Asmo gives me a look and I tilt my head towards thedoor. “I’ll be fine.”
He frowns. “I’ll be just outside,” he says before placing a kiss to my forehead. My heart flips in my chest.
Etta stands on the other side of the table. She snorts. “I never thought I’d see Asmo take to someone like he has with you.”
It’s so odd to think about him before me. To realize I knew of him before he knew me, technically. I knew his name, I knew the handsome cut of his jaw from the images in the newspapers. It’s hard to imagine that people like Etta grew up with him.
I smile at the thought of a six-year-old Asmo fighting with Etta on the High Castle grounds. “What was he like when he was little?”
“They didn’t come around much when they were young. When they did, they were terrified of everything. Marik more so.”
My smile vanishes. I know they had a hard childhood. That their parents were cruel and abusive. I push it to the side. Another time. I’ll deal with that another time. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Etta sinks into her chair and sighs. She reaches for the braid slung over her shoulder and tugs on the end. “Yeah, right. I just…I wanted to say I’m sorry for avoiding you since you’ve been here. Probably shitty of me to pop back into your life and then never address the elephant in the room, huh?” She smiles, but it’s flat. Dull.
She’s right. But I don’t blame her. I haven’t exactly gone out of my way to find her and force the conversation. If I’m being honest, I’m scared. I don’t know what to say to her. There’s so much. And yet, every time I reach for something to say, I come up blank.
I wave her away. “No, don’t worry. Please. I get it.” I should say more. I should tell her I’m sorry, that I want to know her, that I feel uncomfortable and awkward, too. But I don’t.
She nods slowly, the chair creaking as her head bobs. “Yeah. Well, anyways. We should get ready to leave.”
“Etta,” I say, “There will be plenty of time on the other side. We’ll figure it out.”
Her shoulders droop, and I feel mine do the same. We don’t have to figure out the complicated mess of a relationship of two people brought together by immeasurable tragedies. Not yet anyway. We have a lifetime to know each other. I, for one, am looking forward to it.
Chapter 38
MAE
We get my cuffs off—thanksto a hybrid who used to work as a blacksmith—and Asmo funnels all of us to the entrance of House Ursidae’s court. This is not the same forest we visited before. The scene before us is a wasteland. Trees are scorched and barren, the ground is black and charred, animal corpses lay rotting in piles. The sickly-sweet stench of death hangs in the air. Asmo pulls me closer to him.
“Mother…” someone curses under their breath.
Chills skitter across my skin as I recall Her warning to me. These woods are too close to the prophesized end that She warned me of.
Everyone is silent as we walk to the now charred entrance to the cabin, as if someone fired flames—or black magic—at it repeatedly. But it held strong.
It swings open as we approach. Barrett stands in the doorway, his eyes hollow, his face gaunt, and his cheery affect long gone. He ushers us inside quickly, eyes wild as he watches the forest behind us.
“Bar—” I start, but he whirls toward me with a finger over his mouth.How bad is it here?He ushers Etta in without so much as a second glance. He gestures for us to follow him before flying down the stairs.
We do, our footsteps hurried as wetry to keep up with him. Nobody speaks. The court is darker than last time, the lights extinguished as we descend. The only light comes from the windows that line the very top of the building.
Barrett’s tension seems to ease the further we descend. He comes to a stop before a set of double doors and places his palm flat on their surface. They unlock and he pushes both doors open.
The room inside is massive, roughly the same size as the throne room floors above. Love seats, sofas, and armchairs take up the center of the room. Chess sets sit on worn tables and stacks of books serve as end tables. Blankets are thrown over the backs of every sitting surface. Hallways branch off, leading to more doorways and hidden destinations.
Barrett turns back to me. “Sorry about the welcome. It’s been…Well, I’m sure you saw how it’s been since you were last here.” He glances around and throws his hands up. “Welcome to our bunker, also called The Den. We’ve moved down here just in case.”
“In case what?” I ask, but I saw the way the front door had been attacked.
He rubs his jawline, at the week’s worth of stubble that lines it. “The witches have been trying to get in. Every night it gets worse. As soon as the sun goes down, the screaming begins. The magic that protects the door is ancient and it should hold, but…You never know with dark magic.”
The terror they must feel every night, hearing evil literally knocking at their door, wondering if each blow will be the last.
“I’m so glad to see you, though,” Barrett says, forcing a smile to his face. “We’ve been waiting for your return,” he says, gaze now roaming over the small group of people that I guess I now call my court—Amaris, Holly, Ivan, Asmo, Basil, and Etta. “I assume everyone here is a trusted member of your…” He trails off when he gets to Etta. He raises a shaky finger in her direction, mouth falling open, then snapping shut. “H-how?”
“It’s a long story, but it’s her,” I say.
