Chapter 16 #2
Matthias grinned and then plopped a tomato into his mouth. “And I know exactly who can help us.”
~~~~~
I’d never been to Matthias’s mother’s house before. It smelled like fresh bread, and honey. Her name was Hadassah, and she lived in District Seven by the Drayton Sea. Her blue eyes danced with glee when we showed up on her doorstep.
It was a beautiful sight to see Matthias—once prince of the dark kingdom—interact with the mother he thought he’d lost forever. She made him soft in all the right ways, and she adored Adalia.
Hadassah fussed over us the moment we told her about Sapphire. She’d been concerned about Matthias and I going into Oscuro but never once did she scold or hold us back. Now I stood in her warm, homely kitchen with pins, tape measures and fabric all over the floor.
Fabric hissed beneath her scissors, her hands moving so quick I barely saw the needle flash. Even so, it took the better part of a day. I wasn’t surprised Adalia had pulled strings to free my hours, but time dragged when all I wanted was to be gone.
Sapphire was in Oscuro with who knows what happening to her, and I was here in the place where no one bothered to lock their doors at night because Lucius was full of light . . . not fear or survival.
Adalia was curled up on the couch, inundated with a pile of kittens, all white fur and fluff. Hadassah’s cat had given birth to a litter so it was only natural that my sister wanted to hold all of them at once.
“I need to keep them all, my love,” she said to Matthias.
He huffed softly as he stood before a long, wood-framed mirror, adjusting the outfit his mother had just finished. “How would Bones feel about that?”
“He’d love to have a sibling,” she replied.
I held out an arm while Hadassah poked and prodded at the sleeve. “As soon as you say yes to one, you have to say yes to all of them.”
Hadassah laughed. “They will all need homes soon.”
Adalia looked up at me from across the room and rolled her eyes. “You’re supposed to support me.”
I flashed her a grin, as Matthias strode over to the lounge. He leaned down, and pressed a kiss to her upturned face. “You can have all the cats you want.”
Adalia caught my eye and poked her tongue out.
“Child,” I replied with a shake of my head.
Matthias moved back to the mirror. “This is incredible, Hadassah. It’s exactly what the Thorns wear.”
She finished pulling the last pin from my sleeve, and stood to face him. “Well you need to blend in as much as possible. Can’t have you sticking out like sore thumbs.”
By late afternoon, Hadassah held out my finished outfit with a proud little hum.
I dressed quickly, the fabric stiff and new against my skin.
After gathering our dark cloaks to conceal our identity further, we charcoaled our wings in silence, dark powder staining feathers and fingertips, until we were strangers even to ourselves.
I turned my back to the mirror and looked over my shoulder. “I’ve never seen myself with black wings.”
Matthias sighed. “I certainly don’t miss it.”
The smile I offered him was one of understanding. He went through a lot to get out of Oscuro, and no one would wish him back into that life ever again.
We thanked Hadassah profusely and bid our farewells.
Adalia stood waiting in the doorway, arms folded tight, worry written plain across her face. “Promise me you’ll be careful,” she said, her voice sharp with the kind of love that scolds and shields in equal measure.
Matthias stepped close, brushing her cheek with his hand. For a moment, the world slowed as he kissed her—gentle, lingering, filled with all the things I didn’t have the words for.
I turned my attention to the garden, giving them their privacy. And for a moment I envied them. I longed to have someone by my side. To walk hand in hand through eternity with the other half of my heart.
Was it so wrong, that part of me hoped it might be Sapphire?
My heart thudded in my chest anxiously. I needed to find her. It had already been too long.
Matthias and Adalia finally pulled apart. I sighed, pretending to be disturbed by their public display of affection.
“Let’s just get this over with before I start gagging,” I said with a smirk.
Adalia only smiled, tears glinting in her lashes. Matthias’s grin was crooked, boyish, like he was torn between rushing off with me, and saying a proper goodbye to his love.
I couldn't blame them for feeling this way. Heading into Oscuro was no small thing.
I moved over to Adalia and pulled her into my embrace. “I promise to bring him back to you.”
She squeezed me tight, then released me. Stepping back to look in my eyes. “Both of you come back safe, you hear?”
With a final glance, Matthias and I pushed off the ground and shot into the sky.
There was no need for small talk as we flew to the Oscuro Veil. Both of us were undoubtedly lost in thought. The air was cool up here, and I was grateful that I had so much heat coursing through my body.
As the sun set, sending an orange glow across the land, I dropped down in the forest of Aspen trees that ran along the Veil border. Matthias landed with a solid thud behind me.
The tear Adalia had used to visit Matthias was still here. I sighed with a small amount of relief, but made a mental note that it needed mending the moment we had Sapphire safely in Lucius. For now it would be used for us to slip through.
I sucked in a breath as I moved closer. Going into Oscuro felt wrong, like striding through a wound.
Matthias stepped up beside me. “Didn’t you say there’s a new ruler?”
I nodded. “Rumours say so. But that’s all they are—rumours. We haven’t been able to drag anything clear out of the Thorns we’ve caught in The Grey.”
The thought of not knowing who currently ruled Oscuro unsettled me.
If it was Matthias’s father, King Sinfonia, then we knew what we were up against. But if it wasn’t, then we were definitely going in blind.
But with any luck, we wouldn’t have to deal with them, we just needed to find Sapphire and get her out.
With a glance in the princes’ direction, I stepped through the tear.
The smell hit me first—like burnt hair, and rotten flesh. It was thick enough to make me gag. All around us, the trees were like growing shadows, tall and dark. I shuddered at the comparison to Lucius.
No wonder Matthias had a hard time adjusting when he first came to the Light Kingdom.
Like phantoms, we moved through the trees, sticking to the shadows as we raced towards the city. Matthias led the way. He knew this place better than I ever could.
A dark structure loomed in the distance.
Matthias headed for it, and as we got closer, I realised what it was.
We stopped at the front, taking it all in.
It was Matthias’s old cabin. Or what was left of it, anyways.
The roof was half caved in, the door ripped off its hinges, every board spilt or rotted.
The stonework lay crumbled and thrown to the side.
I glanced at him. “You okay seeing it like this?”
He didn’t hesitate. “I knew my father would have destroyed it after I chose to serve the Light King.” His gaze lingered on the ruin for a breath, then he shook his head.
“But I’m okay. That cabin was a place of safety I needed then, nothing more.
I have a real home now. A family. This”—he gestured at the ruins—“it’s already gone. ”
We moved on, keeping low beneath the trees. The closer we got to the city, the stronger the stench became. It was sickening, and hard to breathe. Black rose bushes scattered across the forest floor, their thorns like teeth, their blossoms slick with oil-dark petals.
Matthias dragged a finger over one of them. “These were the only beautiful things to come from this place.”
He sighed, and then pressed on until the forest spat us out into an open space. Gravel roads surrounded us, funnelling towards the city gates that loomed ahead like scorched, jagged bones.
I kept my eyes sharp, but inside, my thoughts churned. I’d never dreamt I’d be here—walking Oscuro’s roads, breathing its poisoned air, feeling its shadows claw at my back. Every step pressed harder on my chest. I was in the very place I’d sworn I’d never set foot. But I was here for her.
Sapphire.
That name was the only steady thing in me. Without it, I wasn’t sure I could keep walking deeper into this cursed city.