Chapter 11
I freeze, my blood turning cold.Daygar.She could have found out my name in a number of ways.
The research I’d asked Alor to pursue for me. Ravin, who no doubt appointed her to this task. Mentions from the guards of Halazar who might have survived.
Her knowing my name isn’t what has me standing wide-eyed with my heart racing. No…It’s her mention of me being the daughter of the leader of Oricalis’s greatest enemies.
The Worldkeepers.A secret and ancient organization that Bristara had only a moment to tell me of before her death.
“She’s looking for you,” Gregor breathes. Fear and determination war for dominance in his expression.
“Of course she is.” I place my hand on my deck. The power in Kaelis’s cards surges in response. It’s almost as though he’s here next to me, living in the shadows that cling to the stone—to my body.Lend me your power,I submit to his essence. “And I’m going to find her.”
“Clara, you’re in no position to fight, especially not head-on.”Gregor grabs my biceps. “You just destroyed Halazar. You can barely stand.”
“I didn’t say anything about fighting head-on…or fighting fair.” I free myself. Something in my eyes has his grip loosening. “You two be a distraction and try to stay as safe as possible.” It’s bad enough that I have to drag them into settling my score. The least I can do is take the brunt of the attacks. “I’ll handle the rest.”
I walk off into the tunnels, leaving them and the flickering glow of the lantern behind. The darkness is oddly comforting in its totality. They came thinking they were the hunters…right into my domain.
“If we let her go, she will bring down Oricalis. If you do not find her, your partners and children and all those you love will never be safe,” Emilia shouts. “For duty to crown and kingdom, we will find her, and we will end her like we did her mother—end the bloodline of our enemies once and for all!”
I stop, chest so tight I can barely draw a breath. I see Mother again—her warm smile as she stroked my hair from my eyes. The scent of inks and paper that always clung to her clothes. Her gentle kiss as she bade me farewell before slipping on her cloak and disappearing into the night for whatever business she couldn’t risk me knowing…
Her face just before it slipped over the mountainside in Eza’s vision.
They murdered her. Emilia’smothermurdered her. Alor’s information proved as much. Emilia knows it, too. Alor shared the truth with her. My confidence in this being true is now absolute.
Thank you for the admission,I wish I could say to her. A part of me might have felt bad for what I’m about to do. This woman had once killed a man for me, and some tiny fraction of my soul might have seen myself as “owing” her something for it.
But now all I owe her is death.
As long as the Ventalls live, they’ll keep hunting us until we’re nothing more than a memory. No, not even that. We’ll be expunged from history as the “traitors” we are.
Arina will never be safe. And neither will I.
I begin to walk. Slowly. Purposefully. I decide against the Seven of Wands, forgoing the option of shields. Stealth is its own defense, and the darkness is going to be worth more than any magic armor. The seven tongues of flame would be more of a hindrance to my safety than a help with the seven attacks they’d block.
The Eight of Wands sinks into me, speeding my movement. I next cast the Nine of Wands. Pain vanishes from my body. The cacophony of aches that might have distracted me are gone for nine minutes. The world is sharper.
The Knight of Wands is a whisper of smoke under my fingers, and sparks dance across my mind. It burns my fear away, though there wasn’t much left to begin with. I am not fearful; I am vicious. Hungry.
The tunnel stretches ahead. I feel my way along the grooves in the wall, following the faint crunch of boots on stone. Emilia, in her haste, seems to have scattered her forces to search. If they’d stayed together, they might have been a problem. Now I almost pity them.
Almost.
“What’s that?” I hear in the distance. “What? Where?”
Gregor and Jura. I move faster.
A sliver of light is nearly blinding after navigating by touch and sound alone. I close my right eye and continue, sneaking up behind a pair of Stellis knights—not city enforcers,Stellis.Emilia is leading a formidable charge after me indeed.
A few steps away, I cast the Ace of Swords. A small, sharp gust extinguishes their lantern. Darkness falls like the executioner’s axe. I close my left eye and open my right. The two men look around frantically in the near-total darkness, their eyes adjusting.
My right eye is already acclimated.
“What was that?” one hisses, panic thinning his words.
“Your cards!” The other fumbles for his sword, rather than cards.
