The quiet starts pressing down on me, heavier with every step, until I can practically taste the loneliness on my tongue—metallic and bitter. If I didn’t know better, I’d think The Keep feeds on it, and the solemn mood I sensed from the walls was a ploy to push me.
I glare but keep my thoughts to myself about that possibility. No sense in poking the magic. Not after today.
When I round the corner to the library corridor, I freeze. There’s someone there.
A young woman, maybe my age, or shewasonce. Her skin is pale, her eyes a strange smoky gray, and her hair glows faintly blue under the hall light. She’s sitting on the floor surrounded by books stacked in uneven towers, humming to herself.
This was not here this morning or… I’m being taken a different way back to my room. Maybe this is some sort of gift. Or a trap. Who the hell knows? Either way, I’m not turning back.
She looks up when I approach and smiles like we’re old friends. “You’re the new one.”
My hands clench, but I return her grin. “Depends on who’s asking.”
She tilts her head, unbothered by my suspicion. “I’m Elara. Don’t worry. I’m not on his payroll. Not anymore.”
That doesn’t sound comforting. “Great, because being on Malrik’s payroll seems to come with a high risk of death and questionable moral decisions.”
Her laugh is soft and real. “You’ll fit in nicely.” She gestures to the books. “He makes everyone study something. What’s he got you doing? Fire? Shadow? That awful empathy exercise he loves?”
I blink. “He’s got me doing…a bit of everything.”
Her smile falters for just a second. “Oh. You’rethatone.”
I narrow my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Elara glances toward the ceiling, like The Keep might be listening. “It means you should be careful. Thisplacelikes to test limits. So does he.”
I fold my arms. “Yeah, well, me too.”
That earns me another faint smile. “Good. You’ll need that.” She gathers a few books, balancing them in her arms. “Don’t trust the walls. They like him better than the rest of us.”
Before I can ask what the hell that means, she’s moving, slipping down another shadowed hallway, and like she never existed, the rest of her books are also gone when I look forward again.
I stare into the darkness for a long moment, pulse racing. Then I glance at the nearest wall. “You don’t like me better than him, huh? That’s fine. I don’t need you to.”
The silver veins pulse once—slowly, like a heartbeat. Maybe a warning. Maybe approval.
Either way, it lights something inside me. Something small but solid.
Because I might be trapped here, but that doesn’t mean I’m powerless.
Malrik thinks he’s training me, teaching me control, but what he’s really doing is giving me the keys to his own downfall—one lesson at a time.
He wants obedience. I’ll give him patience.
He wants control. I’ll give him illusion.
And when he finally lets his guard down, I’ll show him what real power looks like.
The kind that doesn’t just unmake magic.
One that unravels monsters.
Chapter 9
CADE
The wind here doesn’t just cut—it devours. It howls through the canyons like a living thing, gnawing at the edges of my sanity, biting into exposed skin until even my wolf goes silent beneath the sting. Snow lashes across my face, sharp as glass, the sky a bruised gray that bleeds endlessly into the jagged white peaks ahead.
