Chapter Two
Avari
On the way back to the portal room, the silence stretched, charged with everyone’s impatience to speak, yet nobody dared. Nobody cared to start this difficult conversation before retrieving the grimoire.
The Queen of Ortensia would be defeated, and though I doubted it would be accomplished with my hands, I would help in any way I could.
The portal flared to life, and Elder Ramonds stepped in without as much as glancing back. He was gone in a moment, leaving us with more questions than ever.
Taking a long breath, I watched River set the destination and how it buzzed with energy, beckoning us in.
I cast my father a look and warned him, ‘Stay quiet and follow me. I know corridors that they rarely use. We don’t want to fight them today; we go in and out.’
The lord groaned at my reprimand. ‘You think I don’t know that?’
Who did he think he was fooling? He itched to make my mother pay, and he was as impulsive as all the other fae men. ‘Just making sure. Wouldn’t be the first time that your impulsive decisions got us into trouble.’
An agonised expression flashed on his face, gone in an instant.
A presence behind my back tore my attention away from my father’s past mistakes.
Especially since warmth I could never forget flooded my senses.
It was prepared for battle, ready to strike whatever waited on the other side.
But it caressed my skin in soothing circles, calming my nerves and clearing my screaming mind.
I couldn't believe my body betrayed me like this.
‘We should cross together. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you if they've set traps,’ River pleaded, his eyes glistening in the portal’s warm ambience.
For a second, he was still the one I trusted with my life. Then it all rushed back, threatening to rip out my heart.
I contemplated refusing him, choosing somebody else to cross with just because I couldn’t bear the thought of staying so close. Not when my power thrashed enough to make me question my sanity. Soon it would make me physically tremble.
It longed for him more than it ever had.
Every time I crossed its path and shoved it deeper inside me, it defied me. Never before had it been so unyielding. The weeks apart made it thirst for the unattainable. It craved to chase his scent of lemon and oakmoss through the room until I too had lost myself in it. It was maddening.
But his plan made sense. My family’s powers didn’t work in Ortensia.
And I wasn’t trained in battle; as much as my raging flames tried to persuade me into a sense of confident delusion, it was obvious someone like me would stand at a trained soldier’s mercy.
And as much as I detested him right now, I knew River wouldn’t allow anyone to hurt me.
He saw me as his.
A mate. An extension of his soul.
His declarations echoed in my mind as I looked at a handsome face my fingers itched to touch. He claimed I reawakened his dying soul. How could I have when, currently, I felt like I had none?
‘Okay.’ Two syllables. It was all I could manage to whisper as he pushed a cover of his power around me. It formed a shield, making it difficult to focus on anything but him. Wrapping around my limbs, it made me feel incapacitated. ‘Is this necessary?’
His power twitched around me like it was reluctant to let go.
‘We don’t know what’s on the other side.
It’ll keep you safe if I have to fight,’ he insisted, as his darkening eyes lit up the moment I failed to keep my flames away from his.
Though he breathed it in, he had enough sense not to comment, as once again I pushed it so deep inside it felt like I might burst.
Beads of sweat coated my forehead before I wiped them off and asked, ‘Maybe just tone it down a little.’
River rubbed his temples, sighing. ‘Why? We know she has no qualms about hurting you.’
Was he doing this on purpose?
‘It’s distracting. Reduce it now,’ I seethed through clenched teeth, making his eyes widen with that familiar mischievous glint.
Dick.
‘Perhaps it wouldn’t chafe as much if you—’
‘Don’t.’
Whatever he saw on my face made him remove half of it, and the change allowed me to breathe. Was that how being next to him always would be?
Maybe I needed to avoid him. Something inside my chest clenched at the thought.
Tearing his addictive eyes away from mine, he turned toward my family and his battalion, who watched our exchange quietly.
‘We’ll cross first, my battalion straight after in case we need reinforcements. We’ll wait for you on the other side.’
‘And who picked you as the boss?’ Alec scoffed, emerging from the group, the scowl on his face making my pulse pick up. We all needed to focus; fighting now wouldn’t solve any problems, just add to the ever-growing pile of shit.
River squared his shoulders. ‘Care to challenge me?’
I shook my head, begging the Gods to talk some sense into my reckless brother’s mind. For the first time, they might have, because as he looked at me, he retreated.
‘That’s what I thought. This is my kingdom, and you’ll do well to remember that.’
The mask of a ruthless king fell into place just before I tugged on his arm. The tiniest physical connection seemed to release some of the tension, as his softened gaze fell to my hand.
Not knowing what to do with myself, I let it go before he hooked them together at the elbow and led me toward the portal. ‘Ready?’
‘Never,’ I replied truthfully.
The slight smell of sulphur enveloped us as we crossed the threshold into the glowing abyss of swirling light.
The warmth stretched over our bodies like a second skin.
It was drastically different to shadow-portalling, yet a lot less turbulent.
Or maybe it was less turbulent than Alec’s portalling; Miriam's and Isaac’s didn’t quite feel as chaotic.
And chaos was what awaited us on the other side.
The second we stepped into my wing of the Ortensian castle, we were assaulted by a stench so thick it threatened to make me sick.
I heaved but stopped myself just in time before River’s right hand, Cecil, stepped through with Albert.
They cringed, assessing the area, but nothing looked out of place.
I heaved once more, kneeling down as nausea assaulted me in rolling waves. The smell of putrid decay ingrained itself into my nose so deeply that even breathing through my mouth was pointless.
My traitor knelt beside me, seemingly unaffected. Neither was the increasing number of his soldiers. He petted my back and whispered, ‘Let me increase the shield. It will drown some smell out.’
Answering was a struggle. Each breath made me feel sick. A nod was all I could muster.
The blanket of his power felt familiar, though, given the circumstances, it did nothing to relax me.
‘What the hell is that smell?’
‘Death,’ several of the warriors exclaimed, and I prayed they were mistaken.
It took a minute for everybody to enter the portalling chamber, and though River’s power made it bearable for me, Miriam kept vomiting by the wall. Just as I was about to ask River to help her the way he did me, Michael crossed the threshold too and rushed to her.
The prince’s kindness never failed to surprise me.
Momentarily, Miriam improved, though her proximity to Michael drew distaste into Alec’s mouth. Funny that the smell didn’t elicit that reaction, and politeness did.
The way he stared daggers at the prince who ignored him entirely made me smirk. River’s eyes snapped to me, and with a tone softer than I remembered, he asked, ‘What’s funny?’
‘Just the situation. Alec’s discomfort is always welcome.’
His eyes lit up. ‘I missed your smile.’
What was I supposed to say to that?
I missed everything about him, but this wasn’t the time nor the place to discuss our predicament. He kept looking at me, analysing my reaction like he always used to, and a blush crept onto my cheeks at his attentiveness.
‘We have a mission to complete,’ Alec barked from the other side of the room, saving me.
Breaking away from the moment, my legs pushed me toward the heavy door before River and several soldiers outran me.
Nothing could have prepared us for the nightmare waiting on the other side.
Countless bodies lay scattered around the floor. The horror on their faces twisted something deep inside me.
They tormented me, all of them, and turned my life into one of misery and loneliness. Yet, all I felt for them was compassion; whatever happened here was violent. The fear forever carved into their expressions left me speechless. The smell was nothing compared to the sight.
A hand touched the small of my back, making me jump.
‘You have to focus, Ava. We don’t know what we’re walking into,’ River pleaded.
He was right; I knew he was. ‘Let’s go.’
His battalion, along with Alec and our father, moved past us. They must have assumed I needed time.
I was the weak link.
The one everyone had to protect.
How in the world was I the one to open the Crone box?
‘I wish you didn’t have to see this.' River’s voice was soft, barely above a murmur, as he hovered in front of me.
His gaze kept falling to my narrowed eyes as I tried hard to push past the wretchedness of what happened.
‘But you have to focus. I have to be ready to fight. I need to know you can take care of yourself.’
‘I can,’ I quipped too quickly, pushing him away with a light shove.
Only then did I notice that Miriam and Michael stayed behind too. Blanched and uneasy, she looked a smidgen better than after she crossed the threshold. I needed to train my fire to make it perform in situations like this. I couldn’t stay on the sidelines whilst others fought this war on my mother.
Rushed footsteps echoed down the corridor next to us, the one the rest of our group had disappeared into according to my earlier instructions.
Alec ran back, holding somebody close to his chest.
Shit. I knew that smell.
Willow.
‘What the fuck. Is she alive?’ I rushed toward him, stopping him in his tracks.
'Barely.' Alec was breathless. ‘You know her? She needs a medic.’
Without waiting for a response, he pushed past me, running toward the portal.
‘Stop,’ I snarled as he ignored me.
Running at full speed, I eventually caught up. Moving my hand over her body, I focused on the most life-threatening injuries. Her heartbeat was too slow, almost too faint for my witchcraft to pick up on. There was a gash by her kidney, and it was bleeding profusely.
Focusing whatever remained of my green magic, I pushed it around the wound, willing it to close.
It was torturous. Slow.
Alec’s constant pleas to hurry only grated on my nerves.
My powers were drained. I explained it before we made our way to Ortensia. My brother was expecting a miracle. The wicked witch was lucky to get a sliver of my power to heal her. Did she deserve it?
‘Take her to a medic now. There is one on the ground floor of—’
He was gone before I could even explain how to get there.
Oh well.
‘Would your mother have attacked her own daughter?’ Miriam asked, holding a hand to her throat as if the words were too terrible to voice.
A laugh bubbled in my throat. They didn’t know half the things she did to me.
‘She would,’ I said quietly, before looking away and forcing my mind to focus on the carnage inside the castle rather than the one inside my head.
This dark, frostbitten place wasn’t the court I knew. Sinister energy crawled along the walls, tracking our every move, prickling my nerve endings and forcing my witchcraft to surge to the surface, ready to shield at a moment’s notice.
The sea… it was still. No waves crashed against the castle walls, no breeze pushed through the wide windows to cleanse the putrid air. That familiar whistle was gone. The sea was here in body, but its spirit had retreated. Its magic… it wasn’t there.
My pulse stuttered as I took in the surrounding destruction. This couldn’t be undone with hushed prayers for the dead, nor by cleansing or rebuilding the castle. The ground had soaked up enough blood to turn unholy. Enough to develop a taste for it.
We moved deeper inside, and my boot struck something. It crunched underfoot without breaking. A bracelet. Crystal pendants hung from it, some chipped, blood caught in their crevices like crimson streaks of lightning.
A blade pierced through a bronze heart. I knew this pendant.
My chest tightened. It belonged to Rosalie, one of Willow’s ladies-in-waiting.
They had been friends since school. Was she among the decaying corpses?
I remembered the day Willow bought it from a merchant at some air festival—the same one she had helped me sneak out to. Things had been different then.
Truthfully, I had never understood how a girl as gentle as Rosalie could have been raised in this court of schemes and endless greed.
Perhaps her pure witch heritage set her apart—there weren’t many like her within the castle grounds.
For good reason. How she and Willow had become friends was beyond me.
A thought crossed my mind, and shame followed close behind. I would never say it aloud, but between the two of them… the realm would have been better off if Alec had found Rosalie alive. Her heart had been purer.
The fact my mind could even go there…