“Very often, our stories have a sad beginning, Miss Daphne. I can tell that’s your case, too. But that child sold in slavery thirty years ago in Singapore got his chance by meeting Emrys, and he turned it around.” I stared at him, forgetting to chew.
“The Eclipse Order was about to sacrifice him when Emrys arrived, breaking down the ceiling and gutting them all!” Nibble screeched reverently, and Liang shot him a warning glance.
“The Eclipse Order?” I mumbled with my mouth full.
Liang walked to the stove and dropped the chopped vegetables into a large pot. “The Renegade’s men. That’s what they call themselves. And their dogs—the Hollowborn. It’s more and more of them lately since Emrys is locked here,” he said, his muscled back turned. Too stunned to eat, I was trying to digest what he said and Nibble took the opportunity to steal a huge chunk of my sandwich.
“Magic’s been ravaging the world unchecked ever since Master Emrys cannot perform his duties,” the bat said, chewing thoughtfully.
“Magic?” I squeaked. Since that fateful night at the opera, I was swept into a world that I couldn’t quite understand. “Real magic exists?” I asked and almost slapped myself for my ignorance. Of course, it did. What other explanation was out there for flying immortal men, demons without souls, and water-bound entities craving revenge?
Liang turned, swinging a large ladle with the same dexterity he was handling the sword with before. “Magic, Miss Daphne, has always been here. Since the dawn of time. Since our ancestors were sitting around their fires deep in the caves, listening to the slow heartbeat of the Earth. Times got busier, our attention shifted to other, more urgent things, and we learned to ignore it. But it’s still out there. And it’s growing wild. Unchecked, as the only one able to tame it, is keptbetween these walls. He hadn’t performed the rituals for decades. For that, the world would bleed.”
My fingers curled around the edge of my plate, suddenly aware of how fragile everything was—this room, this borrowed calm, this moment of pretending I wasn’t caught in something far bigger than myself.
Magic. Real magic. Wild and ancient and starving beneath the world’s skin. And Emrys—the prisoner, the monster, the man who watched me like he’d known me once—was the only one who could stop it from tearing everything apart.
And I had that creature inside me. The thing that killed my parents. The voice that whispered in the dark. Could I really be part of saving anything?
I came here to escape, to steal my freedom from under the nose of a broken system. But what if the only way out was through fire?
The kitchen had grown silent as if even the flames in the fireplace were listening. And for one moment, I felt that deep, slow thrum piercing the bones of this old manor, going all the way down to those radiant, burning veins, which transported pure power under the surface of the world.
I took a sharp breath. “The ley lines—”
“Carry raw magic and cross at specific locations, where this power erupts at certain times. It’s called a Surge. You’re quite poorly educated for a spy for the Renegade!” The bat exclaimed, perched near the stove to inspect Liang’s cooking closer.
“That’s because she’s not,” he murmured, his warm brown eye focusing on me. “She’s a lost soul who wandered into a mess bigger than anything she’d ever seen.”
“And Emrys…” I swallowed hard, the revelations nearly stealing my ability to speak. “Is the only one who knows of the places where magic runs wild? Those Surges?”
Liang nodded and returned to his cooking. “Yes. And the Eclipse Order is after this knowledge. If they got to a Surge, what then? An army of Hollowborn? Cities overrun? How long before the world started to look like St. Dismas?” He slurped loudly, tasting his soup.
I leaned back in the chair, my fingers curling around the worn wooden armrests. It hadn’t been a mere chance that led me to Duskmere Manor—of that, I was certain. Perhaps greater powers were at work. And maybe releasing Emrys wouldn’t just grant me my freedom—but right a much older wrong.
But how much of this story came from Emrys himself? Could I trust any of it?
“Liang, do you have some of that orange jam around here?” Nibble asked, but I didn’t hear the answer. Closing the door quietly, I ran to my room.
I’d thought breaking the wards was just a clever trick—a way to release the lion and vanish while the chaos unfolded. But now, it felt like standing at the edge of a storm. One that could swallow more than me.
Emrys hadn’t just been imprisoned. He’d been kept from something. Something the world needed.
And the moment I broke the wards, every demon in the dark would come running to destroy him.
Was I willing to risk it?
I swallowed, the answer solidifying inside me like stone.
Yes.
It was time to prepare. I was taking down these cursed wards, one way or the other.
Daphne
The name of the raven
Ichose a timelessly elegant riding suit from Lady Valehurst’s wardrobe tonight. A silk blouse, a skirt that reached above my ankles and granted me some freedom of movement, an indigo-colored short coat. Then I opened the jewelry drawer. To start a new life, I needed money. My fingers ran over the piles of sparkling rubies, sapphires, and emeralds. Should I just take something? I hesitated. It didn’t feel right. Emrys called me a thief, but I’d stolen nothing in my life. Except Arthur’s suit that Iborrowed.
