Chapter Thirty-One #2
And Solana could do nothing but sob. She would have fallen to her knees if it wasn’t for Cora’s arms. It felt as though a dam had burst inside of her, an immutable wave of sorrow and defeat that pulled her beneath the surface.
It would kill her. This would be the thing to destroy the person she was and force her to become whatever was necessary to get Reyes back.
She could not survive losing another person she loved. They could not survive it.
“You can’t,” Suri murmured into her ear, her arms coming to join Cora’s around her shoulders. “Killian is luring you in. We can’t let you give it to him.”
She was right—Solana knew that, and yet she felt the urge to go to Reyes like a tether on her soul, as strong as the one that linked her to the curse and the land. Fighting it felt like the most unnatural thing in the world.
“We do this together, Solana. It’s the only way it works.” Cora pushed her back, hands gripped tight around her shoulders, and stared into her eyes. “Not everything is clear, but this is. We cannot win against him if we are fractured.”
Solana’s mind was already clearing, putting together pieces of a plan that she couldn’t pull off on her own. “We need himaya,” she said, thoughts racing. “And we need a blacksmith. If there’s more daggers, there’s more confusion. A distraction so we can find Reyes and take him back.”
“And the collar?” Suri asked calmly, but Solana saw the blanched knuckles of her fists and the determined jut of her chin.
“I don’t know,” Solana admitted. “We can figure that out once he’s here.”
“We can use Lochan.” Jacobi stepped forward. There were dark circles under his eyes, but he looked taller and stronger than Solana had remembered. Fortified in a way that gave her hope. “We’ll help in whatever way we can,” he said, eyes earnest.
Solana glanced behind him and saw Oskar leaning against a table, a trickle of blood running down his forehead. Celeste and Alina were standing side by side behind Jacobi, concern and relief mingled in their small smiles for her.
The faces in the room were turned to her, waiting for direction, for her to be what they needed. “Let’s focus on the himaya. Oskar and Suri, stay here and protect them with your life.” Cora moved aside and Solana strode to Jacobi. He pulled her into his arms. Celeste and Alina joined quickly after.
“See, you should’ve taught me how to fight! I could be so useful right now.” Alina’s words were muffled against Solana’s shoulder. Everyone in the room laughed through their tears.
When Solana pulled away, she told herself this wouldn’t be the last time she saw them. She didn’t say goodbye. Simply grabbed Cora’s hand and drifted away, leaving many pieces of her heart behind.
They landed in the same hallway as Solana had before.
Nikolas’s body was gone, but the blood wasn’t.
It had dried into a glaring, reddish-brown blotch.
She wondered where his body was, if her father’s was still in the throne room, where their muki forms would appear, and if the king would collar them, too.
More questions without answers that plagued her every step as she rushed down the hall behind Cora.
They navigated the castle with the quiet of predators stalking their prey.
In the end, there was no need for it. The castle was entirely, eerily empty.
They ran across no mortals or muki, only other patches of blood on the floor and smeared across walls.
It was chilling to imagine who had died.
The cook who fed Solana every day? The staff that kept her rooms neat but always left her floor bed just the way it was?
The Masters just out of the Academy that had watched their friend die in the infirmary?
So many people who had been complicit in the king’s schemes without even knowing.
Cora turned the latch to a door set into the hall and slipped inside.
It closed quietly behind Solana. They were in a room decorated with light wood furniture and swaths of mauve pink textiles.
It was the opposite of Reyes’s room, but just as warm and inviting.
A slice of delight amidst the gray and cold stone of the castle.
Solana followed Cora as she padded to the armoire set in the corner of the room and began rifling through bags stacked at the bottom.
“I didn’t know why I set these aside at the time,” she said quietly, dragging out a brown cloth bag with two hands.
“I just knew it was important. They’ve been sitting in here for three years.
” Cora brought the bag to Solana and peered inside.
It was full of himaya in all shapes and sizes.
Dozens and dozens of stones waiting to be filled with her gift.
“I don’t always understand my gift, but I trust it.” She stepped closer to Solana. “I’m sorry I couldn’t warn you about Sami. Or your father.”
Solana pulled Cora into a hug, the bag of himaya squished between them. It had been so long since she had willingly hugged another person and there she was, doing it for the countless time in a matter of days.
“Don’t apologize,” Solana said. “I can’t imagine what it must be like to see the possibility of something you can’t do anything about.”
“It’s agonizing.” Cora laughed.