Chapter 31
Emmerick
It was well after dark now, but earlier that day, Elsedora had seemed forlorn as she’d walked down the hill to let Mayra out. I hoped her sadness didn’t stem from Mama’s injury. Others had arrived soon after—her niece, Asterie, Wyeth, Cassidee, and Amara.
I tapped my foot to the rhythm of the piano that played inside.
Well... I tried tapping it. I held no real corporeal form.
The music eased my mind. They wouldn’t feign cheerfulness if anything unfixable had happened.
It felt like I was being pulled away, as if something was tugging me up. I refused to leave.
Lately, the curse grew heavier; with each passing year, I forgot a little more of who I used to be.
Had I liked the color blue or red more?
All I knew was I loved the swirl of brown and green in El’s eyes. I supposed that was my new favorite color.
Had I liked winter?
It had become my new favorite season.
When the snow coated the ground, Elsedora would dust off the stone bench overlooking the lake a quarter mile from the estate and sit facing the wind, as though the bite of cold and frost propelled her. Seeing her take a rare quiet moment had become a favorite pastime.
Finally, the music quieted, and a figure clad in a heavy purple cloak with the hood pulled up came from the house and made her way down through the orchard toward the stable.
Else often did this when she couldn’t sleep.
She’d check the barn doors were closed, the latches on the windows were fastened against the wind, and the hay was replenished for the horses.
With gloved hands, Elsedora wiped at her eyes.
My stomach sank.
Whatever festivities she’d hosted hadn’t swayed her mood entirely for the better.
The tug upwards was stronger now. But I didn’t want to say goodbye.
I tried to follow her down the hill. One arm reached out, hoping that somehow I’d be able to grab her shoulder and stop her.
With every step, the ground felt further away. I waved wildly, trying to keep my balance as I floated upward, away from her. No, no. I needed to stay with her.
The world illuminated, replaced with a brilliant white void. I squinted, attempting to get my bearings.
“Hello?” I said as the light engulfed me. The luminescence wrapped my skin in an icy embrace, cradling me for a moment before allowing me to suspend there once more.
“Hello, King Mattock,” someone answered. "Thank you for waiting for me."
My head snapped from side to side as I searched for the source of the voice. In that suspended state, I held both arms out to the side for balance. There was no up, or down, or ground, or ceiling.
Golden light flared where the skin of my forearms should have been. I balked.
Finally, I noticed him. A pale glowing form with long silver hair and a face I recognized approached me. He grew from the size of an ant to the size of a man as he stepped nearer. “You are Elsedora’s friend—Ryn?” My voice felt distant.
“Friend, huh? She wounds me still. Demoted so quickly. Though, I suppose I can’t be too surprised.”
I glanced around the liminal expanse encompassing us. “Are you... dead?”
“Of course I’m dead. You watched me turn to dust.” The warlock laughed. He held an arm out to his left, and it became an amorphous trail of light. “See... no physical form to return to. Shit luck, really. But I’ve only one thing left to do before I can rest. I’m hoping you can help me with that.”
“Then, am I—”
“No, no,” he cut me off. “You are in between. But you’ll be right as rain soon. You’ve got a body out there.”
“Asterie told me about this place—but it was different for her. She saw the stars.”
“Yes. I was the new Moon Origin, not the Star Origin. And oh, how the Moon and Sun sometimes eclipse.” Ryn’s face shone, flashing a mischievous smirk.
The in-between wrapped around my limbs, cradling me until it felt like I sat in a deep chair.
“What does that mean?” I asked him.
He ignored me and continued to ramble. “Did you know... all it takes for a black moon to occur is for the moon to be between the sun and our world for just a moment?”
He had clearly been in this place for far too long.
His tether to reality was looser than mine, even.
“Yes, but what does that mean for us?” I asked.
“It means there is hope. A new Source was born—the Origin of Light walks the land. And he can prevent a black moon.”
I shook my head. “A new Source Origin?”
“Precisely. Out there, they’re searching for a relic—an item. My last duty is to make sure that you know they’ve got all they need already. Funny, really.”
Still confused, I moved to scratch my neck and startled when my hand went through me. I didn’t find any humor in his musings. “So the last relic isn’t a thing. It’s a person? This Source of Light?”
Ryn pointed an illuminated finger at me. “You’re catching on. I’m glad you’re smart. Otherwise, she’d eat you alive.”
“She? So the relic is a woman?”
“No,” Ryn answered with a chuckle. His glowing face looked far too amused. “You’re looking for a boy.”
The Sources had once brought Asterie back from the dead as a baby. Elsedora claimed that they’d deduced enough to know that certain Source-wielders had been selected as New Origins. It’s why Caym had gathered us in that amphitheater; he’d wanted to be rid of us in one fell swoop.
“If you are still here, then is Firose as well?” I asked.
He took a seat on nothing in front of me. “I saw her walking the in-between often while with child. Elara told me the Source of Light reentered the realms after being born.” He mentioned the Moon Origin as though he regularly sat down for tea with her. “You’ve already met him—well, sort of.”
The boy in the mirror. The one who helped save me. Dritan.
My throat tightened; all these years watching the young groundskeeper at Lamoreaux, and I’d denied what I knew in my gut.
My head spun.
My heart pounded.
I’d wondered how it could be possible. This was all so far-fetched, yet I’d known whose child that boy was when I’d seen him through the mirror. He had his mother’s eyes and my bone structure.
“Can I see her?” I said with bated breath.
He shook his head. “I’m afraid that she moved on. I’m sorry... truly.” He frowned, and my heart sank.
Firose had been a complicated woman—full of secrets, built from deceit. But she’d been at the whims of Caym for so long, and he held no mercy. She’d become the hardened person he’d crafted her to be.
I asked, “How do you know the boy is a relic? A new Source Origin?”
“Because I know everything.”
I scoffed. “Surely, there’s no way...” I couldn’t finish my thought. This all grew so outlandish. My mind fought to not believe him.
“Isolde’s prophecy stated Caym would rise anew. That is true. But his Reverist abilities hinge on the black moon. He may raise the dead, he may cause havoc and destruction, but your child remains the key to stopping him from ever holding the power of Isolde again.”
My child.
With my head spinning, I tried to interject, but Ryn held up an amorphous finger.
“So long as the boy lives, the realm will not see a new black moon. He is the third relic. And you must protect him.”
“But how?” I asked. The surrounding light ebbed and dimmed. “Wait! I have so many questions.”
“Sorry, friend. That is my cue to go. It’s about time I rest. They won’t be happy that I’ve pulled you here. When you wake and you see El, would you tell her something for me?”
The Moon warlock’s voice grew distant, and his form started to dissolve.
I floated on nothing but ether, which grew thinner by the moment.
“Yes,” I agreed.
“Just tell her, ‘I always knew.’”
Then the descent began. I shouted, flailed, and tumbled through the light until coming to an abrupt stop. For the first time in twenty years, I could feel my fists tighten around warm, soft fabric.
A feminine voice read me a story.
“The Princess threw a magical acorn at her foe. Up the beast went into a cloud of smoke. But the sorceress still followed, and she had a trick up her sleeve, yet.”
She sounded familiar. Sybilla? Too drowsy to move, I heaved out a groan as my eyes fluttered open.
The reading halted on a gasp. There sat Lark in a thick blue robe with her knees pulled up onto my old armchair. Her dark curls hung in a messy braid over one shoulder, and her green eyes widened in surprise.
Sybilla’s daughter. Up close, she so resembled her mother at a younger age.
“You are... you are awake!” She stood and crossed the room to my bedside. The book fell from her lap, thumping to the ground.
“You’re awake!” she repeated. “It actually worked!”
I ran one hand over my face, reveling in the graze of my callouses on my forehead and the way the thick scruff of my chin felt when my fingers slid over it.
I was awake.
“What worked?” My voice came out raspy and grating.
“Here, here.” Larkspur grabbed a glass of water from the side table by the chair and held it to my lips. I took it and waved her help away. I could drink water on my own.
Sources. That actually seemed like a miracle when I thought about it. I’d come back to the body that had lain here helpless for so long.
“I’ve got it, thank you.” The shame of knowing that this room had kept me alive for twenty years heated my cheeks as I downed the full glass.
“I’m Larkspur. We met briefly when I was a girl. It was my fault that the mirror stopped working. My deepest apologies, King Mattock. I aimed to help, but I was so foolish. Caym has been cursed into the glass ever since. You have every right to be angry with me.”
Her words were dizzying.
I glanced around my room—the one I’d lived in for years as Luz’s Constable. The wooden animal figurines my father had carved for me lined a shelf, perfectly dusted. The stag’s head that I’d mounted from my first hunt hung over the roaring fire.
My wardrobe was open, displaying familiar coats and articles of clothing. My belongings were in as pristine condition as when I’d left, as though I’d merely taken a short nap.
Larkspur didn’t stop to catch her breath as she rattled on. “I spent years reading every ancient tome in Papa’s library and then the ones in Luz. And where did we find a lead? In a book of romances, of all places! The Sethe curse. We figured out how to break it. With a stone from… a friend.
“All it took was a kiss to the stone and then to your lips from your truest of heart. And it worked. I knew it could work!”
I stared at her as she paced while throwing her hands around in endearing excitement. Entirely Sybilla.
My heart didn’t warm at the thought of a reunion with her mother—that would be awkward and bumbling. There was a Wind-wielding enchantress I owed a visit. I couldn’t wait to finally embrace her. After seeing Mama.
“Slow down, slow down,” I finally said before sitting up with another groan.
My body felt heavy and stiff, but I could move everything. I wiggled my toes and fingers.
Sources, stretching felt divine.
“Someone kissed me?”
“Is that all you heard me say?” Larkspur placed her hands on her hips with a tilted head and pinched brow.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Forgive me. But I have a right to know if someone’s been kissing me in my sleep.”
“Mama kissed the stone and you last night. Aunt El told me it hadn’t worked and that I’d been wrong, so I came in here to sulk about it and read to you this morning.”
Scratching my chin, I shook my head. A kiss from one’s truest of heart—I supposed that when I’d fallen asleep that had been Sybilla. It felt wrong now.
“My mama... Angeline...” I couldn’t get the question out. I couldn’t ask how she was doing or if she lived.
“She fell some weeks ago... It caused an infection. She’s very ill, but when I checked in this morning, it had gotten no worse or better. Hold on, let me go get Mama.”
“No!”
She startled at my command.
“No, sorry—It’s just… I want to see my family first. I need to go to the cottage.”
She nodded. “Alright. I can leave you to change and then show you a way out of the palace unnoticed.” She stepped toward the door, but before she reached it, she spun back to me and asked, “You’re not angry about what I told you I did?”
I lifted my legs over the side of the bed, and when my bare feet hit the ground, tears pricked at my eyes. Larkspur seemed to hold her breath, awaiting my judgment.
“Why would I be angry? I have you to thank. When you unbound me from Caym, I’d been falling to him. Surviving another year, or even another day, may not have been possible.”
With shoulders slackened in relief, she stared at me. “I thought I’d doomed you.”
I waved away the concern. “I’ve lost too much time to blubber over what could have gone wrong. Let us start fresh.”
She offered me a reluctant smile and a nod. “Yes, King Mattock. Let’s get you to Angeline and Leo’s.”
After the door clicked closed, I could hear her whisper-shouting behind it. “Sources, it worked. It worked!”
I rose and nearly toppled over. Catching myself on the bedpost, I waited until my balance returned. Tears slid down my cheeks and fell to the hardwood floor.
It had worked.
I was awake.