Matthias lifted his head to look at her, his body weak and trembling. “Sssssnake . . .” he said as he blacked out once again.
At the mention of the Thorn’s name, Adalia’s blood boiled. She had never wanted to destroy someone as much as she did that creature. She shuddered at the memory of the yellow-eyed male with the long, stringy, blond hair and how he’d stared her down with a hungry gaze as she was paraded around the throne room all those months ago.
Looking around the cave, Adalia searched for something to lay him on, a blanket or a wooden board of some kind. Maybe she could drag him from the cave back to the cabin. Her search was futile; there was nothing but rock, dirt, plants, roots, small pools of water, and the one chair that he’d been tied to. There had to be some way of getting him out of here.
“Matthias . . . beast, please. I need you to tell me how to help you. What was the poison he gave you?” Adalia shook the prince gently.
A small sound left Matthias’s throat, and he tried to open his eyes, his head rolling back.
Running her hands over her face, Adalia paced the floor in circles. This wasn’t working—the prince was too out of it. She was going to lose him if she didn’t act fast. Standing still, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, searching for the answer within herself. Light poured into her mind, and she was suddenly aware of a warm and peaceful presence surrounding her mind, body, and soul.
“Light guide you,” she whispered.
The poison line.
That was it. Take the poison line to a herbal doctor in The Grey and have them identify it. Hurriedly, she moved to the side of Matthias and picked the dark green stained tube from the floor. She wrapped it around her hand and placed it inside her trouser pocket.
Next, she wrapped her arms around the prince’s chest, underneath his arms, and with all her strength, lifted him from the chair. Small rocks moved under her leather boots, and she almost slipped, but regained her posture. Adalia carefully laid Matthias down on the damp floor. Kissing him on the forehead once he was safe.
“Bones,” she called to the wolf, who immediately trotted over to her side. “I need you to stay here. I must fix this. He needs our help.”
The wolf looked at her and Adalia swore his eyes almost looked human. He blinked at her slowly and lay next to his master’s body. He understood the assignment.
Leaving Matthias here with the chance of Snake returning was the last thing she wanted to do, but she had no other choice. Adalia crossed the uneven floor and stopped, turning at the narrow passageway. “Guard him with your life, boy,” she whispered and slipped through.
The path back to the mouth of the cave was a blur.
Adalia’s body might be in the cool night air of Oscuro, but her heart was back in the cave, on the floor with the man that it belonged to.
Pushing off the ground, she shot into the sky, not caring if anyone might see her. All she cared about in this pivotal moment was finding a cure for Matthias before it was too late. Adalia raced for the Veil, pushing her wings as hard as she could. With each beat they thrust her forwards, the wind whipping at her face like a thousand tiny blades slicing through her skin.
Seeing the milky curtain in the distance spurred her forwards, adrenaline helping her push harder than she ever had before.
She dropped to the ground in front of the tear and stepped through before shooting back into the sky. Adalia banked to the left and descended to treetop level. She flew over the canopy of the starfire pines, the magnificent evergreen trees that had golden needles resembling tiny stars.
Every full moon, when the wind blew through their branches, it produced a twinkling sound, as if the stars themselves were singing. Not that Adalia had the time to relish the delight.
She spied two Lightners patrolling the grounds below and dropped to the stoney path just in front of them, sending their horses into a frightened frenzy.
“I need you to find Major Nikolas and tell him to wait for me at the fountain in the centre of The Grey. Can you do that?” she commanded, with her chest heaving.
The male, a new recruit, looked at her oddly, but the female Lightener nodded sharply. “Yes, Major Adalia.”
“Thank you, now go with lightning speed.”
The duo turned their horses and raced off to find her brother. While they did that, she needed to get to a herbal doctor, and fast. Adalia took to the skies again, reaching the outskirts of town within moments.
The first place she found was all boarded up, with not a trace of life within its walls. Running her hands through her hair, Adalia bit her lip in frustration. The next place was a fifteen-minute walk away—so she flew. She shot back into the atmosphere andpushed on, landing outside of the herbal doctors further north of the town centre.
Thankfully, they were in.
Tears threatened to spill over, and Adalia pushed them back. Surely someone here could help her. Spying a man behind the counter, Adalia approached the front door of his shop, knowing that this was one of those moments in time that she needed to reveal herself to the Shadowkin. Thankfully, her wings would remain hidden.
She closed her eyes, allowing the shield in her mind to drop and bringing her figure into the light of The Grey. Stepping through the wooden doorway, Adalia entered the shop and approached the man.
“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I was wondering if you could help me identify what this is?”
The man nodded his head towards her in a friendly greeting. “Hmm, how peculiar,” he said, urning the clear tube over and over as if he was inspecting every tiny detail.
