Without access to books, Alora was left with her mother’s journal to read. Though the scribbles and ramblings became more difficult to decipher with each page.
Don’t look in the mirrors. He sees.
He follows. Even in dreams.
Hide in the notes. The song. In the seams. Sing and his shadow folds.
He searches for her. I feel him watching.
The candle guttered, flame bending sharply away from the page before steadying again. A chill crept over Alora. She quickly flipped the page and froze.
The next leaf had been torn out. Had her mother removed it to hide what even ink could not hold?
She frowned, running her finger along the torn edge. No, this was new…
But who?—
Alora flinched when Deimos arrived in her chambers, motes of darkness in his wake.
Shades, he called them.
They followed him like motes, their outlines flickering like candle smoke. They took the shapes of crows or bats, sometimes like the silhouettes of faces, but never enough to make them whole. She had a feeling they were lost souls, and looking at them too long made her vision tilt, as if the mind tried to fill in the missing details and failed.
Alora straightened on her bed. “What news?”
Deimos had not been too pleased when she asked him to spy on Argyle. Yet he did so without much argument and reported to her every now and then. Perhaps it was born of boredom. Or perhaps she held more power as Rune’s queen than she wanted to acknowledge.
He sat in her chair, glowering at the thin path of sunlight that slipped through her drawn curtains. “Not much has changed since last week’s report. Your kingdom remains under heavy guard. Calveron’s banners fly above every gate, and no one enters or leaves without King Eldrik’s seal.”
She scoffed at the title.
“He has expanded his search to the Midlands.”
Alora’s chest tightened with worry, though she told herself Lady Zinnia could handle herself. “And my friends?”
Deimos lifted a clawed finger as a mote landed on it. “From what my Shades have heard, the captain managed to escape the same night you did.”
She smiled with relief. “So, Caelum is alive?”
“It would seem.” His tail flicked pensively. “Your other friend, however, has been brought out of confinement.”
Alora held her breath. In his last report, Deimos informed her that Eldrik had kept Theia imprisoned to force Duchess Alder’s cooperation in retaking Stormwatch Keep.
“Why? What’s changed?” Alora asked, her voice catching.
“She is the new Duchess of House Alder. Her mother has fallen to the curse.”
The words chilled Alora more than the air did, and her throat tightened.
“Good work, Deimos.
He nodded shortly, dissolving into mist.
The chamber fell quiet long after he left. Alora absentmindedly played with Nexus, letting him playfully bite and attack her hand as she fought tears.
Her friends were out there, battling to survive the loss of their home and family while she sat in a fortress, safe and protected.
The guilt pressed against her ribs until it hurt to breathe.
