The gravity of that statement settled on all four of us like leaden weights placed upon our shoulders. Several floors above, I could hear a commotion—the thunder of boots pounding against stone, the clatter of armor and weapons. Lady Axlya had likely told her guards and soldiers to prepare for battle, and I couldn’t blame her, with two enemy armies on her doorstep and all three nobles going at each other’s throats.
Slipping out now while the guards were distracted was a good plan. I doubted anyone would be concerned with monitoring the secret passages right now.
“Almost there,” Kiryan told us as we descended into the palace cellars. There was a warren of rooms down here, each stuffed to the brim with dry goods, pickled meats and vegetables, and alcohol. “The passage should be through here.”
He led us into a large room filled with stacks of aged oak barrels. The pleasant scents of cedar and red wine mingled with the damp, cold air, but there was something else, too, a dark undercurrent that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Something is wrong.” Einar threw out an arm to stop me from entering the room.
“What sharp instincts you have,” a familiar voice said as someone stepped out from behind one of the larger barrels. I sucked in a sharp breath, my blood turning to ice—it was Cascada, a smug smile spreading over her face. There was something off about her—her eyes seemed too big in her skull, her pupils blown as if she were on some kind of drug. “Too bad they won’t save you now.”
She flung a hand in Tamil’s direction, and to my horror, shadow magic crackled up her forearm and shot out of her palm, arcing like a lightning bolt toward Tamil’s head. I jumped forward, trying to duck around Einar’s arm so I could use my magic, but Kiryan beat me to it, shoving Tamil aside and taking the bolt straight in the chest.
His entire body convulsed, and he collapsed to the ground, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Black smoke leaked from his pores as his skin glowed, and I knew the radiant was using his own power to drive the black magic out of the poor guard’s body before it could kill him.
“What is this madness?” Tamil demanded. Her face was pale with shock as she pushed herself to her feet, and I reached out to offer a steadying grip on her elbow. “How is it you’re able to wield shadow magic, Cascada? Have you sold your soul to that demoness, just like Slaugh and the others?”
Cascada gave Tamil a wicked grin, and that sense of foreboding ran up my spine again. Her pupils expanded until they covered the whites of her eyes, eclipsing her soul in an abyss so dark and cold, I had to stop myself from recoiling.
“Cascada didn’t sell her soul to me, not willingly.” We all started as Nox’s voice poured out of the water fae’s mouth, like black velvet rasping against bare flesh. “I simply planted a piece of myself into her shadow, and have been making some subtle suggestions that her subconscious has been more than happy to follow. Though now that I’m speaking through her to you, I have to say she does make a rather excellent conduit,” she added, tapping a slender finger against Cascada’s mouth. “I almost want to use her as a vessel instead of Gelsyne, except doing so would rob me of my ability to torment you, Adara. And we can’t have that now, can we?”
She winked at me, and I stared at her as hope, of all things, began to blossom inside me. “Are you saying that my mother isn’t dead?” Had Slaugh lied to me after all?
“Oh no,” Nox purred, curling Cascada’s lips into a diabolical smile. “Gelsyne is most definitely still alive. I’m afraid I won’t be able to say the same for any of you, once I’m through here. Cascada’s attempts to kill you were lukewarm at best, but I assure you, I’ll be using something a little stronger than poisoned cake.”
I barely had time to process the revelation that Cascada was responsible for that poor cat’s death as Nox raised her hands, gathering power around her. Black lightning crackled down her arms, gathering in the palms of her hands as she prepared to attack again. I braced myself, summoning fire magic to my palms, and Einar and Tamil took up defensive positions, summoning their own magic.
I could feel the enormity of the shadow magic pulsing in the room, and doubt began to eat at the corners of my mind. Nox was powerful, even attacking from a distance, and I was weakened from the fast. I wasn’t sure if my fire magic would be a match for her.
But just as she lifted her arm, the shadow lightning in her palms began to flicker, as if something was interfering with the source. “W-what is this?” Nox croaked, her pupils expanding and contracting, expanding and contracting.
“I think… Cascada is fighting back,” Kiryan gasped from the floor. He seemed to have won the fight against the shadow infection, though it was clear from the way he struggled up into a sitting position that he’d barely managed it. “Nox is losing control.”
“I haven’t lost control of anything!” Nox snapped. Her black pupils slammed back into place, and she lifted her hands again, but Einar was already behind her, a small wine barrel clutched his hands. He smashed it atop Cascada’s head, and she went down into a heap, eyes rolling into the back of her head much the same way Kiryan’s had done just moments ago.
“Well shit,” Tamil said as the four of us stared at Cascada’s prone form. She lifted a questioning gaze to Einar as he crouched down beside the unconscious fae. “Did you kill her?”
He shook her head, his fingers against Cascada’s pulse. “She’s going to have a concussion, but she’ll survive.” He slid a hand beneath her back and lifted her up, then pointed to the ground beneath her. “This is the bigger problem.”
We all looked to where Einar pointed, and I gasped. Along the left edge of Cascada’s shadow was an inky patch about four inches long. It writhed beneath our collective stare, like a snake that had been staked to the ground.
“That’s what Nox meant when she said she planted a piece of herself into Cascada’s shadow,” I said numbly.
“Yes,” Kiryan said gravely. “By attaching a piece of her own shadow to Cascada’s, Nox was able to manipulate her subconscious, altering her memory of the events at Kaipei and convincing her you were the enemy, Adara.” He pushed himself to his feet and came to kneel by Cascada’s side. “I can remove the taint, but doing so will tax this body to its limits. I will not be able to come with you.”
“Do what you need to,” I said, placing a hand on Kiryan’s shoulder. I glanced down at Cascada’s sallow face, guilt wracking me. All along I’d thought she’d turned traitor, when in reality she’d become another of Nox’s victims, all because she’d jumped in to defend me against her and Slaugh. Her condition was partially my fault, since she’d risked her life so I could flee Kaipei… the least I could do was let Kiryan save her, even if it meant leaving without him.
“Let’s go,” Einar said. He steered me away as Tamil pushed aside a massive barrel, revealing the passage hidden behind it. “Before someone comes and finds us down here.”
I snuck one last glance at Kiryan and Cascada, watching as the Radiant leaned over her, placing glowing hands against her forehead and torso. And then I followed Einar and Tamil into the darkness.
39
Einar
Iexpected Tamil to lead us into an earthen passage similar to the one Adara, Mavlyn, and I had used to escape Kaipei Castle. Instead, we followed her down a steep stairwell that seemed to go on forever. Then again, that might have had less to do with the number of steps, and more to do with the fact that they were slick with the icy moisture that clung to the air around us. Even using my fire magic to light the way ahead, we had to take each one slowly, lest we slip and tumble into the darkness beyond.
Eventually, the sound of rushing water drifted up the stairwell to greet us—faintly at first, but it grew louder with each step until there was no mistaking it. The stairwell bottomed out into a large underground river. I stopped and stared—the water glowed with some inner light, casting blue and green shadows onto the tunnel walls.