Page 15

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Rowen asked the next day as we made our way to the prison.

“I’m sure,” I said, my strides echoing with determination. The intruder’s identity swirled in my mind like an annoying gnat, one I couldn’t bat away no matter how much Nepta or the Summit wanted me to. “I need to know who it is. Trap or not.”

“I’m right here if you need me,” he assured, and a wave of gratitude washed over me.

Rowen had always been by my side, protecting and shielding me.

Even when he’d been cursed from loving me, his priority had always been to keep me safe.

Never knowing the greatest threat lay at the hollow of his sternum.

But he no longer wore the necklace Fou used to spy on him. He was finally free, and the thought of me facing the prisoner with him by my side sent a surge of courage up my spine.

“What did you do with your mother’s necklace?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t been there to support him as he gave up his last treasured possession.

“Caeryn may have snapped Fou’s neck, but her body was never recovered,” Rowen said, and it broke my heart that his eyes darted to the trees as if he feared she was still listening. “I didn’t want to take any chances, so I buried it outside the village.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you. That must have been hard,” I said, my gaze tilting to his exposed chest where his charcoal-grey shirt billowed open. He now only wore the beaded necklace made in Wyn fashion.

“It was like burying her all over again. And I prayed to the spirits that it wasn’t a funeral for two. Pleading I hadn’t lost you as well. It would take me days in the Hymma to find you, only for you to slip away.”

“I hope you can wear it again one day,” I said, knowing what it was like not to own anything from your old life but wishing you had one thing of value to hold on to.

Rowen offered me a small smile. “Me too. Though I would much rather have you than any possession,” he said softly. “Maybe one day I can take you to the ruins of Viltarran. Show you where my mother raised me.”

“I would love that,” I replied with a sincere smile.

Suddenly, our eyes snapped forward as the prison guards came into view, their imposing stances doing little to help my nerves.

Dyani had wanted Rowen banished from the village, and I worried this was her plan to get us both kicked out. Was her friendly demeanor at the training grounds a distraction? Was she earning my trust now, only to stab me in the back later?

We approached Minroe and another guard, their stern faces offering nothing. It felt like my heart was beating out of my chest as we stepped within their line of sight. Even if I had to use the excuse we’d planned for being here, I doubted they would believe it.

But without a word, the guards parted, letting us pass with a nod.

Rowen and I let out a shared breath of relief .

Dyani had told the truth.

I’d never seen the Wyn prison, much less knew they had one. Over the last few days, I’d convinced myself I’d find a suffering man in a cold, dark dungeon, but when we rounded the wall, and the cell came into view, I halted, my eyes widening.

Despite the entwined branches forming a prison around him and the two armed guards, it looked like the prisoner was basking in paradise.

The sun and ever-glowing stars cast their radiant beams upon his face, illuminating his features with a serene glow.

He looked peaceful, idly rolling a flower stem between his fingertips.

As if sensing my presence, his eyes snapped to mine.

“You,” I seethed as I charged the wooden bars, Rowen following in my footsteps.

The prisoner smiled. Actually grinned at me as if we were friends.

“How?” I demanded.

“Well, hello to you, too, Keira,” said a voice I’d only ever heard in agony and torment, but now, it sounded light, happy. Free. “It’s nice to meet you. Officially.”

“Unfortunately, we’ve met before,” I replied to the man with onyx-black hair, angular eyes, and a square jaw.

“When you violated my mind, remember? How did you even get out of the crevice, much less back into your body?” I asked the stranger who’d once lain beside me in the hospital.

Who I’d met again in the crevice when he’d tried to possess my body with his astrally torn soul.

“How the hell did you get here, Maddock?”

“Keira, is this . . .” Rowen’s voice cut through the tense silence, and the prisoner’s gaze shot to my soul flame. A fleeting expression flashed in the depths of his eyes before returning to me.

“Madds.”

“What? ”

“I prefer to go by Madds,” he stated matter-of-factly, lounging in the comfort of his well-lit cell. “‘Maddock’ always felt a bit too stuffy. Father loved it, though.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck!” I screamed at the man who I’d caught sunbathing in one of the most pleasant cells I’d ever seen.

Rowen bristled beside me in a shockwave of fury. “This is the man from the crevice?”

“It is,” I seethed through a clenched jaw.

I’d pictured this man paying for his violent crimes in the crevice with Erovos and Demil.

Seeing him here, twirling flowers and smiling, sent my mind thrashing like a wild bull.

There were no chains or irons, only twisted branches fashioned into a small yet comfortable prison; the space was furnished with a simple wooden chair, bed, and desk.

The view was open and refreshing, giving him a clear panorama of the Sillarial Peaks.

I didn’t need to see this.

“Keira,” he said as I turned to leave. “Please don’t go. Let me explain.” He charged the wooden bars and grabbed me. I shot a glare at his fingers wrapped around my arm, and a surge of disgust boiled up inside me. Yet, after months of no physical contact, his touch felt . . . warm.

Rowen charged the prisoner and yanked his hand off me. “Touch her again and you will no longer have hands,” he snarled, exposing the peaks of his canines. “If you weren’t Nepta’s prisoner, you would already be dead.”

“Ow! Jeez. Yeah, you must be the boyfriend,” Maddock said as he shook out his wrist. “Got it. No touchy.”

“How can you touch me when no one else can?” I asked with a putrid taste in my mouth. I hated asking him anything, but my curiosity outweighed my pride.

Maddock’s eyes flashed to Rowen. “You can’t touch her? ”

I flinched, scolding myself for accidentally giving away too much information.

“Answer the question,” Rowen growled, unfazed by my slip-up.

Maddock tore his eyes away from Rowen, a hint of sympathy in his expression. “Whatever power or ability you used against me that day in the cave, I believe I have it now, too.”

My mind short-circuited. “Wha—how is that possible?”

The memory of Maddock invading my mind stole the breath from my lungs. There was no helping him. When I’d found him in the crevice, he was astrally torn. A phantom seeking to overtake my flesh and possess my body. He would have succeeded if it weren’t for the Alcreon Light blasting him out of me.

“When you hit me with that light, my hooks were in you pretty deep,” Maddock confessed, and Rowen tensed beside me, fisting his palms so tight I feared he’d pop a vein.

“I saw . . . many of your memories, Keira. Some were very confusing, jumping in space and time. But even as you hurled me from your mind, my grip on you tightened, and I didn’t let go.

I-I accidentally took some of you with me. Some of your light.”

“You stole it, then used it against me,” I seethed, not sure if I wanted to cry or scream.

“In case you forgot, you were killing your boyfriend over there,” he said, jerking his chin in Rowen’s direction. “Remember?”

“Remember when you violated my mind and nearly stole my body?”

“What I did to you plagues me every day,” he said, toying with the simple linen shirt and trousers he’d been given to wear. “I am truly so sorry.”

“Yeah, you look real sorry. I walked upon you, basking in bliss. Smiling . Why wouldn’t you tell anyone who you were?”

“You would have never come if you knew it was me. ”

“You’re right. I’m leaving and not coming back. Enjoy your life sentence.”

“Wait. I know I don’t deserve it, but please, hear me out,” he implored, his eyes darting from me to Rowen, pleading. And I noticed for the first time that his eyes were a rich shade of brown, a detail that somehow added warmth to the face that haunted me.

“As you know, I was deprived of much in that cave: the sun upon my face or the feeling of something as small as a twig between my fingers. Little things I thought I would never feel again.”

“Are you trying to play the victim? It doesn’t excuse what you did to me.”

“I know. I was a desperate man, but look, you defeated me.” He grinned as if this were all a game. “While in the process, you also healed me.”

“I see,” I said as my eyes darted to his head, which no longer dangled with bits of flesh from his motorcycle accident.

His once skeletal body now rippled with muscle and strength, and I hated that I recalled how his body felt pressed against mine.

“How did you get here?” I asked, gesturing to the hidden village surrounding us.

“You healed me almost instantly. I woke up in a hospital and simply walked out. It was a miracle. You are a miracle . ”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes.

“I should have needed rehabilitation for my deteriorated limbs. Months and months of it. But I awoke in perfect condition with a string of light connecting me to you. I followed it, wanting to apologize to you. Or thank you. Hell, I didn’t know!

Didn’t even know if the memories were real.

But I couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful woman with long, brown hair and a shimmering aura of light. "

Rowen gripped his hatchet, raising it an inch out of the holster in warning.

Maddock eyed the weapon and winced. “Got it. No compliments either,” he said before continuing.

“It plagues me that you tried to help me and that I returned the favor with nothing but horror. It took me a minute to get the hang of drifting, but once I did, it led me right to this village. And from what I assessed, you’ve been missing.

Even when I tried to find you again, it was like you were everywhere and nowhere all at once.

I’ve been imprisoned all this time, waiting for you. ”

“It’s called traveling, not drifting,” I corrected sharply. “And a three-month sentence seems like you got off easy, especially for the crimes you committed against me. And the ones I’m sure you committed on Earth.”

I gloated as he grimaced, but I didn’t relish the sight as much as I thought I would.

I’d felt a moment of regret locking him in the crevice with the Dark Spirit. But now, as I remembered his ghostly fingers clawing into my mind and stealing my body memory by memory, I tensed in fury.

“Why haven’t you traveled back home? These bars aren’t really keeping you, are they?” I asked, remembering Rowen and the Summit had no idea how he’d escaped the night I returned.

“No,” he said. “They aren’t.”

“You’re an astral traveler too. A walker between worlds,” I barely whispered. “That’s how you ended up in the crevice. How you escaped this cell.”

“All my life, I had the weirdest dreams, often finding myself sleepwalking or ending up in strange places. I just attributed my traveling,” he emphasized the last word with a smile, “to my frequent bouts of intoxication.”

I huffed. “Of course you did. Don’t forget, I saw your memories too.

I know what a piece of shit you were back home.

All your cheating, lies, and manipulation.

It’s all up here,” I said, tapping my temple.

I wanted to tell him his presence here was wasting precious food and water, but I refrained.

I had already divulged too much information.

But still, I needed him gone. “Me healing your body doesn’t absolve you of your past. You’re a thief who stole a piece of my Light and violated my mind.

A coward I never want to see again. If you were expecting to find forgiveness here, you are sorely mistaken.

Drift wherever you want, just make sure it’s the hell away from me. ”

Before I could hear one more word of his pathetic excuses, I turned and left the prisoner to continue basking in his cell.

Dyani appeared on the organic pathway. “Did you talk to him?”

“Yes. He doesn’t know anything,” I said, not wanting to stop and talk. I was still fuming.

“Are you sure?”

“I am.”

“Who is he then?” she pressed. “He has to know something.”

“Look, he doesn’t know a thing. But you and the other guards should know those bars aren’t really holding him. He can escape at any time. It’s all just for show. He’s a traveler like me—a walker between worlds.”

“Why would he want to stay in a cell if he can escape?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, making it known she had no intention of letting me pass.

I realized I hadn’t stuck around long enough to find out. “I have no idea.”

“Do you know how hard it was to organize that meeting, and you didn’t think to ask?”

“I don’t care what he wants. I just want him gone.”

“You know he’s not going anywhere. Especially if he’s been able to leave all this time. That doesn’t make you curious?”

“Not really,” I lied, trying to step around her.

“You’re going back,” she said, blocking my path again.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” she said, finally letting me pass. “You are going to see him again tomorrow at high sun.”

Without looking at her, I stormed away and mumbled under my breath, “No. I’m not.”