Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
-KADIAN-
For the love of the Gods, what now?
Snap out of it, Kadian. Someone dangerous could be outside the door.
To everyone, I was just another part of the crowd. A blinded fool like everyone else at the wedding. Play the part.
Maybe I can just pretend to be asleep, or not here, and they’ll go away. That is what I intended to do. Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to ignore the noise.
Except it only grew, a war drum’s beat calling me to action.
Like an itch under my skin, something I couldn’t ignore.
For fuck’s sake. I removed the covers from my legs and walked towards the door.
I was yearning for sleep. I needed this day to be over.
I wanted to have whatever wits I did have about me tomorrow when I found this woman, Tura.
A librarian. A librarian should have answers—books hold answers.
Brida always said they held the answer for everything—outside of life experience.
What sort of life experience are you having at this moment, Brida? Where are you? Lil…Gods. Be safe.
Brida had mentioned Tura a few times, saying she was the only aged person she had seen in Azmeer, and that she was beautiful. Despite Brida always feeling that she had a difficult time warming up to people, she’d done well since arriving here. Likely too well.
The knocking grew louder. “Hold on,” I said as I reached the door. I placed my hand on it, unlocking the wards Alvar insisted we place there, for some reason, and then on the cool golden handle. My door creaked as I wrenched it open. What did Brida always say? I had the subtlety of an earthquake?
The gown took up the entirety of my doorframe; the woman and the dress were both imposing.
“Where are they?” Iona charged into my room, each step she took ignited the dress somehow. A magic I didn’t understand. She was living flames, an inferno in the bleak darkness of my bedroom.
“Yes, please, come in, Iona. It’s not like I don’t have anything better to do, than I don’t know, get some rest. Do you have any idea what time it is?” I looked over to the clock that sat above the mantle in my room. It was just past the first bell of the day.
“Where are Brida and Dainan, Kadian?” Iona started to look around my room as if I was somehow harboring her would-be husband.
A man I had spoken to twice, and in both instances, he had almost attacked me to protect Brida.
One of those times had even been in front of her.
And Brida had lovingly spoken to him. Lil had been correct.
We should all have stayed away from the princes.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
” Asana’s words echoed through my mind, “You have no idea who you can and cannot trust.” As far as Iona knew, the Wind Walker’s words worked on me, the same as everyone…
she remembered. Wait a minute, we hate this woman.
Iona had said terrible things to Brida, including cornering her on a stairwell.
Why the fuck is she here anyway? Does she really think they would hide in here?
Besides, didn’t she see Dainan grab Lil—not Brida. Gods, I need sleep.
I wasn’t going to give her any satisfaction.
The final message that had been sent out by the Wind Walkers regarding today’s events had been that Alvar would be returning to the Court of Shadows, but wished his brother luck with the beginning of his reign.
It was lunacy. The fact that anyone was believing any of this bullshit was beyond me.
As far as Iona knew, I was the same as every chump here.
“All I know, Iona, is that it was coronation day and I start my job tomorrow now that I’m better.
I’d like to be rested so that I don’t entirely fuck it up, so if you wouldn’t mind refraining from knocking on my door at one in the morning in the future, I’d be mighty pleased with that.
Now, get out.” I gestured towards the door.
I was thrilled seeing the look of confusion, frustration, and full-on rage crest her brow.
Brida had never been a petty person, but I was.
“Where exactly will your job be?” She scoffed as I pushed her into the hallway.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Smiling at her, I slammed the door shut.
???
I need to play this off as if this is completely normal and fine.
Why shouldn’t I be here?
I have just as good a reason as anyone else.
I’m a court member now—I was selected by a court.
This court. Well, I couldn’t be certain that the court had wanted me, and that a decision hadn’t been overruled by Alvar somehow.
I was here because of Brida. Because Alvar had taken a liking to her, and he knew what I meant to her.
Standing in front of the door to the House of Shadows, I remained bewildered by what I was supposed to be doing.
Find the librarian. Get answers. Go from there.
Onyx was everywhere. Heat radiated from the wall of braziers that were aflame, in addition to the tripods that lined the entryway to the House of Shadows. The door had been open when I’d been here last, I hadn’t taken time to look at it.
Each of the House doors were unique in the palace, somehow connected to its court. I had never asked Brida what it was about this door that actually came from Mount Kaiver.
Someone really likes black around here. Couldn’t they have done something a bit different? I sighed as I stepped forward, looking at the door that, in addition to everything else, was made of onyx. Its only distinguishing feature was a massive blood ruby embedded in the center.
Black and red, how original.
“Oh, you have no idea.”
What the fuck was that? A voice slithered into my mind, like a snake in the grass.
“It’s good to meet you, Kadian. I’ve been wondering when you would arrive. Brida was so worried about you when she was here. I tried to tell her that it was a wasted emotion, to focus, but alas, she insisted.”
How am I hearing that voice? What even is that voice? Is it a woman?
“I am a woman, Kadian. Do I not sound feminine enough for you? I could be more sultry if you like. I’ve been told my touch can burn.”
Smoke billowed from the door, swirling around my feet and legs before inching up my torso in a lover’s caress.
I stared around the atrium to see where the voice could be coming from. It remained empty, save for me.
“Come now, Kadian. I anticipated you would be brighter than this. Look at me,” it whispered.
I found my eyes drawn back to the door, the once red ruby was now darkened with shadows that jumped as if its voice were creating pulses within the stone.
“Who are you?” I found myself saying before I had actually stopped to think about it. I had never been the thinker, that had always been Bri. She would make the plan, and I’d put it into action, we made a great pair. I knew it from the moment I met her, she and I were bound somehow.
“You are correct, you two are bound.”
Bound? Of course Brida and I are bound. It’s almost as if we came out of the same womb, I’ve been attached to her all my life.
“However you’re doing that, stop. I didn’t invite you into my mind and it’s fucked up to just walk in there without an invitation. The same way I’m not going to walk into your—” I paused “house, without first saying hello and may I please come in?”
A laugh permeated my mind. “That’s more like it. I’ll tell you what. I’ll leave you with a story. Seeing as we just met and all.”
I took a step back from the door as the ruby glowed.
In a forest deep, where shadows play,
Two gods met on a fateful day.
One knew their power, ancient and grand,
The other, unaware, roamed the land.
“Why do you wander, with strength untold,
Through realms where stories of you are old?”
The knowing god asked, with eyes that gleam,
While the other god lived in a mortal’s dream.
“Seek your reflection, in water clear,
Find your true self, the power is near.
When light and dark in balance reside,
The truth of your essence you cannot hide.”
“Welcome to the House of Shadows, Kadian.” The voice purred and the door swung open. I braced myself as I took my first steps inside.
Uh, thank you.
Now, to survive the librarian.
The voice laughed. An echo of embarrassment radiated through me.
Gods, I hope it can’t hear me everywhere in Azmeer. Or even outside the walls. Except, I paused when I entered. Slapping my hand over my face. I’ll be moved here. Court members reside in their houses, so long as their jobs are in Azmeer.
The laugh deepened.
The fire from the walls cast a glow, giving the House of Shadows an almost warm and inviting feel, something I didn’t think possible.
The flame and stone wove together like twigs in a nest, but no bird would ever survive in this place.
Grazing my hand along the rough stone of the wall, I could feel the heat radiating within it—strong enough to warm but nowhere near enough to harm.
To my surprise, the House of Shadows was bustling with people. The majority of which I had never seen before in my life. I saw the odd face, familiar from the sorting ceremony, or guests at the dinner the previous night who had been placating Rai. Something that had made me gag.
I’m going to need to keep it together. No one can know what I do.
“Except me.” The same voice slithered into my mind, laughing all the while.
“Oh for fu…”
“What are you doing?”
You have got to be kidding me. Standing in front of me, dressed entirely in black, was Iona, arms folded in front of her chest, as if I’d done something to personally offend her. I had; I’d breathed.
Planting a fake smile on my face, I grinned. “Why hello, Iona, how nice to see you again.” I could have opted to greet her with a good morning but I’d already seen her this morning. Twice in one day, not sure what I’d done to deserve this punishment.
“What are you doing here?” She repeated.