by K. A. Linde
She touched the diamond, which should have been so much heavier than it was, and smiled.
“Domina,” she whispered in awe into the chamber. “I am the Domina.”
12
The Waking
Elea
A shudder pulled Elea from sleep. She rolled over in bed and saw Kael shuck the covers off of him. She rubbed her tired eyes and watched him. He’d told her that he used to be a heavy sleeper. That, as a child, he’d been able to sleep through anything. But he didn’t anymore.
She’d never seen him sleep through the night. Not with the blood magic that feasted on him during the day and the darkness that swept into his dreams at night.
But this felt different than normal in some way.
Not like he had been pulled out of a night terror. She knew he saw things that he couldn’t even articulate. That he refused to share, even with her. And her heart reached out to him, but she also knew better than to try to talk to him when he first came out of it.
He threw his feet over the side of the bed and then strode across the room. She observed him as he poured himself a glass of wine from an ewer and drank deeply. And then another glass.
She didn’t know what he was thinking. Where his head was as he stared blankly at the opposite wall. As if he could discover the meaning of life in that look.
Suddenly, he went stiff as a board.
She pushed the covers off of her body and pulled on a dressing gown over her shift. “Kael,” she whispered as she approached him, “come back to bed.”
“She’s here,” he said almost soundlessly.
Elea fought back a yawn. “Who is here?”
He said nothing. Just stared at that wall some more and then turned toward the secret door in the back of his bed chamber. The one that she frequently used to visit him. The spy corridors that so few knew existed any longer.
“Where are you going?” she asked as he located a pair of discarded trousers, pulled them on, and then hefted a loose white shirt over his head.
“She’s here,” he repeated as if that made any sense at all.
“But…who?”
“She has to be a fool to come here like this. What could she hope for?” he muttered as he reached for the angle of the secret passage. “A truce? Because I could never give that. Not now. Surrender.” His face lightened. “I could accept surrender. Though that doesn’t sound like her.”
Elea froze at the words. What others might have dismissed as madness. But Elea saw instantly that they were not. He was talking about her sister.
Cyrene.
Cyrene was here.
Somehow, he knew that she had made it into the castle. Their connection. The words still bit at Elea to think of it. But what could Cyrene be doing here? She had to know that she would be in incredible danger, setting foot in Byern.
But Elea had no more time to contemplate it as Kael darted from the chamber.
She cursed as she grabbed a pair of slippers and hurried after him. She couldn’t let him go wandering the castle like this. People would talk. But how could she talk sense into someone who went senseless when it came to Cyrene? Everyone went senseless when it came to Cyrene. It was like she had some sort of power over them all. They didn’t just see her sister. They saw something so much more.
Elea wrenched a torch off of a bracket and sped up to catch Kael. Dawn had just risen, and the change of the guard would soon begin. They’d have to hurry back if they had any chance of no one seeing them. Soon, the grounds would be full of Affiliate and High Order. Not to mention, Kael was spending in excess from the treasury to build up his army, which meant that the guard had been doubled around the castle. Not good for this situation.
Elea called out his name, but he seemed to be in a trance. And she feared that he was walking straight into a trap.
Together, they meandered the secret tunnels like a spider running across its own web. It was as if he could touch that string that connected him to Cyrene. Sense precisely where she was within the castle. An eagerness suffused him. An eagerness that made her stomach coil. The last time she had seen it on his face was in Aurum as he had strode across the battlefield toward her sister. Defiance bright in Cyrene’s matching blue eyes, and he had eaten it up like he didn’t know exactly the game she played.
Abruptly, they stepped out into an empty corridor. It was entirely nondescript. Elea wasn’t sure that she’d ever been in it before. Certainly, she had never paid it any mind. It wasn’t a place to stop and consider. It was just a connector between places.
And yet, it was here where he’d stopped.
“Kael,” she whispered again, “it is the morning. You are in nothing but a pair of trousers and a sleep shirt. The entire castle will be awake soon. Perhaps we should retire to your quarters and call for you to be properly dressed.”
He dismissively waved his hand at her. “I can sense that bond that ties us together,” he admitted. He pointed at a blank wall. “She’s here. She’s right here. On the other side of this hallway.”
Elea frowned. “What is on the other side of this hallway?”
He shook his head. “There is no other side. This leads nowhere.”
“Perhaps you are mistaken.”
“No,” he said at once. “I grew up in this castle. I know every inch of it by heart. I would know if there were a secret passage on the other side of the wall like the one we just took.”
Still, he reached out and touched the hard, solid stone. He ran his fingers across it as if he were trying to find a keyhole or a trip latch. He rapped his knuckles against the stones in the sequence of his spies. He put his ear to the floor of the dirty hallway, trying to listen for anything. Maybe a shaft of air.
But he stood again with a look of disbelief.
“It’s just a wall,” he finally said.
She swallowed. Yes. It was just a wall. And his mind was playing tricks on him.
Still, he remained at this wall.
He rebuffed anything Elea had said. So now, she stayed silent.
Even as the sun rose on the horizon. And the shift in the castle as everything came alive. And the guard who found them, standing there, observing every square inch of this Creator-damned hallway.
Elea could sense the guard’s panic at the king’s disorderly conduct. And their fear to interrupt him.
“Why is she just standing there?” Kael demanded. “It makes no sense. What is she doing on the other side of the wall?”
Elea didn’t have the heart to tell him that Cyrene wasn’t there.
“Elea, come here.”
“Yes?” she asked, hoping he would give up this infernal mission.
He seemed to appreciate the fact that she didn’t scurry from him. That she hadn’t left, even through all this insanity. Even as he’d pressed his dark magic into the wall and hoped for the best.
“Look at this wall. Tell me what you see.”
She turned toward it one more time, restraining her sigh. “Nothing. Just stone.”
“Look harder.”
She straightened at the venom in his voice. They had been staring at this hunk of rock for an hour. There was nothing left to see. But she did it anyway.
“I’m sorry. I see nothing. It looks like any other wall in the castle. Perhaps we could retire and break our fast. Then we could return here to discuss it later, if you’d like.”
Kael just glared harder at the damn wall.
“I know you’re there,” he hissed. He pointed his finger at the wall. Exactly where he suspected Cyrene was standing. “If you move, I’ll know. And I will find you.”
“Kael,” Elea whispered. “Please.”
She gently placed her hand on his arm, but he threw it off.
“Get your hands off of me!”
Elea flinched back. “I didn’t…”
He had never spoken to her in that manner. Not truly. Not with such real anger in his voice. She had stood by him through everything. Stood there while he killed the king of Aurum
and then his own sister, Queen Jesalyn. How could this be the moment when it broke?
“Do not look at me like that!” he growled. “I am not mad. She is here. Cyrene is here. And we will find her!”
Elea nodded mutely. “I believe you. But…why would she be here?”
“That is what we will find out if it takes every guard in this castle to discover her hideout,” he decreed and then brushed past her down the hallway.
13
The Favor
Cyrene stared at Kael across the divide.
She had felt an awareness of him almost as soon as she returned from the Domina court. She’d hoped it was just a coincidence, but when she’d heard the knocking on the wall, she’d rushed down the hallway to find him standing there. She could see him clear as day. Dressed in nothing but trousers and a night shirt. His dark hair tousled. Those perfect Dremylon blue-gray eyes staring straight through her.
Except that he couldn’t see her.
Or at least, she hoped that he couldn’t see her.
The more he fumbled around, the more certain she was that Serafina’s spell still held.
Now, Kael stormed off with the insistence that he would find her. That he’d tear the castle apart to get to her. She knew that he couldn’t reach her here, but she had no food or water. She wouldn’t last very long, cooped up.
Then she felt Elea’s eyes on her. She hadn’t left with Kael. She was still staring at the wall. It hurt Cyrene’s heart to see her younger sister. That she had been there to try to calm Kael down, even as he raved like a madman. And the pain that had flashed on her face when Kael reacted so poorly to her.
It was enough to prove that, against all odds, Elea still felt something for Kael. She had been in love with him a year ago when Cyrene was made Consort just in time for Elea’s Presenting ceremony. Cyrene had hoped since Elea was spying on him for the Network that it meant she was no longer under his spell. No such luck.
When she finally turned away, Cyrene sighed in frustration. What was she going to do?
As far as she knew, there were no other entrances to the chamber. Or at least, none that had survived the last two thousand years. This chamber butted up against the base of the mountain. Serafina would have told her how to access it if there were another way.
She had three options before her. She could call Sarielle, which sounded catastrophic. She could use the portal coin that Vera had given her. But that meant she would end up in Tenchala, leagues and leagues away from Sarielle. Or…she could try to flee from here.
The portal seemed the safest option. But it also meant that she had to return to the Network and Gwynora and the army long before she was ready to see them.
She would have to wait until nightfall again in hopes that Kael wouldn’t notice her slipping out. Or…face him if he did notice. She was a member of the Society, a dragon rider, and now, the Domina. If today was the day that she faced Kael Dremylon, then so be it.
And so, she prepared the best she could and waited for nightfall.
Hours later, a lone figure appeared at the entrance to the chamber once more. Patrols had been running more frequently through this hallway after Kael made his huge spectacle there that morning. Cyrene had counted the patrols and measured the times in between when they were there. She hoped that they would be less frequent at night, but she wasn’t sure.
And she definitely hadn’t been anticipating another visit from Elea.
Elea looked furtively down the hallway. She had come at precisely the end of the last patrol, giving her the longest amount of time to stand exactly where she was without being discovered. As if she, too, had been measuring the patrol schedule.
“Well,” Elea said, clearly uncomfortable with talking to a wall, “are you there, Cyrene? Kael isn’t actually crazy. Though everyone is saying that he is growing more and more insane as the days pass. But where you are concerned, he is always most certain. So…is it you? Have you returned to Byern?”
Cyrene stared at her sister. Took in her appearance. The flawless features that so mirrored her own. Though Elea was taller. The dark brown tresses and blue eyes. The clear, pale complexion. But there was also weight loss, circles under her eyes that she tried to hide with cosmetics, and a general unease in her typical featherlight demeanor. As if she had seen too much for someone so young. She was no longer the innocent and naive girl that Cyrene had left behind.
And she debated on showing herself to Elea. Was it a trap?
It didn’t seem like one. That wasn’t Kael’s style. He was much more direct. As he had been when he stood in front of the entrance for an hour, demanding for the door to reveal itself even though he could not see its existence.
She bit her lip and then trusted her gut as she had so many times before.
She stepped through the spelled entrance and stood before her stunned sister.
“Creator!” Elea gasped.
“Hello, Elea.”
“Cyrene! You can walk through walls now?”
Cyrene couldn’t help it. She laughed. “No. It’s complicated.”
“So, Kael was right. You’ve somehow been here the whole time.”
“He was. Though I suspect we do not have much time.”
Elea nodded. “We don’t. How are you going to get out now that the whole castle is looking for you?”
“Probably something rash,” she told her.
“As if you know how to do anything else,” Elea said with a quick smile. Then it faded. “I can help you get out. It will take some…persuasion on my part with Kael.”
“What does that mean?” Cyrene asked warily.
“Leave that to me. I have a tonic that I can slip into his drink at night. He won’t even taste it.”
“You speak of poisoning your king?”
Elea blanched. “Do you want my help or not?”
“I do. However, I don’t want you to do anything that could put you in danger.”
“I will not be in danger.” Elea shrugged. “He does not suspect me.”
“He can enter your mind. He could find out what you did.”
Elea shook her head. “He cannot see that from me. He only sees what I want him to.”
Cyrene considered that statement. Could Elea shield herself from Kael? Someone without magic mastering that was incredible. She’d have to think on it later.
“Why exactly are you helping me?”
“You’re my sister,” Elea said instantly. “I don’t know why you’re back, but Rhea explained as much about you as she was able when we were working together. I wish you had told me what you were dealing with.”
“Me too,” Cyrene admitted. “And more so, I wish I had gotten you out the first time.”
“I am where I am supposed to be,” Elea said confidently.
Cyrene could see the change that had overcome her sister so clearly in that moment. Before, she might have been petty about Kael coming to search for Cyrene, but now, she felt, either way, that this was her place to be. She could see that Elea had grown over the last year, just as Cyrene had.
“Thank you,” Cyrene said, pulling her sister in for a hug.
“I’ll come to collect you as soon as he is asleep,” she whispered. “Be ready.”
“I will,” Cyrene told her.
Then, she watched Elea hurry down the corridor. Cyrene slipped back into the chamber just as the patrol rounded the corner once more. Cyrene just hoped that Elea was as reliable as Rhea had claimed she was. As Cyrene so desperately wanted her to be.
Night fell.
Elea did not come.
Cyrene paced the chamber in frustration. Elea should have already been here. Cyrene shouldn’t have waited for her. She should have just left already. It might have been messier, but the anxiety of waiting for help was killing her.
She knew that waiting was the smarter move, but the impulsive side of her personality said to barrel forward. But hadn’t that gotten her here in the first place? Back in Byern, alone, without any of her frien
ds, except Sarielle. Because she was impulsive. Playing at hero. And now, she would prove that she could wait. Wait and wait longer.
She chewed on her lip until it was raw and painful before Elea appeared. She was dressed in all black with a bundle in her arms.
“Cyrene,” she whispered, “are you still there?”
Cyrene sighed in relief and then pushed her way through the entrance. “I’m here.”
“Oh, thank Creator.” Elea thrust the bundle into Cyrene’s hands. “I brought you a cloak. I have no idea how you managed to get into the castle in an all-white dress and a giant sword to begin with, but the black cloak should help.”
“Thank you.” Cyrene tossed it around her shoulders, covering Shadowbreaker.
She didn’t even begin to explain what had happened to her. They didn’t have the time. And it sounded outrageous to her ears, and she had gone through it.
“We must be quick. I don’t know how long the tonic will last. Especially on a day like today.” Elea looped her arm with Cyrene’s and strode forward. “Keep your head down. I know a back way.”
“What do you mean, a day like today?”
“Kael is in an uproar. He tore apart his war council and killed one of his ministers.” Elea cringed.
“Which means…he took in their blood magic,” Cyrene said softly. Her own blood magic rattled within her. An unquenchable ache that pressed against her veins, asking for more at the thought.
Elea nodded. “He’s worse when his energy is restored. And I think the potion won’t hold him as long.”
“You’ve done this before?” Cyrene asked carefully.
“He’s a tough man to live with,” Elea whispered. “I’m sure you understand.”