“…I’m safe withyou,” I whispered.
“I don’t think so, Nova. Not anymore.”
I started to disagree.
Then, I noticed his wrists. The faint, twilight-hued magic circling them. He rolled up the sleeves of his coat to reveal veins glowing with the same purplish light, all of it darker than I’d seen it thus far; it was impossible not to think of a void as I stared at it, of a cold nothingness waiting to consume everything. And the scars on his chest—what I could see peeking through the open collar of his shirt and coat—had darkened as well, like fresh bruises blossoming all across his skin.
He stared at his palm, watching a strand of violet-black magic coil and writhe against it.
Clenching his hand into a fist, he met my eyes again. “If I’m the reason they’re here, if they’re planning on triggering something dangerous through me, then I think…I think it’s better if we keep our distance. At least until I figure out what’s going on. And if I leave, then perhaps I can lure them away from you.” His voice was chillingly calm.
I tried to mirror that composure.
But my shadows were rising, unbidden, curling around my arms and legs. Like they sensed a threat. And no matter how I tried to push them down, they wouldn’t settle.
Aleks turned away, making it halfway to the door before I finally found my voice.
“You’ve fought it this long,” I said, taking a step after him. “You’re stronger than whatever they did to you. Stronger than whatever they’re still trying to do to you. Iknowyou are.”
He paused with his hand on the doorknob.
The moment stretched between us like a drawn blade, sharp and poised to cut through my heart.
He looked back at me.
But whatever his reply would have been, I never heard it—because we were interrupted by shouting in the hallway outside, followed by the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the door.
THIRTY-TWO
Nova
The scene outside my room was worse than anything I could have imagined.
Three guards lay dead near my door. Two with a clean slash mark and a sticky waterfall of crimson across their throats, the third slumped against the wall, a gaping puncture wound in his stomach. The stench of blood was overwhelming.
The other five who had been marching up and down the hallway all night were frozen in various states of attack and defense, some with their swords still clutched tightly in their hands.
There were no culprits to be seen.
Somehow, the assailants had pulled this off in near silence. And then, for whatever reason, they had chosen not to attack me.
Yet.
It felt like they were only trying to lure me out, just as they’d lured Aleks into the garden earlier. Toying with us. Trying to get us right where they wanted us—wherever that was.
But what choice did we have but to follow the trail of carnage they’d left?
“These aren’t dead,” Aleks muttered, feeling the pulse of one of the guards frozen in the hall.
“They look like my mother and the others did at Rose Point.”
“A spell, then.”
“And we know exactly who’s capable of this sort of spell, don’t we?” My stomach twisted at the thought, eyes glazing over as memories of that trial in the Above came crashing in. I still didn’t understand how the Order could create such strange, powerful spells like the one they’d anchored in the Hollow Grove—but here was more evidence of what we were truly up against, glaring right at us.
I gave my head a little shake and hurried back into my room, throwing on clothing and grabbing my sword. Aleks grabbed his weapon as well, and we set off without a word for the main part of the palace, fearing the worst.
We passed no one and nothing, eventually descending into the entry hall that was eerily silent.
