“Send Runa ahead,”I order.
Kai nods, looking relieved to have a plan. Clearly listening, Runa immediately begins stripping off her armor, handing it to Ilona before shifting into her wolf.
“What’s going on?” Jett asks, sounding distracted. I reiterate the conversation as quickly as possible, and Jett nods, getting to his feet. "I'll go with her. James needs to get inside, or Aurelia is going to exhaust herself trying to keep him warm.”
I blink, confused for a moment, before I remember that Connell is the pirate's surname. “Fine, but the problem is you can’t run as fast as we can, you won’t be able to keep up with Runa.”
In answer, Jett's back ripples as massive black wings unfold from his shoulder blades. Without a word, he hauls the half-conscious pirate against his chest and kicks off from the ground, powerful wings beating the air as they rise skyward.
I watch them shrink against the sky, my brow furrowed with questions.
Aurelia staggers to her feet and immediately my attention shifts back to her. “Are you alright?” I ask, striding over in case she needs to lean on my arm. “You didn’t overextend yourself?”
“I’m fine,” she waves me off. "Did you notice Jett's wings, though? He's using them freely now, not just when threatened."
I open my mouth, then close it. She's right, and now that I think about it, I’ve seen him do that before. I shake my head. “I don’t know what that’s about.”
“Neither do I,” she muses, staring curiously toward the speck on the horizon that is Jett. “But now I'm wondering if Daemon knew all along. Maybe that's why he made Jett his spymaster."
“Mmm. Maybe.”
Dawn breaks just as the capital's silhouette appears on the horizon.
I haven't seen the capital city of Thermia since I was a very young child, but it’s different from what I remember. Was it always this small and desolate? I don’t think it was, and I grow more certain of that as we walk through the center of the seemingly abandoned town.
There are crumbling buildings everywhere, their stone facades worn to rubble. It appears that there were once more houses, perhaps longer streets, and even a town square. Now, there's only one main street left. Up ahead, looking alarmingly out of place among the dilapidated buildings, looms an enormous white stone castle.
I certainly remember the castle, but in my mind it wasn’t quite so overwhelming. It looks as if it were carved from ice, with sharp towers jutting up like massive icicles. It’s completelysurrounded by thick mist, which doesn’t seem as if it should be possible in the freezing, windy climate.
“Do you think Jett and Runa are already inside?” Aurelia asks, also glancing up at the castle. “For Connell’s sake I hope so, but it doesn’t look very friendly…”
I stop walking in the middle of the road and Aurelia almost walks into me. I barely notice, turning around to face her. “Let’s leave.”
She furrows her brow. “What?”
“Let’s go. I don’t like this.”
She bites her lip. “But we came all this way. Jett and the others are probably already in there.”
“Jett can take care of himself, and I don’t really care what happens to anyone but you.”
I’m semi-aware of Kai and the others around us. They probably don’t appreciate hearing that I don’t care about them at this moment, or that I have no problem walking away without even trying to help free them, but I don’t care about that either.
The only thing I want is for Aurelia to be safe, and I’m sure that if we go into that castle, that’s the last thing she’ll be.
“You’re the one whose gut feelings are always right,” I hiss, desperately.
“Not always,” she argues. “I’m not a seer.”
“Still, you can’t tell me you think it’s a good idea to go in there. I’m sure it’s not.”
Aurelia looks conflicted, and for a second I think I might have convinced her to at least pause and think about this. Only then, her gaze catches on something over my shoulder and she frowns. “It looks like someone's waiting for us. They must already know we’re here.”
I whip my head around to look. Where a second ago there was no one, now a man is waiting at the end of the snowy road, just at the edge of the wall of mist obscuring the pathway upto the castle. At least, I think it’s a man. It’s hard to tell at this distance, when the figure is wrapped head-to-toe in a long cloak, with a scarf and hood obscuring most of their face.
"Who is that?"I ask Kai in my head.
Aurelia answers as if she heard me. “No idea.”
