Chapter 17
Emmerick
Fog ebbed at the edges of the darkness; the air around me grew still and cold. Caym approached.
To my disappointment, Elsedora hadn’t returned this afternoon. I’d pieced together our last conversation a dozen times… I held onto the memory of her dimples and freckled cheeks as I waved away cloying smoke.
She’d come to me before the sun lit the windows, assuring me of my “importance” to her.
For Elsedora Lamoreaux, that was basically a proposal, and I’d sat there dumbfounded.
Then I’d spewed out a vision of my future without making clear her place in it—wherever she wanted it to be.
She had a seat at the hypothetical table.
My muscles burned to reach through the pane and drag myself out to reach her. If I could break through and embrace her, I’d never let Caym tear me away.
Death stirred. Whenever my thoughts drifted somewhere joyful, there he rose.
Putrid amber fog obscured my perception of space, cutting off all light and air, and happiness. I screamed into the void as long black claws sank into my shoulders.
He might break me finally.
I’d grown so damn tired.
Caym snarled in my ear, “Yes. Give in. You will die with the rest in the end anyway, child of Astros.”
I shuddered.
All hope seemed lost.
I imagined sparkling hazel eyes. Let them be the last thing I saw.
His claws dug in deeper, readying to drag me to that terrible, smoldering cave. I wouldn’t escape it this time—my fight drew close to an end. That cavern felt like Death itself. It would claim me.
A pin-sized ray of light cut through the void.
“Elsedora?” I shouted. Panic mounted, giving me one last burst of energy.
I couldn’t leave her—not without at least saying goodbye.
With all my strength, I thrashed, tearing myself from Caym’s clutches. Crying out with exertion, I flailed through the tendrils of darkness that wrapped themselves around my ethereal limbs, desperately tearing them away to free myself.
The light grew nearer, and above me, an opening formed. I could see the wood beams of my bedchamber in Luz. A familiar female voice cut through the roar of blood in my ears.
“Place the moonstones around the mirror,” she said. “Do you have the birch bark and pig’s blood?”
Two faces stared down at me through the pane.
A girl held a vial, assessing how much was in the bottle. She had dark curly hair, stunning green eyes, and a light brown complexion—a perfect blend of Krait and Sybilla.
Larkspur.
I’d spoken aloud without realizing it.
Her brows shot up as she spotted me in the mirror. “Hello, King Mattock, we are here to help,” Lark said matter-of-factly.
I shook my head. “You can’t,” I reasoned with her.
I tried to hold out a hand to stop them.
The other, a boy, leaned over to get a closer view at the mirror. His black curls clung to beads of sweat at his temples. He appeared not much older than Lark—both just kids. They needed to stop whatever they were up to.
“We are going to free you,” he said. “I never met my mother, but her memorandum said you were kind and to seek you.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly before glancing at Lark.
His mother?
“What else do we do?” he asked her.
His sapphire eyes caught the lamplight. I recognized them. That color of a blue, endless sky.
My throat tightened as I wondered…
He couldn’t be.
They began reading a spell that reminded me of the one Asterie had used to unbind Fenris from the northern woodlands all those years ago.
They risked releasing the Death Origin into the world.
“No, don’t do—” I tried to shout at them to stop, but smoke filled my mouth, and I choked.
They were making an irreparable mistake.
Caym clawed at my ankles, pulling me down and away from the light. He would sooner kill me than let me go. We tumbled through the abyss he’d crafted in my mind. I lost all sense of whether minutes or months were passing.
Caym shouted, “He will fall, just as you did! The Sources are fools to think he makes any difference.”
A clawed fist slammed into my temple, and another hit my gut. I groaned, unable to counter his strikes. Falling to my knees, I waited for the end.
Before Caym could land a killing blow, all quieted and the thick fog faded away.