Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kade
S lipping through the shadows, I glided unseen into the dungeons of the palace.
Each cell I passed was a cold, empty chamber, the stench of rot and damp stone clinging to the air.
Rhet should be here, shackled to the walls, but he wasn't. Uncertainty scraped at my insides, but I pushed it down, focusing on the task.
I moved quickly. Every empty cell was a silent scream that tightened the knot of dread inside me. He had to be somewhere. I Hollowed to his room.
But Rhet's chambers were also empty, the bed unslept in, the quiet almost mocking.
I moved through the shadows again, trying to think of where he might be, when a groan from the hall caught my attention, a harsh sound that set my senses on edge.
Shadows clung to me as I melted into the darkness once more, trailing after the noise.
Soldiers were escorting Valla. And between them, they were dragging Rhet along, his form limp, but I could tell he was conscious by the way he moved his head.
Fury raced through me. They were taking him to the throne room, to our father.
I wanted to get closer, but I didn’t want to be too close while Valla was leading them.
So, I followed silently at a distance, a part of the darkness that blanketed the halls.
Everyone entered, and Rhet was flung before the throne, discarded at the feet of the man who’d sired us, who now looked upon his own blood with disgust.
"What a disgrace," Father spat, his teeth bared like a feral beast’s.
His eyes, cold flames of malice, burned into Rhet.
"Your sister has caught me up on all of your antics.
I only want to know one thing. Have you and Kade been in on this together the whole time, or was Kade taken by the rebellion? "
Rhet's lips curled back, and with an insolent sneer, he spat a mouthful of blood at our father’s polished boots.
"Eat shit." His voice was hoarse and weak but laced with defiance.
It even caught me a little off guard. My brother had always tried to be level-headed, so much so he would even sometimes get lost in the background, but it looked like he'd endured so much torment that he just didn't care anymore.
Our father recoiled, his face contorting with rage. His arm drew back, muscles coiling beneath the fine fabric of his royal attire. A crack shattered the quiet as his fist connected with Rhet's jaw. My brother's body crumpled, hitting the cold marble floor.
"Take him to the courtyard," Father bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls. "He shall be made an example of. The people shall know that even my children won't escape my wrath if they betray me. Just like the rest of my family didn't."
Valla's grin stretched across her face. She snapped her fingers, and her men obeyed without question, hauling Rhet's limp form from the floor. Their hands were rough, their faces impassive masks as they dragged him toward the heavy doors that led outside.
"Fuck," I muttered under my breath. They were going to kill him, execute him for all to see. Every fiber of my being screamed to intervene, but I held back. I needed to wait for the right moment to strike.
Each soldier who lagged behind, I struck—my powers lashing out from the darkness to ensnare them. One by one, they vanished into the void of my Hollow, their absence unnoticed by the rest as I dispensed them elsewhere within the palace.
I saw keys dangling from one of the soldier’s waists.
A flicker of my shadows reached for them, and then they were mine.
The remaining men exchanged puzzled looks, brows furrowed in confusion as they glanced behind them, but they marched on regardless.
Fear kept their questions at bay, of what lurked in the shadows, Valla's wrath, and of my father. I could taste it coming off them.
As we breached the courtyard, a sea of faces turned toward us—eyes wide, whispers already spreading like wildfire.
Soon, everyone would know about the betrayal of the Prince of Ember.
People clustered around the stone dais, its surface stained with the memories of royal blood spilled all those years ago.
My breath caught as they heaved Rhet onto the platform.
His consciousness had come back, but the pain etched into his features made me want to kill everyone here.
"My people, I come to you today because there is a traitor in our midst." Valos's voice boomed over the crowd. He seized Rhet by the hair, yanking his head up brutally to expose his battered face to the kingdom. A collective gasp rippled through the onlookers. "And it's my own blood."
He shoved Rhet aside with disgust, turning back to address the masses as if continuing some performance.
My muscles tensed, my senses sharpening; this was the moment.
With a subtle movement of my shadows, I slipped the keys into Rhet's hands.
The faintest upturn of his lips confirmed to me that he knew I was here for him.
I watched him start to work to get the cuffs off as my father's rant filled the air.
Valos stood tall, his silhouette a dark smudge against the pale sky. His voice rolled over those gathered like thunder. "We have been here before, haven't we? I have shown Ember that I will kill anyone who stands in my way, regardless of blood or not, and today will be no different."
His head swiveled toward Rhet as a hush descended over the crowd.
"Any last words, son?" Valos taunted. Flames sparked to life in his palm, dancing around his hand.
But when Rhet met our father's gaze, defiance was burning from his bruised features.
A wry smile played on his lips. And then, he released the shackles, letting them clatter to the ground, the sound echoing starkly in the sudden stillness.
In that heartbeat of chaos, that perfect sliver of distraction, I moved.
Shadows wrapped around me as I Hollowed through the space between us.
I materialized next to Rhet, close enough to feel the heat radiating from my father's hand.
Time slowed, and the crowd's gasps and whispers faded into insignificance.
I reached for Rhet, the shadows curling around us both, ready to disappear.
“Eat shit,” I hissed. The shadows around us churned violently, tendrils of darkness wrapping tighter around Rhet and me.
My father's eyes, wide with shock and fury, locked onto mine for a fleeting moment, the realization dawning that he had failed, that I had been there all along, rejecting everything he’d ever done.
Both of his sons were traitors to their empire.
I wrenched us into my Hollow. Behind us, the echo of Valos's roars cleaved at the edges of my darkness. It reverberated through the void like thunder, a storm of fury that raged against the inky shroud that we slipped through.
And then we were gone.