Bury him so deep,
Leave him to rot beneath the ground
And put him back to sleep.
I turned my back on them— hard to do, for it felt like a betrayal— and looked to Arthur. “Anything?”
“I don’t see any recent tracks with my shifter sight, and I don’t smell anyone, either. The last person who came through here had to have run by weeks ago,” he said.
“It’s not a sure thing they won’t come by now,” Finlay said.
I shifted into a wolven. “Stay low to the ground. We don’t want anyone to see us coming.”
The ruins weren’t heavily guarded, if at all— there wasn’t anything lefttoguard. All that remained of Dolinska was rubble. Over the past month, Gabby and Droga had made their residence at Arcanea University, and their most devoted followers lived inside the school walls. Their soldiers and other general supporters lived outside the university, in elaborate new complexes that had been built in the woods beyond. Thus, all the action was on the other side of the city. Here, everything had been mostly deserted.
That didn’t mean the occasional soldier didn’t wander by every now and then, and the last thing we needed was him sounding the alarm and alerting Droga to our presence. The dark god still wanted Emma— I would not allow myself to be taken as a hostage and used as a weapon against my wife. If we were caught, we’d all agreed to end our lives first before we allowed ourselves to be captured. I had a dagger to do so, though I sincerely hoped I didn’t need to use it.
We came to the sight of the collapsed palace. Sorrow overcame me like I’d never felt before. The jewel of the city had been smashed to rubbish. Heaps of stone lay where the fallen towers were. The gardens that had been enchanted to be forever spring lay black and dead, spells broken beside ruined courtyards and demolished rooms.
The three of us changed back to start sifting through the wreckage. We were looking for anything, really. Traces of the living or dead, scraps of clues. I’d promised Arthur and Finlay we’d get their girls back, whether that be alive or just to give them a decent burial.
I wasn’t sure if there was anything out here to find. We’d found a couple of bodies amongst the rubble, kept preserved by the extreme cold, but nothing else. Finlay overturned a couple of boulders while Arthur and I moved a large beam, searching for hints underneath. We kept finding corpses, corpses, and more corpses. Nobles and servants alike lay in a stone grave beneath the fallen castle. I located a couple of my council members amongst the stones— Lord Gray, Lady Raelinn. The Circle had been at the palace when it fell inward. I doubted any of them were alive now, and if they had managed to escape, Gabby had probably run them down and killed them.
“Vara could be anywhere,” Arthur said in an aching way.
“She might not be here at all,” I said, though I doubted it. “We won’t return until we find something.”
“Can’t you feel through your bond if she’s still alive?” Finlay asked.
“Our bond is weak. We’ve been so far apart for so long, I can’t tell.” Arthur gave a saddened sigh.
I walked to the east, to where I believed our quarters had been. I shifted through the rubble. I found some of our old clothes, and a couple of books I’d been reading before our wedding.
Somewhere near the top of the pile, I located our handfasting cord, along with the gold rose I’d given Emma as a wedding present. I pocketed them in my cloak before sifting through the rest of the bricks. I wanted to find Emma’s grimoire, as it had been in her office when the palace collapsed.
I didn’t locate it. It was probably buried at the bottom. I gave up searching, and sighed as I stood over the remnants. If anyonehadsurvived the collapse of the palace, they’d either suffocated or starved to death in the meantime waiting for help. Dolinska had been flattened over a month ago. There couldn’t be anyone who still remained in this—
There was a buzzing by my ear, like insect wings, and a soft mewling. Astonishment flooded through me as a tiny faekin levitated out of the stones.
“Tygrys! You made it out.” I opened my hand, and themalyudwylanded on my palm. He purred as he rubbed himself against my skin.
“Emma’s going to be thrilled,” Arthur said, peering at Tygrys. “How did you survive?”
Tygrys gave a little growl before he let out a sneeze. He fluttered his wings impatiently and soared off my hand, doing little circles before he tugged at the edge of my cloak with his teeth.
“I think he wants us to follow,” Finlay said.
“Lead the way, Tygrys.” We maneuvered around the wreckage and followed Tygrys. He buzzed ahead, bringing us to a pile of boards lying on the ground.
He flew in manic circles, and Finlay said, “Must be something underneath here.”
Arthur and I moved the boards aside. Below us was the familiar sight of the spiraling staircase that went down into the basement of the palace. It was still standing.
“The Hall of Wonders,” I marveled. I shifted aside the rest of the rubble and took the stairs downward. Arthur and Finlay followed me. They creaked under our weight, and I worried the whole structure might collapse.
We finally got to the bottom floor. The door to the Hall of Wonders stood before us. I opened it cautiously, wondering if the magic still worked.
The Hall of Wonders had been transformed into some kind of shelter. The walls were fortified metal. There was a group of small beds inside, as well as a radio sitting on a nearby table. A group of four people were huddled around a lantern for light. Tygrys zoomed forward, whizzing over their heads, and they all looked up.
