His lips twitched. “Among other things.”
I didn’t shiver. Not this time. I had decided. I buried my sorrow and doubt deep.
Freedom awaited.
Let him haunt my dreams. Let him become a legend once again. I would still do what needed to be done.
The promise of spring, of something exciting and new, was in my blood now. But some foolish part of me wanted to stay a little longer in the dying light.
Daphne
The wards shatter
Walking down the corridors to the music room, it seemed like the house was holding its breath. The night was still young. I hoped that the Hollowborn were more active after midnight and that the human eyes of Vexley’s men would be at a disadvantage.
The notes of the melody I played the night before were still hanging in the air of the music room. The light of my lantern shimmered over the mosaic floor when I crossed it, ignoring the pale, ghostly boy leaning on the marble mantel.
There was the hidden door. I pushed it open, and the scent of damp stone rushed to meet me.
Torches mounted in sconces flickered to life. “You’re really trying to help, don’t you?” I whispered and rushed down the steep corridor.
Everything was just like I left it–the book torn in a fit of rage, the silvery lines of the symbols carved into the floor, the distant dripping of water. In the corner was that crack in the floor that took me to the lake.
“I know you can hear me,” I said, loud enough to awaken whispers and memories in the dark corners. “I came here to bargain.”
A cold shudder ran down my spine. Were those steps echoing behind me?
Get yourself together, Daphne. This is your only way out. Unleash the lion and let him wreck the circus. Slip away in the smoke.
The dripping of water grew louder.
“I’m not afraid of you,” I said, but my voice shook a little. “Help me break these wards, and you’ll get what you want.” I stepped toward the unseen trickle. There it was—the crack in the floor I fell through was only two feet away. Water droplets fell—dear Lord! I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Against all logic, the water was flying from the floor to the vault above.
A ripple shivered across the circle, and dust rained down from the vaulted ceiling as if the manor itself flinched. Water surged from the dark opening that led to the lake, pooling outward like an inkblot. It crept across the stone floor, swallowing the silver runes until they fizzed and faded beneath its weight.
The water climbed up the walls, across the carvings, slithering like a thing alive. I blinked, doubting my own eyes.
A sound reverberated low at first, a haunting hum, more vibration than a voice. Mourning. Endless.
I staggered back into the rune circle, my soaked feet slipping. The water lapped at my ankles now, icy and rising.
Something was here. I sensed its presence—a chill piercing my marrow.
The Unbidden didn’t appear. It unfolded. A pillar of water twisted upward, unfurling like silk in a storm. It gained shape: a woman’s silhouette, forming from the current.Riverweed hair drifted around her translucent shoulders. Her eyes were voids, rimmed with grief, glowing with faint light.
The undyne spoke.
“You seek to undo what was done. And you would use me to do it. But what about the price? Are you willing to pay it?”
The voice wasn’t what I remembered. It was older. More feminine. A chorus of currents. The crash of waves. The whisper of deep, forgotten wells.
“I’ll give you Arthur,” I said, balling my fists. Praying that she’d agree. “My brother. You want a Draymoore child. He’s yours. Please help me break these wards.” A part of me felt bad for a moment.
Her laugh was water splashing over stones. “You offer me a morsel… when I hunger for the feast.”
My heart clenched, and I struggled to remain in place. The temptation to turn on my heel and run was too great. “What do you want?”
“You.” The word rippled with power. “The one who captured me. The powerful one. You are mine already. But I will help you now, if you say it. Say that you are mine.”
