My throat squeezed shut as I contemplated telling him. I couldn’t do it—not matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t tell him what Theht had done to my mind. The memory was too raw and painful.
Exhaling, I rested my head against his chest. “I can’t,” I whispered.
He stroked my hair, making my fear retreat a tiny bit. His warmth calmed my racing heart, and I took a moment to enjoy his nearness. It seemed we never had a minute to ourselves, and when we did, we were plagued by threats of death and imprisonment. When would I ever get a moment free of fear to be with him?
A group of nobbinflies flitted past the open window, their wings shimmering with magic as they floated on graceful wings. Beyond them, the moonbeams highlighted the jagged peaks.
“When we escape, I should like to take you back to Danegeld to meet my mother.”
“Really? Your mom?” The woman had a reputation of being more stubborn than her late husband. “Why would you do that?”
“So she may meet you, of course. I should like to do things properly. I know I haven’t always had a desire to keep with my people’s traditions, but since my father’s passing, I’ve realized traditions are the one thing holding us together.”
“Kull,” I stared up at him, smiling, “you’re turning into a philosopher.”
He grunted. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Well, you are. And I respect Wult culture, but I’m clueless when it comes to Wult traditions. You know that, right?”
He smiled. “Not to worry. I shall teach you everything I know. I will make a Wult out of you yet.”
“Do I have to wear the horned helmet?” I asked.
“Of course not. Horned helmets are merely an Earth Kingdom portrayal. Hardly accurate.”
I rested my cheek on Kull’s chest, thinking of my life as a Wult. A sense of peace came over me as I contemplated it, as if I’d finally found where I was supposed to be—the place I belonged. It was a strange emotion, mainly because it was the first time I’d ever truly felt it. I’d convinced myself I would never belong anywhere because in all my life, I’d never really felt like I’d known where my home was. The dragons had taken me in, and while I’d felt comfortable and loved, mingling with scaled, ten-ton giants made it hard to feel as if I fit in. Later, I’d tried to make a home on Earth, but that had felt less like home than the dragon caves.
Glancing up at Kull, feeling that sensation of butterflies fluttering in my stomach and the hopeful feeling in my heart, I felt I’d finally found where I belonged.
With him.
“Tell me about your mom,” I said. “Do you think she’ll like me?”
He cleared his throat, pausing before answering. “I am confident she will not find too much wrong with you.”
“Too much wrong with me? Does she have a habit of finding flaws in your significant others?”
“Yes, actually. She still refuses to acknowledge Ket at our social gatherings.”
Wonderful. Not only did she find flaws, but she held grudges, too.
“Don’t think too harshly of my mother. I believe she will love you as one of her own children. She has been through many trials in her life but shows strength even through the hardest times, including my father’s passing. She kept the kingdom together when I was not myself. Plus, she does much more than she’s given credit for. You see? You’ve already got something in common.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
The music below faded as the ball drew to a close.
“The ball is ending soon,” Kull said. “Are you ready?”
“I guess so.” It was the best answer I could muster.
We made our way off the balcony and down the stairs, watching as the crowd of people mingled, preparing for the last dance.
When we reached the bottom floor, my heart raced. I only hoped the witch was too preoccupied to notice as we slipped outside. She still sat on her throne, though she seemed absorbed in the dance.
As we moved toward the doors leading outside, a masked wraith blocked us. Tree limbs moved outside behind the man, and I could only stare past him and look at the world beyond the door.
“Where are you going?” he growled, his voice coarse and animalistic.
I’d never heard one of the creatures speak, and to hear it now made me shudder.
“We need some fresh air. Move aside,” Kull answered.
Another wraith stood beside the first. Their jeweled masks gleamed in the starlight, and their eyes locked on me, making my spine tingle with fear.
“No one leaves the castle for the last dance.”
“Is that so?” Kull asked.
“It is. Her Majesty does not allow it.”
Kull flexed his hands. I recognized the action. He wanted Bloodbane, but without his weapon, he must have felt defenseless. Did the witch know of our plan to escape? With the guards at the door, it seemed possible.
“Very well,” Kull said finally and took my arm as we turned away and walked back onto the dance floor. My stomach knotted with apprehension. Somehow we had to get outside, but to do it now would cause too much suspicion.
Kull steered me onto the floor where we avoided the other dancing couples and found a quiet spot of our own. The music pulled at my heart, weighing heavily, reminding me of the ten months of loneliness I’d endured so recently. I held Kull close, feeling his warmth. His eyes scanned the room as we danced, roving over every wall and doorway with the look of a caged animal.
“We may be able to escape through the dungeons,” he said. “There is a blocked passageway that I believe leads to the stairs near the waterfall. It is not my first choice as I can’t be certain where the passageway goes, but I know of no other way. Come to me tonight while she is sleeping.”
I liked this plan even less than escaping through the garden. “Kull, if we’re caught, she’ll kill you.”
His eyes searched mine. “Do you know of another way?”
“Could we try to go through the vaults again?”
“No. She doubled the guards after my sister and Maveryck escaped. It would be impossible to get inside.”
“Then I don’t know of another way,” I answered, wishing I could say the opposite. Was there something I hadn’t considered?
The music grew louder, the deep sound of the viola combining with other stringed instruments to create a tune that stirred the soul. Kull held me tight to his chest and leaned toward my ear.
“Tonight,” he said, “we escape.”
CHAPTER NINE
Two wraiths gripped my arms tight as they led me back to my chamber. I didn’t fight them. Instead, I paid attention to where they led me and started to see a pattern in the castle’s construction. Halls were connected with arched alcoves, and we passed three large staircases, though only one led down to the floors below. I memorized the path back to the staircase.
When we arrived at my chamber, the wraiths locked me inside the room. I changed into a pair of pants and a loose-fitting shirt that I’d found in the room’s armoire. The clothing smelled musty, and based on the creases in the leather and the shirt’s frayed edges, I realized I must have been wearing someone’s castoffs, most likely someone who’d made a bad deal with the witch and now lived as a wraith in her castle.
I lay wide-awake in my bed, watching the moon rise over the mountains. Time passed slowly, and I felt I would go insane if I waited a minute longer. When the moon rose over the castle and out of view, I climbed out of bed, pulled on a pair of leather sandals that I’d also found in the armoire, and went to the door.
The wraiths had sealed it with a common lock, and I also felt an enchantment in the wood. I whispered a word of magic and stripped away the spell, but the lock was still a problem. I attempted to shove the door open, but it wouldn’t budge.
Inspecting the door latch more closely, I knew of only one way to open it. It wasn’t my first choice, and destroying the door would only make the guards realize I’d esc
aped sooner than I would like, but at this point, I was desperate.
“Ignite,” I whispered.
The latch warmed and then turned bright white before it melted completely. I snuffed out the flames as the liquid metal spilled over the wood. When I pushed the door open, the flames were gone, yet the harsh scent of burned metal filled the air.
As I stepped into the hallway lit only by moonlight that shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows, I felt grateful that the wraiths were nowhere in sight. I crept down the halls on quiet feet, keeping my back pressed to the cold stone walls as I passed an open room and then wandered through another hallway.
An eerie stillness clung to the castle. Moonlight transformed the stones in the walls and floors from a harsh gray to a soft blue. The sound of my footsteps echoed quietly. Keeping my hands fisted, I made sure my magic would be ready at a moment’s notice if I needed it. I tried to ignore the panicky feeling making my heart beat too fast.
It bothered me that the witch hadn’t restrained me more than she had. In fact, the only chains she’d bound me with were words. Her threat to kill Kull if I helped him escape played through my head.
After I found the staircase leading below, I took the steps down. In a few places, lit torches burned in sconces, but they weren’t bright enough to light the way entirely. Around each sconce I could make out carvings of winged, skeletal demons decorating the walls.
When I reached the bottom, I found a narrow hallway with a door at the end. As I unlatched the door and entered the dungeon, the temperature dropped, making goose bumps form on my skin. The smell of human waste pervaded the air.
I made my way past empty cells, some with hay covering the floor. As I neared one of the cells, I paused. My stomach heaved as I stared at the decomposing corpse of a male pixie. Backing away, I tore my eyes off the corpse and walked quickly down the hall, trying to erase the image from my vision.
Another door barred my path, and I opened the latch and entered a small room. I’d hoped to find Kull inside but found only more rows of empty cells. Where was he?
Just as I was ready to turn around and leave the dungeons for good, I noticed a door I hadn’t seen earlier. My heart quickened as I opened it and entered a large cavern.
Kull’s sword, along with several elven weapons, were arranged on the wall, reminding me of trophies on display. I went to Bloodbane and touched it gently, feeling the cold chill of its metal against my fingers. The room was dimly lit, but I was able to make out a table sitting against the back wall.
Someone was on the table, and as I walked closer, my heart plunged. Kull lay strapped to the metal surface. Slashes crisscrossed his bare torso, and blood dripped from the table and pooled on the floor. I went to him and grabbed his hands. His fingers felt freezing cold, and his skin was ghostly white. His eyes fluttered open and he gasped as he tried to speak, but his whispers weren’t audible. Soon, his eyes closed again.
Behind me, I heard a rustling sound and spun around as Silvestra appeared from the shadows. My mouth grew dry. She’d expected this. She’d been waiting for me.
“I thought you would come for him despite my warnings,” she said. “It looks like I was right.”
I balled my fists, no longer caring what she did to me for using my magic against her. Swirls of amber and blue surrounded my clenched fists until power exploded from my hands, tugging at my chest as it ripped from my body. All the fear I’d felt for Kull went into the magic. I couldn’t hold the pain inside any longer. It was time for Silvestra to feel my wrath, so I used a binding spell that would burn like fire as the magic coiled around her. My hope was that the spell could hold her long enough for Kull and me to escape. Killing her was out of the question. No matter how much anger I harbored, I wasn’t a murderer.
I wasn’t Theht.
The magic hit the witch, but instead of binding her as I’d intended, it faded and pooled in her outstretched hand, absorbed by a black mist.
Stumbling, my energy faded and my back hit the wall. I glanced at Kull, feeling as if I’d failed him.
The witch’s cold, aquamarine eyes held me in her gaze as she kept her hand outstretched. The magic mist formed a cohesive shape until it became a black box—the same object she’d shown me earlier—the lotus cube.
She stepped toward me, keeping the box between us. Its magic was so strong it made my knees weak. With my energy absorbed into the box’s spell, it took everything I had just to remain standing.
“Tell me,” she said. “How do you open the box?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you will learn.”
She walked to Kull and touched the collar around his neck. Dark power pulsed from her finger into the stone band, making it glow. When she turned around, she showed me an ornate key sitting in her palm.
“The magic in this key will release the collar around his neck.”
She whispered a word of magic, and green energy surrounded the box until it opened. Then, she placed the key inside. With another whispered word, the box sealed shut.
The magic in her eyes shimmered when she looked at me. “If you want to set this man free and leave my castle with him, you have but to remove the key from this box and unlock the collar around his neck.”
I studied the box. It had to be a trick. “I don’t know how.”
“Then you must learn.”
I exhaled. “Fine. But if I do this, you must promise not to hurt him any longer.”
She studied my face. “Very well,” she said finally. “He will not be harmed as long as you are obedient to me. You only have until the sun sets tomorrow evening to open the box. Should you fail, he becomes mine. And you will belong to me as well.”
She placed the box on the table beside Kull and left the room, her footsteps echoing through the cavernous hallways until the sound disappeared.
I went to Kull and found him motionless and unresponsive. My hands shook as I took his fingers in mine. Seeing him like this frightened me more than I cared to admit.
“Kull,” I said, brushing the hair from his forehead. “Can you hear me?”
He gave no reply. Only the sound of his breathing assured me he was alive.
I squeezed his fingers, wishing I could do something for him, but my magic was gone. I’d used it all up when I’d fought the witch—and what a disaster that had been. My magic hadn’t fazed her. She was the only being I’d ever confronted with the ability to withstand my magic the way she’d done.
I rested my head on his chest, listening to the sound of his breathing. As long as he was alive, I still had hope.
Running my fingers over the collar, I felt the smooth ridges of the stone scales. Magic burned my fingers slowly, an intense heat filled with a power beyond my comprehension—the same power I’d felt in the box.
I turned away from Kull to inspect the box sitting beside him, then I picked it up. The stone felt cold in my hands, a seamless block with no discernible lid of any kind. Only magic would open it. But as I’d noticed earlier, only colorless swirls of energy surrounded the box, as if all the magic had been sucked away.
Or as if it had been combined.
Studying the box more closely, I found patterns of light glowing faintly from each of the six facets. I tried to make sense of the patterns. One was round with several half circles inside, but the pattern moved and faded in and out, making it hard to see clearly. Inspecting the other facets, I found different shapes—a triangle, a line that branched at the top to form a Y—but what did they mean?
Accessing the magic was impossible. I didn’t even understand what sort of magic it was, much less how to manipulate it. I got the feeling the witch knew perfectly well I’d never be able to beat the spell, and that Kull and I would both belong to her soon.
But magic was what I understood, so deciphering the box’s powers should have been within my abilities. Studying it again, watching the colors swirl to form patterns, I was reminded of the witch’s g
arden. It was a stretch, but could these patterns and the paths in the garden be connected?
There was only one way to find out. I placed the box in my pocket, then gave Kull a kiss on his brow, feeling my heart thudding with worry as I pulled away from him.
“I’ll solve this,” I told him. “I promise.”
More than anything, I wanted him to answer me, to give me some cocky remark and make me smile, to tell me to quit worrying so much, but he didn’t move or make a sound. I backed away from him, glancing at the sword as I crossed the room, and then exited through the door.
The hallways seemed longer than usual as I left Kull behind. With my energy almost completely gone, I had an urge to go back to my room and get a few hours of sleep, but the drive to set Kull free was unrelenting.
As I made my way up the staircase and onto the castle’s main level, I was surprised to see the sky lightening as sunrise approached. I had until sunset tomorrow evening to open the box, and time was already passing too quickly. But I wouldn’t stop until I solved the mystery.
A feeling nagged at me—the feeling I’d gotten since I’d come here—that the witch was tricking me and that I would never be able to open the box.
I pushed the thought aside. Silvestra had opened it, so it could be done. I just had to learn how. The hallways were empty as I made my way toward the gardens, making me wonder where all the wraiths went at night. Were they like vampires and slept in coffins somewhere? It wouldn’t surprise me.
As I navigated through the hallways, I didn’t feel quite as lost as I had yesterday. Remembering landmarks helped—the foyer with the ocean mosaic, the hallway with the floor-to-ceiling windows, the broad-stepped marble staircase—until I finally found the set of double doors leading to the witch’s garden.
I pushed the doors open and stepped into the crisp morning air. Sunrays spread across the sky as I walked down the gravel path and into the garden. A gentle breeze tugged at the tree branches, making the flower blossoms flutter. My sandals crunched underfoot, and somewhere in the distance came the sounds of running water.
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