Tobias
We walked silently back to our rooms. Quinn seemed more tired than usual as the lab closed for its magical sterilization cycle.
I knew she had slept well, having spent the night beside her.
Maybe she had used more magic than I realized…
though the imbuing process hadn’t started yet.
She hadn’t even tried to grill me about our conversation this morning.
I knew she hadn’t forgotten—not with the way she frowned at my palm all day.
Part of me hoped this was her way of granting me a brief reprieve. The other part knew there must be more to it.
Rivan was waiting for us when we reached our shared living room. He wore his fighting leathers and the grime on him suggested he hadn’t bothered to wash up in his urgency to talk to us. The look on his face was bone-weary yet full of apprehension.
Was it Eva?
Suddenly my throat was too tight to ask the question.
Quinn had no such issue, demanding, “What’s wrong?”
“Eva’s unchanged,” Rivan hurried to say, as if realizing the source of my alarm. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.
Quinn, however, was nonplused. “I assumed so, or you wouldn’t have waited to find me.” She crossed her arms impatiently. “But I take it you’re not here with good news?”
Rivan let out a short sigh. “Yael and Pari went to update Queen Sariyah while I waited to tell you two. We found a gathering of Aviel supporters, some of the ones we tracked from their initial meetup. It wasn’t anything we couldn’t handle, but we did have to fight our way out.”
Quinn sucked in a breath, her magic softly glowing at her fingertips. With the amount she apparently exerted today, I was surprised at its strength. Rivan took a step back, shaking his head.
“We’re in a castle full of healers,” he said with a wan smile. “I’ve already been well taken care of, I assure you.”
My voice was flat to the point of sounding disinterested as I asked, “I take it Silvius wasn’t apprehended?”
Rivan shook his head again, his frustration leaking into his voice. “He was there recently, but we missed him. We’re questioning a few of his cohorts in hopes they’ll give up his current whereabouts.”
Quinn’s mouth pursed in disapproval. She might not like the idea of torturing Silvius’s allies for information, but I had no qualms doing so if it meant ensuring my sister’s survival.
“Trust me, they’re not worth your concern,” Rivan said to her.
“They were guarding…” He trailed off, looking faintly nauseous.
“We found a few of Silvius’s…test subjects.
” The hair rose on the back of my neck. Something told me I didn’t want to know what he meant as he continued. “He’s testing the virus on them.”
The blood drained from my face. Silvius had created a new dungeon. Another torture chamber full of those forced to participate in his experiments.
The sudden onslaught of dark memories was almost enough to bring me to my knees. It took a long second before I managed to wrangle my past into submission, fighting to stay in the present. Even then, my heart pounded so hard I could hear it.
Quinn’s voice wavered as she asked, “Are you sure?”
“Dolion confirmed it when we brought them in,” Rivan said grimly.
Quinn and I exchanged a glance. Apparently, that was why Dolion left for his consult earlier.
“How did he infect them?” Quinn sounded calm, but I could hear the underlying strain.
It was one thing to have a single patient, no matter how important she was to us. It was another thing entirely to have to deal with an epidemic.
“The same way as Eva, from what the ones who were conscious could tell us.” Rivan’s deep voice vibrated with barely contained rage. “But Dolion said he’s likely trying to—”
“Make it viral,” Quinn finished. She swayed on her feet, and I grabbed her elbow to steady her reflexively, my thumb brushing against the lace of her sleeve.
Her eyes met mine, a hint of red reflecting against their usual amber. It only took a heartbeat for my defenses to shatter in the face of her outright fear, the feelings I caged slipping through the bars that held them.
“If he succeeds at that, there’s no telling how many could be infected,” Quinn whispered.
My grip on her tightened. “Then we won’t let that happen.”
It wasn’t a promise I could make, but the way her expression shifted from dread to resolve was worth it.
Rivan cleared his throat. “From the notes left behind, it’s not slaughter he wants.” He gestured behind him at a leather notebook open on the dining table. “It’s control. Though whether he wants that for leverage or revenge is yet to be determined.”
Quinn hurried over. I didn’t have to look any closer to recognize Silvius’s handwriting, not after reading every word of the stacks of matching notebooks in his lab.
“We took those affected to the Enclave once we were sure they weren’t contagious,” Rivan continued.
Quinn thumbed through the first few pages before asking, “How many?”
“Four are in the infirmary,” Rivan said heavily. “Only one was conscious when we found them.”
I wondered if Quinn noticed the way he cut himself off. If she saw the swallow that lodged in his throat, the subtle shift of his eyes that told me exactly which number he decided not to include.
Silvius had never cared about survivors. Only results.
Quinn only nodded, her tone turning businesslike. “I assume Dolion already took care of it, but we’ll need samples of their blood in order to cure them too.”
Rivan’s shoulders slumped. “The people he took, they’re unattached.
People that wouldn’t be missed, whose disappearances weren’t noticed right away.
The ones still…well, they’re all much farther along than Eva.
They’re empty shells.” Revulsion laced each word.
“Utterly open to suggestion. They’re being closely watched. ”
Still alive.
The word he didn’t say echoed in my ears, tying my tongue. Though death might be a mercy if we couldn’t cure this.
“We won’t know if the cure will work on them until we try,” Quinn said, her tone leaving no room for argument. But her voice faltered as she added, “How many did he kill?”
It had been foolish to think she hadn’t come to the same realization, probably before I did.
Rivan closed his eyes, bowing his head. “Eleven. Silvius didn’t even bother to wipe the blood off their faces before they succumbed to the virus.”
He never seemed to notice or care that his subjects were people. Their screams had only ever seemed to annoy him, unlike Aviel who had basked in the sounds of suffering.
For Silvius, their lives were simply a means to an end. And without his master alive to hold his leash, there was no telling his endgame.
“He has to be stopped.” Quinn’s voice was soft but determined. “I can cure this, I know I can. But the longer he’s free, the more people he’ll hurt.”
Rivan nodded in staunch agreement. “We’ll get him.”
“And make him pay for what he’s done,” I added, my words a promise.
Maybe I would even give him a taste of his own medicine.
Quinn didn’t lift her gaze from the notebook in front of her as she started to sit down. I quickly pushed the chair behind her forward with my foot before she missed the seat. Rivan raised an eyebrow, but Quinn seemed none the wiser.
Taking a pen from behind her ear, she tapped it against her mouth with a faraway look I had long since come to recognize.
Eva and I used to tease her about the way she focused so intensely that everything else ceased to exist. It was like she slipped away into a pocket of her mind where nothing else mattered.
When her concentration finally broke, it was like watching someone coming up for air after being underwater too long—blinking, and not entirely sure the world above was the same as she had left it.
When Pari and Yael strode in, both looking grim and battle worn, the clang of the door opening made Quinn startle so badly her pen dropped to the notebook. Her gaze immediately found mine, looking dazed as she reintegrated herself from wherever she was lost.
It was instinct to step closer, my mouth twitching in a slight smile at the surprise on her face. Quinn gave me a sheepish grin.
Rivan, however, immediately rushed over to Pari. “Are you…” He cleared his throat, then pointedly looked over her head at Yael. “Are you both okay?”
Pari looked like she was trying not to roll her eyes.
“With the way you kept taking down anyone who tried to get close to me, I didn’t have the chance to get injured.
Unlike you.” The annoyance on her face slipped away as she scanned him for injury.
“The healers fixed that gash on your arm before you came here, right?”
My gaze trained on the dried blood on Rivan’s arm directly beneath an ugly looking tear in his leathers, though without any alarm. Quinn would’ve noticed had it not been mended.
Rivan didn’t take his eyes off Pari. “Of course.”
“Good.” Pari took two swift steps toward him, then smacked him directly above the injury.
Yael let out a guffaw before muffling her mirth with her hand. Rivan swore loudly.
“What the—”
“Next time, try to remember that you wouldn’t have gotten hurt if you hadn’t got in my way,” Pari hissed.
“In fact, if you ever want me to fight by your side again, do me a favor and remember I’m just as capable as you and just as good in a fight, if not better.
The only reason your blood is drying on your leathers right now is because you didn’t trust my ability to protect myself. ”
Rivan’s face had gone ashen. “Pari…”
She held up a hand, silencing him. “I don’t want your apology. I don’t even want an explanation. Do better, or next time I’m leaving you behind.”
Rivan’s mouth fell open, wordless. Pari turned on a heel before disappearing into her room, no doubt to wash off the battle.
Yael crossed her arms, staring at Rivan. “You have to admit she has a point. Is there some reason you decided she couldn’t defend herself?”
“I wasn’t…”
“You absolutely were.”
Rivan gave Yael a look of pure betrayal. “She…it’s just…there were so many of them.” He stopped himself, exhaling. “It’s not because I don’t think she can protect herself. I know she can protect herself.”
Yael’s voice was carefully neutral. “But you didn’t want her to get hurt?”
“Something like that,” Rivan admitted.
He dragged a hand down his face, leaving a dark trail in the dust that covered him. Yael exchanged a look with Quinn, whose mouth curved into a knowing smile.
“Anyways…” Yael sat down next to Quinn. “Walk me through what you’re working on, Quinn. Maybe I can help.”
As Quinn rifled through her notes, Yael gave Rivan a pointed stare over her shoulder. Her shoulders relaxed as Rivan dipped his head in a barely there nod.
Subtly, Rivan tilted his head in a follow me motion.
He pushed the door open to his room, looking behind him to make sure Quinn was still occupied as I followed him inside.
His room was the same as mine, though his bed was made, its coral headboard inlaid with pink pearls.
Rivan closed the door behind me. Quinn’s voice was muffled as I listened through the door, Yael’s lower tone occasionally interjecting, their words too quiet to decipher.
I stayed silent, waiting for Rivan to speak. Obviously, he needed to tell me something that he wanted to keep from Quinn.
He leaned against the desk by the window, his shoulders slumping in obvious exhaustion. With one finger, he gestured for me to come closer, his eyes darting to the door.
“I wasn’t sure if it was best to share this with Quinn considering the strain she’s under right now…” His voice was so low that I could barely hear it.
My response was immediate. “I won’t keep secrets from her.”
“I’m not asking you to,” Rivan said defensively.
I kept my face neutral, even as my impatience crept into my tone. “Then what exactly are you asking?”
“You need to keep an eye on her.” The gravity in his voice made it obvious this wasn’t a trivial matter. “I know you already are but…you can’t let her out of your sight.”
Dread curled in my gut. “Why?”
“There was a note on one of the bodies,” Rivan said tightly. “When I saw her, I thought…” He swallowed hard. “The victim’s complexion was lighter, but she had Quinn’s curls. And she was in healers’ robes, despite us confirming she wasn’t one. There was a note pinned to her chest.”
A roar filled my ears. My magic blistered my palms, trying to fight its way out—desperate to destroy any threat against her. “What did it say?”
“‘Stop or she’ll be next.’”