“Oh, she does. It is because of her that I am here. To give her peace of mind, I’ll tidy up her work in the tower. It’s merely a matter of redecorating. Surely even I can do that.”
Then why the hell had he askedherto set up his private dinner with Cora a few nights back? Furthermore, the odd clusters of hanging herbs and basins on the floor made it seem like there was something other than redecorating going on. She was about to say as much but thought better of it. Brother or no, she didn’t like conversing with him when he was in this strange mood. A mood he’d been in since the dinner they shared, she didn’t fail to note.
She left him with no other farewell than an irritated scoff and descended the stairs. Her muscles were coiled with agitation. She still hadn’t figured out where Cora was. Nevertheless, she’d find her. Until it came time to leave for this grand hunt she was now expected to attend, she’d have little else to do.
At least she had one source of comfort. She opened her husband’s letter and sank into the solace of his words.
49
Teryn stared down the stairwell, even after Mareleau had gone. He and Emylia had witnessed her exchange with Morkai, and it left Teryn with a hollow pit of dread where his stomach should be. Teryn had realized something when they were talking; Cora wasn’t Morkai’s final option for getting everything he wanted. Mareleau could provide it in the same way—everything from her two kingdoms to a body he could use for Emylia.
All Morkai would have to do was get Verdian and Larylis out of the way. Force Mareleau to be his bride.
Teryn’s lungs felt tight. While he’d managed to protect Cora somewhat, he now needed to find a way to save everyone else. Larylis. Mareleau. King Verdian.
“Teryn.” Emylia’s voice, pitched with urgency, stole his attention from the empty stairwell. Morkai had now returned to the tower room and was poring over a book on the cluttered table. Emylia stood beside the sorcerer, watching the pages that flipped by.
Teryn made his way inside, eyes locked on the sorcerer’s waistcoat pocket. He and Emylia had projected themselves outside the crystal in time to catch him lifting the hidden stone in the floor and extracting the two glass vials. Emylia had been right; Morkai had hidden stores of his original body’s blood. A necessary ingredient for Teryn and Emylia’s plan. Only one essential remained: the pattern that would allow Teryn to unravel the spell on the crystal.
“What is he doing?” Teryn asked, standing at the other side of the table. His eyes fell on the pages of the book Morkai thumbed through. Each was either scribbled over in an elegant script—one he had a feeling belonged to Morkai himself—or bore intricate patterns rendered in ink. He lifted his gaze to Emylia’s.
She gave him an affirming nod. “This is his personal book of spells and blueprints.”
“What’s he looking for?”
“Probably the weaving he utilizes for his Roizan. Now that he has his blood, that’s his next step.”
Teryn tried to recall what Emylia had told him about the Roizan. He knew Morkai used it as a vessel for magic, and Emylia had said the creatures were born from death, neither alive nor dead. “How exactly does he create a Roizan? What is it made from?”
“In short, a Roizan is forged from two living creatures who suffer violent deaths during combat with each other, resulting in the two dying at the same moment. Morkai utilizes blood weavings to control the time of death for each animal and prolong the fight.”
Teryn’s lip curled into a sneer. “He makes them suffer?”
“Pain and violence fuel the forbidden Arts.”
Teryn shouldn’t have been surprised. This was the sorcerer who’d commanded his bands of hunters to capture and torture unicorns. He cast a dark glower at Morkai, though the mage couldn’t see it.
Emylia returned her gaze to the pages Morkai continued to flip through. He paused on one that was filled with notes cramping every spare inch of the margins, scanned it briefly, then turned to the next.
Morkai suddenly went rigid and slammed the book shut with a force that made the table shake. Emylia jumped at the sound and leaped to the side. Morkai’s head snapped up, eyes locking on Teryn’s. Teryn took a stumbling step back, but Morkai’s gaze didn’t follow. Instead, it hovered straight ahead.
Teryn released a sigh. Of course he couldn’t see them.
Morkai narrowed his eyes to slits. His voice came out cold. Slow. So unlike Teryn’s own, it made him shudder. “You’re watching, aren’t you?”
Teryn’s eyes found Emylia’s; she looked just as startled as he.
“I know you are,” Morkai said. “You’re hoping you can fight me. Stop me. Well, I assure you, your hope is futile. Watching me will only make it hurt more when you fail. When you breathe your last breath and I take over your lungs. Your life. Your name. You will be nothing. You’ll have nothing.”
Teryn’s fingers curled at his sides. He was half tempted to step into his body and wrestle control then and there, even if for a short time, out of spite alone. But the edges of his rage cooled as he took in his silver-shot hair, the dull green in his eyes, the hollows in his cheeks. Considering how much damage his single instant of repossession had done to his body, he likely only had one more shot. While he could continue to practice strengthening his connection to his cereba, it would be foolish to fully take control again until they had everything in place.
With a slow exhale, he focused on his breaths, his pulse, his pounding heart.
Morkai’s lips curled into a cruel grin. “How about I grant you mercy? Trust me. You don’t want to see what happens next.” He reached into his waistcoat pocket and extracted one of the vials. With his other hand, he lifted the leather-wrapped crystal from under his shirt and let it rest on top of his waistcoat. Lifting the stopper, he dropped a single drop of ruby liquid onto the tip of his finger and brought it to the surface of the crystal.
Everything went white.
Panic crawled up Teryn’s throat as the blinding light surrounded him. He tried to will his ethera outside the crystal, but…he couldn’t. No matter how he tried, he remained in place.
