Page 90 of Once the Skies Fade (Immortal Reveries #2)
Chapter 90
Calla
T hick, cold fog pressed in on all sides, but still I pushed on, albeit slower than I preferred. Behind me claws scraped against the ground and a ragged breath matched my pace. Risking a glance over my shoulder, I calmed slightly at the sight of Asher chasing after me with his wounded brow already starting to heal and dried blood clinging to his scales.
A heartbeat, frantic but faint, caught my ear from somewhere to my left, and I skidded to a stop, craning my head to locate the source. Asher pulled up alongside me, snorting out a breath when I raised my hand in command to hold. A rumble of thunder thrummed in his chest, his nostrils flaring and lips pulling back over jagged teeth. He’d caught a scent. I nodded to him to take the lead. Crouched low to the ground with his wings folded tightly to his body, he crept forward, sniffing along like a hound. With another irritable snort, he swung his head back to me and gestured for me to catch up.
Nudging me with his snout, he thrust me through the mist, nearly running me face first into the black stone of the mountain that seemed to swallow up what little sunlight made it into this canyon. Gingerly I ran my fingers along the rock. What had Asher discovered? What was I missing?
I steadied myself, letting my eyelids droop so I could focus on the pulse I’d heard earlier. Ignoring my own pounding heart and the low growl still brewing within Asher, I listened for that rapid beat, but it had gone silent. Slamming my palm against the rock, I dropped my chin to my chest. I hadn’t come all this way and faced a horde of poison-wielding humans to wind up at a dead end.
An icy cold spread through my hand, caressing my fingers, as my shadows slipped free of their own accord. Glancing up, I struggled to make them out against the dark wall, but as they skimmed over the surface, I was able to track their movement enough to note when they disappeared behind an otherwise unnoticeable edge. Quickly, I scrambled to follow them, tripping over my own toes. Asher’s tail whipped around to catch me and help right me.
“Thanks,” I muttered, patting his scales as he pulled back.
My shadows led me into a narrow crevice in the mountainside where I caught the pulse I’d noted earlier. I started to dart into the opening, when Asher’s growl faded, replaced by a frustrated sigh. Turning back to him, I realized the issue: he couldn’t follow me while in his dragon form.
“Would you rather stand guard out here like this?” I asked. “Or shift and come with me?”
He answered by first shoving his snout into the fissure and sniffing quietly. When he emerged, he pivoted around, planted his feet, and scanned the surrounding fog. Without another word, I pulled my shadows back into my hands—not wanting to risk them giving away my presence any more than my pulse and scent might—and slipped into the mountain. The path twisted and turned a couple times before opening into a cave with sparse furnishings. The scent of leather, trees, and blood overwhelmed me.
Matthias .
He’d been here. Or he was here.
No sooner had I taken one step toward the doorway on the far wall than someone barreled into me from the left, sending me careening to the floor with a groan. My hip hit hard before I was rolled onto my back by a slight figure who quickly straddled my abdomen, pinning my arms down along my sides with their knees. Strong hands slammed into my shoulders, holding them tightly against the uneven floor.
“Ami?” I huffed out breathlessly. “Why?—”
The healer smiled darkly and squeezed her legs tighter around me as she curled her fingers painfully into my flesh. “Did you honestly think no one knew of your powers all these years? You think no one knew of your cursed blood? The queen should have listened to me and rid the world of you and your evil when it was first discovered. How many would still be alive if she had?”
My mind churned, mirroring my shadows as they swirled under my palms that rested against my thighs.
“You’ve wanted me dead my whole life?” I asked, my confusion twisting around my swelling wrath and pulling my brows low.
“The magic you harbor is pure evil that can do nothing but destroy and maim. You know this. It’s why you tried to hide it for so long. It wasn’t until you lost your stars-damned mind?—”
“Because I lost my entire family!” I growled, squirming my hips under her, but she was surprisingly strong and held firm.
Ignoring my outburst, she spoke over me. “I’d warned your foolish parents time and time again.”
Fuck this.
I’d heard enough, and she was keeping me from getting to Matthias.
“My parents were fools indeed to keep a bitter bitch like you at the castle,” I said. Not the most original words I could spit at her, admittedly, but any distraction would do. Calling to my shadows, I held Ami’s stare in a silent dare to try something, but after a few moments—why, I couldn’t tell—she tore her eyes from mine, flicking them to the far doorway. Her grip loosened slightly, my signal to unleash my wickedness.
Before she could bring her gaze back to me, my shadows took hold of her neck, wrenching her head back at a grotesque angle that forced her hands to release my shoulders and her whole body to slacken in surrender. Tossing my chin up, I sent my shadows—with the healer in their powerful grasp—to the wall behind me where they twisted her around and slammed her back against the rock, holding her firmly while I stood up. Her feet scrambled to find the floor, but it was a good half-meter below her as my darkness held her by the throat and pressed her wrists into the stone. Fear flared in her eyes, her lungs frantically gasping for air.
Had I been in this position a week ago, I would have already killed her, but despite my earlier words, my parents weren’t fools. They believed in mercy, forgiveness, and justice. While justice sometimes had to be dealt on swift, murderous wings, other circumstances warranted a more judicious approach.
“Get it over with,” Ami rasped out, a flicker of courage briefly gleaming in her expression before it was replaced instantly by panic.
“I’m not going to kill you,” I said. “Not yet, anyway. I think you deserve to come home and stand trial before the kingdom you tried to destroy.”
“I was trying to save the kingdom,” she hissed, her worried look shifting once again into bitter resistance.
Sighing, I twirled a finger in the air, and my shadows tightened around her throat, squeezing until she slipped into unconsciousness. Sure she was still alive, I ordered my shadows to carry her back out to the canyon where Asher could guard over her.
“When did Calla Vael learn mercy?” Graham’s voice, its familiarity worn ragged by his betrayal, seared my heart like a branding iron. I said nothing as I slowly turned to face him. His haggard look and slumped shoulders sparked both delight and dread in my gut. On one hand, if he was as stressed and exhausted as he appeared, he’d be easier to defeat. On the other, if he looked this bad, I couldn’t bear to imagine Matthias’s state.
“Where is he?” I demanded. Stalking toward him, I noted how his brow lifted slightly in surprise when I tucked my shadows back into my palms.
“He’s still alive,” Graham said, leaning casually in the doorway.
Pressing my tongue hard against the roof my mouth, I restrained my fury and continued to approach. “Not what I asked. Is he back there?” I indicated to the room behind him.
“Don’t you want to know why?”
“Nothing you say can undo what you’ve done, and I’m in no mood to endure your gloating over all you’ve accomplished .”
“What if I could tell you who killed Brennan?” He cocked a brow, as if he were offering an enticing dessert.
“Doesn’t matter,” I said, shrugging casually as I stopped a couple meters away from him and clasped my hands behind my back, if only to prevent my shadows from lunging out and ending him before I was ready.
“No shadows for me?” He flashed me that boyish grin he used to give me back when the worst I expected from him was unwanted infatuation. Now it turned my insides with disgust.
Shaking my head, I pulled the corners of my lips down, mimicking the upside down smile my mate often wore. “This is something I prefer to do with my own hands.”
“Lucky me, though I admit I had hoped to have your hands on me under better circumstances.” My nose wrinkled before I could suppress the reaction, and Graham’s eyes darkened. “It’s funny how fae and humans each think themselves superior to each other, when both are little more than self-centered, high-and-mighty bastards, too good for those who just want to be wanted.”
Pushing away from the wall, he stepped toward me and shoved his hands into his pockets. I lifted my chin. He wouldn’t intimidate me. I wouldn’t back away from him.
“Your family saw me as nothing but a charity case—the poor bastard son of a female you couldn’t even bother to protect during the damned war started by that family you chose to marry into. My own father couldn’t risk his crown or his reputation to admit he’d bedded that female, because if his kingdom knew he’d slept with the enemy, a fae, they would have strung him up on his own ramparts.”
Wait. Was his father…
Trying to piece together all he’d said, my eyes darted away from him for one moment too long. I didn’t notice he’d slipped his hand from his pocket—didn’t recognize the weapon in his hand—until it was too late, the blade driving into my side, sending me stumbling into the wall.