Chapter 45 Avoid the Rooster
(Spoiler: You Cannot)
Arabella
Land ho!” Captain Brecca called from the helm of the Sky Serpent. Her face creased into a crooked smile, accentuating the thin scar along her jaw. “Meridian Isle, dead ahead. Made exceptional time. That husband of yours knows his wind magic.”
I leaned against the rail, watching the island emerge from the afternoon haze like something out of a dream.
Even in autumn, Meridian Isle looked like summer had decided to take up permanent residence.
Golden beaches curved around turquoise water so clear I could see schools of fish from here.
Palm trees swayed in a breeze that carried the scent of jasmine and sea salt.
Ten hours of flying south over land and now sea, and we’d finally arrived.
While Kazimir could portal back and forth to Skyspire between his targets in Valmont, the sheer distance to Meridian Isle meant the Sky Serpent would be my base of operations for the next week or so.
Vex and I would be camping on the ship between kidnappings, keeping our new guests as comfortable as possible without allowing them to leave.
Not exactly how I’d imagined my first major solo operation as Lady Blackrose, but at least the weather was nice.
“It’s beautiful,” Vex said, coming up beside me. Her long hair whipped in the wind. “Much nicer than that frozen rock we call home.”
“Kaz won’t like you disparaging his architectural choices.”
“Oh, I’d tell him to his face. Skyspire is magnificent, but it’s also perpetually cold, damp, and trying to kill people with lightning bridges.” She tilted her face toward the sun. “This, however, is paradise.”
A memory hit me just then—sudden and sharp, courtesy of that damned potion. My mother, brushing my hair before bed, telling me stories of an island where flowers bloomed year-round and the water was warm enough to swim in even during winter.
“Can we go there, Mama?” Seven-year-old me, already planning adventures.
“Perhaps when you’re older, darling. Meridian Isle is far from here, but I have cousins there who would love to meet you.”
“Father says islands are for pirates and wastrels.”
My mother’s hands had stilled in my hair. “Your father says many things.”
The memory faded, leaving me gripping the rail hard enough to leave marks. Another thing he’d stolen from me—the chance to see this place with her.
“Are you all right?” Vex touched my shoulder, her relaxed demeanor shifting to concern.
“Fine.” I forced my hands to relax. “Just remembering something.”
“The memory potion?”
I’d told her about it on the way here, needing someone to confide in who wasn’t currently having an identity crisis about being an ancient evil. Vex had listened without judgment, occasionally making dry observations that somehow made the whole thing less overwhelming.
“My mother wanted to bring me here. Father forbade it.” I watched the harbor grow closer. “I’m starting to think ‘because Father forbade it’ should be my new life motto. If Atticus Evenfall hated something, it’s probably wonderful.”
“A sound philosophy.” Vex’s expression turned calculating. “You know, there’s nothing stopping you from moving Skyspire here. The floating fortress is mobile, after all.”
“Kaz would have a fit.”
“Lord Blackrose would adapt. Especially if you asked nicely.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Or not nicely. I’ve seen how he looks at you when you’re being demanding.”
“Vex!”
“What? I’m simply observing that our Dark Lord has very specific preferences when it comes to—”
“We’re about to kidnap people,” I interrupted, face burning. “Can we focus on that?”
Vex grinned. “I can multitask. Discussing your husband’s kinks while planning abductions is practically a Thursday at Skyspire.”
I pressed my hands to my burning cheeks. “How often do people have these ‘Thursday’ discussions?”
“Oh, constantly.” Vex’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “Though I shut them down when I’m around. Still, everyone knows that our fearsome Dark Lord is utterly besotted.” She watched me with a gentle expression. “It’s rather sweet, actually.”
The silence stretched between us, comfortable despite the chaos of the ship as we prepared to land. I found myself studying Vex’s profile—the sharp line of her jaw, the way her silver hair caught the light. Today the ends faded to black, like ink bleeding into moonlight.
“How long have you known him?” I asked suddenly.
Vex turned back to look over the rail. Warm sea air blasted us from below, lifting her hair. “Sometimes it feels like I’ve always known him.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” she agreed, a small smile playing at her lips. “It’s not.”
I waited. One thing I’d learned about Vex—she’d answer questions, but in her own time, in her own way.
“We met when he was in a low place,” she said finally, her gaze distant. “Lower than most people know. He needed someone who could see him clearly, without judgment or expectation.” Her smile turned wry. “Or fear, for that matter.”
My chest tightened. “Was it… was it after the demon?”
Her head turned sharply toward me, strange silver eyes widening slightly. “He told you about Malphas?”
The name sent a chill down my spine even though I’d only heard pieces of that story. “A little,” I said quietly. “Enough to know it was bad.”
“Bad.” Vex huffed. “That’s certainly one word for it.
” She was quiet for a moment, studying my face as if weighing how much to say.
Then her expression shifted—a decision made.
“If he told you about Malphas, then…” She took a breath.
“When I found him, he was barely holding himself together. The demon had kept him for almost a year. A year of—” Her voice caught, and for the first time since I’d known her, Vex looked genuinely distraught.
“Malphas specialized in breaking people from the inside out. Not just physical torture, though there was plenty of that. It was the mental games, the way he would wear different faces, make Lord Blackrose think he’d escaped only to reveal it was another illusion.
And it would… take things. Make him do things.
Use his own body against him in ways that—” Vex’s jaw clenched.
“Demons don’t see boundaries the way we do.
They see shame as a tool, intimacy as a weapon.
Malphas was particularly creative in that regard. ”
She reached out and squeezed my hand, her grip almost painful. I squeezed it back, too overcome with emotion to be able to do anything else.
“By the time he actually did escape, he didn’t trust his own senses anymore.
Couldn’t tell what was real. He’d killed Malphas, yes, but the thing about demons is they leave marks that don’t show on skin.
” Vex’s silver eyes were distant, lost in memory.
“For weeks after, he’d wake up screaming, convinced he was still in that place.
Still trapped. He’d test everything—pain, mostly, because pain was the only thing he could trust to be real. ”
My stomach twisted. I’d seen the scars, of course. The ones that weren’t from his mother’s runes. Some were battle scars. But hearing this…
“That’s when you met him?”
“Yes. He needed someone who could be near him without triggering those memories. Someone who didn’t want anything from him, who wouldn’t try to use what had happened as leverage.
” Vex’s smile was sad. “I’m glad he told you.
Even a little. He doesn’t talk about that time.
With anyone. The fact that he trusts you enough to share even a piece of it…
” She squeezed my hand again, gentler this time.
“That’s everything, my lady. That’s him saying you’re safe in a way no one else has ever been. ”
I had to look away, blinking hard against the sudden burn in my eyes.
“Gods,” I whispered. “No wonder he—” I broke off, thinking of his need for control, his careful distance from everyone except me. And now, even with me, something was pulling him away. And I didn’t know how to help him.
“I’m glad he had you, Vex,” I said once I could trust my voice again. “Obviously he felt safe with you, too.”
Vex’s expression shifted, concern replacing the distant look. “I know something’s wrong,” she said, her voice dropping so low I could barely hear her over the wind. “With him. I’ve known for a while now, but it’s getting worse, isn’t it?”
My throat felt tight. I wanted to tell her everything—about the Shadow King, about the visions, about the way Kaz sometimes looked at me with anger and violence that wasn’t his.
But Captain Brecca was only a few feet away, and sailors were everywhere, and some truths were too dangerous to speak aloud even among allies.
“Do you know what it is?” I asked carefully.
Vex’s jaw tightened. “I have an idea.”
We looked at each other, a whole conversation happening in the space between words. She knew. Maybe not the details, but she knew something ancient and terrible had its hooks in him.
Her hand was still on mine, warm and solid. “When we get back home, we’ll figure it out.”
I nodded, grateful beyond words. Then, because I needed to shift to safer ground before I started crying on deck, I asked something I’d been wondering about for months.
“Why does your hair change color with his moods?”
Vex blinked, clearly not expecting the question. “What?”
“Your hair. It changes.” I gestured to the black ends. “It’s been black or deep red more often than not lately. And I’ve noticed it seems to correspond to… to how he’s feeling.” I paused. “Is that your magic? I realized I don’t even know what your magic is.”
For a moment, Vex looked uncomfortable—a rare expression on her usually composed face. Her free hand went to her hair, fingers catching in the silver-and-black strands.
“It’s complicated,” she said finally.
“That’s also not an answer.”
She smiled. “Let’s just say my magic is tied to his in ways that are difficult to explain. The hair thing is a side effect. Mostly harmless.”
“Mostly?”