It killed me to be alone with my thoughts.
Thain was alive at least. I wasn't too worried, I knew how strong he was, but when he never caught up to Schula and me it was unsettling. And surely Eberon was safely with him too.
But I still worried that my newfound lineage would break apart my only recently healed friendship with Thain. And what of Eberon? He seemed to care quite a bit about status, would this sway his views of me too? Schula. She probably already knew, and now I didn't know where she was, but I was so worried for her. I didn't like Asher and DuVarick reacting to her the way they did, and all I could do was hope she was okay.
But despite all my worries I was still hopeful. If anyone could find us it would be Thain. I held onto that hope.
All the highs and lows I felt were tying my stomach into a knot. I tossed and turned as I tried to get some more sleep, but it never came.
Nassir was no better. He had remained quiet since our meeting with Puko. Whatever was running through his head took up all his concentration and he barely said a word all night. Or day? Evening? And he didn't eat much either.
Both of us were a wreck.
And then, all too soon, I felt someone outside the door again.
Laying on the cool ground I clenched my jaw and waited to see who it was.
My chest tightened with Asher's familiar presence pushed against me. The door opened, but the light didn't blind me quite as badly as it had before thanks to my fire. I was able to see him in more relaxed clothes, similar to what DuVarick wore before but not as embellished.
He sneered down at me where I had been trying to sleep near the doorway. I reached out with my power to feel for Nassir, but he was already long gone.
"Come on," Asher growled and grabbed my braid to pull me up.
I bit back a scream and he hauled me over a shoulder again and carried me away.
The moment I was out the door it felt like I was punched in the gut. The sudden urge to go somewhere nagged at me. It was probably the panic of being hauled away again, I needed to get away.
"Stop squirming or I'll take one of your thumbs," Asher said calmly as though he was commenting on nothing more interesting than the weather.
I sucked in a breath and obeyed, but it was hard. The restlessness only grew stronger the further we went.
Instead of dwelling on the uncomfortable sensation, I instead tried to memorize where we were going. The intricate hallways made that nearly impossible though, and there was little variation on the walls that would make memorable landmarks. The same dusty portraits and gruesome battles were depicted on canvas after canvas as Asher hauled me to my fate.
Finally, we were back at that familiar doorway to DuVarick's office, or whatever it was, and Asher dropped me on the carpet.
DuVarick stood at a bookshelf, reading something, with his back to the room. He didn't look up as he ordered, "Leave us."
Asher didn't argue, he simply closed the door and I felt his suffocating and aggressive aura leave.
The King of Winter was dressed more regally today. He still had no shirt, but his chest was draped with gold today, and his kilted garments were adorned with jewels. The crown atop his head had wicked points, reminding me of the mountains surrounding Icehold.
I stood, but I didn't dare say anything while DuVarick thumbed through the pages of a thick tome. He let the silence drag on while he studied the pages in front of him, until finally he closed the book and slipped it back on the shelf.
"I suppose you want to know what I'm going to do with you," He said matter-of-factly.
I didn't answer, but my eyes grew wide. It was an answer I both dreaded and needed, but wasn't expecting to get anytime soon.
"I've nearly decided, but first I have a number of questions that you will answer."
I swallowed and nodded.
"Why would Schula be traveling with you? What in the Wyldes possessed Baeleon to send her into my lands?" DuVarick asked.
I nearly lied, but I remembered that the fae would be able to tell.
"I have been in the care of the triquetram who found me. Schula is a part of that," I said.
"So then where is the rest of your party?" DuVarick asked in a low tone.
"I don't know," I mumbled. Thank the Stars and Mother and any other being that might be listening that it was the truth, because I was certain I didn't want to tell him where to find Thain or Eberon.
"Crawling back to the Autumn lands no doubt," he scoffed. "Anyway, in light of the newfound abomination I have sent for envoys from each crown to come witness this year's Winter Solstice. It's going to be very... entertaining. My advisers continue to moan, saying if I killed you now without the other courts present we would start another war."
DuVarick rolled his eyes and waved a hand in the air, dismissing the idea. "Even if we did, it would be good for the fae. The ones only a few hundred years old don't know war, not really. And they certainly could use a bit of toughening up. Regardless, we do this publicly. You will be revealed for what you are, and then I will lead the charge to wipe your kind out starting with you."
"My kind?" I breathed. Was it witches, or was it whatever else I was?
"Yes, about time too. Should have chased the lot of you down years ago, just to make sure you never came back."
The madness in his eyes slipped through the cracks. He was hungry for violence. Some part of DuVarick wasn't right, just as Nassir had said. I decided to take a risk.
If he was going to kill me at Solstice anyway, I might as well try something.
"I thought you cared for Lark! How can you want to kill her own child?" I cried.
"What did you say?" He hissed, rounding on me. His face was close enough for me to feel his hot breath on my nose.
"H-how could you-"
"DO NOT SPEAK HER NAME!" He roared, breathing hard as his stare pierced me with hatred. "She betrayed me! And then she died a coward's death, just to spite me."
I was terrified to move, his anger was a thick stew in the air and it was hard to breathe. His power was immense, I could only imagine what Nassir's power must be to match such a fae. If I could get him out of here, would he thrive again? Would he be this ferocious? DuVarick's magic was so strong, and it grew stronger with his hatred.
And then something clicked. His obsession. His boiling anger.
"You loved her," I whispered.
DuVarick slapped me across the face so hard I tumbled from my feet and slid into the wall behind me. I clutched my stinging face and looked up in horror at his new rage.
I. Should. Not. Have. Said. That.
"How dare you speak as if you know anything about my feelings of Lark," He seethed. "I gave her everything, and she threw it back in my face. And you're no different with your tricks. You had no idea who your mother was a few days ago, and here you are now, suddenly informed. That means that disgrace is still alive enough to talk."
My heart stopped. Nassir.
"Oh yes, I haven't forgotten about him. Whatever delicious fate I decide to end you with at the ball, he will meet the same end. And so will any other fae who I have in my clutches that helped you or her."
Schula.
She definitely helped me, and she was definitely in his clutches.
My stomach twisted painfully, crying out for something. Telling me to run, to find, to hide.
"Should I rip out your throat? Or maybe I could poison you at the start of the ball, and as my people dance around you they can watch your slow and painful death."
My throat was tight, and I wasn't willing to risk more trouble by speaking up just now. DuVarick rolled his eyes over my body, which still had only a breast band and torn pants.
"Or should I feed you to a pit of flesh hounds?" He asked.
When he still didn't get a response from me, he sighed and walked away. "ASHER!"
I swallowed, and only a few heartbeats later Asher came through the door. "My liege."
"Take her back, I'm sick of looking at her," DuVarick said.
"Wait," I could barely speak with my tight throat. "Where is Schula? She didn't have anything to do with this, she doesn't know!"
"Quiet," Asher kicked me, knocking the air from my lungs as he swung me back over his shoulder.
DuVarick had resumed his place by the bookshelf, but he turned slightly toward me with a grin, "Don't worry, you'll see her at Solstice."
DuVarick chuckled as Asher carried me away again, and I barely registered the cold tears on my cheeks as he took me through the halls again.
Nassir was in trouble. Schula was in trouble. I still didn't know entirely what I was, and now I had only days at the most before DuVarick's promised gruesome death.
Tears were still slipping down my face, and I still felt a tug to go somewhere, and I felt one more thing I rarely felt. Anger.
I had been through a wide array of emotions since coming to the Wyldes. Fear, joy, frustration, and sadness. But this was a burning, horrible anger. The unfairness of it all. The threat to my friends. The threat to me. The disgrace to the memory of my mother. And now, Asher ready to throw me back into the darkness.
Like Thain had first told me, my powers were connected to my emotions.
Asher carried me a little longer, until I finally saw the dimming of the light. We were near the entrance to the darkness. I reached out with my powers, trying to find Nassir. I couldn't sense him. No matter, I would find him soon enough.
I glanced at a suit of armor down the hall, and decided it was time to stop waiting around for Thain and do something.
Bryn's girl was not about to go down without a fight.
As we passed the armor, I took one look at a decorative but not particularly useful axe and decided on a plan.
A poorly thrown together disaster of a plan.
The moment we were close, I shot my arm out and yanked the handle free of the armor. I surprised myself with how fast I could do it, but I recovered enough to twist in Asher's arm as he was beginning to react, and perform the one trick I had up my sleeve that they weren't expecting.
My recovered magic.
I took a breath, and smacked my hand and the fist with the axe handle in it to Asher's face. He dig his claws into my side and I screamed, but I also let out everything I had. Burning, angry, boiling fire engulfed the hallway. We were so far from the rest of the palace I could only hope it would be a few minutes before help could arrive.
Asher roared as the fire ate him. The smell was awful, I flashed back to the shores of Silver Lake where the village burned and the blackened flesh of the villagers hung in the air. But I didn't stop.
The struggle was horrible, even burning him alive Asher was much stronger than I was, but he was doing it blinded and I was able to free a wrist and smash the axe as hard as I could in the meat of his neck, where his shoulder ended and a fleshy muscle climbed up to meet his throat. It bit deeply and the curdled roar he let out nearly made me throw up. Hells, I couldn't guarantee I wouldn't still lose my breakfast once the action was over.
But I jumped off the burning and blinded Asher, taking the axe with me and running the rest of the way into the darkness.
There was a lock on the barred door. I shoved the bar off and screamed for Nassir as I smashed the butt of the axe into the lock as hard as I could. It wasn't working. I tried to blast it with fire, but I didn't melt anything. But I must have softened it, because I was able to break it with the axe on the next try.
I threw open the door and ran in.
"Nassir!" I screamed. "We have to go!"
I reached for him again, and felt him this time. Far in, close to the water. No, past the water. He was at the window.
I ran as fast as I could, using the little trickle of power I hadn't just burned away to light the path ahead. when I grew close enough I yelled again.
"Nassir! We have to leave, now!" I called.
"Wren?" He yelled back. "Wren, wait!"
"Wren?" Another voice called.
I rounded the corner, into the light. Much, much more light than there should be for that tiny window.
And that was because there was no tiny window.
In the gaping hole of mountainside, with snow blowing in around him, stood Thain. He was panting, his eyes were wild and unglamoured, and Nassir was with him, holding Puko.
"Thain..." I slowed as I got close, but didn't stop. "We have to go, there will be soldiers here any minute."
Thain's nose flared out as he scented me, what I was. He looked surprised, but thankfully he was saving his opinions for later. "You couldn't have waited for me?" he managed to say.
I let out a breathy laugh and Puko flapped over to me, landing on my shoulder. "Sorry."
We heard faint shouting far behind me in the cavern, and I winced.
"You have no patience," Thain sighed. "Let's go."
And we stepped out into the mountains.