Page 40 of Shadows of Ruin (The Broken Prophecy #2)

Chapter 39

Kade

T he early morning light streamed on my face, waking me from our brief slumber.

Lana remained curled into my side, and I would give anything to stay in this bed for hours—no days longer. The only thing pulling me from this heaven was the need to protect her and our kingdoms.

I planted sweet kisses on her forehead, trailing my lips down her neck and between her breasts until she woke. It would only take a few words for me to say “forget it” and risk the wrath of my father, and I was shockingly close to allowing the thought to come to fruition.

“We need to get to Cassandra,” she whispered, running her fingers through my hair.

“And if I say no?”

She laughed before claiming my lips. “Let’s go find a way to save our kingdoms.”

I grumbled but pulled myself from her side, a monumental effort. Ten minutes later, we made our way through the castle, not speaking more than absolutely necessary. One could never be too careful in palaces, especially this one. I trusted no one here except Finn. There was always someone listening, trying to get in the king’s good graces.

We ended up outside Cassandra’s door in record time. I squeezed Lana’s hand once. “Ready?”

She nodded. I knocked at the large door. Letting out a slow, measured breath, we waited. I knocked again.

“We don’t have time for this,” I grumbled, sending my shadows to her lock. The contraption clicked, and I pushed through.

Cassandra’s living room was eerily dark and chilly. The flames that should still be simmering in the fireplace, even at this hour, were absent. A small, barely visible light flickered from underneath her bedroom door though.

“Cassandra?” I called out as Lana shut the main door behind me. I pointed toward the back rooms. I had only seen Cassandra’s personal room once, but I’d recovered in her guest room on more than one occasion.

I strode across the room and knocked on her door. It opened with the force of my hand, and Lana gasped.

Cassandra didn’t turn to look at us. She wrote frantically over and over on the wall from a perched position on the corner of her desk. The entirety of her room was covered in a garbled mess of words.

“Kade?” Lana whispered.

I felt her fear as my own. What happened here?

Cassandra didn’t flinch at Lana saying my name, or at our presence. Instead, she hummed and muttered to herself.

The words haphazardly scratched into the walls didn’t make sense.

Light.

Dark.

Thames.

Mate.

Mate.

Thames .

Mate.

Traitor.

Destruction.

Blood of the Heirs.

Listen.

Listen.

Listen.

“Cassandra,” I said more firmly, trying not to let my gaze linger on the words too long.

Her head tilted to the side, and she looked over her shoulder, her eyes completely white.

I rushed to her, grasping her by the shoulders. “Cassandra, it’s Kade. Can you hear me?” I shook her once. “Cassandra,” I shouted.

“The traitor will rise. He comes with fury.” She twisted her hair around her finger, winding it and unwinding it. “Light. Light. It is not ignited.”

Lana tried next, but she approached Cassandra differently, with the same calming tone she used with Vivienne in The Knotted Willow. She took her hands. “Cassandra, we need your help.”

“Time runs thin. You need to trust. You need to give in.”

“Give in to what? What time is running out? Does this have to do with my mother’s journal?” Lana pressed, but not gruffly. She stroked a finger over Cassandra’s whitened knuckles.

The seer fell away from Lana, taking a few steps and bumping into her desk. A hand flew to her chest and her eyes cleared.

She blinked, her breathing returning to normal over the next few steadying breaths.

“How can I help?” I asked. Cassandra comforted others but usually loathed being touched or shown any sort of compassion in return, so I remained back .

She shook her head, looking over Lana and me. “Time runs short,” she said, her voice raspy.

I grasped her arm gently when she swayed, leading her toward her sitting area, away from this room holding so many jumbled thoughts.

“Tea?” I asked her.

She swatted my hand. “No time, dear. No time. Fate draws near.”

I pulled a chair up for Lana before taking the farthest one. The same spots we sat in the last time we were with Cassandra.

“We went to my parents’ grave in Brookmere,” Lana said. Cassandra’s gaze flicked toward her. “I am going to assume you know what I’m about to say, but stop me if you do not.”

Cassandra nodded once.

Fuck. I understood Lana’s loathing for seers. A flash of anger welled in me, knowing Cassandra could help Lana and me keep our kingdoms safe but instead chose to remain silent.

She jerked her head up at me. “Do not throw your rage my way. I am telling you what I can. Fate cannot be changed. Too much has been sacrificed. I will not risk everything because you feel afraid to face what comes next.”

I leaned back, not daring to look away until Cassandra saw whatever it was she needed to.

“Continue, child,” she said less sharply to Lana.

“My mother’s journal supposedly contains answers, but it was missing,” Lana said. “However, we found this.” She pulled the white dagger from her thigh and Cassandra smiled.

Not just a smile—the seer beamed. “I knew it was you who was worthy.”

Lana blanched, but when she met my gaze, I desperately tried to convey the truth of Cassandra’s words. They were the same words I’d said to her. The world would fall to their knees once this woman believed in herself.

“Do not ever let that go,” Cassandra instructed .

“I used it on a dark one back in Brookmere, and the darkness erupted out of him. Like the dagger itself destroyed it.”

Cassandra cocked an eyebrow. “A funny thing, darkness. Willingly accepted or not, it does not do well when brought into the light.”

“Please,” Lana said, touching Cassandra’s hand. The woman did not shy away from the touch. Something I would have surely been smacked for. “There was a note, a riddle with the journal?—”

“As much fun as it would be to discuss the riddle and your journey, I fear there are truths you must hear now. I can feel your questions swirling around the room, and I do not have long.”

“Long for what?” I asked.

“Never you mind that,” Cassandra said. She stood, throwing a hand toward her fireplace and lighting it.

My jaw dropped. She healed. She prophesized. There was no way Cassandra should possess another power. It wasn’t possible. Two had seemed beyond belief. But three? Impossible.

She glanced back at me and winked, but the teasing look faded from her expression as a frown crept along her brow. Her face fell, and for the first time I realized how haggard Cassandra appeared. More so than any other time I could recall.

“I’m relieved to finally be able to speak these words,” she started. “I have been trapped here for a thousand years. Without my family, waiting to find the light of fate capable of ending our eternal night.”

I frowned, staring at her. “I don’t understand.” A statement, not a question. I clenched my jaw, barely masking my frustration.

She smiled at me sadly. “More than a millennium ago, an evil walked this land, threatening to destroy it.” The fire flared as she spoke, and she turned away, her eyes closed. She gripped the back of the chair she stood behind, knuckles whitening. “I was blind to the atrocities he committed because he was—he is…” She stopped, opening her eyes. “My mate.”

“What?” I leaned forward, not comprehending what she said. “That’s not— It doesn’t?—”

She cocked a single eyebrow at me. “You of all people know better than that,” she scolded.

I pursed my lips, touching my chest to feel the bond I had noticed. The bond connecting me to Lana.

“How?” I asked.

Lana glanced between the two of us, a crease forming between her brows.

“So much of this story is not mine to tell, but there are things I believe you need to know that will not influence your fate.” She walked around the chair, falling into it.

“Thames was a gifted Fae. Charming, cunning, he wrapped people around his finger and bent them to his will. When we met, I felt the bond and wanted to make all of his dreams come true. All of my dreams come true. So I excused the things he did to gain such immense power. I used my own power to help him.” She brought her fingertips to her lips, swallowing audibly. “I helped him and am guilty of many things the Fates will never forgive—things I cannot forgive. You know I can heal and see. These abilities should not coincide together. But I was special, and he made me feel exceptional. I was the only one of my kind—a seer and a sorceress. I was his.”

“There’s no such thing as sorceresses,” Lana whispered.

“Not anymore, no. And not then either, save for my mother and me.” For the first time ever, Cassandra shed a tear. “Thames twisted my love, our mating bond, until I foresaw my sister dying to save me. I saw the destruction of our lands. I saw the withering of life, crawling in an eternally blackened land. So I fled.” The fire again sparked behind her, almost as though it reacted to the emotions in Cassandra herself. “I approached Thames’s enemies, Queen Evelyn and King Jasper.”

Lana sucked in a breath and Cassandra chuckled. “Yes, your Queen Evelyn. Together, we trapped Thames, creating the void. It separated Atheria in two, creating Brookmere and Mysthaven, the worlds we live in today.”

She stared at the fire, silent for a few moments, but neither Lana nor I spoke. The woman who’d wiped blood from my back, who encouraged me to keep going every time I faltered under my father’s reign, was more powerful than I’d ever imagined. After a thousand years, she’d spent her time caring for me, leading me to this moment.

“Such magic required sacrifices,” she whispered. “Sacrifices greater than you could ever imagine. We may not have been strong enough to defeat Thames for good, but we trapped him, containing him to the void to protect our world.”

She focused on Lana. “You, sweet girl, will learn more truths when you find your mother’s journal. As you know, the rest of Brookmere is unaware of Mysthaven, or even King Jasper.” Her face softened into a smile as she looked at me next. “Your father should have told you all of this by now, but he has been consumed by his own greed for power. The amulet he wears uses the power of your line to keep Thames trapped in the void. Contained. It requires each king to sacrifice himself at the end of his reign, feeding his magic into the amulet before passing it to his heir.”

I froze.

“Kade,” Lana whispered, her breath heavily exhaling from her. “That sounds like what Andras is doing with magic.”

Cassandra’s gaze darkened. “Thames is growing strong again. I have felt it these past few years. Your father is not containing him but feeding him. He has ruled too long, Prince.”

“How would Andras know about this?” Lana asked .

Cassandra rose again, rubbing her arms. “He has come to me in dreams. Our mating bond not yet severed. His power has spread, infecting and festering in the hearts of the broken. The darkness spreading and feeding on your Fae is him. His power. He must have a way to get through to others willing to give him their blind faith.”

“If you weren’t enough to stop him—” I started, but one look at Lana stopped those thoughts, and I ignored the seed of doubt growing inside me. “What must we do?”

Cassandra walked up to me, cupping my face. “Ask yourself, Kade Blackthorn, why Fate decided—after years with no guidance, no prophecies—to grant two?”

“Us,” Lana said, standing as well. “You think we are the ones to defeat him? I have no magic.” She looked at me, panicked, and in a few strides I stood by her side, taking her hand in mine.

Regardless of if my Little Rebel saw it, Fate had chosen wisely with her. Compared to her, I was the one who wasn’t worthy. Yet as the tether in my chest throbbed, igniting at the feel of Lana’s hand in mine, I knew Cassandra spoke the truth.

The man Lana made me, the man who fell in love and refused to lose it. That man would burn the entire kingdom down for her— his mate .

That’s what she was.

There was no longer any doubt in my mind, in my soul. This thing with Lana was a gift I may not be worthy of, but one I would never let go. I would face this evil for her. For a future with my fucking queen. Without hesitation.

“You are more than whatever magic you believe you lack, Illiana,” I whispered, kissing the palm of her hand.

Cassandra let out a moan and fell to the side.

“Cassandra,” I cried out, reaching for her as she fell near the fire.

“I’m fine,” she hissed, rising as she smacked at my hands. Just as I predicted she would. “Today has taken a toll on us all. I don’t need to warn you to be careful. Thames may be trapped for now, but he has been starved of the power he craves for a thousand years, waiting to be set free. Something has changed, even if the Fates have kept me blind to what exactly that something is.” She rubbed her forehead. “Thames is cunning, and underestimating him would be a mistake for all of us. I have seen firsthand how desperate evil men get when they feel their power slipping. Stand together, and the Fates will guide you. As will I, when my interference will not hurt our survival.”

Lana blew out a shaky breath.

“Let me at least help you to your room,” I offered the seer, but she refused me. Again.

“I am capable without your hand, my prince.” She patted where she had just smacked me away, but then, in an uncharacteristic move, wrapped her arms around me. “I never meant to love you as I do. If the Fates had blessed me with a child, I would have wished for them to be just like you.”

She rubbed my arm and turned away from me. I stared, dumbfounded at the sweet words from a woman who I, too, had loved like family. I didn’t dare want to acknowledge that the way she spoke sounded too much like a goodbye.

At her bedroom door she turned to face us again, but only looked at Lana. “I am not the only one who heard Fates call when the dagger returned home to you.” She lifted her finger and pointed directly at Lana. “Illiana, find my sister.”