Page 67 of Once the Skies Fade (Immortal Reveries #2)

Chapter 67

Calla

I didn’t answer Matthias, except to lift a quizzical brow before turning away again.

He was at my side so quickly it startled me until I remembered this was a dream where poison didn’t slow our movements and time didn’t matter. In silence we walked deeper and deeper into the forest. Occasionally, I stole a glance at him, shifting my eyes quickly when he caught me. I expected some teasing response, but he said nothing.

The quiet was oddly refreshing, though, and I focused on the muted thumping of our boots against the soft ground as it blended with the pulse in my ears.

Not two pulses, but a single pulse.

I stopped mid-step and pivoted toward him, laying one hand on his chest and the other on mine. My mouth fell open at the impossibility, but there beneath my fingers our hearts—bound by the stars—beat as one. Lifting my eyes to his, I started to remark on it, but he vanished along with the entire forest, leaving me in a dark emptiness. The uniform beat of our hearts was replaced by a steady, incessant pounding that pulled me reluctantly out of my reverie and back to my cold, lonely reality.

My gut hollowed as I slipped my feet off the sofa and down to the floor. I wanted to lie down, to find my way back to that dream, but the knocking at the door only grew louder and more impatient with every breath I drew trying to find the energy to stand.

There’d been so much more to say to Matthias, so much more to discuss and to argue about.

Like why he’d taken the poison himself, why he’d kissed me while I was unconscious, and what in the stars-damned fuck I was supposed to do now that we were mates.

“Calla!” Graham’s muffled voice shouted from behind the door, pulling a soft groan from my chest. Here I’d foolishly hoped it was Isa.

“I’m coming,” I muttered as I stomped to my feet and trudged to the door. I half-expected him to barrel in as soon as I answered, but he was leaning against the door frame, his head rested against his forearm as he struggled to catch his breath.

“What is it? What’s going on?” I asked.

“The Assembly is sending the guards up here,” he huffed, his eyes wild with panic.

“Why? Where’s Isa?”

Graham shook his head as he pushed away from the doorframe and moved into the room. His eyes darted around erratically, as if he were trying to find the answers to my question on the dust motes floating in the air.

“Where is Isa?” I repeated, more sternly.

Wrapping his arms around me, he pulled me close and repeated the same words over and over. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

I’d never seen him in such a state, not when my parents died, not when Brennan had been killed. Slowly, I leaned back so I could cup my hands around his face and force him to look at me.

“Why is the guard being sent, Graham?” I asked, stepping back to force his arms to pull from around my waist.

“You need to leave. Now,” he said.

“Fuck it all, Graham. Why!”

“They’re arresting you for the king’s murder!”

My hands shook as they fell, lifeless, to my sides. My shadows, awakened by the jolt to my heart, burst from my palms and swarmed around Graham, slowly spiraling around his body, higher and higher. He eyed them as they crept closer to his throat.

“They couldn’t find Isa. I thought she might have come to warn you, but I came up here in case she hadn’t. We need to leave, now.”

“No, no, no,” I mumbled. The tremors moved from my hands up my arms. “They can’t. They couldn’t. I…”

But I couldn’t utter the word. I couldn’t even mutter to myself that I didn’t kill him, thanks to the damned mage.

“Calla, can you…please…” Graham choked out the words, and blinking, I realized my shadows had begun to tighten around his throat, as if he were the one trying to detain me. I called my power back, surprised at the effort it took to force them to ease away from my friend.

Footsteps—faint but steady—had us both snapping our attention to the open doorway. They were almost here.

Graham spun back around to face me, taking both of my hands in his and giving them a squeeze.

“Do you have another way out? I’ll buy you as much time as I can, but is there a place you and Isa might meet?”

The room began to tilt and rock, but I managed to offer the quickest of nods.

“Good,” Graham said, lifting a hand to my cheek. “I’ll?—”

“Matthias,” I blurted out.

Graham’s brow wrinkled. “What? There’s no?—”

“Save him, Graham. Before they can hang him. I need you to save him.”

“He had poison?—”

I waved my hand frantically between us. Couldn’t he hear the guards?

“Promise me!” The words were a desperate hiss.

“Okay. I’ll get him out. Now, go!” He whispered the command and shoved me back into the room. Spinning quickly away from me, he darted out into the hallway.

I ran into my bedroom, grabbed my boots from beside the wardrobe, and ducked inside, pulling the double doors closed behind me. Shoving back through the hanging garments, I slipped into the tunnel entrance and stopped. My heart thundered inside my ears, so loud and fast I couldn’t listen for anyone approaching.

“She’s not here, I told you that.” Graham’s muffled voice stilled my breath. “Look for yourself.”

If I stayed much longer, they’d hear my pulse or my footsteps as I fled.

Not waiting to hear any more, I took off through the tunnel, navigating the darkness from memory, grateful my mother had insisted I learn these passages by feel. At the first turn, I paused long enough to slip my boots on. Any lost time would be made up by being able to travel quicker.

I started to take the path that would lead out to the forest. If Isa wasn’t in the castle, she was probably waiting for me at our contingency location. But a single thought gave me pause.

Was I truly allowing the Assembly—who had the gall to poison their queen—run me out of my own castle?

Turning on my heel, I retraced my steps and turned down another passage. Picking up speed, I ignored every scrape of my arm against the stone walls and bit back a curse every time I stumbled over my own feet. It was so dark in the tunnel, I had to slow my pace when I made the final turn. Gingerly, I felt my way toward the end of the corridor, and a spark of hope lit in my heart when the wall abruptly turned. I reached out to my left, my fingers fumbling for the crevice and the rough fabric that covered it.

Holding my breath, I paused to listen. Silence. No one waited on the other side.

No breaths. No whispers. No heartbeats.

Still, I beckoned my shadows out of my palms, concentrating on concealing myself in their darkness. Slowly, I pushed the tapestry away from the wall and stepped out into Matthias’s empty room.