Page 40 of Duskbound (Esprithean Trilogy #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

"Valkan is dead."

Aether's words fell into the cramped meeting room like stones into still water. I watched the ripples spread across each face—Vexa's sharp intake of breath, Effie's fingers stilling against her sleeve, Rethlyn's shoulders going rigid.

"How?" Vexa finally asked.

"I killed him." Aether's tone was flat, matter-of-fact. "Along with a dozen of his Damphyre."

"You did what?" Effie shot up from her chair. "Have you lost your mind?"

"The only fertile region we had left," Theron rasped from his corner, "and you murdered its Lord?"

"There must have been a reason," Rethlyn said, but uncertainty drenched his tone.

"Of course there was a reason," Vexa snapped.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Mira cut in. "The political chaos this will cause? The Council will demand?—"

"I don't care what the Council demands." Something in Aether's voice made them all fall silent .

"Then explain it to us," Raven said quietly. "Why?"

Aether's jaw tightened, and for a moment I thought he wouldn't answer. Then his eyes found mine, something dark and violent crossing his face. The others followed his gaze, and suddenly I felt the weight of every stare in the room.

Effie was the first to notice the bandage peeking above my collar. Her eyes widened, then narrowed to slits. "He didn't."

I tried to shrink away from their scrutiny, but it was too late. Understanding bloomed across their faces, followed immediately by horror, then rage.

"That monster," Effie breathed, all color draining from her face. "He actually?—"

"He deserved it. That's the last I will say on the matter. We have other things we must discuss," Aether cut in, though his voice still carried that dangerous edge. "Because we have a plan to move forward, but Urkin won't go along with it."

"What do you mean, won't go along with it?" Vexa asked, though her eyes kept darting to my collar, her fingers still tight on her weapon belt.

"I'm done taking orders from him." Aether's words seemed to press against the walls. "He's served this realm well for thirty years, but he's stuck in the past, unwilling to listen to new approaches. If we continue down his path, we'll destroy everything we hope to save."

"You're talking about desertion," Rethlyn said carefully.

"I'm talking about survival." Aether's gaze swept the room. "The arcanite towers—we have to stop trying to destroy them."

"Stop destroying them?" Theron pushed himself straighter in his chair. "That's our entire strategy."

"A strategy that will fail." Aether's voice hardened. "Because if we destroy those towers, all of that stored essence will either be destroyed or lost to Sídhe forever."

"How do you know this?" Mira asked .

"Because we found something in Draxon." Aether paused, his eyes finding mine again. "Something that changes everything we thought we knew about this war."

"What exactly did you find?" Raven leaned forward.

"What we found was information about something called a siphon," Aether said, his voice carrying weight that made everyone lean forward. "A person who can redirect the flow of essence through the realm."

"I've never heard of such a thing," Rethlyn said, scrunching his eyebrows.

"You wouldn't have." Aether's jaw tightened. "Throughout history, they've been erased from existence. Viewed as an abomination."

"But why?" Vexa asked.

I stepped forward, drawing their attention. "Because they don't just redirect essence—they can steal it. Pull it from the land itself, from other people."

"That sounds like a Damphyre," Mira said quietly.

Aether stepped closer, his voice taking on a grimmer tone. "There are similarities, yes, but a Damphyre is created—twisted into existence through the murder of another Kalfar. Their ability to drain essence is unnatural, forced. A siphon is born with this power. It's their tether, as much a part of them as breathing." His eyes fell on me again. "But while Damphyres can only feed on their fellow Kalfar, a siphon's reach extends to the land itself. They can pull essence from one place and channel it to another. Both abilities corrupt the natural flow of essence—which is why our people have always viewed them with such... extreme vitriol."

"So what does this have to do with the arcanite towers?" Theron asked.

"Because we finally know how Sídhe's been doing it," Aether said. "How they've been draining our realm."

The room went quiet, waiting. I stepped forward .

"The King of Sídhe is a siphon."

"The King," Raven breathed, scribbling something into a notepad. "Is this common knowledge in Sídhe?"

I leaned against the stone wall, eyes tracing a pattern on the floor. "No one has ever known what his focus—tether is. It's always been a mystery."

"It would make sense," Vexa said, pacing now. "The way the drought spreads, how they're able to drain specific regions while others remain untouched..."

"How long?" Mira asked, her voice sharp. "How long has he been planning this?"

"Decades," I said. "Ever since they started farming arcanite in Riftdremar. This was the goal all along."

"So what do we do? Assassinate the King?" Theron asked.

A chill ran across my skin at the thought, but I couldn't say I hadn't considered it myself. "We don't know, but this changes everything. We have to come up with a new plan to approach this."

"In the meantime," Aether cut in, "we have an idea that might help restore some of what's been stolen, but we're going to need help from everyone in this room."

Rethlyn leaned forward. "What kind of idea?"

Aether nodded to me, and I stepped closer to the center of the room. My heart thundered against my ribs—what I was about to suggest wasn't just dangerous, it was probably impossible. But after everything we'd learned, we had to try something.

"I believe that if I can get my hands on arcanite, I might be able to imbue it with essence."

"That's quite an assumption." Mira narrowed her eyes.

"Talon—when he examined me—said that essence seemed to flow through me in a way that was different than a tether. There was no connection between me and the land." I paused, collecting myself. "He said that I create my own essence. That its self-sustaining. Valkan seemed to think the same thing."

I looked down as another silence fell across the room.

"And where exactly do you propose we find arcanite?" Effie finally asked, though something in her tone suggested she already knew the answer.

I met her gaze steadily. "Riftdremar."

And once again, all eyes fell in my direction.

"That's impossible," Theron said. "Riftdremar was destroyed. Everything was burned?—"

"But what if it wasn't?" I pressed. "What if they only took what they needed? There could still be stores left, forgotten after all these years."

"It's worth trying," Vexa said, surprising me. "What other choice do we have? Valkan's men will retaliate at some point. We need to be as strong as we can before they descend on Ravenfell—our tethers at their peak."

"We'll need to move fast," I said. "Before the Council has time to reorganize, before Draxon's forces can mobilize. Raven, you could be our eyes and ears here in Ravenfell."

He looked me over and nodded, that mysterious glint returning to his eye.

"And what happens if we're surrounded by Sídhe forces the second we find these mines?" Theron asked.

"Then we die trying to save our realm," Aether said simply. "Instead of watching it wither away to nothing."

The room fell quiet again as they considered his words. I watched their faces as doubt warred with hope, fear with determination. Finally, Vexa stepped forward.

"I'm in."

"Me too," Effie said, "though I'd prefer not to die, if we can help it."

"The archives might have maps of Riftdremar from before the burning," Raven offered. "Details about where the arcanite stores were. "

Mira exchanged a look with Theron before nodding. "After what happened to Lael... I'm done watching us lose people while we wait for orders."

"We'll need to move carefully," Rethlyn said, already shifting into tactical mode. "Scout the territory first, plan our approach?—"

"No time for that," Aether cut in.

"When do we leave?" Vexa asked.

"Tomorrow night." Aether's voice left no room for argument. "The Council will still be in chaos from Valkan's death. Urkin won't be back from Stravene. It's our best chance."

"That's... soon," Effie said.

"It's not soon enough," Aether countered, and for a split second, I could see the leader that the Council had wanted all those years ago. The tone of his voice, the determination written across his forehead, the commanding presence that nearly seeped off of him.

A moment passed as they all considered what they were agreeing to. What it would mean to desert their posts, to go against direct orders. To risk everything on a theory that might not even work.

"You're right," Vexa finally said.

The others nodded, and something settled in my chest—something laced with fear, but also something lighter, something that blazed through me. We had a plan. It wasn't much, but it was something. A chance to actually make a difference.

"Get some rest," Aether said.

As the others filed out, I caught Raven's arm at the door. "Stay." My eyes found Vexa and Aether, still murmuring in the corner of the room. Effie sat alone, her head in her hands.

I walked towards them, my boots scraping against the stone floor.

"There's something you all need to know."

The heaviness in my voice must have carried weight, because Raven closed the door immediately and took a seat in front of me .

"I haven't exactly been transparent about all of my abilities," I said, feeling the anxiety clawing as all of their eyes fell on me and darkened slightly.

"Beyond controlling minds, beyond seeing them behind barriers..." I drew in a breath, forcing myself to continue. "There's something else. Something I've barely begun to understand myself."

Aether sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest and giving me a look that nearly made my mouth go dry. "Go on."

My fingers twisted together as I searched for the right words. "I dream. But not normal dreams. I see through other people's eyes, experience their memories, their moments. Sometimes they're from the past, sometimes they're happening right now. And I can't control when they come, or why they show me what they do."

I turned to Vexa, whose violet eyes had narrowed. "Last year, I lived through someone forging a dagger. Every strike of the hammer, every marking carved into the blade." My gaze fell to her weapons. "Your markings."

Her hand drifted to the hilt at her side, fingers tracing patterns she carved herself.

"And you," I said to Aether, whose golden eyes had gone sharp with interest. "I saw your eyes in my dreams months before I crossed the rip. Before I even knew this realm existed." The words came out softer than I meant them to, and heat crept up my neck as his gaze locked onto me with an intensity that made my heart stutter. For a moment, the others in the room seemed to fade away.

The silence that followed pressed against my skin, but I pushed forward, before the weight of his stare made me lose my nerve completely.

"Lately, I've been seeing two sisters. Twins, I think. Young girls, born into nobility—maybe even royalty—here in Umbrathia." The memory of the first dream flickered through my mind. "Their father took them to the Void when they were barely more than children. Their mother..." I swallowed hard, remembering her desperate pleas. "She begged him not to."

"But, I've seen glimpses of their life as they grew up. One of them later married a Lord from the Skaldvindr family—that's what made me realize that these people were real, and relevant, perhaps. They had a child together." The words felt heavy as they left my mouth, though I didn't understand why. I could still feel Aether's gaze on me, but I kept my eyes fixed on the floor.

Raven stepped closer, something shifting in his casual demeanor. "The current Queen was married to Lord Skaldvindr before his death."

Slowly, my eyes crawled up to Raven, who was studying me intensely. Vexa and Effie exchanged a look that made my skin prickle.

"She also had a sister," Raven said quietly. "What was her name?"

"Vilda. Her twin." Aether's voice had lost its earlier warmth, replaced by something vacant. "She died not long after Skalvindr. Not long after their father, in fact." He looked towards Raven.

"Some say that was the catalyst. Why the Queen’s mind began to slip into madness," Vexa breathed, clutching the chair beneath her with white knuckles.

“And then her son died of a rare illness, which only made matters worse,” Effie said quietly.

Silence pressed against the walls as I absorbed this. The Queen. I was dreaming of the Queen and her family. But why? How did all of this connect? I could feel in my bones that there was a reason. That it was going to end up being important, but I still couldn't connect the dots.

My heart thundered against my ribs as I forced myself to continue. "There's one more thing."

Their attention snapped back to me.

"In these dreams, sometimes..." I wet my lips, suddenly unsure. " Sometimes I hear a voice. It calls me by a different name." The words caught in my throat. "Fiandrial. I think it might be my real name."

Aether went completely still. Not the practiced stillness of a soldier, but something deeper, as if he'd been frozen in place. Raven and Vexa looked confused, but Aether...

He stood so abruptly his chair scraped against stone. "There's something I have to do." His voice was tight, controlled, but I caught the tremor beneath it. "I'll be back later."

The door closed behind him with a force that stopped my heart for a beat.

I crawled into bed, tugging Aether's shirt closer around me. The fabric still carried his scent—rain and woodsmoke. It should have felt strange wearing it, but instead it felt... Right. Safe. Though safety seemed like a cruel joke now. Just like the night before, every time I closed my eyes, I was back in that horrendous chamber.

Aether still hadn’t returned from wherever he’d run off to. I was going to have to face this alone tonight.

My eyes traced down my skin to the stark white bandages, too clean, too pristine against my flesh. They felt like a lie—like covering the truth of what had happened in that castle, making it seem neat and contained when it was anything but. Before I realized what I was doing, my fingers were already tearing at them, ripping them away until the shallow cuts beneath were exposed. Maybe it was worse, seeing the evidence of what they'd done to me, but something about facing the truth of it felt better than hiding it away.

A knock at the door made me jump, Valkan's face flashing through my mind before I could stop it. I had to remind myself that he was dead, that I'd watched him torn apart, that his blood still stained the walls of that chamber. Still, my heart thundered as I approached the door.

When I opened it, Vexa and Effie stood there with pillows and blankets tucked under their arms. The sight of them made something in my chest crack.

"We're staying with you tonight," Vexa said, already pushing past me into the room. Effie followed, both of them dropping their bedding onto the floor as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

It wasn't until they turned back to me that I remembered my state—Aether's shirt hanging loose, the cuts now visible across my arms and legs. I watched understanding dawn in their eyes, watched as Vexa's face transformed with a rage that looked lethal. Shock spread across Effie's features.

"I had no idea..." she breathed, and I'd never seen her look at me like that before—like she might cry. The pity in her eyes made me want to cover myself.

"Any of us would have done what Aether did." Effie's voice was fierce.

My first instinct was to hide the evidence of what they'd done to me. But something in their expressions—the raw honesty there—made me pause.

The tears I'd been holding back all day finally spilled over, and once they started, I couldn't make them stop. It felt like everything I'd been containing since that castle was suddenly breaking free.

Vexa crossed the room and pulled me into a hug. The gesture surprised me. "Tell us what we can do." Her voice was softer than I'd ever heard it, and somehow that gentleness made it harder to keep myself together.

"Thank you for coming," I managed between shaky breaths. "I didn't know how I was going to sleep tonight." The admission was difficult, but it felt good to say it aloud. To acknowledge the fear that had been building all day as I thought about laying in my bed, trying to find sleep again. Alone. Without Aether.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Effie asked gently.

I considered it for a moment, wondering if speaking the horror aloud would help me move past it. But the thought of describing those cold lips against my skin, of reliving the helplessness as they fed from me... Maybe I wasn't ready to move past it. Maybe I wanted to hold onto that anger for a while longer. Or maybe I just couldn't bear to say his name, to speak the word Damphyre again. It felt like giving them back some small piece of power, and they'd already taken enough from me.

I shook my head as fresh tears fell. They guided me to the bed, sitting on either side of me until the sobs that wracked my body finally began to quiet. Their presence felt like an anchor, keeping me from drifting too far into those dark memories.

Moments passed, I wasn't sure how many, but finally, my body stilled from the sobs that had been tearing through my chest. The tears became less and less.

After my breathing steadied, Effie broke the silence. "I have to be honest, Fia." She paused, and when I looked up, there was a familiar glint in her eye. "I'm rather offended that you never dreamed about me ."

The laugh that burst from me surprised us all. It felt strange in my throat, almost foreign after everything that had happened, but also necessary—like breaking through ice to find air.

"I found it quite interesting..." Vexa said, and something in her tone made me tense. "The manner in which you dreamed of us. Or, more precisely, the fact you've been dreaming about Aether's eyes ."

Heat rushed to my face as Effie let out an undignified snort. I hadn't expected them to focus on that detail, though maybe I should have. The memory of those dreams flooded back—how his golden eyes had haunted me long before I knew what they meant, who they belonged to.

"Quite the romantic, Fia." Effie's voice carried a teasing lilt that would have been annoying if it wasn't such a welcome distraction from darker thoughts.

I nudged Effie, trying to ignore how my stomach flipped at their implications. "It's not like that." But the words felt hollow, even to me. When had that changed?

"Don't think we haven't noticed how he acts around you," Effie said, and my stomach did an odd flip. I wasn't ready to examine what they might have noticed, what I myself had been trying desperately not to notice.

"At first, I had never seen him so irritated, never seen someone get under his skin like you did. Or get a reaction out of him at all, really." Vexa shrugged, but there was something knowing in her violet eyes. "He's always been more statue than man."

My mind flashed to days before, how he'd held me against him in that ice-filled cave, the way his shadows had danced beneath his skin when I'd given him more. The way his eyes had burned when he found me in Draxon.

And then there was last night. When he saved me from the ghosts plaguing my every thought. When he’d held me against his chest, our heartbeats echoing through each other.

"Yes, well,” I muttered, trying to hide the blush creeping across my cheeks, “we seem to have that effect on each other.”

"But it's different now." Vexa's voice carried a weight that had me pausing.

The silence seemed to stretch on, and I found myself unable to meet their eyes. Different.

"It's not," I said quickly, though my voice betrayed me. "We just learned how to work together."

"Whatever you say." Effie's tone dripped with suspicion, and I could feel the heat creeping up my neck .

Was I really that transparent?

We talked late into the night. The conversation drifted to lighter topics—Effie's perfume line she'd started before the drought began, Vexa's stories from her time in prison. Slowly, the weight in my chest began to ease. The cuts still stung, and I knew the memories would return, but for now, surrounded by their warmth and laughter, I felt almost whole again.

At some point, I drifted off to sleep, Aether's shirt still wrapped around me, their voices a gentle murmur in the background.

Although I could have sworn, sometime during the night, that I’d seen a pair of golden eyes peeking into the room.

Or perhaps I’d imagined it.