Page 102 of In The Dark

It takes everything in me not to groan in frustration, knowing that I have to remain quiet as the door sits open. I turn sharply and brush past him.

“Isa,” Ren says quietly, and I pivot. “Be quick. Be quiet.”

He orders like the captain—like my instructor.But I study him for a moment before reluctantly nodding, disappearing in the Veil a moment later.

The steel door quietly slides shut behind us. We move in silence, our steps light as the corridor bends left. The air is cooler here, with the heavy scent of damp stone as I follow inches behind Rydian. We’re halfway down the corridor before we hear quiet chatting to our left, spotting the entrance to the king’s private garden. My hands suddenly hover over my daggers as we inch by.

“Stay close,”Rydian says as we move past in swift silence, his fingers lightly grazing mine.“Looks like the captain is on edge.”Annoyance coats his tone, and I can’t help but stifle a grin.

“Can you blame him? We’re sneaking into the king’s chambers. If Elion were to find out, he’d kill all of us, not to mention you’re both from different realms. It’s best to just ignore him,”I say.

“Are you speaking from experience?”

I grin.“As a matter of fact, I am.”

The guards don’t even pivot in our direction, and then we’re at the back entrance to King Elion’s private chambers, quickly approaching the arched stone foyer and steel door.

Rydian stands behind me, eyeing the corridor as my hand instinctively hovers over the door frame, revealing similar runes to what was found in the throne room. I make quick work and etch two counter runes, hearing a soft snick and silently pushing it open, praying that the old door doesn’t make a sound.

“We’re in,”I say and he follows me inside, but the Veil doesn’tdisappear, and I arch a brow.“I thought Ren said the wards were the same.”

“He must’ve been wrong. This one feels slightly different. I can still access the Veil somehow, but I can’t touch my magic. Can you?”

I realize the warmth in my hands is gone, then shake my head—no magic. Luckily, if we can still access the Veil, that means the king won’t be able to scent us.

Walking down a short hall, I see a private mantel sits to the left with many dark crimson and gold chairs pointed at it. The royal chamber opens to a vast area, and I immediately spot the four-poster bed centered in the middle of the room, right beneath a largeLshaped mezzanine. I quickly scan the space, noticing more bookshelves and a large table sitting directly across from his bed. There’s a lot.

“Search his items on the mezzanine, and I’ll search down here,”I say.

We make swift work of the space, checking for hidden nooks and stone hiding places. I find myself rummaging through the stacks of books left on his table, doing my best not to misplace anything.

A thick brown ledger sits at the bottom of the pile. I flip it open. Names—pages and pages of them.

Many names I recognize from the brotherhood, others I don’t. Scrawled next to them are numbers, including mine. Tallies or ranks? A shiver crawls up my spine.

I wonder if he’s keeping track of who he has serving him. What do the numbers mean?

But beneath the ledger is a scrap of parchment with jumbled, frantic writing. Hardly legible, making little sense—clearly not Elion’s writing. Or perhaps it is. It’s hard to tell.

The script is written in multiple lines down the page, and I realize it must be some future he’s seen as a Scry. I begin to wonder if this is a part of his motive for the Veilstone.

The book closes, leaving me to quickly place the parchmentback beneath the ledger as if it were never touched. Then Rydian brushes his fingers against my shoulder.

“I inspected the walls. No hidden passages in his chambers except for the two separate doors leading into the courtyard and his archives. I did find this though,”he says, handing me a letter.

My stomach dips at the signed signature near the bottom.“It’s signed by Witt Dralor, his second-in-command.”

37

I’ve been tremblingsince I woke up an hour ago, clenching my fists as the quiet, frozen forest greets me with an icy breeze. But the tremors consume me. She told me they would eventually go away and that I just need to rest, but I can’t get them to stop. I don’t even know what to think.

Perhaps coming here was a mistake.

I should be back at the castle by now, having been gone two days longer than I originally planned. Yet here I am, turning to wave goodbye before the sun fully rises.

And although I feel sick to my stomach, I close my eyes and visualize my next step. Veiling to different locations has become easier and easier over the last two weeks, the wave of nausea non-existent except for now. Yet the sickness I feel now has nothing to do with the Veil.

In an instant, I’m back at the castle and in my room. I breathe a quiet sigh of relief, entering the familiar space just past my door, but I’m exhausted. My head pounds, feeling as though every part of my body is aching.