I didn’t wait. My legs were already moving, boots slamming against the stone as I bolted for the door. “Cordelle!” I shouted, panic turning my voice raw.
Zander was right behind me, his Dark Fire already rippling across his arms. Riven cursed under her breath as she overtook me on the Ascension Grounds. Remy’s face had gone pale, but he sprinted beside us without hesitation.
We burst into the castle, storming through the main corridor. We rushed to the archives and I shoved the door open so hard it cracked against the stone wall.
The room appeared empty.
Then I saw it.
A book lay splayed across the floor, open to a page marked with curling script and a vivid illustration of hemlock root. One of the deadliest toxins known to the kingdom.
I dropped to my knees, lifting it. “He found the poison book… he was here.”
“Where is he?” Zander asked, scanning the room like he expected an ambush.
“Cordelle!” I called, louder now, my voice echoing through the stacks. No answer.
We fanned out, weaving between towering shelves, knocking over chairs, books tumbling from the desks.
“Check the corners,” Remy ordered. “He could be unconscious, if they poisoned him?—”
“No,” I whispered.He’s not unconscious. He’s gone.
I stepped back to the doorway, clutching the book as I tried to breathe around the rising dread.
Kaelith, can Kasstovian feel him?
Her answer was immediate.A little.He is disoriented. There was a magical severing. It was temporary, but unnatural. This was no illness. It was sabotage.
Zander stood at the opposite end of the archive now, his eyes laced with Dark Fire. “We need to lock the castle down,” he said. “If someone took Cordelle, they did it knowing we’d be too distracted.”
“Two riders attacked in one night,” Remy growled. “And Iron Fang is conveniently on a secret mission.”
Kaelith do you know where the dragons who serve Iron Fang are?
They are just outside Thubia. Theron is looking for Dorian. The squad has orders to bring him back to Warriath unharmed. They had nothing to do with events that transpired at the castle.
I relayed what Kaelith told me to the others.
Riven glanced at me, eyes fierce. “What now?”
I looked down at the poison book again, fingers clenched around the page Cordelle must’ve found before he vanished.
“We hunt,” I said. “We find who did this before they decide they want more of us dead.”
ChapterForty-Four
Istormed toward the gate, fury buzzing beneath my skin. Gerane stood tall at his post, but there was something uneasy about the way his hand twitched toward his sword when he saw me.
“Did anyone pass through here with a rider?” I asked quickly.
Gerane nodded. “Yes.”
“Why did you let them through?” I stepped closer, and Zander flanked my side like a storm about to break.
Gerane hesitated, his eyes flicking to Zander. “They had a missive. Said it was from the king.”
My stomach sank. “From the king?”
