“You have to sail with me before you go. Can you imagine the adventures we will have?”
“Natalia, we just got back from the fields.” Mother sighed. “In fact, where is Naga?”
“Off in the forest. You know how he gets.” The pink-haired woman shrugged and raised a thick eyebrow. “Don’t try to distract me. Say you will go.”
“Fine, but this will be the last trip for some time. Mother says I have to begin my training soon.”
“Then we shall make this a trip to remember.” Natalia smiled a blindingly white smile.
Music filled the temple. The notes swam through me and produced a sense of euphoria that erased all thought from my mind.
In the mirror, colored spots began to form an image of a cerulean sea and a bright azure sky. A monster of a ship with black sails cut through white-capped waves.
A group of sailors was gathered on the deck, their eyes bright with exhilaration, enraptured by an ethereal voice. At the front of the crowd was Natalia. The boat rocked, and her smile swiftly faded.
“Myrena!” she screamed as a giant hand, composed of water and seaweed, engulfed Mother.
Her frightened screams remained with me, even after the image shifted to a deceivingly sentimental scene.
Father had contained Mother in a transparent bubble. She had her knees against her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her wide eyes were full of fear. Father’s burned with curiosity.
“I heard you.” His eyes were glassy, his speech slurred. He ran a hand through his hair. “You called, and I heard. You must tell me your name.”
Mother ducked her head and hid her eyes. Her shoulders shook as sobs racked through her frame.
Father’s eyes darkened, and a growl escaped from between his lips. He turned his back to the bubble. “You belong to me now. This is your home.”
My heart broke for my young mother. I knew how it felt to be taken from one world and into another. Her situation was worse. She didn’t want to leave like I had. She had been enjoying her time with loved ones when her world was taken from her.
I placed my hand on the glass and wearily watched as the scene changed. I immediately recognized the room in the mirror. It was one I’d tried to avoid for most of my life. Even now, thousands of miles away, my stomach twisted with dread.
“Do not play with me!” Grandmother bellowed. The metal brush she held folded in her hand. “Toss her onto a beach or drown her for all I care. I will not allow my son to marry a walker. I have given all my time, body, and youth to this throne. I have dedicated my life to you and your father. Everything I have ever done was for you.”
“I love her mother.” Father didn’t meet her eyes. “I can’t help what the heart wants. Your hard work wasn’t in vain. Rotan is and will continue to be the greatest kingdom to exist.” He swept down and kissed her temple. “You will always be my number one lady. No one can take your place.”
Father disappeared, and Grandmother was left alone. She turned back to her vanity with a malicious gleam in her eye and a twisted smile on her dainty face.
“Oh, no, my little one. I will never come second to anyone. Not to your father, you, and definitely not to some little witch with legs.” She slammed the brush into the glass and cackled.
“Oh, Grandmother.” I shook my head in disgust. I was happy when the glass cleared and a scene from the surface swirled into view.
“Return the princess!” Natalia bellowed from the deck of a small ship.
A wave rose a hundred feet into the air, and a face formed from the foam. “Myrena has accepted my hand in marriage. There is no need for this war.”
My arms were numb, the tips of my fingers white from gripping the frame. The light at my shoulder blinked in and out in warning.
The glass cleared, and the room went silent once more. My mind was spinning with what I had seen.
How could Father do such a thing? How could he look Mother in the eyes knowing he’d taken her from everything she’d ever known?
The light continued to blink, this time in quick succession. Later. I would ask questions later. Right now, I had to find my way back, and I had to do it fast.
I held the mirror against my chest and darted out of the temple. The trip back to the lake’s surface seemed to go faster than the trip there. I pulled myself onto the lake bed, laid on my back, and gave my body time to adapt to the change in pressure.
The light drifted over my body and hovered over my face. Its blinking grew erratic.
“Hold on.” I swatted at the irritating sphere and took in a deep breath. Once I felt steady enough to stand, I snapped my fingers. “Lead me back.”
It bounced twice and flashed red. I looked up in alarm. Kamryn never mentioned what a red light meant.
“Lead me back,” I repeated.
It bounced again and spun in a circle, but instead of leading me to the perfumed cavern I’d arrived through, it tried to steer me into a small tunnel I would barely fit through.
I shook my head. “That isn’t the way.”
It circled me twice and darted down the narrow hole. I bounced from one foot to the other. Left in the darkness with no other choice, I hurtled after the rufous light.
Chapter Thirty
Kamryn
I held my blade against the guard’s throat. “Someone else is down there,” I growled into his deformed ear. “Who is it?”
“Gon cut me, ain’t it?” He laughed. “Spill my blood and see wha’ happens to ya.”
“I don’t give a damn about your stupid belief. Plenty of blood has been shed on this land. The gods don’t care if it’s yours or mine.” I dug the blade deeper. “Would you like to ask them yourself?”
His back stiffened against my chest. The stench of fear rose from his mottled skin like death off a carcass. “The king hisself.” He stretched his leathery neck.
I hit him on the side of his temple with the pommel of his own machete. His decrepit body fell to the ground with a muffled thud.
I turned to the giant stone that blocked the entrance to the trove. It had been nine hours since Sarai went down. It had taken her two or three to find items I had hidden back in Irkalla. I knew something was wrong. Worry had my stomach twisted in knots. With a wave of my hand and a gust of air, the stone rolled to the side.
I called on my fire and sent the balls of light racing down the various tunnels. I stopped and watched. Minutes later, a ball of red came back from a hidden passage tucked into the wall.
I flew down the tunnel, my footsteps silent, as if I had wings. The light made a sharp left, and I followed without missing a beat. My heart hammered against my ribs. I hated this feeling, the dread that made me grind my teeth and turned my blood into sludge.
Please, I begged whichever gods were listening. Please let her be okay.
The light came to an abrupt halt. A body was slumped against the wall. Feet away, Sarai stood with the mirror clenched in her fist. Her face was an unreadable mask, but her eyes...
There was a feral look in her eyes that made my blood curdle. Cold and calculating, she looked down at Tramere as if he were nothing more than a bug ready to be trampled. She looked nothing like the Sarai I knew.
“Witch.” Tramere peeled himself off the wall. Black blood trickled from the side of his mouth. “I will have your head. It will hang on my throne.”
“Tramere.” I slowly approached. “Don’t do something you will regret.”
Was he too dense to see the woman before him was more than a pretty face? Couldn’t he sense the danger that made the air heavy and difficult to breathe?
He whipped around. His green pupilless eyes narrowed. “You!” he snarled. “You brought this creature to kill me!”
“No. You know that’s not true.” I took a quick look at Sarai. The fury of the sea was clear in her wild eyes. “Let us go and no harm will come to you.”
“No.” His voice shook. “Nothing leaves the trove. That mirror is mine.”
Tramere's neck c
racked and rotated on his shoulders. He bent backward at the waist, and his spine popped as it twisted at an abnormal angle. He dropped onto his hands and roared as six thin long legs erupted from his chest.
The hair on my neck rose. Sarai gagged, the storm in her eyes driven away by the horror before us.
“Run!” I roared.
Without hesitation, Sarai darted down the tunnel like a startled deer. Tramere hissed and leaped onto the ceiling.
“No, you don’t.” I shot a ball of fire at his chest. It missed and scorched the spot where he had just stood. He was faster than I imagined. His eight limbs made it easy for him to maneuver in the cramped space.
I shot a whip of fire across his back. The acrid odor of burnt skin filled the air. He let out a hair-raising screech and dropped to the ground. I drew the whip back and brought it down with an audible snap. One of his arachnid-like legs hit the ground and curled in on itself.
“Leave her alone.” I stood over his cowering body. “Learn to take a loss without losing your life.”
I clapped my hands together, took a steadying breath through my nose, and dove deep into my magic reserve. I lost myself to it. Magma replaced the blood in my veins. Fire filled my lungs and snatched the breath from my body. I opened my eyes and smiled.
“You don’t realize how close you were to crossing that river.” I released the fire that threatened to consume me. It enveloped him in a cocoon of smoke and flames that wouldn’t burn, but it would keep him contained for a few hours.
I left him in the tunnel and sprinted in the direction Sarai had gone. I was dizzy with relief. She was alive. She had found the mirror and made it out.
I found Sarai curled against the entrance to the trove. Her eyes were glued to the fallen guard.
“We have to go.” I struggled to speak through the fire.
She reluctantly peeled her eyes away from the goblin. “I don’t want to die down here.”
Her lips were dry and cracked. Blood dripped from a cut above her eye.
“You won’t,” I said firmly. Panting, I held my hand against the stitch in my side. “Give me a minute. I can get us out.”
I laid my back against the wall and let out a painful breath. It was always like this when I dove too deep without thinking. The rage ravaged my body and drained it of energy. I would be capable of getting us to the surface using shadow and air, but after that, I would be no good.
“I need you to do something important, okay?” I said through gritted teeth. “When we reach the surface, take a drop of my blood and smear it on a leaf. Hold it against your lips and say my brother’s name.”
She wrapped her ice-cold fingers in between mine and nodded. With a whisper and a breath, I had us back on the mountainside beneath a dark blue sky.
I dropped to my knees, the last of my energy spent, and pulled my blade from the sheath.
“Here.” I managed to push it into her stiff hands before a chilling darkness swept over me. “Summon Etan.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Etan
“He made the goblin king an enemy, and for what? A silly mirror for a mute girl?” Phadrah seethed from across the table.
It was early in the morning. The sun wasn’t even out. And I was in a meeting with my infuriated advisors and Phadrah. I had been summoned in the middle of the night to the eastern entrance of the Undercity. I never imagined I would find Kamryn and Sarai bleeding and burnt out at the base of the mountain.
“What your brother has done is inexcusable, Your Highness. You cannot allow him to continue to do what he wishes to do when he feels compelled to do so.” Rook's second chin shook in indignation.
“The goblin horde was an ally. One that we had by our side for thousands of years. We can’t allow our alliance to be broken.” Tulah sat back and crossed her legs. “I advise that you write King Tramere and ask for forgiveness.”
I slid my head into my hands and stared down at the table. It was too early for all this. I knew Kamryn was reckless, it was in his nature, but I never thought he would drag Sarai along on one of his childish adventures.
Sarai was no better. She refused to let go of the silly mirror he had foolishly sent her to retrieve, so I couldn’t use it to prove it had been worth the trouble they’d caused. Kamryn was brash, but this was too much. If something had happened to her, I would be the one punished.
“Since that girl arrived, everyone has been acting out of character.” Phadrah threw her braid over her shoulder. “I understand you felt bad for her and her situation, but you can’t burden yourself with others’ problems. She is worthless,” she said without emotion and shook out her wings. “Kamryn seems to like her. Send her to Irkalla with him.”
“I agree with Princess Phadrah,” Rook warbled. “You spent three years away enjoying yourself and doing what princes do. Now it is time to be serious.”
“There is nothing wrong with her.” I dug my nails into the table. They didn’t have to speak to me as if I were a child. “And I can’t send her to Irkalla. It is obvious Kamryn isn’t capable of keeping her out of danger.”
“We have more to worry about.” Phadrah rolled her eyes. “My sister has been in contact with me as of late. She wants to meet with you.”
“Your sister wants nothing to do with me. You know that better than anyone.”
The color drained from her face and was replaced with a sickly blue hue. An eye twitched, and her wings closed in around her body. “You worry more about that wretched fish than you do me. Do you forget who I am? What I am to you?”
“My parents made that promise, not me. I am bound to nothing or no one.” I shrugged and leaned back in my seat. I didn’t have to explain myself to anyone. Not when I was doing all this for them. When I acquired my power, they wouldn’t have to worry about keeping alliances. The other kingdoms would be begging us for treaties and pacts.
She slammed her hand down on the table. Her nostrils flared as she spoke. “Nothing will go right for you until you do right by me. Nothing.”
She cursed. Her long ponytail swung behind her as she stomped out of the room.
Tulah was the one to break the tense silence. Her tone was grave. “What she says is true. A broken oath is a slight against the gods. You will have no peace until it is fulfilled.”
I pressed my fist against my mouth and held back the words I truly wished to say. I knew what an oath entailed, and I understood the consequences better than anyone, but I had sworn an oath of my own, and Isabis would never let me break it. I could deal with any fallout from a broken engagement, but I couldn’t handle an angered witch who dealt in blood magic.
“I can’t marry Phadrah.” I looked at Tulah. “It is not that I do not wish to. I can’t.”
I didn’t have a choice, and no one understood because no one knew the situation I had put myself in. I’d made a decision years ago, and it was one I was growing to resent more and more each day.
“Is there is something you wish to tell us?” Tulah leaned forward. “If you are in trouble, you know we have ways—”
“I’m fine.” I pushed Tulah’s hands away. I would get everything done without their help. I just had to make sure Kamryn went back to Irkalla. “I will fix everything. Just trust me.”
∞∞∞
It had been a long week. Kamryn was still recovering, and Sarai had become distant. She didn’t want any visitors, and the only time she left her rooms was when she went to visit Kamryn in the infirmary. I asked her to dine with me this morning, and I was truly shocked when she accepted. She even let Xiomara tend to her hair.
“You must have been so scared!” Xio picked up a pile of dirty dishes from the table and placed them by the door. “Underground? Red eyes? Eight legs! Oh, no, no, no. Seeing all of those goblins must have been terrifying.”
“It was. I only saw three of them,” Sarai mouthed from across the table. “They can become invisible at will like an octopus. It’s how they raid villages and steal treasure.”
“How
horribly fascinating. I would love to learn how they do it.” Xiomara refilled our glasses with fresh water.
Sarai grabbed a small clay pot that contained pink salt. She pinched some between her fingers and sprinkled it in her water. She lifted the glass halfway to her lips before looking up at me. “What?”
“You look better.” I studied the cut on her brow. The healer had done an amazing job. There was nothing there but a thin scar that would fade with time and good shea butter.
“Thank you,” she mouthed. “How was your meeting?”
I scowled. “The same as always. Frustrating. Draining. Vexatious.” She smiled, and I had to remind myself to breathe. “Have I ever told you your smile is like the sunrise over the sea?”
She rolled her eyes and turned her head.
“I’m serious.” I grabbed her hand and rubbed circles on her palm with my thumb. “I missed it. I missed you.”
“Mhm.” Xio cleared her throat. “I have to run and get some new sheets for the bed.”
She ran out of the room with a smile on her face.
“That Xiomara is something else.” I shook my head. “But she is a good woman.”
“Yes,” Sarai mouthed. “She looks happy.”
“I believe she is. She has taken well to life in the city.” I grabbed her chin and looked into her eyes. So dark and deep, like the cold depths of the sea. “What’s wrong, Sarai? What happened during your time in Irkalla?”
I had to know what Kamryn had put in her mind. She had come back and wanted nothing to do anyone. She was distant with me, yet she hovered over Kamryn as if he were the one who had saved her from her grandmother’s clutches.
With a sigh, she pulled away and crossed her arms. “Nothing happened.”
“Tell me one thing.” I rose and stood behind her. “Kamryn sent you for that mirror and burned himself out in the process. What did he risk your lives and an alliance for?”
“Me.” She rocked from side to side. “We risked it all for me.”
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