Page 58

I woke in the early hours, the faint light of dawn spilling through the cracked golden sun emblem on the windowpane.

“Severyn,” a voice called. It was soft, almost childlike, and it tugged at something buried deep in my memory. “Come find me.”

Something gripped me. Not hands, not truly. It was a force, unseen and insistent. It pulled at my limbs, and I was already moving before I realized I had stood.

The hallway blurred around me. I moved down the stairs, past Lynwood, who was slumped over his desk, completely still. A small pool of drool had gathered beneath his chin.

The front door creaked open on its own.

Outside, Ravensla was silent. There were no carts in the street, no scavengers lurking in the shadows. Not even a flicker of lantern light lit the alleyways.

And there, in the center of the road, stood a man.

He wore a silver-tipped hat that gleamed under the moonlight. A monocle caught the light just beneath the brim. One gloved hand extended, fingers open, as if invisible threads had stitched themselves into my skin and he was slowly reeling me in.

I moved without will. I couldn’t stop .

“What does one seek,” he asked, though his lips never moved, “when they’ve already achieved so much?”

“A family,” I whispered.

He removed his hat slowly and looked at me. “Your mother asked for the same thing once, when she was your age.”

The sand beneath my feet grew warm for a moment, then vanished entirely. Cold crept in, seeping into my skin and tightening around my bones.

I was no longer in Ravensla.

I was sixteen again.

A hand touched my shoulder. I turned too quickly and, for a moment, I thought I saw a ghost. Not the glowing kind from the horror stories Cully used to read to me, but something solid. Something real.

“Klaus!” I gasped.

I threw myself into his arms. He caught me without hesitation, and the scent of pine and smoke wrapped around me like a memory I wasn’t ready for.

“Klaus,” I whispered again, barely able to breathe his name.

Worry dimmed the gold in his eyes as he looked me over. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

I buried my face in his chest, clinging to the illusion, because I knew damn well this couldn’t be real. “No. I missed you,” I said, my voice trembling.

Klaus smiled gently. “I went hunting with Charles. Knox caught a few squirrels. Plans to fry them for dinner, but I’ll vanish before that disaster unfolds.”

None of this was real. I knew it wasn’t, but I couldn’t stop it.

“I’ll come with you,” I said anyway, clinging to the lie.

We descended the stairs together, our footsteps muted by the thick snow pressing against the house. Aides moved past us in stiff silence, hauling iron buckets of seeds .

“They’re mad,” I murmured. “The seeds won’t take in frost. They’ll die.”

Klaus chuckled, spreading his arms. “Father bartered with a Summer Serpent at the annual Bid. We’ll have sun for a while.”

But the light was wrong.

It gleamed too sharp, too clean. I raised a hand to my brow, shielding myself from the glare. Colindale light was never this blinding.

“It’s not our sun,” Klaus said, gaze tracing lazy shapes through the clouds. “You can tell by the hue.”

His voice broke something in me. I wanted to stay frozen in this lie. To let it last. “What did Father trade?” I asked, eyeing the leather-bound journal tucked beneath his tunic. Did he know that he was a Seeker?

He arched a brow. “Nothing good.”

I already knew. But I couldn’t say it.

“What’s in your journal?”

“Mostly poems,” Klaus said with a grin, bumping his shoulder against mine. “You never asked about my poems before,” he teased. “It was always Cully’s you wanted to hear.”

We wandered deeper into the woods. I clung to Klaus’s arm, unwilling to let go. The trees thickened around us, their limbs gnarled like old hands reaching through the snow. The light dimmed as shadows stretched long across the frost.

“We shouldn’t go any further,” I said, my voice unsteady. “Not without help. Or weapons.”

He laughed, easy and sure, as if nothing could touch us. “The ice beasts are dying in this heat.”

But the sun above us flickered in an unnatural way. Its glow was too golden, its warmth too thick, like honey left too long in the heat. Like the fever that comes just before an illness. This didn’t feel like a memory anymore. Or maybe it never was. I couldn’t tell if I still belonged here .

“Do you enjoy the cold?” I asked, trying to ground myself in something real.

Klaus paused, his quill hovering over the open journal in his hand. “I don’t know anything else,” he said. “Father never let us leave the country.”

“I miss you,” I whispered.

He looked up at me, curious. “I wasn’t gone long. A thorn got me. Didn’t even hurt.”

My throat tightened. “There was no poison in the thorns?”

He gave a faint smile. “No poison, just sharp barbs.”

Everything about this moment felt too delicate, like a dream made of glass. One wrong word and it might shatter.

“Can we go into the woods tomorrow?” I asked, my voice barely more than breath. But I could already feel the moment slipping away.

“No,” he said. “The beasts are weak, but they can still kill you. And you can still freeze to death.”

I gripped his arm tighter, as if holding him could anchor us both. “I don’t want you to go.”

Klaus laughed softly, but it rang hollow. “You don’t have a choice. I need to bring back fresh meat. I sure as hell am not eating fried squirrels.”

“I’ll come with you,” I said, though the words felt empty.

He frowned. “You can’t. You can’t stay here forever. There are too many thorns.”

The world tilted. My breath hitched. I didn’t think we were talking about real thorns.

“Tell me everything,” I whispered, needing truth, needing him to break the illusion.

Klaus gave a shallow laugh, his golden eye flickering with distant sadness. “Knowing is the true poison. Enjoy the breeze while it lasts.”

“I don’t feel any breeze,” I whispered .

He studied me, his face unreadable. “Strange.”

My hand trembled. “Can I ask one question?”

“One. But I’ll decide if I’ll answer.”

The question had burned in me for too long. “Can I trust Damien Lynch?”

Klaus paused. Then his lips curled into a knowing smile. “Find her name, and you’ll have your answer.”

“Whose name?”

“The blood of a Herring didn’t spill when I died.”

My heart stopped. This couldn’t be real. It had to be some illusionist, twisting my memories into lies.

“Klaus, what are you saying?”

“You already know. You just don’t want to believe it. My lungs filled with water, but her blood stained the dirt.”

His words cut deep. Then his hand slipped from mine, and the next touch I felt was ice.

Before I could speak, something yanked me backward. A cloth slammed over my mouth, muffling the sound. Bootsteps echoed on stone as I was dragged through an alley, vision spinning, heart pounding.

They threw me through an ice portal, and the world spun. When it settled, Callum’s sneer snapped into focus. His cold hands gripped my wrists and shoved me toward the looming steel gates of Malvoria.

“Charles?” I rasped, my voice raw.

Callum scoffed. “Think again. I’ve been sent to retrieve you.”

“Why?”

His grip only tightened. “Call for your dead brother. See if he comes. Call for your quelless lover, see if he can save you.”

I thrashed in his grip, but my strength was gone. “Take me back!” And it wasn’t Ravensla I wanted in that moment .

He didn’t answer. He just dragged me through Malvoria’s dark halls until I stumbled into the main courtyard and froze. Caius stood bound and silent. Damien lingered nearby, his expression unreadable. They were all here—the heirs of Verdonia.

“What is this?” I demanded. “What are you doing?”

“Rounding us up,” Caius muttered. “To fight.”

I heaved against Callum’s grip, fury rising in my chest. “To fight? How is this even allowed?”

“They don’t have a choice,” Callum said. “The heirs of Verdonia are being conscripted for the war that’s coming.”

Charles stood at the far end of the hall, arms crossed, watching in silence.

“Charles!” I snapped. “What the hell is going on?”

He didn’t respond.

Callum leaned in, voice low. “Don’t waste your breath. Charles won’t protect you.”

Charles raised a hand, and the room fell silent. “You’re all here because you’re the second strongest beings next to your Serpents,” he said. “You’ve been conscripted to fight the Forgotten.”

Damien’s voice cut through the quiet. “Do the Serpents know you’ve stolen their heirs?”

“They know,” Charles said.

“And they allowed this?”

“They don’t have a choice.”

Callum yanked me forward. My heels scraped against stone as I tried to resist. “No,” I hissed. “I won’t fight for you.”

Callum chuckled and gestured to the guards along the wall. “Kian. Care to join me for this one?”

Kian stood at the edge of the hall. “What?”

“Come on,” Callum said. “Beats dungeon duty after your little rebellion in Colindale. You followed Severyn without passing initiation. And now?” His smirk sharpened, curling at the edges like something rotting. “We need her dragon. Maybe a shadow can coax the beast to purr.”

Kian’s jaw tightened. His fists clenched at his sides, shadows coiling faintly at his fingertips before vanishing. “I won’t go with you.”

Callum tilted his head, almost amused. “Pity. I thought you’d finally accepted your place.”

“Kian,” I said quickly, my voice soft but urgent. “It’s okay.”

He looked at me and then gave the smallest nod.

Callum didn’t wait. He shoved me hard. I stumbled and fell, landing on my knees.

“I can walk,” I snapped, trying to rise.

“This is more fun,” Callum said, already turning away.

Kian caught up without a word. He shrugged off his jacket and gently draped it over my shoulders, the fabric still warm from his body.

“At least get her a damn cloak,” he muttered. “She’s freezing.”

Damien’s voice spoke in my mind, “What’s happening?”

I didn’t want to answer. But I did. “They want me to call Naraic.”

“Shit. Kian won’t hurt you. He’s harmless.”

“I’ll forgive him.”

Another kick sent me tumbling down the stairs. I thrust my palm toward Callum, reaching for flame, but nothing came. Not even a spark.

“Why isn’t it working?” I gasped.

Callum crouched beside me, his grin mocking. “The cloth I put over your mouth was soaked in Spring water. You’re powerless for a while.”

My chest tightened. “Why do you want Naraic? ”

Callum didn’t answer. His eyes drifted to the daggers strapped across Kian’s chest.

“Take one out and you’ll see.”

Kian flinched. “I’m not going to hurt her.”

“She’s the reason you’re here,” Callum snapped. “Your brother made her heir. You should be furious.”

“She’s my friend,” Kian said quietly.

“Take the damn dagger out. Now.”

“No.” Kian’s voice was firm, his hazel eyes sharp. “I won’t touch her.” But I knew the truth. He couldn’t. I was the heir of his new home, and he was warded against harming me.

Callum leaned in. “Would you die for her?”

“Don’t you dare!” I screamed. “Don’t touch him!”

Callum’s sneer deepened. “Are you in love with him? All three?”

I lunged, grabbing his leg, nails digging into his calf. “You don’t know anything about me.”

He kicked me hard, and the breath knocked from my lungs. “Call for your dragon, Severyn.”

“No.”

He turned to Kian with a slow, venom-laced smile. “Fine. If she won’t call her dragon, maybe your little shadow friend’s screams will.”

“What did I ever do to you?” I shouted. “I lost my father’s title! I didn’t choose this!”

Callum’s face twisted, bitter and raw. “Your best friend was a princess. You told her grandfather to pick me during the Serpent Bid.” He jabbed a finger toward the thick scar cleaving his jaw. “I look like this because of you.”

“I never chose anyone,” I snapped. “You tortured me. I never even told Myla what you did that night in the trails.”

His lip curled. “And yet, you still got what you wanted. I nearly bled out. The Serpent Academy wouldn’t take me back. I spent a week in the infirmary just to be told I was being dumped into the guard ranks like garbage.”

Then he lifted the blade, pressing it to Kian’s throat. “Call for your dragon, or the third Lynch dies.”

My throat locked. My voice broke. “ Naraic … Naraic—I need you!”

Kian’s eyes widened. “Why… why do you need their enigmas?”

Callum’s grin sharpened. “Sevy here has a forbidden quell. That dragon? It’s resurrected. We can’t trust it. We need to kill it.”

“Then kill me,” Kian snarled. “But if you kill that dragon, you kill two Serpents. You remember Theodore and Veravine. Night will fall.”

Callum laughed. “Your brother broke the bond. Convenient, right? Archer won’t be harmed.”

Tears blurred my vision. “I hate you,” I said. “I’m not sorry the king chose you that day. You deserved it.”

Callum’s voice dropped, cold and casual. “If the heir dies, Kian, you get your chance. What’s she worth to you?”

Kian didn’t blink. “Kill me first.”

Callum raised the dagger again, the blade catching in the torchlight. Then he froze as a dragon’s screech tore through the sky above.

Naraic. He’d portaled. He heard me.

I shoved myself upright, breath ragged. “Let him go! I did what you asked!”

Callum’s sneer deepened. “Congratulations, Lynch. You passed.” He dropped the dagger to the floor. “The front lines await. But first, clean up tonight’s mess. I know a few guards eager for dungeons.”

Kian stumbled, swiping blood from the light cut on his neck. “Sevy. I’m sorry. I should’ve known it was a trap. ”

I said in single breath, “If I die, take your shot at the Academy. It’s yours.”

“No,” he said fiercely. “It’s yours. You earned it.”

Callum grunted, temper fraying. “How sweet. But I lied. Kian will age out before he ever gets a chance. Sorry to break your little shadow heart.”

Kian hadn’t fought back. He’d chosen loyalty to Archer, to me. None of this was his fault. And in that moment, I knew I’d have to break my own morals to protect his.