“Einar?” Adara’s voice cut through the memory, snapping me back to the present. I blinked to see that everyone at the table was staring at me. “Have you been listening to a word we’ve been saying?”
“Sorry.” I shook my head, trying to clear the cobwebs of the past away. “I was…thinking.”
“More like daydreaming,” Leap snarked around a mouthful of bread. I raised an eyebrow as I noticed half the platter of rolls had disappeared, then quickly grabbed two. At the rate Leap was going, they’d all be gone by the next time I blinked. “We were talking about Adara’s coming of age ritual, and whether we should try to get it done before rescuing her mother from King Aolis’s clutches.”
“How does the ritual work?” I asked, buttering one of my rolls. “Is it something that can be done quickly?”
“Absolutely not,” Mrs. Aeolan said primly. “A ten day fast is required beforehand, followed by a journey to your house’s most sacred temple where your head of house will perform the rite. As a water fae, that would be the Eldoris Temple, which is at the bottom of the Shardian Sea.”
I frowned. “But how do we know that’s the right place? As a fire fae, wouldn’t it make more sense for Adara to do the ritual at Mount Furian instead?”
There was a very pregnant pause before everyone spoke all at once. “That’s insane—out of your mind—too dangerous—how would it even work—!”
“Enough!” Mrs. Aeolan snapped, and the room quieted. “Even if Adara could fight through the hordes of shadow creatures guarding Mount Furian, there are no fire fae alive who can perform the rite. It has to be Lady Axlya, Usige House’s matriarch.”
“Well that’ll have to wait,” Adara said firmly. “I don’t have time to fast for ten days. Mother’s already been in King Aolis’s dungeon for a week now. She might not be alive if I make her wait that long.”
“Don’t be silly, girl,” Mrs. Aeolan admonished. “King Aolis is a formidable foe all on his own, never mind the hundreds of fae warriors he has at his disposal in Kapei Castle. Light magic may be the only chance you have at defeating him.”
“But I don’t need to defeat him,” Adara argued. “I just need—”
A loud, splintering crash cut Adara off mid-sentence. I jumped to my feet, fire already springing to my fingertips at the sound of heavily booted footsteps, and snarled as a hulking, black-armored fae stepped into the dining room. I’d recognize that grotesque, half-melted face anywhere.
“Slaugh!” I hurled a fireball at his head, but he was ready for it. Raising his hand, which was haloed with dark, crackling energy, he sliced through the flames as though they were as inconsequential as a snowball.
“Tsk, tsk.” Slaugh wagged a finger at me as a dozen soldiers, all clad in similar armor to his, rushed in, surrounding the table before any of us could take more than a few steps away from it. He grabbed Adara by the upper arm, and she tried to wrench away, but his grip held fast. “I’ve a score to settle with you, Einar, but not today. It’s time to take this little princess home, where she belongs.”
A swirling vortex of darkness manifested directly behind him, and everyone in the room froze as the hum of dark magic filled the air. Before I could recover, Slaugh took a step back, pulling Adara along with him.
“No!” I shouted, vaulting over the table. But the vortex collapsed before I could reach it, and my hands only met air.
Adara was gone.
31
Adara
Iopened my mouth to scream as the darkness closed around me, but no sound came out. The inky blackness that surrounded me seemed to fill every part of my body, slithering up my nostrils, into my ears, and down my throat. It cut off all my senses—sight, sound, taste, touch, smell—leaving me only with that pervading sense ofwrongness. Even General Slaugh’s vise-grip on my arm faded to nothing.
Was this what death was like? Was my soul being consumed by the shadows, my body and mind already eaten away? Would my entire identity be swallowed up, until there was not even a stain or a smudge of residue to mark my existence in this world?
But just when I thought that might happen, that I might really cease to exist once and for all, the darkness spat me out again. I stumbled as my feet slammed into damp stone, blinked as my eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness. The air smelled of moldy straw and blood, the only light coming from flickering torches set into the walls.
“You really must be the girl from the prophecy, then,” Slaugh said, a curious note in his voice. The sensation of his fingers digging into my arm came back, and with it, a rush of awareness that he was still with me. “Any other fae I’ve tried to shadow travel with has always died of shadow sickness afterward, but you’re untouched.”
That single statement alone carried so many questions with it, but those would have to wait. Allowing my rage to run unchecked, I twisted out of Slaugh’s grip and swung a flaming fist at his face. Slaugh dodged the fiery punch, and I cried out in pain as my fist connected with the stone wall instead.
“Not so fast, princess.” Before I could recover, Slaugh whipped my hands around my back. I swore as cold, heavy manacles clamped around my wrists, and dread spread through my stomach as I felt my magic drain away. “Can’t have you burning off the good side of my face.”
“It’s the least you deserve,” I fumed, kicking and struggling against him as he hauled me into a room that was only marginally more well lit than the hallway. It was no use though—he was stronger than me, and without my magic, there was nothing I could do. “You won’t get away with this, you know. My friends will come for me.” But even as I spoke the words, doubt filled me. I knew Mavlyn would come, but would Leap? Would Einar?
Slaugh snorted. “I’m hardly concerned about your little ragtag band of rebels,” he said. “And if your dragon friend tries to come and rescue you, he’ll meet the same fate the rest of his kind did at King Aolis’s hands.”
My stomach dropped as I got a good look at the room—a rusted metal table, chains, a shelf full of wicked looking torture instruments. “What are you doing?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady, but my breaths were coming too fast, too sharp. “Did King Aolis tell you to torture me?”
Slaugh snorted. “Of course not. You’re his precious savior.” He dragged me over to the chains dangling from the wall and fastened them to my wrists, holding me in place. I tried to kick him as he moved back, but he was too fast. “I just want to ask you a few questions, before I present you to him.”
“What questions?” I narrowed my eyes as I forced my body to go still. There was no sense in wasting energy, not if Slaugh wasn’t going to kill me. “And where is my mother?”
