Dubnos had been ransacked.
“Nellie,” I whispered around the sudden lump in my throat. As eager as I was to see Kalen, it was my sister who propelled my feet toward the castle. I ran until my breath was ragged and my shins ached from my thundering steps.
The castle gates were open, too. No guards manned the battlements, not that I’d expected anything else. There’d clearly been some kind of attack here, though I couldn’t help but notice—with a hefty measure of relief—there were no bodies anywhere. None alive, but none dead, either. And there was no blood that I could see. If there’d been a fight here, there would be evidence of it.
I walked through the battered doors of the Great Hall, where the storm fae from Gailfean had been taking refuge. All the pallets and packs were gone. The buffet table was empty. Shoes and trousers had once hung from the makeshift washing line that stretched between the overhead timber beams. The line was still there, but the clothes were missing.
It was as if everyone had packed up and moved on.
I staggered forward from relief, trying to piece this puzzle together. If no one was here, they must have gotten out before the attack. But where would they have gone? And who had ransacked this place? The gods? No, it couldn’t be. The gods had been lurking around Malroch for days.
But more importantly, would Kalen have abandoned Dubnos like this? It didn’t make sense based on everything I knew about him. He would protect his city until his dying breath. If the gods weren’t the ones who had invaded, he could have used his power against the enemy. He wouldn’t have run.
I rushed to the meeting room and flung open the door. This part of the city had been left untouched, as if the invaders had realized no one was left. They hadn’t bothered to investigate the castle’s innards.
The room was empty, just like everywhere else, but there was a raven feather perched on the desk right above a drawer. Eagerly, I pulled the drawer open. Inside was a single sheet of parchment, curled at the edges.
Kalen,
Star Isles came for us. We were going to fight, but there were too many of them. We evacuated to Endir. I did not want to leave without you, but we had no other choice. Please communicate by stone when you receive this.
Toryn
(Tessa, if you’re reading this, know that Nellie is still in wolf form, but she is safe.)
I crumpled the parchment in my fist, my heart thundering. Star Isles had attacked. It was a city that had held allegiance to the Kingdom of Shadow until the creation of the Great Rift, based on what Kalen had explained to me. Many of his people had left to join the Isles when they’d decided they didn’t want to bow to the Mist King. He’d let them go and allowed their independence, so long as they never raised their swords against him. They never had. Until now.
Nellie had gotten out safely. So had the others. But Kalen...if this note could be trusted, he’d never returned from Gailfean. Ash coated my tongue. If he’d never returned, where in the name of light was he?
I understood at once. He was still in Gailfean. He’d never escaped. I’d heard Sirius say he was alive, but what if he’d been lying? He’d helped me, but that didn’t mean I could fully trust him, especially if he was compelled to do whatever Andromeda ordered.
I had to find Kalen. My head throbbing, I retraced my steps through the castle. My feet pounded stone, pain lancing my shins with every collision. Silver was waiting for me in the courtyard, and he twisted to the side as I approached.
“Gailfean,” I said through belabored breaths. He took off and galloped toward the gates.
We went down the treacherous mountain path, back toward the border between the kingdoms. I’d only just escaped the storm fae lands. I knew it was dangerous for me to cross the border again. But it didn’t matter, not when Kalen could be stuck in the ruins with his mother. Or worse. He would never willingly stay there. He would have fought to escape.
He would have tried to reach me, even if he thought it was impossible.
A pit of despair yawned wide as we approached Gailfean. The thought of reuniting with Kalen had been my fuel these past few days. When all had seemed lost, picturing his face had gotten me through it.
If the gods had killed him, I didn’t know how I could find the strength to go on, much less fight back.
The distance city was nothing but a smudge of darkness in the night. The fiery braziers that hung along the walls no longer emitted light, so it was difficult to judge the distance. I tugged on Silver’s reins to slow him down as we grew closer. My heart was as loud as his hoofbeats. When we reached the back gates, I leapt to the ground and told him to stay put.
He snorted and stomped, wildly shaking his mane in agitation.
I frowned. “If you want to come into the city with me, you need to change into your other form. It’s not safe for you in there as you are.”
Silver blinked at me and shook his head. He flicked his mane and turned away, clearly irritated by my decision.
“You’re like Nellie, aren’t you?” I asked. “You can’t change.”
The horse huffed.
“I’m sorry.” I walked over to him and ran my hand along his snout, wishing there was something I could do to fix this. Based on his agitation, he didn’t want to be stuck like this. And I could understand why. When Midnight had changed into his joint eater form, he’d been far more powerful. He’d taken out fae warriors like they were nothing more than insects. The shadowfiends wouldn’t have stood a chance against him.
If he hadn’t fallen into the chasm.
