Maybe it was selfish of her to put someone else in danger, but as Bri scrunched her nose and faced forward again, Isla smiled. It was good to have her best friend by her side.
Chapter Forty
Jade
Jadelayinhersmall cave on a bed of thick blankets, turned on her side to face the circular entrance. She was still waking up, the early morning sun streaming through the opening and dispelling the chill of night. She stretched and let her fingers lazily dance through the air, watching with sleepy eyes as vines and flowers instantly sprouted from the patch of grass outside her cave. Her temporary dwelling was so tiny that, if she scooted over a couple of feet, she could reach out and pluck one of those ivory snowdrops from the ground. She spent most of her time in Kai and Aidan’s cave anyway, so it did not truly matter that hers was the smallest. She was surrounded by her earth, and contentment purred in her chest.
Urgent approaching footsteps had the morning fog dissipating from her mind.
“Jade, we’re back,” Kai said from around the corner. She appeared a moment later wearing black leggings and a taupe tunic laced up the front, gloves on her hands, and a cloak swishing at her legs. “Actually, we got back in the middle of the night but didn’t want to wake anyone.” Kai stifled a yawn.
Jade sat up. “Is everything alright?”
The hesitant expression on Kai’s face and the way she chewed on her bottom lip told Jade that no, everything wasnotalright. Kai responded, “Just get ready and meet us in my cave, okay?” She smiled tightly and waved before turning on her heel and walking away.
That was not comforting.
Jade got ready in a hurry, wondering as she strapped on her boots and buttoned up her brown vest what could have occurred when Isla and Kai went to Lockhurt. Had something happened to Isla’s father? Jade knew the man had suffered injuries and had been unresponsive the last time Isla had seen him.
She threw her shoulder-length hair into a low bun at the nape of her neck, wrapping a strap of leather around it to hold it in place. Donning her overcoat, she rushed out and made her way along the short path to Kai and Aidan’s cave.
“Alright, would someone please tell me—” Jade stopped short as she stepped through the opening, her eyes catching on a strange woman leaning against the stone wall next to Isla.
“We picked up a stray,” Kai said, shooting the stranger an exasperated look.
“I’m Brielle,” the girl said as she walked to Jade with her arm outstretched.
Jade looked at her, blinked, then directed her words to Kai. “Explain.”
Kai and Isla took turns recounting what happened while they were gone. They had made it to Lockhurt only to find that Isla’s father and brother had been kidnapped. Then Brielle had shown up and requested to come with them, but Kai had “persuaded” her to go home.
“And then,” Isla said, “we found a piece of paper outside the front door with the Karstos emblem. It was a message from the dark god asking me to meet him. And…there’s something you should know.” Isla shot Kai a wary glance as she swallowed. The air was suddenly thick and strained.
“It’s about the dark god. He is—well, he’s actually Sebastian. The King of Karstos,” Isla said.
Rynn, who stood in the corner of the cave with his arms crossed, went stiff as a board. Aidan stood abruptly from his position sprawled on the hard floor.
“Surprise,” Kai said weakly.
The look on their faces at this revelation was almost humorous. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I saw that coming,” Jade said, shrugging.
Aidan scoffed. “There’s no way you could have known he was Sebastian.”
“I didn’t know for sure, but it does not surprise me. The rumors have said that King Sebastian is looking for something. Something he’s willing to tear the kingdoms apart for. And he hasn’t been seen in person for two years.” Jade looked between each of them as she explained her line of thinking. “Then this so-called ‘dark god’ starts appearing—but what for? Just to scare us? I knew he had to have an end goal, arealreason for coming after us, and now we know what that is: the dagger. It all fits. The dark god and Sebastian are both looking for the dagger, the only thing that can take our powers. The fact that they are the same person is pathetically simple. I can’t believe we didn’t see it before.”
There was a moment of silence once she finished, then Aidan spoke with a hint of annoyance. “Well, when you put it like that…”
“What I don’t understand, however, is how the king came into these abilities in the first place,” Jade said.
“That’s what I was wondering,” Isla said. “Has anything like this ever happened before?”
Jade shook her head. “Not that we are aware of. And not that Celesine has ever mentioned, either. We are the only living beings to possess any kind of magic—at least, that’s what we’ve believed this whole time. And we were created for apurpose. Everything must serve a purpose. Did the Primevals create him as they created us, for a specific reason? Did they grant him these gifts and he became corrupted, deciding to pursue his own selfish ambitions?”
“Or,” Isla suggested, “this could have nothing to do with the Primevals. You all didn’t know about the dagger or the second prophecy until recently. Who’s to say there aren’t other magical objects or spells or whatever out there that you haven’t heard of? What if he found something like that two years ago that gave him powers?”
Jade pursed her lips at the idea. She hated acknowledging that the girl might be right, that therewere, perhaps, blind spots in their knowledge of this world. But it didn’t make any sense; why would there be magically imbued artifacts like the dagger in existence? Who had created them?
“Let us deal with these questions later. Isla, please tell me you did not meet with him,” Rynn said, his tone tight as he curled and uncurled his fingers at his sides. Jade was surprised; Rynn often relied on answers and logic in these kinds of situations. It was one of the very limited number of things they shared in common. But his mind was now securely focused on Isla.
