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CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

K aiser Brimtheon was, disappointingly and unsurprisingly, alive. He’d strolled into the refectory the day after we’d gone into the Reapers’ tunnels, as bland a Fae as ever before.

He hadn’t summoned me, hadn’t come to my quarters or even glanced in my direction since. It was as if nothing had happened. But it had. My world had shifted, aligning me with a fate I’d been fearful to accept the truth of, and there was no denying it now.

If I was to believe the powerful being we had spoken to in that terrible pit – and there was really no part of me that could doubt it – then I was the Void.

A thing named in the Elysium prophecy and known by every Fae across The Waning Lands.

According to many of the texts I’d read in the Astral Sanctuary of Castelorain, the Void would be the key to Cascada succeeding in the war.

There was an entire division under the Magistrine whose sole purpose it was to seek knowledge of the Void and discover its location.

Had there been more Fae born as Voids in the past?

Was I the first to be discovered? Or was I truly one of a kind?

The latter thought was a tantalising one.

That I could potentially be a unique force that would change the fate of the entire war.

Not that I was getting carried away with the idea or anything.

I smiled, as I had done every time I thought of what this could mean for my future.

Yes, there was the one tiny problem of that terrible monster being summoned to our world by the Reapers and destroying all my chances of becoming a hero.

And yes, I was still in a serious predicament with Kaiser, but for that problem at least, I had a plan ready come graduation that would ensure he didn’t take me even an inch toward Pyros.

As the Void, Cascada was relying on me to come home.

And when I got there, I was going to buy a ticket across the Bay of Marila to the Sunken Isles where the Magistrine held council.

I’d stride right into their court wearing my finest armour and declare myself the weapon Cascada had been waiting for.

I was going to be hailed as our greatest weapon and a celebration would break out across the land in my honour.

Everest Arcadia, saviour of Cascada, a hero sent from Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer as a divine warrior of the stars – too much?

Nah. This was my moment. It was coming at me like a violent sea storm and I’d be ready to meet it on the clifftop.

I just had to line up my conniving ducks in a row and be ready for graduation day.

There were a couple of weeks to go until my time at Never Keep was over, then I would have to face the trial that would decide whether I had passed or failed in my training and I’d be free to go claim my destiny.

And the Reapers’ monster I could deal with just as soon as I figured out how. How hard could it really be to thwart the most powerful, star-chosen prophets in The Waning Lands?

Okay, maybe I needed to work on that snag in my plans a little more.

“Ever?”

I looked up from the desk I’d been studying at in the Library of Frost, finding Harlon standing over me in his gold cloak. It was late. I’d been here all evening researching concealment spells, trying to find a loophole that would help me cast them better with one hand.

My fingers curled self-consciously in on the scars marking my left palm like I’d been caught out. But there was no way Harlon could know why I was here so late.

“You need to come with me,” he said seriously. “The Cardinal Reaper has requested to speak with you.”

The blood drained from my face and I pushed to my feet, defensive at once.

“Did you-”

“I told him nothing. One of the Seers saw your face in a vision.” Harlon’s jaw was tight and fear coloured his voice as he carried on in a whisper. “Tell him the truth, Ever. If you lie to him, you could risk your life.”

“We don’t even know what the Seer saw yet,” I whisper-hissed back, casting a silencing shield around us even though the library had long-ago emptied out. “It could be nothing.”

“Or it could be everything,” Harlon said thickly. “If you aid him in his hunt for the Reapers who have broken the vows of their position then he will be grateful. He will offer you protection as he has offered me.”

Silence weighed heavily between us, though my thoughts were loud, roaring at me to go against what Harlon was asking.

My gut was firm on this, despite the possibility that he could be right.

That maybe the Cardinal Reaper could be trusted and he might solve the problem of the monster for me.

But my instincts were screaming at me not to trust him and they’d saved my ass more than once.

“Take me to him,” I agreed.

Harlon nodded, turning and leading me down through the ice-covered bookshelves and wintery paths.

I followed him all the way out of the Vault in silence, sensing his mind was as frantic as mine, but for opposite reasons.

Harlon’s trust in the Cardinal Reaper may have been rightly placed, but after all I’d witnessed of the Reapers’ deeds, how could I place my faith in their ruler?

We eventually arrived at the door to the Astral Sanctuary and Harlon took my arm, leaning in close to breathe his next words to me. “Please, Ever. Do as I ask.”

I pulled my arm free of his grip and pushed the large wooden doors wide, stepping through and feeling Harlon’s eyes drilling into the back of my head.

The Astral Sanctuary was lit by dancing fires in iron sconces, igniting the ever-watching zodiac effigies on each wall of the room.

The scent of incense hung around us, a slight fog rising above us where the smoke had coiled away toward the heavens, making the air taste sickly sweet.

I always felt like I was being watched in this chamber, but never more so than I did now as my gaze met that of Solomon Imai’s.

The Cardinal Reaper stood beneath the towering stone carving of Capricorn, his hands clasped together and his fine navy cloak sweeping down to kiss the floor at his feet. His presence alone made the oxygen in my lungs feel heavier, like he could affect the very atoms that made up my being.

I bowed to him. “Praise to the stars.”

“And praise to those who tread their destined path, Everest Arcadia,” he spoke my name and dread licked down my spine. It was a damn dangerous thing for this Fae to know me. “Reaper Harlon speaks highly of you. He says you were close back in your hometown of Castelorain.”

I nodded, silent, which was unlike me, but I felt the best way to play this was to let Solomon Imai do most of the talking. That way, I could figure out what he knew before I would consider offering up a single scrap of information.

I heard the doors to the Astral Sanctuary close and glanced back to find Harlon standing in front of them like a guard dog. My pulse quickened as I turned back to the Cardinal Reaper, feeling penned in.

“You do not need to be frightened,” Solomon said, his tone softening.

“I have a few questions to ask you, that’s all.

I am still investigating some of the deaths that have occurred in our sacred Never Keep and I have spoken with many of the neophytes to help piece the truth together.

You are not the first, nor will you be the last.”

“What do you want to know, Cardinal Reaper?” I asked, blinking innocently at him and playing the dumb little trainee, hoping he would buy it. “If there’s anything I can do to help, I will gladly do so.”

“I would appreciate your absolute openness. I would prefer not to involve a Cyclops at this stage while I keep my investigations private, but I will do so if I believe you may be hiding information from me. Do you understand?” The softness to his voice didn’t fool me this time.

He was threatening me plain and clear, and as the most powerful Fae in The Waning Lands, I should have known better than to do anything against his wishes.

The fact that he possessed all four elements made him a rare, revered creature.

And all other Fae who had claimed such a gift from the stars were a part of his inner circle.

He knew power when he saw it and he kept it close.

So I had to wonder what he saw when he looked at me.

“I understand.” I bowed again, layering on my respect nice and thick so he didn’t suspect the traitorous thoughts I’d had about him.

“Good, then first I will need a full account of your whereabouts during the night of the Vampire attack. I will need details and names of Fae who can confirm your story.”

Fuck. The Libra statue seemed to be giving me the side-eye while my thoughts whirled with what I should say but I wasn’t going to balk at some judgemental set of scales – they were all about fairness and justice anyway, not blind honesty and where was the justice in me spilling every drop of the truth and potentially losing my head for it?

No, no, Libra, it was definitely fairer for me to play cat and mouse with the truth and protect my own ass in the process.

“Yes, Cardinal Reaper. Of course. Well I…fought alongside everyone else. And there’s probably some names I could give.

I was brave. I…cut one of the Vampires even.

” I released a choked noise then threw myself at the feet of the Cardinal Reaper with a cry.

“Oh stars, no, forgive me. I’m lying. I’m sorry, your greatness. I can’t keep this truth in any longer.”

“Speak, child,” Solomon urged hopefully and the feeling of Harlon’s eyes on me almost made me hesitate on what I was about to do.

“I was so afraid of those terrible V-Vampires,” I faked a stammer and was impressed at myself for the fear that presented itself in my voice. “I’m so ashamed to admit that I hid for most of the attack.”