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CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

“ A re you sure you’re up for this?” I frowned at Galomp as he tightened the straps of the heavy pack on his shoulders.

We were outside our quarters in the Vault of Frost, all packed and ready to leave.

He’d passed his trial just as I had, and honestly I wasn’t surprised.

Galomp had proved himself as one hell of a warrior in the time that I’d known him.

“I am most sure, Miss Everest. I do love an adventure.” He smiled then stepped forward, wrapping me in his arms and hugging me so tight that my feet came off the floor.

I resisted the affection for only a moment before hugging him back, burying my face in his shoulder. “You still owe me that ride on you in your Polar Bear form.”

He placed me down, nodding firmly. “Oh boy, I do not break promises. We will meet in Cascada and I shall take you for a romp of a ride, I will.” He slipped a hand into his pocket, taking out his notebook and quill, jotting something down on a page then ripping it out and handing it to me.

“This is my address, Miss Everest. You are welcome there any time.”

My brows arched as I read the location. “You live in the Sunken Isles?”

“Yes indeed, I do. My uncle will love to meet you. He has written to me in thanks for the donkey you gifted him. He likes you very much already, I can tell.”

“I’ve been planning a visit there anyway. I’ll come find you – if I don’t see you on the battlefield first.” I didn’t mention the reason for my intended visit there, but the truth was, I’d come up with an idea that could help me deal with the monster the Reapers were trying to summon to our world.

Once I returned to Cascada, I’d head straight to the Magistrine in the Sunken Isles and offer my services to our land as the Void.

Once they’d witnessed how powerful I was – and exceptional – they would surely be willing to listen to me about what I’d discovered at Never Keep.

Then, with the might of Cascada at my back, we could ensure that monster was never brought to The Waning Lands.

Galomp smiled, gazing at me for a long moment. “Oh bother, it is sad to say goodbyes.”

“Then don’t say one. It’s not goodbye anyway, I’ll see you in Cascada.”

“See you there, friend.” His face brightened. “And I promise I will cast the best illusion possible of you down in Obsidian Cove so your bothersome Fury will chase right after me instead of the real you.”

“Thank you,” I exhaled.

“You are most welcome, Miss Everest. I will miss you, my good friend.” He turned and lumbered off down the hall into the stairway.

I drifted back into my quarters, whispering a goodbye to the place that had seen me rise from a runt to a warrior.

It hurt more than I expected to leave Never Keep.

She was a fortress of hardship that hid far too many dark secrets, but she was my first stepping stone toward a greater life too and there was no denying the affection I felt toward her in our parting.

Shouldering my pack, I turned for the door, knowing I had one more goodbye to claim before I could make my escape. I’d planned to meet him in the Library of Frost, so I headed that way, taking the stairs down through the tower and deeper into the Vault.

He was waiting for me there between two icy bookshelves that glinted like starlight. My Harlon. Even if he was wearing that shining gold cloak. I couldn’t let it come between us.

“Are you still angry with me?” I asked, a lilt of taunt to my voice.

He folded his arms, regarding me solemnly. “Call it disappointment.”

“That’s worse,” I accused, then grinned.

He broke the serious mask and smiled back, releasing a low sigh. “Can I make one more plea for you to confide in the Cardinal Reaper?”

“No, but you can do something for me instead.”

“And what’s that?” he asked curiously, pushing that golden strand back from his forehead to settle within his brown locks.

“Promise our forked paths won’t tear us apart. Promise you’ll be my friend before you’re a Reaper, Harl. Promise you’ll never choose them over us.”

He frowned, stepping closer to me. “I promise, Ever. This cloak will never mean more to me than you do.” He lowered his tone, glancing around as if fearing he might be overheard. He reached out to touch my cheek and I leaned into it, catching a ray of sunlight in his palm.

“We’ll always be friends,” I whispered.

“Friends,” he echoed, a note of hurt to his voice.

“I think for now, the world’s too complicated for us to be more than that,” I admitted, and his brow creased.

He nodded slowly, retracting his hand. “Solomon has offered me a position in Cascada.”

My heart leapt at that. “Really?”

His amber eyes brightened. “Yes, Ever. I have some duties to fulfil with him first. But one day, not too long from now I hope, I’ll return home. Then maybe the world will be less complicated.”

Emotion welled inside me at not knowing how long we were about to be apart. “I hope that too. I just can’t see the stars through the clouds right now.”

“The sky will be clearer once you’ve claimed your destiny. Go, little fish, brave the wide open ocean and become the shark you were always meant to be.”

I tiptoed up and kissed his cheek. “See you in Cascada, Harl.”

“I can walk with you to the beach, most of the Reapers have headed there anyway,” he offered.

“No,” I blurted. “I mean, it’s fine. Take care, Harl.”

I turned abruptly, rushing from the Library of Frost, feeling stupid for how badly I’d covered my own ass. I should have come up with some excuse, but I’d gone blank and made a run for it instead. There was nothing I could do about it now though.

I hurried out of the Vault and made a fast path through the Heliacal Courtyard, mentally preparing myself for what I had planned.

Stepping through the Night Gates onto the cliff unfurled a heavy knot in my chest. It was over.

My time at Never Keep had come to an end.

No longer would I feel the cold leak from the walls into my bones or hear those chilling screams in the dead of night.

The relief I felt was punctuated by the sigh that left my lungs, a swirl of vapour rising before me in the frigid air.

I had earned my position as a warrior, and it was already time to prove my mettle.

The crowd of Raincarvers, Stonebreakers, Flamebringers and Skyforgers peeled away to the Escalade, heading down to Obsidian Cove where the ships were waiting to take them home. They washed out of Never Keep like a river winding toward the ocean. All besides me.

The shadow of a battle island from Air hung over the water too, the dark clouds above hugging its vast form in the sky and sending a ripple of fear through me. The memory of one of those islands alighting at my hometown and tearing it in two would forever be branded in my mind.

I adjusted the heavy pack on my shoulders as I slipped between the throng of bodies, moving against the flow, away from the cliff and the line of Reapers that were offering prayers of fortune in war to the parting warriors.

I went unnoticed, quickening my pace until I was running along the outer edge of the Keep wall toward the northern tundra. It would have been quicker to travel in my Leopard form, but my pack was fit to bursting and there was no way I was leaving it behind.

I compacted the snow with my magic, making it easier to run on, my boots treading a quick path toward freedom. When the northwestern cliff came into view, my pulse elevated and I pushed myself harder.

Beyond that jagged cliff face lay my salvation but I couldn’t relax until I saw it with my own eyes. If I didn’t escape now, Kaiser would get hold of me and offer me up as a weapon to Pyros. The fate of my homeland was riding on my actions today.

When I reached the edge of the cliff, the wind battered me, the briny sea spray peppering my lips and calling me home.

There, as promised, lay Wandershire. Plumes of smoke rose from the chimneys nestled among the slate roofs, the entire town bobbing in the water, waiting just for me.

Mavus had kept to his word in offering me passage home and my plan was coming together smoothly.

He might have been a crook, but when I’d sent him a raven to ask for his help, he had been quick to agree, and my heart warmed toward the trader over him making good on his promise.

He hadn’t even asked for payment, declaring that the final delivery of my wares would be payment enough.

Once I passed them to him today, our contract would be done, freeing me from further obligation.

And I couldn’t deny I was looking forward to that moment.

I didn’t need the distraction when I headed home and prepared to go to war.

I called upon the sea, my connection to the ocean harnessed so well now that I could finally make it rise to meet me, the column of water coming to rest against the cliffside in offering.

I threw one glance back at the colossal gothic walls of Never Keep, bidding it farewell once and for all, then stepped out onto the tower of water, ready to go home.

Never Keep’s dark secrets would soon feel like a distant nightmare.

I was back on the path I was meant to tread, the stars guiding me toward it.

“Stop!” A dark voice bled across the land and my limbs froze in place, the power of a Fury’s possession sliding through my veins.

No.

A ragged breath passed my lips as Kaiser drew on his connection to me, forcing me to turn and face him as he revealed himself from a perfectly cast concealment spell against the backdrop of snow.

He was fifty paces away with his three blood-red hounds shivering into existence around him, his silhouette as dark as Never Keep and perhaps even more imposing.

“A clever plot, I’ll give you that,” he admitted. “But your ally’s illusion was shattered easily enough when I caught up to it.”

My upper lip peeled back as I fought to regain control of my limbs. Galomp had done his part for me, casting the spell to make it appear as though I had boarded one of the Raincarver ships. Yet here Kaiser was, one step behind me and ruining fucking everything as always.

“How did you find me?” I spat.

“Calcifiend.” He pointed to the sky where the little Sayer Dragon was circling down to his master on outstretched wings.

“His eyes are far keener than any Fae’s.

Come, silka la vin. The Matriarch awaits us,” he demanded and his possession ripped through me, forcing me to step off the pillar of water and back onto the cliff’s edge.

“ No ,” I snarled, desperately calling upon the Void to fight off his control. But it refused to awaken for me now when I needed it most.

“Come,” Kaiser commanded, but as he took a step toward me, the ground beneath him shuddered.

A fissure opened up in the snow, collapsing beneath him, sending him plummeting away into an abyss. I was left reeling, unsure if I had somehow cast the magic that had sent him there as snow packed in on top of him and his beasts. His possession over me shattered, leaving me free once more.

“Ever!” Harlon’s voice boomed across the landscape, his own concealment spell dropping as he raced up to the place where Kaiser and his hounds had been, gazing at me with a fierce expression.

“You cast that magic,” I gasped.

“ Run .”

“Wait, Harlon. He’s dangerous.” I took a step toward him.

“You need to go. The Fury is already fighting his way to the surface. I know there is something he seeks from you, and when you ran from me in the library, I knew you were in trouble so I had to follow. Let me help you even if you won’t confide in me about what is truly happening.”

“I can’t confide in you. I would if I could.” I touched my throat as the Nightfire blazed there.

He nodded tightly. “I thought as much. Go, Ever. Get out of here. I will not let him follow you.”

“He could kill you,” I said fearfully.

“I’m a Reaper, a prophet of the stars,” he said darkly. “I am powerful enough to handle myself. Now go .”

I hesitated a final moment and the ground shuddered where Kaiser had been trapped. I was no use to Harlon if I stayed. Kaiser would wield me against him. And he was right, he was strong, a double elemental who had been taught unknown power by the Reapers.

“Go, Ever!” Harlon boomed and I turned, hating myself for leaving but having no choice. “You will make the stars hail your name, Everest Arcadia,” he called after me as I leapt onto the pillar of water.

“Thank you,” I gasped, emotion splintering through my chest at parting from my best friend, but the words were stolen by a sharp wind, and I wasn’t sure if he heard them.

I watched the snow begin to melt before Harlon as Kaiser blasted his way out with fire. One day, I would carve this soul-tie from my bones and return to the Fury for the fight I was owed. My blade would finally meet his heart. But right now, the only choice I had was to flee.

My pillar of water carried me down at a rapid pace, all the way to the streets of Wandershire where I leapt onto a cobbled road.

“Well hello there, lass. Told ya I’d come, didn’t I? Now where’s me latest shipment?” Mavus eyed my bag greedily.

“You can have it when you get me the hell out of here.”

Mavus smiled ruefully then stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled. The whole of Wandershire came to life at the sound, a range of Fae working together to send the floating town soaring across the water, out into the open ocean.

The earth elementals urged on the metal arms that scored through the sea like giant oars, while the water elementals drove a current beneath it, and the air elementals pushed the wind into its back and the chimneys plumed around me, hinting of some magical engine driven by fire.

The result was something truly powerful, the elements in harmony creating a strength that harnessed the wild ocean.

An echoing boom sounded on the clifftop and my gaze flew to that spot as snow and fire burst into the sky.

Concern raced through me for Harlon, but my friend had the power of water and earth in his veins.

He was well matched for the Fury. But if Kaiser Brimtheon somehow made it after me, he would come for me with the force of a hellion.

The Nightfire in my veins was going to demand I return to him eventually, so I had to be ready to suffer in its torturous flames.

My plan was to break free of it. I was the Void after all, and I had seen the power I could cast; there was time yet to learn how to unlock it fully.

That was what I was counting on, because no matter the magic that drove me toward the Fury now, I’d made my stand.

Come hell or high water, I would never return to his side.