With a trembling breath, she nodded to herself and scrambled after Reyna. Her sister shot her a triumphant smile and flung open the door.
“Wait here,” she whispered.
Eislyn nodded.
“Lorcan!” Reyna shouted as she charged out of the room. “I would say I’m surprised to see your annoying face again, but that would be a lie. Oh, Wingallock! What are you doing!”
The rush of wings filled the air.
Her entire body trembling with nerves, Eislyn pressed down the front of her emerald gown and rushed into the corridor. Chaos had exploded to her left, but she didn’t stop to see what Reyna had done. Instead, she swerved to the right and minced, footsteps light on the stone ground. When she came to a bend in the corridor, she took the next right. She stopped just out of sight of the guards, pushed her back against the wall, and dragged the cool castle air into her lungs.
Her heart ran wild; her face felt hot. She had justsneakedout of her room. Quite successfully. Is this what Reyna had felt like when she’d trained? No wonder she had grown addicted to the pounding excitement and fear.
With a quick nod to herself, she pushed away from the wall and inched down the corridor. At the end, there was a door that led through the interior castle wall to the next tower over, Aurelian Tower. No one had ever mentioned what that tower was used for, so she thought it was a good place to begin her search.
She glanced over her shoulder and continued on. After safely making her way through the castle wall and into the next tower, Eislyn slowed her steps. These corridors looked much like the ones in White Stone Tower. Dark and silent with the occasional flickering sconce on the stone walls. Dust floated on the air. There were a few shut doors she passed. She didn’t stop to inspect them. They looked as though they led to private chambers.
She twisted and turned through the castle, her footsteps quiet, her heartbeat loud. From somewhere up ahead, a voice rang out. Swallowing hard, she stopped short. Could it be the library?
“Take this blood and take this flesh,” the low voice murmured in a strange melodic tune.
Eislyn’s heartbeat quickened. That didnotsound like it had anything to do with books. She took a step back. She shouldn’t be here.
“May thine shadows bind me…”
She nibbled on her bottom lip. Truly, she should turn back and return to her chambers. There must be some other way to find the library. But her curiosity throbbed in time with her heart. What was the fae up ahead doing?
Gritting her teeth, she took slow and quiet steps forward until she reached the edge of the door. She held her breath and poked her head to the side, just enough so that one eye could see inside the room.
A small grey male knelt on the floor, his back hunched, his body trembling. A naked corpse lay before him, and blood spilled onto the stone floor from the deep wounds in his chest. Tears burned in Eislyn’s eyes. Her hand flew to her mouth to hold back a gag.
“May thine power complete me. May I become unblemished and whole.”
A deep, dark power pulsed in the room. The corpse lifted from the floor. Eislyn let out a shriek and stumbled back. She whirled on her feet and ran, her silver hair streaming out behind her. She didn’t dare look back. All she could do was flee, throwing open door after door until she’d reached White Stone Tower once again.
Breath heaving, she slowed to a stop and placed a hand on the wall to steady herself. The guards were around the corner. She couldn’t let them see her like this, wild and scared and confused.
What had she just seen? That had been magic. But how? And why? Closing her eyes, she could not erase the image of the bloody corpse on the floor. That old man. The grey hair and hunched form. He’d appeared as ancient as time itself. And then Eislyn knew at once who she’d seen.
It had been Sloane, the former king.
16
Reyna
“You didn’t find it?” Reyna strode toward one of the many windows in Eislyn’s chambers that overlooked the castle gardens. Her sister sat on a bench beside the flickering hearth, leafing through a handful of books she’d managed to request from her lady’s maid. “And since when did my dear sister require flames to keep warm?”
Eislyn shut the book with a sigh. “I do not require it. The servants offered, and I did not wish to disappoint.”
“I do not like it,” Reyna said. “There is a dark magic in those flames.”
“Using fire does not mean we will meet the same fate as the Fire Court,” Eislyn said.
“We do not even know the fate of the Fire Court.” Reyna let out a sigh. “Just as we know nothing of the Ruin. What happened yesterday evening? Did you run into more guards?”
The color drained from Eislyn’s face. “I couldn’t find the library. Instead…I found the former king, Thane’s father, chanting over a dead body. And the body…sort of…lurched into the air.”
Eislyn sucked in a sharp breath, terror flickering across her face. Reyna pressed her lips together. She knew it had been a bad idea for Eislyn to come here. It was far too stressful on her sister’s mind. It had been a long time since Eislyn had seen something that wasn’t truly there. Reyna had hoped that her haunted thoughts were fully gone. Hopefully, they had not returned for good.
