“Dad was supposed to be impervious to magic,” Calla said. “And invulnerable. The only thing that’s ever been capable of hurting him is that sword when he was killed during the Aerie Rising ten years ago, and then brought back to life by the Spirit Binder.”
And, as they all now knew, in the process of bringing Ren back, Theo had deliberately challenged and changed the flow of Spirit in the immediate area, inadvertently affecting the Spirit within every person nearby. This was how the Spirit Bound had been created.
Beth had never known that a weapon had been involved. She just knew the basic story of Ren’s death and rebirth.
A blood sword.
A woman who wore her face and could appear and disappear seemingly at will.
That didn’t sound good at all.
CHAPTER FIVE
Rose’s room was empty.
By the time Beth finally headed to bed it was early morning, predawn. She had stopped to check on Rose, right before she planned to drop in exhaustion into her own bed.
Standing in the doorway of Rose’s bedroom, she stared dumbly at Rose’s rumpled but empty bed. Ari and Tyson were also missing but they might have just gone to their own beds …
Maybe Rose had gone to sleep with Ari?
Beth stumbled further down the hall to Ari’s bedroom.
Ari’s bed was not empty, but it didn’t contain Rose. It held Ari, burrowed underneath the covers, and Tyson, fully clothed, sprawled out on top of the covers. Both of them were asleep. Beth groaned, silently; she really didn’t want to deal with teenaged siblings of the opposite sex sleeping in each other’s bed right now … except she was seriously worried about Rose.
Beth crossed to Ari and shook her awake. “Ari. Ari? Where’s Rose?”
“Whazzup?” Ari murmured. She burrowed deeper underneath the covers.
“Ari!” Beth raised her voice. “Where is Rose?”
“In bed,” Tyson yelled, surprisingly loud for a person asleep. “Right where you should be!”
Ari sat bolt upright and wide-awake. “What’s wrong, who’s yelling? Tyson?”
“Ah, now you’ve woken her,” Tyson complained, but he took the opportunity to steal Ari’s pillow to cover his face. He already had one under his head.
“Why aren’t you in your own bed?” Beth snapped back at her brother.
“Because I’m here!” Tyson’s volume was only slightly diminished by the pillow.
“Beth, what’s wrong?” Ari asked, rubbing her eyes and trying not to yawn. “Rose is missing?” She climbed out of bed, still fully clothed. Both of Beth’s siblings were obviously exhausted, and she felt bad for waking them.
“Go back to sleep, Ari. I’ll look for her. I haven’t checked in Theo and Hugh’s rooms.”
“I’ll come with you. She was fast asleep when we left. She just kept kicking me.”
Ari crossed around the bed, grabbed the duvet that was currently bunched underneath Tyson, and yanked it out from under him. “Wake up, sleepy head,” she crowed as Tyson tumbled out of the bed in a pile of sheets and curses.
All the candles flared and then died in the room, which often happened when Tyson was startled. He lit them and Ari doused them. Beth imagined they didn’t even think about such everyday things anymore. She imagined they never worried about being weak and useless like she did …
“Tyson! Get off the floor! Rose is missing,” Ari shouted as she marched from the room, seemingly confident that the thrashing mound underneath the bed sheets would follow.
“You owe me for this, Beth,” Tyson growled, as he ripped the covers off his mussed head.
Beth shrugged in response. “I can’t control you. Why would you think I can control Ari?”
Tyson bared his teeth at her and stomped from the room.
Beth briefly thought about leaving her brother and sister to search for Rose on their own. She was probably curled up in their parent’s bed, or in Bryan’s. She was exhausted, and confused about her older doppelganger, and about Bryan and Calla, and Finn and …
Beth tamped down on that thought quickly; it wouldn’t lead anywhere good. She sighed and actually shook her head in an attempt to clear it, but it didn’t help. Then her concern overwrote her exhaustion and she followed Tyson out of the room.
∞
Rose wasn’t in their parent’s room, and she wasn’t in Bryan’s. And, of course, because the night just couldn’t get easier at any point, neither was Bryan.
When questioned by Ari about Bryan’s possible whereabouts, Beth felt her cheeks flame. Tyson narrowed his eyes at her, but after coming to some conclusion of his own, he didn’t seem at all embarrassed as he marched off toward Calla’s rooms. Ari was all in a twitter about this new development but managed to keep quiet about it. Beth trailed along behind her siblings. None of her usual joy in wandering the halls in the early mornings was even remotely present.
Tyson’s over-the-top pounding on Calla’s bedroom door got Finn’s attention first. He was in the room across the hall and had obviously been sleeping. He looked almost human with his mussed hair and disheveled clothing, which he’d obviously just pulled on. Sexy even, Beth thought, even as she realized that was the first time she’d ever used that word, even in her own head. He grinned at her when he caught her staring at him, and she quickly looked away.
Tyson pounded at the door again. Finn, oddly without questioning their actions, crossed his arms and leaned in the doorway of his own room to watch.
Finally, Bryan, red-faced and angry, yanked open the door, to yell, “What?”
“Hey!” Tyson yelled back. “Be happy I didn’t just have Beth open it!”
Bryan’s eyes swept the hall in a single gaze, though he avoided looking directly at Finn. His teeth were so clenched his jaw was ridged. With his uncharacteristic anger twisting through him, Beth saw Bryan differently than she’d ever seen him before … less perfect, but not in a more accessible way, like Finn with his mussed hair. He was about to find out he was unjustifiably angry …
“What is it?” Bryan redirected his growled question at Beth, who was standing as far away as she could without seeming too cowardly.
Tyson shifted to deliberately step into Bryan’s eyeline. “Not to interrupt,” he said.
Bryan cut him off. “You have interrupted.”
“Rose is missing,” Beth said, though she was uncomfortable meeting Bryan’s eyes. She imagined he was about to question her, about to accuse her of making things up, even though he never had before. Sometimes she felt like such a child around him, even though she was only a year younger.
Standing here with him half in Calla’s room only emphasized that feeling. But, instead of casting her eyes at the ground, she tilted her chin up just the way Theo always did. Bryan’s question died before it was uttered. He backed into the room and closed the door until it was only slightly ajar. Going for his shirt and shoes, Beth imagined.
She could hear whispered voices inside; Calla’s questioning concern and Bryan’s curt answers. Tyson angled his body one way and then the other to try to get a better look inside the room. A better look at Calla, Beth imagined.
Ari, who had stayed silent and wide-eyed as they tracked Bryan to Calla’s rooms, smacked Tyson on the arm and then hustled him down the hall. They bent their heads together and spoke furiously but quietly. Beth imagined they had the same questions she did, the same questions Finn probably had, and she pushed away the ache that her siblings’ closeness often caused in her chest.
She lifted her eyes to find Finn staring at her, his face inscrutable. “I can find her,” he finally said. “It’s what I do.”
Ah, Beth thought, so maybe that was how he’d been following her around and getting near without her knowing it. She nodded and Finn retreated into his room as Bryan stepped into the hall.
“Are you betrothed then?” she asked her brother before she could stop the question from blurting out of her mouth. Bryan seemed startled. Down the hall, Tyson and Ari fell silent. “Well
? Are you?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Isn’t it? We’ve all witnessed you here, including Finn.”
Bryan sighed and ran his hand through his hair, which, Beth decided in the moment, he wore too long and boyish. “Nothing happened.”
“You just lost your shirt and shoes in Calla’s room?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Like what?” Finn asked as he stepped back into the hall, fully clothed and armed.
Bryan faltered as his gaze fell to the sword at Finn’s side. He was a couple of inches taller, but nowhere near as bulky as the young warrior. He was also unarmed.
“What would you say if it was me?” Beth asked quietly.
Bryan looked confused. “It would never be you, Beth.”
“Right, because I’m just so undesirable. No man would sneak into my rooms.”
“No! Of course not. You’re just not …”
“Not what?” Finn asked. His voice had a dangerous edge.
“What if it was Tyson and Ari? I found them in bed together tonight.”
“What?” Bryan bellowed and turned on Tyson, who actually stumbled back and fell.
“Not like that!” Tyson yelled back.
“Oh, that’s just … so … so foul!” Ari shouted. “He’s my brother!” She struggled to help Tyson to his feet.
“Hey!” Tyson declared, a little hurt by Ari’s condemnation.
Bryan, now utterly confused, looked at Beth questioningly.
“Well, I guess you have your answer about how you’d react,” Beth said. “I wish you both peace and prosperity together.”
“Peace and prosperity,” Tyson and Ari repeated by rote. Bryan opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
Beth turned to Finn. “Do you need anything to track Rose? Some clothing?”
For a moment, Finn didn’t break his gaze from Bryan, who was at least brave enough to meet the warrior’s eye. Then he nodded, following Beth as she turned away. Finn’s hands were balled into fists. Bryan flinched as he passed, though Finn hadn’t even looked back at him.
“I’ll wake the steward,” Bryan called after Beth.
“Rose went outside last time, before the earthquake,” Beth reminded her brother.
“I’ll go to the guard at the gate,” Tyson said.
She nodded, then led Finn from the guest wing.
∞
“I’m sorry,” Finn muttered. He was moving around Rose’s room, looking for an item important enough or close enough to the girl that it could be used to track her.
“For what?” Beth asked. She kept her arms firmly crossed over her chest. Bryan had put them all in an uncomfortable position, and she didn’t really want to discuss it with Finn or anyone at all. She was holding out hope that they’d find Rose quickly and she could just go to sleep for a long while. She’d be a bit more comfortable at least … being alone and asleep had a calming effect.
“For … you know.”
“It’s I who should be apologizing. You and your sister are our guests.” The words sounded as formal and inadequate on Beth’s tongue as they did in her head, but she didn’t try to soften them. It was best to keep a firmer wall between her and Finn, or she would forget and make a further fool of herself.
Silence fell between them once more. Beth was so tired that she was having a hard time focusing her thoughts and refraining from just openly staring at Finn. It was his white-blond hair that naturally pulled her eyes to him, she told herself. She’d never seen that color on someone before … it had nothing to do with the way his capable hands moved almost delicately over Rose’s things without actually touching, or the muscled slope of his shoulder when he dipped his head to look at something closer …
“This should do,” he said. He held Rose’s hair brush aloft.
He turned and caught Beth watching him, which wasn’t weird, she told herself, since he had just spoken to her. So she nodded to cover the thoughts bouncing around her tired head. He didn’t speak further, so they ended up just staring at each other for a while. Not for the first time, Beth wished she was a mind mage capable of reading others’ thoughts, but shielding her own, of course.
“Will you force him then? To marry her?” Finn voice sounded as tired as Beth’s.
“He won’t need to be forced,” she replied, and tried to turn away from the conversation.
“Do you really think they would have married if they hadn’t been caught?”
“Yes. She’s beautiful and kind. She’s one of us. Who else would he marry?”
The question hung between them … who would any of the Spirit Bound marry if they married at all? Who was powerful enough to keep Tyson in check? Or Rose? Even Ari wasn’t always benign. Bryan himself had a dark edge to his powers —
“I feel like I should have said something.”
“Or rather done something? Felt like beating on him a bit, did you?”
“Yes.”
Beth laughed, surprised she was capable of finding any amusement in the situation. “It’s not even dawn yet. With the way the night has been going so far, I think you might get your chance.”
“I didn’t think she was so serious.”
“Bryan is hard to resist.”
“And you’re sure you aren’t blood-related?” He was teasing her. Flirting, and Beth liked it even though she had no idea why he’d be interested.
Rose was still missing, however. Probably asleep somewhere she felt was safe, but missing all the same, and with a stranger at large in the castle. A stranger with Beth’s face.
“Rose. That’s who’s blood-related to Bryan,” she said, and she smiled to soften the change in subject. She was surprised that she bothered to ease the edge off her tone at all. Finn made her … want things. He made her want to be different, even though she wasn’t, even though she was just her pathetic self.
“Right, Rose. Well, she left by that door.” Finn indicated the main door behind Beth. “Shall we follow her trail?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Finn stepped past her, but paused before he fully entered the hall. “Thank you.” He spoke so quietly that she had to lean in to hear him. “For defending Calla’s honor, even when she obviously didn’t care about it herself.”
Beth nodded, but she didn’t have any proper words to speak back to him. She wasn’t good when things got emotional. She liked it calm and under control. Her control.
As she watched Finn step into the hall holding Rose’s brush, she had a sinking feeling that her sister’s disappearance was connected to the appearance of her older self in the tower. Maybe even to why the earthquake had happened in the first place. How she knew those things were connected, she didn’t know. She couldn’t know. But she felt like nothing was ever going to be in her control ever again.
Bryan poked his head around the door. He was winded. “No sign of her yet. We’ve got everyone up and looking, but there’s too few of us to scour the castle effectively. Hopefully Finn will have better luck.” He retreated back into the hall and Beth quickly followed.
∞
All hopes of Rose being curled up in a chair in some cozy corner of the castle were dashed when Finn stepped outside through the kitchen doors.
The sun was thinking about rising. It hadn’t snowed in the night, but the earlier snow certainly hadn’t melted.
Ari and Tyson dashed back inside to get their coats. Calla had joined the search party, but kept at least one other person between her and Bryan at all times. Beth had a feeling she’d overheard the conversation in the hallway about betrothing and hadn’t liked the tone of it.
Finn, led by Rose’s hairbrush, had first walked to Beth’s rooms, then the library, then the kitchens. The rest of them had followed him, practically tearing each room apart looking for Rose.
“She was here,” Finn kept muttering. “But she didn’t come and go by the door.”
No matter how many different ways they tried to clarify this remark, Finn cou
ldn’t seem to figure out what he was feeling. Just like they all were, Finn was only coming into his powers, so they tried to be patient.
Outside, they zigzagged through the barn and then out the other side.
“I keep getting multiple impressions,” Finn growled. “As if someone is toying with us.”
“Someone who knows you can track,” Bryan added.
“Someone like me,” Beth sighed.
“How is that even possible?” Tyson moaned. “And I am crazy hungry.”
“Shush, Tyson,” Ari chided.
“But if you keep following, you’ll eventually find her, Finn.” Calla spoke to her brother quietly, as if she didn’t want to draw much attention to herself. Then, obviously thinking better of this behavior, she squared her shoulders and looked Beth, then Bryan, in the eye to declare, “Nothing can stay hidden from Finn, ever. Not when he uses something like hair to track.”
They all turned to Finn, who shrugged his agreement.
“Should we split up, then? Based on Finn’s impressions?” Beth asked Bryan, who looked like he needed sleep as much as she did.
“No, the servants and guards can continue to look through the castle and immediate grounds, we’ll stay together and keep moving forward. First, let’s go back to the kitchens —”
“Thank you!” Tyson groaned. He seemed more concerned with his stomach than with Rose. Beth took it as a good sign that not everyone was feeling the almost oppressively heavy blanket of doom she sensed hanging in the air. She had been worried that that feeling was actually her picking up traces of the wrongness that had accompanied the older Bethany in the tower. Picking up trace magic wasn’t something she normally could do, however, so she kept quiet about it. She’d rather not look even more stupid in front of Bryan, Calla, and especially, Finn.
“Finn, can you pick up the trail if we leave it for a moment?” Bryan asked.
“Always.” Finn didn’t look at Bryan when addressing him; but then again, neither did Calla now.
“We should send a message to the city,” Beth suggested as they tromped through the snow back to the kitchens.
“I don’t want to worry Mom. I have guards in the tower, and what if Rose is just sleepwalking?” Bryan answered.
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