’s expression shuttered. “The last time I saw her she was…fine. Jaxon is possessive of her. He’s protecting her.”
The shadows hissed.
“Protecting her from what?” Loren asked.
“The new High Inquisitor for one,” Kai said grimly. “He wasn’t happy with you taking over Farhallow. He and Jaxon tried to force her to use the bond to help them.”
Goddess save him. Loren closed his eyes, forcing himself to take a deep breath. The shadows wrapped around his legs, their cold reproach biting into his flesh. He should have been there.
“Did they succeed?” Raelle asked from behind him.
“No—” Kai hesitated, seeming almost like he might say more. “No. She didn’t let them.”
“How did she resist if she was compelled?” Raelle cocked her head, frowning.
“I always heard it was impossible to resist unless you were willing to kill yourself—ow!” She glared at Finn, rubbing her side where he’d elbowed her.
But her eyes widened as the room darkened, her breath fogging the air in front of her.
“They brought a healer in,” Kai said hastily. “She’s alright—”
“She’s not alright,” Loren snapped. “What happened, Kai? Why did she need a healer?”
“Well—” Kai shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “Look, there was nothing I could do to stop it. Pryce wanted Jaxon to force her to use your bond to find you. And she—” he cast another nervous glance at the shadows, taking a half-step closer to Caela. “Are you really sure you want to know?”
Loren clenched his jaw. He didn’t want to know. He had to know. “Tell me.”
“She wouldn’t do it.” The words tumbled out of Kai’s mouth in a rush. “She fought the compulsion. And when it seemed like she was going to lose she bit through her tongue so he couldn’t force her.”
Goddess save him. They were all staring at him, waiting to see what he—and the shadows—would do. But Loren could barely hear them now, their fury nothing but a slurred whisper at the back of his mind.
“Where is this black site?” he demanded, his voice hoarse. “How do we get to her?”
“Ah—” Kai’s face fell. “Well, she isn’t there anymore.
” He swallowed hard, looking between them.
“Garrick wouldn’t let me leave until they were ready to go.
He wanted me to travel with them, but I convinced them I had business I needed to wrap up here.
But it took me a week to figure out how to get into Farhallow with the perimeter they’ve set up—”
“Where?” Loren’s voice cracked like the frost creeping across the windows. “Where are they taking her?”
“Elvanfal,” Kai whispered. “They’re taking her to Elvanfal.”
“Goddess.” Finn sucked in a sharp breath.
“It gets worse,” Kai said. “They’ve recalled High Commander Redmond to Aetheris to oversee the operation to retake Farhallow. That’s why they’re biding their time—”
Loren couldn’t hear him. The shadows climbed his body, their muffled voices whispering a litany of recriminations he didn’t need to hear to understand. He should have been there. Should have protected her. She needed him. And he’d been here.