Chapter 36
Theo
“Thank you for joining us, wordsmith.” Ignara’s shrill voice cut through the haze in my head.
I blinked.
The sky above me was gray. Smoke drifted in patches. The smell of scorched earth and seawater hung heavy.
My magic was gone, burned out. My ribs screamed every time I breathed.
Did she say “Wordsmith”? I forced my eyes open.
Maelis stood beside Ignara. Unharmed. Steady. Too close.
My pulse quickened. The panic wasn’t sharp, it was heavy, sickening. My body couldn’t move fast enough to keep up with what my heart was telling me.
“It seemed like you had everything under control,” she said, her tone flat. “There was no need to intervene.” What was she talking about?
Lythandra’s voice cut through the air, she was calling to Maelis, telling her to hide. Good, at least she was still fighting.
Maelis turned.
Lifted her hand.
Light flared.
Magic.
Lythandra flew from her horse, hit the ground hard. Shouts broke out, Malek’s men, startled, confused. They were staring at Maelis. Staring like they didn’t understand what they were seeing.
Neither did I.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Leviathan crashing into the ocean and thanked the Fates that the chant had worked. I should have felt relieved. I should have celebrated. Instead, I was watching Maelis attack our friends, and every breath I took burned worse than the last.
Had she not recognized Lythandra? Had something gone wrong?
I tried to stand.
Pain lanced through me.
My limbs barely responded, a groan escaped me.
One of Ignara’s soldiers struck me.
I hit the ground again.
Blood filled my mouth. The haze returned.
I tried again, I had to get to her. Pushing up onto my hands and legs, I would crawl to her if I had to. If she still had the Luminaris key, maybe we could get out. Maybe none of this had to end like—
Ignara struck me with magic.
Agony.
I hit the dirt, shaking.
My heartbeat was slow. Too slow.
Around me, the battlefield blurred.
Figures moved.
I couldn’t make out who was who anymore.
But I saw Maelis. She raised her hand again, magic burst from her fingers. Veridus and another God went flying and they didn’t get up.
My mind struggled to keep up, but my heart was already there. Already splintering beneath the weight of it.
Because she wasn’t panicking.
She wasn’t afraid.
She was in control. Calm. Choosing.
Another hit to my stomach, my head spun.
I barely felt it. The ache inside was worse.
The rumors.
The ones I’d laughed off.
Lythandra’s message.
Whispers that Maelis had met with the Fraction.
That we were lovers. That I’d betrayed everyone for her.
I thought it was just fear.
Just the Heralds stirring up doubt.
But what if it wasn’t?
Another blow to my gut.
I didn’t fight it, I couldn’t.
Then I heard Maelis’s voice again.
“It’s not going to do any good to kill him here and now, Ignara. We need him alive so I can harness his power.”
My stomach turned.
Not from the pain, but from the cold, clean edge in her voice.
Ignara raised an eyebrow. “Has the Abbot told you what to do?”
Maelis smiled. But that smile belonged to someone who had left me behind long before today.
“Yeah,” she said. “It was almost too easy. I professed my love for Auretheos and the Abbot practically licked my feet. I have the spells we need. Let’s go.”
It was like falling through ice.
Everything I believed about her cracked in one breath, and the world went still inside me.
She didn’t mean that.
She couldn’t.
I had seen the real Maelis, that woman didn’t vanish in a day. That woman was still in there, somewhere.
“Maelis,” I croaked, my voice rough. “Don’t do this. Whatever she promised you, you can’t trust her.”
She froze.
Turned.
Met my eyes.
“Can I trust you, Auretheos?” Her voice was calm. Measured.
“You’ve had doubts about me from the beginning. I heard you. You and Malek, whispering in the Veilstead. I only trust myself. That’s the way it’s always been.”
The words didn’t strike like arrows.
They crushed like weight.
“You were just foolish enough not to see through me,” she added.
Lythandra charged toward us.
One of Ignara’s men cut her off.
Maelis didn’t even blink.
She reached into her coat.
Pulled out the Luminaris key, the one I gave her.
“See you on the other side, God of Wisdom,” she said without looking at me.
Then she was gone.
And everything inside me went quiet.
* * *
Someone had pulled a bag over my head, so I couldn’t see where we were going, but they underestimated my knowledge of this world.
As the Pathways slowed, I recognized the magic in Somnaris realm. They had taken me to his capital, Malakar.
I let my limbs go limp and slowed my breathing. Feigning unconsciousness was the most sensible option. There was no advantage in panic, I needed to be patient.
If they thought I was out cold, they’d speak more freely.
And if they did, I intended to hear every word.
The shelves of my mind clicked into motion, years of study rustling open like pages in a wind. Somnaris, the God of Dreams and Nightmares. He was quiet, but never harmless.
I had visited his court twice in the past. His palace consisted of several buildings, arranged in a C-shape with a courtyard in the center.
When we stepped out from under the Veil, a strange sensation of peace settled over me.
The air was heavy with the sweet, heady scent of blossoms, mingling with the faint freshness of the night that was about to take over.
As the wind stirred, I could hear the gentle rustle of leaves and the soft hum of bees, creating a symphony of quiet sounds that filled the space with a sense of peace and stillness.
So we were still outside in the courtyard.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I heard a voice behind me, it was Somnaris talking.
A shiver ran across my skin when I heard Mae’s quiet voice.
“Thank you for inviting me to your court, Somnaris.”
It was silent for a moment.
“You have caused quite the chaos, wordsmith,” Somnaris said, and it was more of a question than a statement.
“I believe it was you and your Heralds who started this chaos in the first place. I was dragged into your games unwillingly and am simply trying to ensure that I am coming out of this better than I went in,” Maelis said coolly.
“Is that so? Because it looked like you were pretty chummy with Auretheos and his circle when you went to the Celestium.”
Every single one of Somnaris words oozed with mistrust and distaste, but Maelis did not falter.
“I am a mortal, I do not belong in your world. The Gods have never done anything to improve my life or that of my family. So if you are asking me if I support you and Ignara because I think it’s a worthy cause, I have to disappoint you.
I don’t give a fuck about what you or Auretheos want.
I am here for myself, my family. This is a job to me, and I’ll be glad to leave this continent when this is over. ”
The cold calculation in her tone was a knife to my gut.
Had she been lying to me all this time?
I had never heard her speak so harshly before.
I heard Somnaris moving then. “I am well aware of where your loyalties are, you are a wordsmith after all, girl. We will be watching you closely and we will not hesitate to snap your neck if you so much as think about betraying our cause.”
She huffed, unimpressed.
“You are being way too dramatic about this. Could you please show me to my room?” Somnaris called out and servants approached.
“Take her to her room and send her some food. We need her well-fed for the harnessing. And take him to the dungeon.”
I heard their footsteps disappearing.
The guards that had been holding me upright throughout the exchange grunted under my full weight and steered me towards the cells in the basement.
* * *
Drip, drip, drip. The monotone sound pierced through the fog clouding my brain.
Consciousness returned slowly and with it, the pain.
I tried to open my eyes. One responded, the other remained swollen shut.
It came back in fragments, then all at once.
The battle.
The Leviathan.
Maelis.
Her face.
Her voice.
The look in her eyes like I was nothing more than a task already completed.
The betrayal struck harder than any blade.
I shut my eyes again and let the darkness take me.
Oblivion was preferable.
Because what came before it, that certainty that everything I loved had been a lie, was far worse. Perhaps this was what I deserved. For thinking I could outwit the Fates. For reaching for something that was never mine to begin with.
* * *
Hours had passed.
Or days. I couldn’t be sure anymore.
There were no windows, no voices, no footsteps, just the occasional tray of food appearing beside me, as if by magic.
No one spoke to me. No one looked me in the eye.
The collar around my neck was heavy, too tight. It didn’t choke me outright, but it made every breath feel earned. I’d hoped, once or twice, that it might knock me unconscious. It didn’t. I remained awake, aware of every single emotion. That was the worst part.
I didn’t want to think.
Didn’t want to sit here, alone with the knowledge that I had doomed us all, because I couldn’t keep my distance from her.
From Maelis.
From the moment I saw her, something in me shifted. I used to tell myself it was just her beauty. That would’ve been easier to live with, easier to dismiss.
But it wasn’t that.
It was the way she smiled. The way she defied every rule, every limitation, with a fire I couldn’t match but desperately wanted near. The way she fought for the people she loved, with everything she had.
I thought, no, I believed, I was one of them.
Clearly, I was wrong.
The ache bloomed again, low in my stomach, then rising, familiar now. Almost routine. But no less sharp.
I picked up my hands again and tried to remove the shackles around my wrists.
They were suppressing my magic, so if I wanted to have any chance of getting out of here, I’d have to get these off.
Footsteps echoed through the dark cellar, but I kept my head low.