Iwoke before sunrise, Demir nowhere to be found, as an unfamiliar cold pang hit me at his absence. I took my usual pre-dawn walk around the grounds before making my way to the pit. A place where all peacetalks had taken place, and when those failed, a slaughter or two followed just outside the wards. It was outdoors, surrounded by vast open space on the edge of the castle grounds. Demir sat next to his father, both in ornate stone carved chairs with their royal crest etched into the back just above their heads. On the other side of the stone paved ground, I claimed mine across from theirs, with my own crest sitting at my back and overlooking them.
‘Why are we here, Ms Azdaja?’ Sebastian asked, looking bored and slightly annoyed at the inconvenience of having to come all the way here. He could have refused, but he was too curious. My mother never entertained the idea of peace talks with him. She never had anything to gain from them, but I most certainly did.
‘Did you think you could get away with it?’ I asked futilely, knowing he wouldn’t take the bait.
‘Get away with what? If you’re still mad about your littlegeneral, then I believe what you had your people do makes us more than fair.’
‘The Mrak. I know what you’re trying to unleash in this fight. You shouldn’t be toying with things you have no hope of understanding, let alone controlling.’ Sebastian blinked away the briefest hint of surprise. I don’t doubt he thought I wouldn’t be onto him regarding this new tactic. At least when Demir looked at his father, he cringed. I didn’t need the flame or the bond to know he was unhappy with what his father was dabbling in.
‘What have you done?’ Demir asked while looking between his father and me.
Sebastian looked like he was holding back from lunging out of his chair, but instead his booming voice carried the threat for him. ‘I do not answer to you, son!’
Demir cast his gaze downwards, his cheeks heating. Shame radiated off him.
‘You didn’t honestly think you could hide it from me, did you? Lucky for you, I know how to stop dark magic. So, what do you say you give up now before more people die on both sides?’ I offered, knowing he would never accept.
Sebastian bellowed with laughter. ‘This is the problem with little girls thinking they can claim thrones. You can’t recognise real power when it’s right in front of you, and you always underestimate it, overinflating your own importance and ego. You can’t stop shit little girl,’ he barked, shaking his head at the absurdity of what I had said. I wasn’t done pushing, though. I needed to know what his link to the magic was, because he still wasn’t showing his cards. I would have to bluff.
‘There are many secrets about the Skin Seepers that you don’t know, including the many gifts of my bloodline. Did you know that we can taste dark magic in the air? It turns the air stale and tastes of mildew. We can even see it too, where the infection originates from.’ I cast my gaze across his body, lingering on the black obsidian necklace he wore around his neck and his plain silver ring, the only visible objects. His handraised as if to touch the necklace before he pulled his fur cape tightly over his chest. It could be deemed an innocuous move, but I knew better. He wanted to shield it from my eyes. That was it; that was his tether to the dark magic, just as the Wiccans used bones to tap into the magic of Wiccans passed, this was his link to the power and likely the thing that had corrupted him beyond all rationality. Perhaps if we could separate him from the object, we could weaken him. Now I have two goals.
‘I doubt that very much, child; if anyone doesn’t understand what they’re dealing with, it’s you. In the spirit of what this hallowed ground is supposed to represent, how about you heed my warning? This is your one and only chance. Fold. Follow me, and I won’t have a reason to use any of my weapons against you.’
Now it was my turn to laugh. ‘I could swear a blood oath to you, and you would still kill me. Do you know how I know that to be true? Because it’s exactly what I would do to you. I don’t need your disingenuous attempts at mercy. I got what I came here for—to put you on notice. Start counting the days Sebastian, because the next time you see me, I’ll be taking your life with these hands.’ Standing, I spat at his feet and walked away.
The journeyback home felt like it took twice as long as I ruminated on Demir’s words and touch, and how my body had betrayed my mind and responded in kind. I made it back before the sun had even set. As soon as I arrived at the stables, I sent word for a council meeting to discuss what I had discovered. Geraldine and Sienna sat in front of me. Jasper joined at my request. Although I could no longer trust anyone in this room, I had to rely on them, and Jasper now ran Cain’s battalion in his absence.
‘Before leaving for the peace talks, I consulted theOracle. It showed me something; I’m not clear on what it really is, but I will be travelling to Morgad and bringing it back. We are on theback foot with everything, and if there is anything that can give us an edge, I have to try.’
Geraldine—not wanting to press more than she could see that I could take—simply asked, ‘How?’
‘I’m going to shift and get myself arrested in the capital. They will bring me to the dungeons and from there, we shall see. If I can find the book, I will bring it; otherwise, I’ll find a way to get Demir to hand it over. I’m not opposed to spilling more blood if I have to.’
‘That is a horrible plan, and you cannot kill your Zauvek, my Queen. There are consequences,’ Geraldine said before I prompted her to continue. ‘Your Zauvek, once found, becomes magically linked to you through the soul bond. Should his soul be lost to the spirit realm, yours would not be able to bear it; it could shatter both your soul and your mind.’
I couldn’t help but scoff. ‘There is nothing left of either my soul or my sanity to break any further. I will do what needs to be done. Sienna, do you have anything that may eliminate my need to travel all the way?’
She shook her head no, which was not entirely unexpected. ‘We found a secret underground tunnel that we believe Visarous’s spies were using to travel back and forth to Morgad. So far, the news of Visarous’s death has not yet reached Morgad thanks to our shuttered borders, so the tunnels have not been blocked off yet. You can take it and come back before we blow it up, so that we cannot be ambushed in the dead of night,’ Geraldine explained.
I nodded as I mulled over the information she had just provided. It was a sound plan.
Sienna spoke next, ‘How were the talks?’
My mind strayed to Demir’s fingers brushing over mine as we lay side by side under the night sky. Coughing, I cleared my throat. ‘It was useful, as I suspected he requires a physical link to the dark magic, not unlike you Wiccans. I believe it is the obsidian necklace he wears. That is the second part of mymission when I go into Morgad. I need to get my hands on that necklace. If I can, maybe we can stop this before it even truly begins.’
Dismissing them without giving them the opportunity for input I rose as they cast worried glances between each other. I retreated to my room, locking away my sword and any jewellery with my family crest, and changed into a plain dress that was typical of young peasant women in Morgad. Opting for stealth thanks to the tunnels instead of my initial dramatic entrance, I brought nothing that could give me away.
Geraldine met me at the tunnel’s entrance. ‘If you’re not back in a week, I will deploy the shadows and whispers.’
‘That’s not necessary; I can take care of myself. Until I return, I need you and Sienna to take over Vivianna’s duties when it comes to our armies. Be wise. For every one of my soldiers you lose, you will be punished.’ With that, I turned and walked away into the depths of the tunnels, armed with a torch and switchblade.
Thirty
It took a full day to reach Morgad, barely stopping to rest until my legs felt as though they would give out. I found myself at the end of the tunnel, which led to a ladder with a wooden trap door six metres above my head. I could hear voices in the distance and could tell it was still daylight from the few specks of light that streamed through the gaps between the timbers. There was far too much activity for me to sneak out, so I waited until it was dark. As the hours ticked by, the voices grew few and far between. Eventually, I heard nothing for over an hour and deemed it safe.
Letting black smoke seep from my pores and consume me, all that remained was a dowdy blonde girl standing in the dark with flat brown eyes and bony limbs, which conveyed the vision of my now ragged dress that had been torn from crawling through the tunnel for three days. I looked like any other poor girl would if I were caught. The perfect alibi. Climbing the ladder, I prayed to the first dragons that it would not be locked from the other side. Smashing it open would be a surefire way to get caught. The trap door opened soundlessly, which was surprising; I had expected it to creak loudly, leaving me in a panicked rush to run away.
I found myself by a stone wall in the castle courtyard. Quickly, I hugged myself to the wall before any of the guards on watch noticed me and slunk further towards a door that would undoubtedly lead inside the castle. There were not as many guards patrolling as I had imagined; Sebastian likely thought his walls impenetrable. It had already been three days since Visarous’s death, and the border ban would lift in four days. It was only a matter of time before he found out about my Spirit Caster’s death and became paranoid.
