Chapter 4 #4
“As long as what takes? And what do we need to talk about that you can’t say here? Do you know more about what happened in the sept? I was targeted, wasn’t I? Someone was working with the silver tongues.”
“They already know it was Ryquin. He needed me to come here, and he knew I didn’t trust him.”
“For what purpose?”
“He believes there’s a door only I can find, and if I open it, he can enter as a living man.
He wants power he can’t get in Rivenholde.
But he wasn’t the only one who needed me.
Some of the dead approached me in the labyrinth and asked for my help to break the curse keeping them here. They both believe I’ve come for them.”
“I know you’d never ally yourself with Ryquin.” Elloven had been wondering when he’d explain why he was there. “And it’s kind of you to want to help the dead, but it seems like a bigger task than one man can take on.”
“I’ll help them if I can, but I didn’t come for them.” Jesstin combed his fingers up her cheeks and into her hair at her temples, a half-formed, sad smile softening his eyes. “I came for you, Elloven. Just you. And I won’t leave until I find a way to take you with me.”
No one had ever—she didn’t even need to finish the thought, for of course no one in her life had come close to showing up for her the way Jesstin, someone she barely knew, was now.
But the words, barely knew, felt so far afield from reality, she understood that time had never meant anything for the two of them.
But he’d lost his mind. Out of guilt, grief... It didn’t matter why. He was going to throw his own life away on a delusion. “But I can’t leave here, Jesstin,” she said weakly. “You know... You know death is not reversible?”
“A living man walking amongst the dead is supposed to be impossible too, and here I am.” He lifted his shoulders with an arrogant smirk.
“You need to leave before whatever magic compelling you here fades.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
Elloven threw up her hands in disbelief. “You should be!”
“I’m not.” He shrugged, lighter this time. “I’ll leave when you can.”
“What if you can’t leave, Jesstin?”
He pursed his lips and puffed out a breath. “Damn, hadn’t considered that.”
“I’m serious. You don’t know anything about this place. All you do know was told to you by those who would dispose of you the moment you served your purpose.”
“Daire will reach out. Soon.” Jesstin’s face looked less convinced than his words sounded.
“With all Ryquin’s necromancers, how has none told him what to do?”
“They’ve told him enough to believe in the door. If I could summon the dead myself, I’d have asked some better fucking questions than he did though.”
“You can’t?” A chill passed over Elloven as she realized that was the reason she hadn’t heard from him. He hadn’t abandoned her. He’d been fighting to find her in the only way he could.
“If I can, I have no idea how. I was never taught magic. I never asked to be because I didn’t want anyone knowing I had it.
The last thing I wanted was to get shipped off to the Sepulchre and locked in a tower with a bunch of stuffy wizards and dusty books.
The dead find me, whether I like it or not.
” He laughed dryly. “But bloody hell, they were practically crawling up my ass in Rivenholde. Hundreds, thousands, way too fucking many.”
She was still buzzing from the almost-kiss, her out-of-character boldness, and his gentle rebuff that seemed, in hindsight, more for her sake.
But it was all so confusing. The vulnerability in his magic had compelled him to the netherworld to set his crimes to rights, yet he didn’t want her forgiveness?
His behavior was mystifying.
Elloven’s heart suddenly spiked with a wonderful, hopeful thought. “You never told me. Has Gen ever found you?”
Jesstin threw a glance behind him, like he’d heard something. “Dawn is coming. We need to make a plan. Where are you? Are you safe?”
She was disappointed not to get his answer, but she’d ask again, when they weren’t up against the sun.
They were on the same timeline now, and she had hope they’d find each other in their dreams until they could connect in person.
.. if they could connect in person. “I’m safe.
” It wasn’t the time to bring up Fabrien.
Jesstin had never acted rational when he was worried about her.
“I’m in a havre. They protect us at night. ”
“Cloister here. Funny thing, it looks just like—”
“The Night Soul.” She’d noted it on her first night, another reason she’d chosen the solace of havres instead.
“That can’t be coincidence, right?”
She cupped his cheek. “I really wish you’d stayed where you were safe.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Jesstin cast a nervous glance at the stained glass. The first hint of light sent colors dancing across the floor. “A havre. Where?”
“I... I don’t know. I never stay in the same one more than a couple of nights, and during the day, I move on. I rarely travel too far because the days aren’t always the same. Some are shorter. Some are longer. You cannot ever be out after dark. You were told that, right?”
Jesstin’s expression froze. “How long have you been here?”
“I should’ve counted. Weeks, I think.” Elloven shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t know.”
Jesstin slumped back. “You only died yesterday, Elloven.”
Her face tingled, the blood flowing away again. “But that’s...”
“Fuck. Fuck. We have to get out of this place. The havre you’re in, what’s outside?”
She shook her head.
He squeezed her hand. “Hey, you didn’t know a degenerate knight would come to your rescue. Now we know we can meet here. We can plan here.”
Elloven brightened. “I might have an idea.”
Jesstin urged her to go on, though his worried gaze was stuck on the growing light.
“The roads here have signs that direct you to landmarks. Important places. I saw one that said Magna Annalis, and I’ve been traveling that way.
It’s a library, I think, and I should be there tomorrow if I’m reading things right.
I don’t know why I chose it, except, I thought.
..” She was fumbling, wasting precious time.
Learning about where she’d come from, who she was, was unimportant just then, and she could explain herself later.
“The realm has The Book of All Things. What if Infinita Mori has one of their own? And what if there are answers there that can help us find these... doors?”
“It’s a good plan,” Jesstin said. “Find the nearest havre to this library and stay there. When I’m closer, we can figure out the details.”
“It will be weeks before you reach it.”
The ground trembled. Dust filtered from the ceiling.
“We meet here...” Jesstin said, one hand bracing the chair, the other keeping her from falling. “Every night.”
“But neither one of us knows how to come here intentionally.” Even as she said it, she wasn’t worried. They’d find each other. She believed that.
Jesstin threw himself over her when a chunk of stone fell from the ceiling. “I don’t know, Elloven, but we will. We didn’t come this far to fail.” He held her tighter as dust and shards rained around them. “And then I’ll tell you everything.”
“What?” She screamed when the chair split in half, and she went sprawling.
“Just be careful who you trust!” Jesstin’s words were clear, though he sounded a hundred yards away. He cursed when a chunk of stone hit his knee. “Get to the library and the nearest havre! Stay put! I will find you!”
“Jesstin!”
“I’ll find you!”
Elloven reached for him and toppled onto the thin band of sunlight crossing her floor.