Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
-LIL-
“Take a breath.”
My body folded in on itself, contorting in ways that should have been impossible.
We were bending time, space. Images whirled around me, smoke attempted to penetrate my lungs.
How do I breathe in here? How does Dainan breathe in here?
The cocoon of shadow that housed Dainan and I splintered, light filtering through the cracks before shattering the shadow, dissolving it into nothingness.
Landing on my feet would have been graceful. Instead, my body crashed to the earth like a bag of bones.
This fucking gown weighs a thousand pounds. A thousand pounds of expectations, none of which I had placed upon myself. The dress was making it impossible to move. I need to get out of this thing.
With the undoing of each button, air returned to my lungs. A victory against the men who had forced me to wear it. I freed myself from the layers of tulle and thanked myself for wearing a slip underneath.
“I’ll enjoy taking it off you,” Rai had said to me as he’d kissed my neck.
I’m never wearing a dress again.
A wail of frustration and despair pulled me back from the memory, one I was ready to leave in the past, despite it having dug its claws into me.
Dainan paced, running one hand through his hair while the other twisted, turned—fingers in constant motion. Another scream, his exasperation etched itself into his face, lines deepening between his brows.
No shadows lurked around his ankles, none danced along his fingertips, he was typical.
As most of the Fae in Azmeer were. Not that anyone in Azmeer was without a gift of some kind, even the traitorous letch that would be parading himself as king—a role I’d known he had coveted as he’d whispered it in the depths of sleep.
The nights where I had tried to free myself yet had remained pinned.
“What are you…”
Dainan’s scream pierced the veil of mist that had inched its way closer to us.
“They’re gone…” He lamented. I did not need to ask what he meant.
His hands remained visible, clearer than I’d ever seen them.
Like Rai’s, they possessed a strength that could snap the neck of anyone they encountered, but they appeared softer, like there was a gracefulness about them.
Perhaps that they had never been used for heavy labor, and like Brida, he was more often seen or noted to be holding a book.
“I can’t… I… I tried to follow her,” Dainan snapped as he paced back and forth in the small space. “There’s a barrier in place. My shadows aren’t welcome here, the magic feels off… I have no idea where they, he...” He paused. “I can only assume where they brought her, and I cannot follow her!”
I noted the way Brida and Dainan had looked for each other during the commotion involving… her aunt… Gods, her aunt. My heart thudded in my chest, a war drum on the verge of battle.
I knew Brida and Marsh had been close, but that had been months ago. If he’d found himself working with Thalius, I could imagine the type of person he was. Gods, Brida. What have you gotten yourself into?
“They will keep her alive until they get what they want from her.” I said.
Thalius always gets what he wants. But what was it Brida possessed?
Perhaps it is somehow linked to Addie? Thalius was meticulous in how he would break people.
You never knew you were trapped until you were caught in the web he’d woven.
A silken prison I’d found myself lodged in for the past several months, years if I was being honest.
“Brida is strong.” Dainan said.
She would fight them. I prayed to the gods she would fight them, not that I gave much credence to the gods. They’d never answered any of my prayers.
“Dainan,” I whispered.
Like a house of cards, Dainan fell in on himself, his shoulders and head bowed inwards. I steadied my breath as I made my way towards him—I was never a comforter, not even knowing how to comfort myself. I’d always craved space, distance, but never solitude. Never the silence.
He was quiet, but I heard the faint murmur of sobs.
Alvar.
I’d never known what it was like to have a sibling. My mother was seldom interested in the daughter she had—it had been a good thing there hadn’t been another. I had made it my mission to choose my family, and the idea of losing any of them…
I knelt in front of my… Is he really my brother-in-law?
In all the years I’d known Dainan, I’d never known him to be warm, other than what the Court of Shadows had bestowed him.
He was a Prince of Shadows, a Lord of Darkness, and possibly the next king—a title he would have to battle Rai, my… husband, for.
After our abrupt arrival, the removal of the gown, and Dainan’s outburst, I hadn’t taken time to observe.
We were seated in the middle of a perfect circle.
There were no true walls, not ones made of the white limestone of the Court of Reflection or the tan stone of Azmeer.
They shimmered, not with light or color but with water in constant flow and movement.
With mirror images appearing in the water on loop.
No matter which way you looked, the image was reflected all around the room, carrying itself into eternity.
“Have you ever seen anything like this?” I whispered to Dainan, who had gone still, quiet, retreating into himself, a sensation I had grown familiar with these past months.
I’m here with Dainan Luchien. A frenetic energy pulsed through my veins. Luchiens are not safe. But why had he brought me here?
There was nowhere to go, no way to escape. The sound of water lapping against the rocks at low tide, soothing sounds of the sea emanated from the walls, they were in contrast to the rapid racing of my heart, the blood pooling in my ears.
Dainan hadn’t afforded me a choice when he grabbed me. He’d made me an exile, an enemy of the crown, a role I was happy to play but one that would follow me for the remainder of my life—however long that might be.
I had fled my… husband. Rai’s malice before the wedding had been limited to the cover of darkness—something only witnessed behind closed doors. I doubted Alvar had seen it coming.
But why grab me? Am I to be a bargaining chip?
Perhaps Dainan did it to save us? I rubbed at my temple, an ache forming behind my eyes.
Could anyone have followed us here? Dainan had shadow-stepped us here. Could others do the same? Could Thalius find his way here? Could Rai?
I’d only known Dainan and Asana to have the ability to shadow-step, but members of the Court of Shadows notoriously kept their gifts to themselves. Rai had been boastful by nature, but he did keep secrets. Save for the ones he blurted in his sleep.
Too much pressure. Rising to my feet quicker than a lightning strike, I pulled the pins from my hair. Small swords lancing me, piercing me with a reminder of where I’d been, what I’d endured.
Get them out, get them out.
The memories grew louder, the touches more real, his words and taunts more aggressive.
Yes, Lil.
You like that, don’t you?
Look how you take me.
Please stop.
Darkness encroached the sides of my vision, pulsating as it made its way to the center. The sweat on my brow dripped, my throat grew hoarse…
“You’re right.” Dainan was now standing in front of me, his onyx eyes latched onto mine.
“What?” I clasped my neck, forcing my breath to find a steady rhythm once more.
“Brida is strong. We will find a way back to her. To…” He paused, “all of the ones we love.”
What state had we left Azmeer in? Kadian, Brida? Brida had been taken—was Kadian safe? He had ties to me, to Brida…What will they do to him? Will Oz and Tamra be alright?
Silence loomed over the room like assassins in the night.
“Dainan,” I finally said, “where are we?”
Dainan steadied himself—the mask of the dark prince in place. This was not the time for grieving, at least not now. He placed his hands behind his back as he walked towards a wall of cascading water. I found myself next to him within a matter of seconds.
“I’ve never been here before; my theory would be speculative.” He tipped a finger under the water, saying nothing as he admired it.
“Will I need to pry this theory from you, or are you willing to share?”
His gaze bore into me. In all the years I had known him, Dainan had never been forthcoming, and we’d never been friends.
“I believe this is the Well of Eternity.” He looked into the water as if it were showing him, and only him, something.
The Well of Eternity… from the stories?
Responding to his words like a command, the water receded to the sides—curtains pulled back at the beginning of a performance. “How did you get access here?” My voice cracked like the air with the first whispers of a storm.
“I didn’t,” he said as we stared ahead.
It was dusk, stars littered the sky, ready to guide the way.
“How…” Struck by the majesty of what rested before us, I said nothing more.
Despite being a barren wasteland, the air tasted like memories somehow.
The feeling of returning home after a long absence, and your favorite family member cooking your favorite meal, if you were lucky enough to have such a thing.
“Do you taste that?” I gazed at the stars above. They were different here, Atlia and her asp were nowhere to be seen. Malize and his stag didn’t run across the skies.
“After you.” Dainan gestured his hand along the dirt path.
“Are we sure we can trust this path? I mean, it’s not as if we have many options, but what do we really know about this place?” Trepidation laced my words. Every decision, action, thought had been filled with it following Rai.
“I’m sure you’re familiar with the stories, Lil.” His hands found their way to his pockets.
Shaking my head, I encouraged Dainan to continue. Anything but silence.
“The Well of Eternity is said to be home to the Lost Seers. Of course, it is a world that is said to be fueled by water magic, and therefore connected to Hild, but…”
“But most people have doubted its existence. Or even that of the Primals.” I know I had.
“It appears the majority of people have been mistaken.” Dainan’s posture was stiff, his form rigid.
Despite the act, the facade, I knew he was broken.
A crack now rested in his foundation, and it required reparation, or the damage would spread.
It required a bookish girl who had been taken, and a vengeance that would be mine.
“We can stand here as long as you wish. But we will have to get moving if we are to find whatever it is we need.”
“We need to find a way back to them.” What rests at the end of this path? Is it a gateway back to Azmeer, back to a life of entrapment? No. I would never allow Rai or Thalius to get their hands on me again.
“And we will.” He said as I removed the last pin from my hair.
The final pull of tension released from my scalp and I let out a moan.
Relief not only from the pain, but the expectation.
Rai had insisted I wear it up for the wedding.
“You look so much prettier without your hair blocking your face, darling.” He’d whispered in my ear.
A shudder coursed through me as I recalled the memory.
“Did you know about Rai… and me?” Did he know? Is this why he took me? Did he free me from a prison while simultaneously making me a wanderer?
“That you didn’t want to marry him?” He cocked an eyebrow at me. “I don’t believe anyone in their right mind would want to marry Rai. There was a reason I took him to the mat as frequently as I did.”
“Yes,” I replied, steadying my voice. The horrors that had been done, every look, every whisper, every touch… “that I didn’t want to marry him.”
He nodded and I said nothing as we began our walk in silence.
Each step was precarious, the stones rough along the path. It had been so long since I had been anywhere other than the polished world of Azmeer, or trapped in the Court of Reflection that I had forgotten what the outside world felt like, the freedom it afforded.
I tried not to trip as we carried on—my wedding shoes were going to be the bane of my existence while here, not having been constructed for anything other than having them removed by my husband.
My husband. I have a husband. I said vows in the Center Court. The wedding that had been my guarantee since childhood. I had been nothing more than an ante in a game of cards, something to be won, never to be cherished or prized…
“What do you know about the Scala?” Dainan kept his eyes forward.
His question had been a welcomed interruption as my thoughts were dragging me down into the abyss that had become my mind. Gods, the Scala? What did I know?
“The Scala are the Lost Seers of Eldara. Hild had prophetic powers, but the burden was too much for her, and she distributed it amongst a chosen few. That’s the story that was spun at the Court of Reflection, anyway.”
A look of contemplation found his face.
“Wait,” I paused, looking up at him, “are the Scala here?” Would they be able to tell me how to rid myself of Rai, of Thalius? To find my way back to my friends?
“Only one way to find out.”
The sky was a beautiful tapestry of purples, cascading across the ocean of darkness that sprawled out above us.
The Scala might be here. I will get my answers, find my way out of here, and be gone.
“We’ll get Brida back,” I offered, continuing to venture down the path.
A path that would lead me to the answers I needed.
How to free myself from the bonds that had sought to keep me hostage, to strip my freedom from me.
And in turn, lead me to the only peace I’d ever known—a charming smile, and bright green eyes.
Swallowing the words that crawled to escape my chest, I embraced the silence, steadfast in my determination. Taking a breath, I stepped forward, walking with the Prince of Darkness by my side, into the vastness of night.