So I’ll be staying. I’ll retreat to the far edge of the island, to a place I’ve been using for my experiments, a castle I’ve calledNevarnost. There I’ll remain in seclusion, watching—always watching—as the Guardian of Elverdine Isle, making sure the residents keep believing the lies and using their children to power the obelisks.
Because if they ever stop sacrificing their ellixen…
If the blackmist falls and the reapers leave their mountain…
If they find their way to the mainland…
May the Elders have mercy on our souls.
35
Viri woke up on a bed.
She was so comfortable that she just lay there, basking in the feeling of soft blankets beneath her and a fluffy pillow under her head. It took her a long moment to realize that something wasn’t right, an insistent warmth in her palm making her memories return in a rush, prompting her to sit up so fast that her head spun. She pushed through it to leap to her feet, whirling around and searching for the threat, finding herself in what appeared to be a large bedroom. An everbeacon chandelier showed dark walls and closed scarlet curtains concealing what she assumed were windows, with similar scarlet drapes tied elegantly to the four corner posts of the lush bed she’d just scrambled away from.
Once, twice, three times she scanned the room, but there was no sign of anyone else in it with her, let alone a reason why her mark might be warm. She focused on the sensation, but instead of it pulling her in one direction, it seemed to be pulling her ineverydirection, something she’d never experienced before.
Dread pooled within her as she moved on shaky legs towardthe windows, drawing back the curtains to find a view that, a week ago, she would have said was impossible.
Because she was looking out at two mountains bathed in moonlight: the jagged-topped Mount Tembris…and the round-peaked Mount Verta.
“No,” Viri whispered, stumbling backward as she realized where that left her.
Inside the deadly, blackmist-covered Mount Mort.
Home of Diaboros, the city of reapers.
Thatwas why her mark was warm—because even if there were no killers in the room with her, she wassurroundedby them.
“No,” she whispered again, her body tightening with fear—a feeling that only grew when her mark gave a searing warning before a familiar dark voice spoke from the now-open door.
“Oh, it’s not so bad.” The Reaper Lord’s shadowy form stepped into the room. “If nothing else, the décor is pleasing.”
Panic slashed through Viri, and she immediately reached inward for her magic, certain she would need to protect herself from whatever revenge he had planned. “Where’s Reeve? If you’ve hurt him, I’ll—” She broke off as she realized that, try as she might, she couldn’t feel anything within her, the river of power still and silent.
The Reaper Lord chuckled as if he sensed her struggle. “Reeve is unharmed. It was only you I wanted. Though I had to take precautions.” He tapped his gloved wrist pointedly.
Relief tore through Viri upon hearing about Reeve, but that turned quickly to unease as she glanced down at her hand, finding a shimmering red cuff circling her flesh. It was clearly magical, and yet, she felt nothing. Not even a tingle of ellixen.
“You revealed some clever new skills earlier tonight,” theReaper Lord said, his tone mild, but there was a hint of rage behind the words. “Forgive me if I want to ensure you can’t do anything like that again.”
Viri tugged at the cuff, but it wouldn’t budge. “What is this?”
“My own version of a nullicuff, something not even your magic can destroy,” he answered. “Consider yourself cut off from your power until the time comes for me to remove it.”
Viri swallowed, surprised by how anxious she was to have lost access to something she’d only recently discovered. “And when will that be?”
“When the Orion Comet arrives, of course.”
She jolted. “What?”
The Reaper Lord smoothed a hand down the front of his dark cloak. “You really should have listened to me, Viridia. I told you earlier—if tonight didn’t go as planned, then I was going to need you. If you hadn’t intervened, you wouldn’t be here. But you did, and now it’s not fifty children who will be sacrificed. Just you.”
The room spun around her, her voice croaking as she repeated,“What?”
“Didn’t your little friends tell you? Orion requires a different kind of sacrifice than Aurora—it needsellixen abyssus.” A meaningful pause. “Also known as ‘ward magic.’ ”
Viri felt as if she’d been kicked in the stomach.Thiswas what Wynter had tried to share earlier. It wasn’t “void magic” the comet needed—it was the magicinside Viri.
