Be Careful
The tunnel had barely disappeared behind me when it hit.
A rush of power slammed into me.
The words did not reach my ears. They reached my blood. Every instinct in me wanted to obey. To stop walking. To lower my eyes.
Something beneath the command answered. Something older. Something that had been sleeping until now.
The pressure vanished.
I looked up slowly.
"I don't want to be careful, Ivanoxa."
Nox stood several paces away. For the first time since I had met her she looked surprised. Then her face lost what little color it had.
"Where the fuck is my daughter?"
"With my husband. And my children." I watched her carefully. "She will receive more love and attention from my household than she ever has from you.”
I thought of the North Tower and the dampeners and Sadie. I was being harsh, I realized. But I didn’t care.
"You know nothing."
She narrowed her eyes. “You shouldn’t be here at all. And even so, your magic shouldn’t work here. And most of all why are your pupils white? Are you possessed?”
“No to everything. And when it comes to Aviaryn, I know enough.” I folded my arms. "I know she spent her entire life trapped in this place while you had enough banked infant feeder blood to free her.
" Something moved across her face. "I thought perhaps it was leverage over Teorin.
" I tilted my head. "But he does not know, does he? "
"You know nothing."
The words came with another surge of power. My knees wanted to buckle. They did not.
Nox frowned. Then she moved. She crossed the distance before I had time to track it. Her hand reached my throat.
My body answered before my mind could.
I caught her wrist.
We both stared at each other.
“I also know that she has been gone long enough for me to wonder when you intended to notice, which only further proves my point.”
“What point is that?” Nox seethed.
“You’re. Not. Qualified.”
Even with the Arrolyn activated, my power should be weaker than hers. Feeders were at their strongest in Morrath, everyone knew that.
And yet, she was weak.
“Get your hand off my fucking throat,” I choked out.
I twisted. She flew backward and hit the wall hard enough to crack it.
Silence.
I looked at my own hand. Then back at her.
Nox pushed herself upright slowly. She looked at me as though she had never seen me before. "Your intunar."
A smile pulled at my mouth. “Is far stronger than your intunar, dear sister.”
"Do not call me that name."
"I saw the memory stones." She froze. “My mother loved you."
"What?"
"I am Ryaran's daughter."
She stared. "No."
"Yes."
The silence stretched.
"Does the name Dali Vaelor mean anything to you?" I asked quietly.
Every trace of expression left her face. "Yes."
"She is here."
Nox said nothing.
"She is here,” I repeated.
Nox looked past me into the dark. "The Slykars." Her voice had dropped. "That explains why they have appeared in such numbers."
"Why?"
She laughed once. No humor in it. "Darkness breeds darkness." She looked back at me. "I would know, Golden Princess."
"You can hate me. And I may think that you’re—”
“A terrible mother,” Nox finishes. “Because you, golden princess, are so perfect, correct? Yet rumor has it your children were almost eaten by undead the moment they left the womb.”
I shrugged, so unbothered that I surprised even myself. “I do not know what kind of mother you are. I just know that my blood senses hers."
Nox studied me. "You are different now.”
"My blood knows blood." I paused. "She is my blood. Morrath has been calling to me. Maybe because of my mother’s legacy, or maybe because my niece has been trapped here. I do not know.”
I drew in a breath. “What I do know is that I was not going to let anything happen to her. I did not know whether you would let her leave. Dali is after something that could cause her—”
“The amulet, yes,” Nox interrupted. She took a step toward me. “What if I did not want my daughter to leave Morrath, despite the alleged danger?”
"Then I would have fought you." A pause. "Perhaps killed you."
She wiped blood from beneath her nose.
"It may simply be my nature now,” I continued. “Killing, that is.”
Nox nodded once. "Dali may want the amulet," she said. "But she wants me dead first. If she ever learns I have a child, Aviaryn becomes another way to seek vengeance.” She looked directly at me.
Now I understood. The reason why Aviaryn had remained trapped in Morrath had nothing to do with Nox’s selfishness.
“You banked enough infant feeder blood for her escape and kept her hidden here, away from Dali.”
Nox said nothing. Only watched me.
“She drank all the feeder stores you had. That is how she was able to leave here.”
Nox breathed a sigh of relief.
"I do not know how to be what humans call a good mother," she said. "I have never wanted to. But I protect what belongs to me. From everyone. Even those who claim to love them."
"Why are you with Sevrin?" I asked abruptly.
"We want the same thing. And I understand him."
I tried not to roll my eyes. She lacked empathy seemingly even toward her own daughter but now she had some for Sevrin? “What do you mean by the same—”
"Golden Princess." She cut me off. "I will not kill you for sending Aviaryn away.
I will not kill you because you are Ryaran's daughter.
And I certainly will not kill you now that I know we are both daughters of that simmering piece of shit called Orsin.
" She stepped closer. “But do not mistake blood for allegiance.
My agenda ends with me winning. There can only ever be one winner. "
I smiled. Months ago those words might have unsettled me. Now they simply sounded honest.
"Aviaryn is in Urasal," I said. "If you ever speak that name aloud I will kill you myself."
Nox laughed. "The Golden Princess threatens death rather often, it seems.”
"Morrath will do that to you."
"No." She shook her head. "Betrayal will."
She reached out and gripped my shoulder. I allowed it. “There will be things about her that frighten those in other kingdoms. She was raised here. Some of her instincts will not be human. But that does not mean she is worthy of anything less than love."
"I know." I paused. “But I do not steal children from their mothers, I—”
“You quite clearly do.”
“Let me finish.” She was irritating.
“You are welcome to leave here and go get her. And when Dali leaves you can bring her back—”
“I know what I can do. She is my fucking daughter.”
I did not say that I had every reason to be concerned that she didn’t know what to do because her daughter had been gone for well over a day and it seemed as though she was just now noticing but I decided not to bother speaking on the matter.
“She will be treated like my own child whenever she is in our care. Even if that care never ends.”
Something softened in her expression. Only briefly. Then it was gone.
"Urasal," she murmured. “I have heard of it.”
I nodded toward the Darkway. “Well, you will need to leave Morrath to go get her. Her only way back was through those tunnels and your little tantrum just destroyed that chance.”
Nox looked at the enormous rocks now barricading the tunnel. Then back at me. Her face unreadable.
I turned and walked away.