Page 111 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

But which memory to try and enter?

If she chose one of these last pages, she might see how the story ended.

Maybe Navara had found a way back to Myrrai, and maybe that way had been the Second Gate.

It might’ve been a long shot, but it was the only option she had.

But then again, the journal was here in Hallie’s hands, and Hallie’s grandfather had died before she was born.

The likelihood of Navara’s success was slim, but she needed to explore that angle first before gathering her own data.

She needed her blood to make it work, but unless she fancied some splinters and a jagged scar from using the blunt side of the crate Kase and Clara had used as a seat, she needed to find something else. She would also rather not resort to papercutting herself repeatedly.

Granted, she was in the hospital ward. There had to be something somewhere that wouldn’t be super painful.

Of course when she finally found herself alone long enough to use the journal, she had no way to slice herself properly. Just her luck.

Using the crate to aid her, she stood on shaky legs, but after a minute or two, she was able to stand without assistance. She pulled on her satchel and tucked the journal inside. Now to find shears or some sort of knife.

The hospital ward had both. The rations station might also have something she could borrow. She just wouldn’t tell anyone why…and hopefully she wouldn’t run into her mother in the meantime. That would infinitely complicate things.

She needed to have that conversation, the one they hadn’t finished, but the hope that she might find a way to do this without sacrificing herself made her push it to the back of her mind. She would have time later.

But before she could make it further than her cell, Fely appeared.

Blast it.

Before Hallie could duck back into her little cell, Fely made eye contact with her and walked over. “How are you feeling?”

Blast. “Fine.”

Even after adding a fake smile, Hallie could tell she hadn’t fooled Fely, who raised one eyebrow in silent judgement. “And you’re leaving the ward…why?”

Hallie tried to think of something that would work as an excuse, but she came up short. Maybe Fely would go along with Hallie’s plan. It was worth a try. She’d once cared about King Filip, at least to an extent. Hallie’s way might make certain his death had not been in vain.

“I need to go to the part of the tunnels from yesterday.”

Fely narrowed her eyes. “Why?”

Hallie looked around. A few nurses entered two cells just a few down from hers.

Another entered the area where the majority of those ill or injured lay in crooked rows out in the open, not afforded the privacy Hallie had been given.

The gas lanterns tucked to the side of the strange cloth corridor made the shadows upon the ground longer. She tugged Fely into her cell.

“I know where the Second Gate is. Possibly. I just need to check it out.”

Fely shook her head. “Saldr would have felt it.”

Hallie held in the frustrated retort and said, “Maybe, but will you please just humor me? If it’s nothing, it’s nothing, and I’ll move on to other ideas. But I need to check all possibilities…and I need something sharp.”

“This is sounding less and less like a good idea,” Fely said, crossing her arms. “I want no part of it. I was just on my way to see if Asa was showing any improvement.”

“Asa?” Hallie wracked her brain for someone by that name. A Yalv? No, no, it wasn’t that. “Wait, when you say Asa, are you talking about King Filip’s brother?”

Fely, Filip, and Correa had mentioned him once or twice, and with everything going on, Hallie had forgotten about him. But why bring him up now?

Fely gave her an odd look. “What do you mean? Of course I’m talking about him.”

Hallie was taken back by her tone. “I think I might be confused.”

“You must know he’s here. You saved his life. I was hoping to speak with him before any of the others had a chance to…coerce answers from him.”

Hallie stared at her hard. “I saved his life? When?”

Who was she talking about? She couldn’t be talking about Ben. There was no way. It had to be someone else, but he was the only one she remembered saving. Besides Niels. But it was absolutely impossible for it to be him.

Which left Ben.

“Today. Earlier. You used your power in the hover. You saved his life.” Fely’s annoyance turned to worry, and she reached out to lay a hand on Hallie’s forehead as if testing for a fever. “Are you sure you’re feeling well?”

Waves of heat and ice-chilling cold crashed into her body. She jerked away from Fely’s touch. “I…I don’t think I understand.”

But she did—in a way. Ben had been working with the Cerls.

He was an Essence wielder. But Hallie had only assumed he was a pawn, someone with Yalven blood they could manipulate, because the Ben she’d known was kind and Kase’s best friend.

Until he wasn’t. Until the Essence power took control in the Gate chamber.

Her heart pounded. Every fiber of her being pulsed to its rhythm. “So you’re telling me that Asa, brother to the King of Cerulene, is the man I know as Ben Reiss?”

“Ah.” Understanding cleared the concern from Fely’s gaze.

“You know him by his false name. Yes, though I only learned of his false name myself this morning.” Fely opened the curtain again.

“It will take too long to explain now, and it’s best if not many people know that—” she leaned over to whisper in Hallie’s ear, “—the only living heir to the Cerl throne is in this hospital ward. In betraying Jayde in Myrrai, he was granted full heirship, though he was born illegitimate. I wasn’t aware of that detail until after the fact, which only shows I was not as well-placed of a spy as the Stradat Lord Kapitan would have liked, but… what’s done is done.”

The shock was almost too overwhelming.

“I…I don’t know what to say.” How else was she supposed to react to this sort of news?

She needed to tell Kase, and Jove—probably their father, too.

They needed to know exactly who she’d saved.

It was dangerous to have him here for multiple reasons.

What would happen if Correa found out where he was?

Though she hated to think it, Ben might make a valuable bargaining chip if the Stradat Lord Kapitan’s plan was truly to negotiate for peace.

“I’ve collected Soul from a few plants to give to Asa to aid his recovery. If he wakes up while I’m there, that will be helpful. He needs to know about Filip and what his death now means, though they were not close. After, we can go inspect that site.”

Fely led her around the corner and down an even more secluded area of the ward to a solitary cell with three guards glaring at any and all passersby.

Made sense—Ben was a war criminal, after all—but three soldiers made it quite conspicuous that someone important was inside.

Granted, the only Jaydian who knew his greater importance was Hallie.

She stood several feet away, unsure if she wanted to approach. Who knew what version of Ben waited inside?

She clutched the strap of her satchel. She expected the heat of her power to react to her feelings, as chaotic as they were, but it stayed at the same consistent, pleasant warmth instead.

It probably hadn’t recovered from saving the stars-blasted new King of Cerulene .

Hallie still didn’t quite comprehend it all. Part of her thought maybe she’d never awoken after saving him with her power, and that Kase’s proposal and this revelation were all part of some elaborate dream.

She pinched herself to make sure. It hurt. Blast it.

Fely spoke softly to the guards, but they shook their heads. She said something else, something more forceful. The answer was the same.

The Rubikan woman walked away, jaw clenched. She reached Hallie and muttered, “On orders to not let anyone in except for the Stradat Lord Kapitan. I’ll have a word with him and Saldr soon. Are you set on this plan of yours?”

Hallie nodded once. She could not be swayed.

Fely sighed. “Let’s go and get this over with, shall we?”

Hallie followed her, taking one last look at the cell. The soldiers stood unmoving, hands on their flashpistols.

Maybe if Hallie figured something out with the Gates, she could also free the man she’d known as Ben Reiss.

Despite his duplicity, he hadn’t acted like betraying them was strictly his desire—or even his choice.

It was like the Essence power itself was controlling him.

In the Gate chamber, the difference between Ben and his Essence-wielding self had been like night and day.

The real Ben Reiss hadn’t wanted to hurt Kase and Hallie.

Fely wove in between a few patients, nodding to medics and nurses alike. None of them stopped her or Hallie. They were too overworked to care. If she wasn’t worried about her own well-being, then fine. They had fifty other injured or dying to worry about in her place.

She’d hoped the ward would’ve started emptying out as people filtered back to the surface.

However, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Many of those she passed had inky black patterns like spider webs on their wrists or ankles.

A few had it on their necks. One elderly woman had it near her temples.

It took a second for Hallie to realize that they were veins. Black veins.

What had caused that? An elderly gentleman nearby had several of the veins going up his neck and one connecting to his eye.

Could these be the people affected by the Yalvar fuel exposure?

Since her Essence power training began, she hadn’t been in the ward much enough to study the effects and the patients, and she hadn’t had much time to chat with Petra about it.

These people weren’t in any pain—visibly at least—but they did look rather tired.

Made sense. Everyone was exhausted. Hopefully they would be moved to the surface soon.