We positioned ourselves in front of our respective doors.Now, Dom instructed through the mind connection.
I held my breath in anticipation of what lay beyond and shoved against the weight of the door, peering in expectantly. Darkness and silence greeted me. Dom’s room lay just as empty as mine. We exchanged glances, closing the doors gently behind us. Tension coursed through me.
The living quarters for Vestal Anchors were well-known, the “privileged” group large enough to warrant this massive tower dedicated to them. We continued down the halls, only to find each one as forsaken as the last. The abandoned rooms raised the hairs on my neck.
We ascended the stairwell once more. Small torches cast flickering light upon the stone steps. Only one door remained on the uppermost floor of the tower, nestled in a hall unto itself. Ominous. The door hung slightly ajar, a sliver of light peeking around the frame. We crept forward. A sense of foreboding sharpened my senses.
I nudged it further and sucked in a lungful of air as my body was yanked into the room by cold tendrils of power. The door slammed shut behind me in a cracking thud. Dom’s screams flew muffled against it. No metal lock could be dislodged to gain entry, not when Nolan’s magic had sealed it shut. Dom’s hands beat against the unrelenting barrier.
The room sprawled out before me, spanning the entirety of the top of the tower. Beds lined the walls, at least twenty oneach side of the room. Machines clicked and whirred upon tables littered with tubes and syringes, flasks and metal instruments.
At the center of the space stood the Supreme Vestal in his blood-red cloak alongside King Nolan. Vestal Anchors lay bound upon the beds, their bodies limp, their faces listless. Some groaned on their exhale, but rope burns displayed prominently across all their wrists. I spared them all a cursory glance until I fell on Delah’s familiar face. Bruises speckled her cheeks and arms, her eyes frantic as she attempted to scream through the gag in her mouth.
Nolan slowly clapped his hands as he sauntered toward me. Hollow mirth settled in his blue-black eyes. “Had I known what a pain in my ass you’d become, I would have handed you over to my esteemed Supreme Vestal ages ago. I’m glad you decided to respond to my message though.” He shifted, annoyed, granting his attention to the beating from the other side of the door. “It’s warded, so whoever is in the hall won’t find their way in unless I allow it.” He waved his hand lazily in the air.
Hold on.Dom’s voice penetrated my concentration. I released my magic, an ice sword elongating to a double-edged blade, perfect for slicing through bone and tendons. And kings.
Nolan smiled, tsking me. “None of that.” He released his shadows, which speared toward me, burning my hand and scalding my skin, the effect like tiny shards of glass. My sword disintegrated under his death magic, my hand spasming. Black flakes of char drifted toward the floor in its wake.
“Give me Delah,” I gritted out.
Nolan motioned toward the cloaked Supreme, who began removing her gag and her binds. Delah scrambled away, bolting toward me on shaking legs. I ushered her behind me, pulling my longsword from its sheath at my back. “We’re leaving.” I walked backward toward the door, not trusting my blindside to the king.
Nolan cocked his head. “But dear, Rue, you haven’t even met the special guest I brought in especially for you.”
“Get to the door,” I urged Delah as we continued our retreat. I staggered, feeling like my temples were on fire. Black spots speckled the corners of my vision.
Nolan’s shadows swirled in an agitated tempest. Char accumulated in ashy mounds around us.
“It’s still locked.” Delah’s panicked voice accelerated my heart rate as I thought through ways to get her out.
“I think you’ll want to meet my esteemed friend.” His eyes glittered with malice.
“He comes,” the Supreme Vestal stated, his voice an unnerving tone that sounded neither male nor female. A ghastly shudder rippled down my spine. The black diadem embedded in his forehead glinted ominously in the torchlight, hideously captivating.
The door swung open, the force of it shoving Delah into me and onto her knees. We stumbled deeper into the cursed room. Maelic barreled in, dragging Dom by an arm, his legs leaving a trail of blood behind him.
“No!” I lunged toward him. Nolan’s shadows wrapped around my body, hissing and burning everywhere they touched, arresting me. Surrounded in his frigid shadows, I found I could barely use my own magic, water dampened the floor beneath me, but little else.
“What do we have here?” Nolan’s smile was all teeth and venom. He stepped toward me, removing a piece of paper from his pocket, slowly unfolding it.
My stomach dropped at what he held in his hands. Dom would know what I had done. Would he realize it was for him?
The back of the paper revealed the dreki recruitment poster from the inn, the same muddied footprint stamped on it. Domheld my stare, willing me to look at him. Fear flared in his golden eyes. He wanted to protect me. My heart began to break.
“I almost didn’t get your message because of that blizzard,” Nolan said, waving the paper in the air.
Dom’s confusion morphed into betrayal as his bleeding body tensed with alarm. He shook his head, unbelieving. My heart shattered. He may not understand now, but I knew it was the only way.
Nolan read the paper with obnoxious theatrics, altering his voice in a pseudo-version of my own. “I will surrender myself to you. In exchange, release Delah, and call back your Nokts. I will be there by the next full moons.” He finished with a flourish as I wilted at my own words. “Delah will be free, Ruin, but the Nokts are not up for negotiation.” He crumpled the paper in his hands.
Dom’s anguish lanced through me.I’m sorry,I attempted to mind-walk. It was all I could offer. I begged him to understand. He would be fine. The blood curse cure was in the library. He would be safe. He would live. Let him be angry. Let him hate me. I’d spent my whole life focused on vengeance. At least I’d be able to end it knowing the person that mattered most to the realms, and myself, would endure.
“You know better than to have come with others.” Nolan gestured toward Maelic.
Blood trickled down the side of Dom’s face as Maelic brought out a black dagger, dripping with golden syrup—Glint. Maelic locked his feral gaze to mine as he swiftly raised the dagger, then plunged it mercilessly into Dom’s side.
Dom grunted as Maelic slowly twisted the blade before removing it. The metal now coated with Dom’s precious blood and devoid of gold. Dom collapsed onto the floor, blood instantly pooling around him. A shriek exploded from a soul-deep space within me.
