Chapter 33
My heart skipped a beat. Those final two words were enough for me to know who had sent the package.
Cassian studied my face. “You know who sent this.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah. It was the guy who dropped me in those woods. His last words to me were ‘find me.’”
Cassian pointed at the strange mechanism on the face of the locket. “Did he mention to you that he had one of the stars?”
I blinked at him. “No. Are they really that special?”
He pursed his lips as he dropped his gaze to the thing. “Yes, and I wonder how your acquaintance managed to get a hold of one.”
“Are they rare?”
“The rarest objects in all the kingdoms, and perhaps even the world.” He rolled his eyes at me. There was a strange look in his eyes as he held out the machine to me. “Would you like to hold it?”
I swallowed hard. “Is it safe?”
“Yes. Whatever these things are capable of, they do no harm.”
He took the lantern from me. I raised my shaking hands with the palms up, and he set the machine in them. That’s when all hell broke loose.
A silver light blasted out of the machine and enveloped me. I tried to throw the thing, but my arms wouldn’t move. None of me would move. The light flowed all around my body, encasing me in a transparent and gentle cyclone of magic.
Cassian was pushed back at the initial blast and dropped the lantern, where it shattered on the ground.
He caught himself and leaped toward me. The cyclone knocked him back again.
He drew out his scales and tried to slice at the flowing magic, but his plates were cut away, getting smaller and smaller with each slice until they were nothing but nubbins.
A tip of the whirlwind slammed into the locket and sank into the face.
The rest of its body followed, the whole thing being sucked into the trinket in a matter of moments.
My body came loose the moment the last bit of light vanished, and my legs buckled.
I crumpled to the ground, but Cassian caught me before I hit my head.
The star rolled out of my hands and across the grass, coming to a stop against the box.
We both gaped as the metal, so perfect a moment before, now sank into rust. Bits and pieces fell off until the whole thing crumpled to the ground in a pile of ruin. Even that deteriorated to nothing, until all that remained was a stained spot in the grass.
I lifted my wide eyes to Cassian, whose face reflected my own shock. “W-what just happened?”
He shook himself of his stupor and pursed his lips. “I don’t know, but-” He dropped his gaze to me and froze. His eyes narrowed, and he grasped the locket, nearly yanking me up as he pulled it toward him.
I grasped the chain and choked out my surprise. “What are you doing? What’s wrong?”
“The frame of the picture,” he told me as he turned the locket face toward me and held a glowing stone aloft. “It’s changed.”
I squinted before my heart skipped a beat. The frame around the picture had indeed changed. The upper left of the circle now showed a symbol. The same symbol that had covered the mechanism.
I shook my head. “I-I don’t understand any of this. What’s going on?”
Cassian grasped one of my hands between his and squeezed it.
His soft voice cut through the rising tide of panic that threatened to overwhelm me.
“Grace, look at me.” My eyes darted up to him, and he looked straight into them.
“Whatever is happening, you won’t be alone in finding the truth.
I’m here. I will not leave you, no matter what. ”
Tears sprang into my eyes, and I set my other hand atop his. “Thank you.”
“Now let’s see what became of that star,” he mused as he helped me to my feet.
He led me over to the box and the remains of the mechanism.
Cassian released me and knelt beside the stain.
He brushed his palm over the blades of grass and furrowed his brow.
“It looks like there’s nothing left of the Dreadwrought. ”
“Why is it called that?” I asked him.
He stood and shook his head. “Nobody knows. Perhaps those who created it had a militaristic use for it and wished to frighten their enemies.”
My face drooped, and I dropped my gaze to the locket stuck around my neck. “That isn’t very comforting.”
Cassian wrapped his arms around me and drew me into a hug. “I would take this burden of yours myself if I could. For now, I can only share it with you.”
I snuggled into his warm chest. “Thanks. Really.”
My protector pulled me to arm’s length and turned his head to look at the box and the stain. “For now, there’s something I would show you. We must also inform the palace that everything is well.”
Cassian picked up the box and the note, and we returned to the road. Contrary to orders, the carriage stood close at hand, with the driver showing open relief when we emerged from the woods.
Cassian gave the man a stern look. “I told you to drive down the road.”
The driver bowed his head. “As I did, Your Majesty, but the road ended, and I was forced to turn around.”
A faint smile touched Cassian’s lips as he helped me inside. “I see. In that case, take us back to the palace.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
He climbed in after me, and we set off down the road. “What’s that smile mean?” I asked my companion.
“It means I know this road doesn’t end for quite a few miles,” he told me as he lifted his eyes to where the driver was seated. “One has to admire their loyalty, even when they’re disobedient in the execution.”
I snorted. “You do seem to have surrounded yourself with the most disobediently loyal people.” The carriage struck a bump in the road, and the locket set against my chest bounced up and down.
I dropped my gaze to the trinket and furrowed my brow.
“You said you had something to show me.” I tapped the face of the locket.
“Does it have something to do with this?”
“Perhaps everything to do with it, but we shall see.”
A thought had been nagging me since we climbed into the carriage. “How was I able to do that with the Dreadwrought? I don’t have magic, right?”
“Not a speck,” he agreed as he looked me over with a soft but worried expression. “But it did react to something with you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “What would that be?”
Cassian stared ahead and pursed his lips. “I wish I knew.” He shook himself and managed a smile. “But I’m sure we’ll figure out this mystery. There is the Runehold Conservatory in the capital, after all, and other sources of magical knowledge.”
“But you said the magic of the Dreadwroughts was a mystery to everyone.”
He wrapped his arm around my back and grasped my arm. “Yes, but I have a most important incentive to discover their secrets, and when I set out to do something, I do it.”
A nervous snort escaped me. “Thanks.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “For what?”
“For trying to make me feel better.”
He sighed and stared ahead. “I had hoped it would work.”
I set my cheek against his chest and closed my eyes. “I’ll feel better when I’m back in that huge bathtub of yours.”
Cassian squeezed my arm. “After I show you what I have.”