Page 15 of Steeling Light (Shadowed Debts #3)

I have found nothing yet, but there is more to Selithar than I’d originally thought. It may take longer than I’d planned. Continue to hunt for the Brand as we discussed.

~Rhion Rahn, Log of the Commander’s Correspondence via Speaking Bowl

Ainslee

I stare at the Keep of Webs again, wondering how my life brought me here. Vellith’s words cling to my mind like the webs she weaves, as they have so often in the past week. Each day, I wander the city alone, wasting the sunlight. My mind wanders just as much, constantly settling on those words.

Your task of finding the handmaid is not your only purpose in Selithar. You are not like the sylph, and your strands are bound to the web, your fate entwined with so many others. It is not productive to fight the web. We all must eat when it is time to eat and rest when it is time to rest.

I know so little of the silkies, so little of any of the Lesser Houses, even though I belong to one.

Even my own House is mostly a mystery to me.

The history, the purpose given by the dragons, and even the inner workings of it were never taught to me.

My mother had tried, but I’d refused to listen, and she’d never have taught Cole those things unless he’d asked.

She knew what the Great Houses thought of us.

I’ve spent the last week wandering the city, and those words won’t leave me.

With them comes the dread of what lies in my future.

My nights are filled with my adventures with Rhion, all of which have been far more entertaining than I’d expected.

The days, though, are like walking through life with thorns in my mind, each thought painful and stuck.

So, I stand in front of the Keep of Webs again, and this time, I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to walk in and ask a silky to bring me to a High Fae from the House of Webs. I’m going to ask about the silkies and how Vellith knew the things she knew.

Maybe I’ll come out with answers and maybe I won’t, but the only purpose I have to my days is wasting time until the moon rises. At least this way, I might understand more about what I was told.

The Keep is unlike any of the others, and truthfully, it doesn’t fit with the City of Moonlight.

Everything else is made to be beautiful, but this place is an earthen mound only roughly shaped like a building.

There are no squared edges, few windows, and a single door, which is less grand than the inn where I’m staying.

What looks like mud covers the walls, a spackle texture rather than smooth stone or wood.

Webs run over the mud, the sharp edges becoming the perfect anchor points, and several silkies cling to them, staring out at the city.

I take a deep breath and open the door for the second time. I step into the foyer, which is an ever-burning torch-lit circular space. In front of me is a single silky, her hood down, and she smiles at me.

“Ainslee Emlyn,” Vellith says softly. “You are here as the vibrations whispered. How can I help you?”

I blink. “How did you know I’d be here?”

“The web whispered to me as it does occasionally. It has given you to me as a charge.”

Why would a silky guide me? Why would she care about me? I’m nobody.

She continues, “I am very thankful that the web has provided a Daughter of Light to me to guide. It is rare that someone such as myself is given such an important task.” She says it less to me and more to herself as she has to reassert her attention on me, her movement very twitchy.

A soft squeak comes from the blue and black chitin as her golden eyes focus on me.

I frown in response. “Vellith, I… I didn’t come here for a guide. I came here to talk to one of the House of Webs.”

“Of course. I will introduce you to Cadence. She is a young weaver. You will enjoy her, I think. Come, come. There are many things to discuss.”

Without another word, she walks into the main corridor of the Keep, her steps making almost no noise while her body chirps with each movement. For a moment, I hesitate. I didn’t expect Vellith to be here, and I certainly didn’t expect her to guide me , whatever that means.

I shake my head. What does it matter? It’s not like they can force anything on me. I may not be a true warrior like Cole or Rhion, but I’m not helpless, and this is a Lesser House. Pride wells up in me, the feeling of possibilities winding their way through me, but I don’t let anything change. Yet.

I hurry to catch up to Vellith, and when I reach her, I match her pace, the squeaking chitin marking a time for our footfalls. “What do you mean guide me?” I ask.

Vellith doesn’t turn toward me, her eyes ever facing forward, and she says, “Cadence will explain. It is not my place to teach outsiders the web’s secrets. Do not worry, Ainslee Emlyn; Cadence is very friendly. You will like her. Your strands align with hers.”

What does that mean? What does any of this mean? Maybe they should have named this place the House of Cryptics instead since Vellith seems incapable of saying anything simply.

Instead of continuing to ask questions I’m sure she won’t answer, I walk beside her silently, my eyes moving from one thing to the next.

I’ve never seen a Keep so full of people outside of a major event.

Maybe it’s because most of my memories are from the Great Keeps, and those are the size of a small city, but this place swarms with activity.

And all of it is from the silkies. I don’t see any other Immortals.

Just robes covered in hundreds of strange trinkets squeaking with each step.

The sound of their movements is much louder than I remember a week ago.

Maybe it’s because I’d been focused on action rather than watching, though.

“This is Cadence’s burrow,” Vellith says as she stops beside an opening in the wall at our level.

There is no door to the tunnel, but all I see is a darkness so devoid of light that it reminds me of the void.

I shiver at the sight as memories of drowning in the emptiness haunt me.

I’d felt shadows fill me up, ripping and tearing at me, and in their wake, all I could feel was a solitude so complete that I couldn’t even consider pushing it back.

I take a step back from the door, and Vellith steps in front of me, her chitin-covered fingers taking my hand in them.

“Ainslee Emlyn,” she says, her golden eyes seeming to see into my soul, “this is not the void. This is not the darkness that begs you to give in to it. This is another kind. It is only in its absence that we learn the importance of light. We must embrace our opposite in order to learn who we are, and Cadence is light, like you. Do not be afraid.”

Just like the first time that Vellith touched me, warmth flows from her to me, and the fear inside me flees. I stare into her golden eyes and feel warmth flood my chest. “Do not be afraid, Ainslee. You were meant to push back the darkness. Light the way, and you will have your questions answered.”

It’s like I’ve been reminded of who I am, not who I’ve learned to be. I am from the House of Light, the only Lesser House that can defeat the Shadows. And I smile. Vellith nods as a faint light covers my skin. The darkness in front of us seems to disappear almost immediately.

Vellith makes a strange chittering sound and smiles even wider.

“Cadence is going to love you! Now, come, come.” She turns and leads the way into the dim rather than dark passage.

I blink, a touch of the fear coming back as soon as her hands aren’t holding mine any longer, but the majority stays behind.

I follow my guide into the twisting tunnel in front of us, and as soon as we step past the entryway, it’s like the darkness evaporates. I look behind me and see a black shimmering web covering the entryway. “What is that?” I say in surprise.

“Cadence’s web, of course.” Vellith hasn’t even turned around to look at it. She’s still walking, and I hurry to catch up once again. This place is so much stranger than any other Keep I’ve been in. Even the Keep of Shadows seemed mostly normal. This place is like another world.

We walk at a slow pace, and Vellith’s carapace rubbing with each step is the only sound.

It’s like all the chaos of the main corridor has been blocked out.

The small tunnel twists suddenly, and we stare at a wooden door, the first that I’ve seen here.

Vellith raps on the door twice, and a girlish voice responds, “Is she here? Come in, come in!”

Vellith opens the door, and we walk into a small workroom.

Instead of the mud-covered walls like the rest of the Keep, this room looks almost normal.

Wooden walls, floor, and ceiling make it seem like we’ve been transported back to the normal world.

A small bed lies against a corner, the blankets brightly colored, and a small desk sits next to a wide bookshelf.

In the center of the room is a massive worktable filled with strange oddities, much like the trinkets on the silkies’ robes.

Then there’s the spider web that fills up the other half of the room. It’s made of black thread so dark that it seems to devour the light. Dozens of trinkets are tied into the strands of the web, and in the middle is a single clear gemstone that glows with a steady light.

In the center of the room, with hands clasped together across her chest, is a High Fae who seems more a child than an adult.

She’s shorter than I am and thin as a rail.

Her long, shining black hair bounces along with the rest of her as she can’t seem to stand still.

Her movements aren’t like Vellith’s. Instead, she seems to flow .

Her bright yellow dress is just as shimmering and bright as any Lesser House formal wear that I’ve seen. It, along with this room, is the first thing that reminds me of the normal world of Selithar.