Teddy knew that look—knew the way she was picking up amemory over and over, like pressing on a bruise to see if it still hurt. He’d tried to deliver her from the worst of it, but it was written in the tension in her body—the crease between her brows as they silently walked through the forest, the way her hands came to her short swords every time a creature scampered through the underbrush.
He didn’t like that she was going to continue on alone to her cave, or that she was about to watch what was probably a very difficult memory when she was still traumatized.
Teddy took her face in her hands, and she startled, her wide eyes meeting his. “I will see you by nightfall and we will both be safely out of our memories and ready to hike back to the crossroads and ride home tomorrow.”
She smiled weakly.
Teddy wanted to kiss her, but that seemed a comfort reserved for more intense moments. They were just getting each other through this tournament. It was just an impulse of this bond. Nothing more.
“Be safe. Don’t let the magic hold you too long,” she said. “Memory is tricky when you don’t wield it regularly. Be careful of going in too deep. I don’t know how the challenge works, but there could be trapdoors to other memories. Try not to wander.”
He forced a smirk. “It’s just a memory. How bad could it be?”
Stella’s lips formed a tight line. “Don’t take too long, Your Grace. I don’t want to have to come back and save you…again.”
He rolled his eyes at the jab. “I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
She turned and disappeared into the trees. Teddy waited for the sound of her footsteps to retreat before he faced the cave again.
A strong pulse of magic seemed to beat from somewhere inside. He knew from the stories how it worked for the witches of the Gauntlet. All magic required an exchange. He just needed to step into the dark, cut his hand, and spill his blood onto the medicinal plants inside. Then the memory would come into his mind.
At least, that was how it was supposed to work.
He snapped his fingers, sending a surge of fire magic into his palm. He walked forward into the cave.
As he moved away from the entrance, the darkness becamegreedier, eating up his torchlight until he could only see as far as his next step. That was how he would find what he needed. One faithful step at a time.
Finally, when he’d wandered far enough that he worried his descent would never end, the toe of his boot nudged a dense bunch of greenery. He tried to flare his torch brighter, but the dark just closed in tighter.
Teddy sighed. He placed the memory stone on his open flaming palm, drew his dagger, and sliced the blade across his skin just below the stone. Making a fist around the memory stone, the flame snuffed out, and he allowed his blood to drip onto the greenery below.
Witch’s blood held magic that would help sustain the medicinal plants that were foraged by healers in the two kingdoms. It seemed gruesome, but it was part of the complex magical ecosystem that kept the realm balanced.
He stood there for a few moments, wondering how he would know that it was enough.
Teddy blinked and suddenly the cave was blindingly bright.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. He knew this room. It was the first-floor sitting room in Castle Savero, which led to the main dining room.
Teddy’s heart pounded. He glanced around the space and his gaze fell on a familiar face—his father’s cousin, traitor to the kingdom, who had briefly usurped the throne twenty-five years ago: Vincent Savero.
This was the night of the invasion and Teddy was inside Xander’s mind, but this was like no memory he had experienced before. He could sense the wild spinning of his father’s thoughts.
This wasn’t right. Memory magic had all the senses—a fully embodied experience—as well as emotions, but it didn’t have thoughts.
Except now it did.
Teddy squeezed his eyes closed as if that would wrench him from this nightmarish magic, but when he blinked his eyes open, he knewthere was no choice but to play it through. He surrendered to the storm.
Cecilia stopped moving immediately and dropped her blade.
“Smart girl,” Vincent said.
Xander turned wildly, summoning his storm magic. It was hard to use this deep in the castle. He could blow out the windows in the room, but trying to funnel a storm through a small opening was not very effective. He wanted to stand and fight, but doing so now would get his closest friends killed. It would probably get him killed as well.
“No shame in admitting when you’re outmatched, cousin.”
Xander felt crushed under impotent fury, but he dropped his blade and held his hands up. Guards charged him and Cece, snapping Unsummoner bracelets on their wrists.
