Chapter 1
Chapter
One
-KADIAN-
“What do you think is happening up there?” I whispered to Oz, squinting at the front of the room where a piece of paper is passed from Alvar to Lil’s uncle to… Is that Iona’s father? At least, I thought it was a piece of paper from what I could make out.
The murmur of the crowd was like bees at the height of summer, an ever-present sound attempting to distract me from what it was I was trying to focus on.
Lil looks fucking beautiful.
No matter where I turned to face in the room, the gold of Lil’s hair would catch in the corner of my eye. Every time I looked away, I ended up back on her.
“Maybe someone forgot to order a shrimp cocktail for the reception,” Oz said, leaning back, craning his neck for a better view. “I’d be pissed too if people forgot one of the best food items.”
“That’s not a menu.” I scowled at him as he shrugged.
Oz could always make light of anything, but something about the atmosphere of the room had changed.
The humming grew more frenzied, tension pressing close, as if the incense-rich smoke from the tripods wanted to choke out the guests in its perfumed haze.
Is Brida here? Does she see what’s happening?
I scanned the room, trying to spot Bri. Normally, she was easy to find, but the crowd was thick today, making it nearly impossible to see her.
“It can be undone, it says so right here,” Alvar shouted at the front of the room.
Had I heard that right? What could be undone? Did they mean the wedding? Is there a chance Lil can be free of this? That we could…
“It does not matter. They…” Thalius’ voice faded into the chaos.
“Hey, do you—”
“Oz, I love you, but shut the fuck up right now.” I swatted at him, needing to hear more of what was being said. If this wasn’t happening, maybe…
A strange pull tugged at my chest like a spider weaving the muscles within me.
An entirely new sensation since arriving in Azmeer.
At first, I thought it was the heat, playing tricks on me, causing my heart to skip a beat, even though I loved the warmth of summer.
Part of me knew deep down that it was something else.
Even if I didn’t know what to call it or how to address it.
They’d been giving me tea for weeks now, something to “relax” me, to ease that pain.
I did as they said and took it, not wanting to risk my place, my possible position here in Azmeer.
I couldn’t leave Brida behind, not after everything she’d done for me.
But I didn’t think the tea was doing much of anything at all.
Lil backed away from her uncle and Rai, taking slow steps toward a scribe.
Addie? Is that Addie? I shifted in my seat, desperate to see what was happening at the front of the room. The muttering from the crowd only fueled further distractions. Where is Lil? What is happening up there?
A piercing wail sliced through the air, forcing the hairs at the back of my neck to attention.
“Holy shit,” Oz whispered beside me.
“What the fuck is happening?” My eyes darted between the dais and the crowd, searching for Lil. Chaos erupted, figures moving in all directions—Asana’s piercing scream echoing throughout the room.
Alvar. Something must have happened to Alvar. Gods, where is Brida? She’d grown close to the future king. Sometimes I worried too close.
A sudden force pushed me down—a violent windstorm pressing us into our seats. No one could move. Figures in purple suits emerged from the shadows, and my heart sank.
Wind Walkers? What in the gods’ name is going on?
Someone, somehow, rose in the aisle.
Her black hair with red was almost glowing.
Brida.
She was a mountain against the storm; she could not be moved, would not be moved. Like everything in life, she was facing this head on…but why? Why is she involved? Why does she seem to always be involved?
“Is that Brida?” Oz shouted over the roaring wind. I could barely hear him.
How is she even standing right now?
Where is Lil?
I need to get to them. We need to leave.
As much as Azmeer had been a dream, this, this had all been a nightmare.
The atrocities we’d seen while here, the trials we’d been forced to endure.
All with the tantalizing promise of power, a chance at a better life.
It was a mirage. Much like the one Brida had told me about.
A fleeting image, not true to our reality.
Lil’s uncle strode towards her. Get to Lil—that was all I could think. I had to reach her. Gripping my hands around my seat, I tried to force myself up but was locked in place by the ferocity of the wind.
Thalius sidestepped his niece in a move that was so fluid that it made it clear he could only have been of the Court of Reflection before reaching for a dagger and slicing it across Addie’s throat.
“Holy fuck,” Oz said.
In the weeks prior to my ailment, Illerium had droned on about war. Readying ourselves, why it was important for us to stay physically fit, as it bettered not only our bodies but our minds. Had he known this was coming? Was this why he had issued a warning?
Addie was just one person. One person I’d known and cared for because of the way she loved Brida. Watching this, here and now, there were no words.
Addie fell to the floor, her arms limp beside her. Get to Addie. Get to Lil. Get to Brida.
Gods. Brida.
My eyes found her again. Is she stepping forward? Before I could react, a man in a black suit with pale violet hair appeared behind her.
Marsh.
I’m going to fucking kill him.
I couldn’t move. Whatever magic this was, it bound me, all of us in the room. I need to help her. As soon as I thought it, Brida disappeared with Marsh.
Wails of horror and despair clawed at us from the dais. Glancing back to the front of the room, I saw Alvar cradled in the arms of Asana. He was unmoving, still, and covered in blood. I had to assume Alvar was dead, but how was Brida involved in this?
I turned my gaze back to the aisle where Brida had been standing to see Dainan. In a cloud of dark smoke, Dainan moved from the aisle to the dais, where he grabbed Lil. They vanished. Leaving behind remnants of shadow as dark as the peak of night.
My hands clenched into fists, molten lava flowed through my veins…my legs and body were shaking. Lil…If Dainan hurts her…
The wind died down and I jumped to my feet. Someone has to know where they’ve gone. Addie is still up there…
Oz tugged at my sleeve. “Sit down,” he whispered. I collapsed onto the bench, my mind spinning. Where are they? Why did he take her? Where did they go?
“What just happened?” Oz was more ashen than I’d ever seen him, like he wore a mask made from brittle clay, it was beginning to crack.
“Alvar’s dead,” I muttered. “And Addie.”
“Brida’s aunt?” Oz’s expression was pallid, his eyes glazed over. None of us had ever seen anything like this before. The last several hundred years have been a time of peace. That’s what they’d told us anyway…
The confusion at the front of the room worsened over the coming minutes when Thalius whispered into the ear of the officiant.
“All hail your new king! King Rai, Third of his Name.” His voice boomed from the dais, and Rai’s arm was thrust into the air, supported by Thalius.
They can’t think anyone will fall for this. We just witnessed a wedding and two murders. This wasn’t a coronation day.
The crowd buzzed, but I could only think of the mark. Alvar had been marked. I had seen when Alvar had offered Brida his hand at the ball. It had been faint, but it had still been there. Didn’t a king need the mark? Maybe it didn’t matter if the throne was taken by conquest?
A gentle wind brushed against my cheek, whispering into my ear, “Do not fear what you’ve seen today.
Everything is as it was meant to be.” I looked back to the dais to see a Whisperer, black suit, tall, broad shouldered, hair whiter than snow, whispering the words that traveled to us. “Everything is as it was meant to be.”
The fuck it is.
The words settled over the crowd like fog on a dense morning.
The bright blues, purples, and greens of people’s eyes slowly turned white, glazing over.
How are they doing this? This wasn’t a magic that I’d seen before, that any of us had seen before.
That can’t be an average Court of Whispers member…
Can it? It couldn’t be. There would be no need for four courts, they would rule over all.
“They can’t believe this,” I said to Oz, whose newly amber eyes had a milky sheen clouding them.
“Oz?”
His color was returning, as if we hadn’t just witnessed two people being murdered before our very eyes. One of them, the future king of the realm.
Asana rose to her feet, shouting, “You have no idea what you’ve done!”
Walkers encircled her, but before they could reach her, she threw herself down, covering Alvar. Shadows engulfed them, and they vanished.
The words hadn’t worked on her. She was a threat to whatever plan this was. Where has she taken him?
The wind’s voice returned. “Refreshments will be served in the dining hall. Please enjoy tonight’s festivities. The king will greet you shortly.”
Following the commands without any protestation, the crowd rose from their seats, eager to make their way to the hors d’oeuvres that awaited them. Why are you all doing as they say? How are you believing this?
I’d listened when Illerium mentioned what was valued by each court, and I knew their members were cunning, but this, this was a magic I had never seen. At least, not that I could remember.
“Good thing this is over, I’m starving,” Oz said casually.
“Oz...” We had been in the same room. He had seen Addie’s murder, commented on it. Had he forgotten? The hairs on my arms rose, an uneasy wave roiling in my stomach. I grabbed him by the shoulders as we were thrust into the aisle, the former wedding now inauguration guests hovering around us.