Page 34

Chapter

Thirty-Three

The days passed in a slow crawl, each one the same as the last, except for the note I found slipped under my door in the dead of night.

It must’ve been early morning when it came.

I didn’t hear it, didn’t sense it, just woke to its presence.

Brida,

I wanted to apologize for how I spoke to you the other night.

It had been a long day; I had just arrived back from Hadash, where things are still quite dire.

I have so much I would like to say to you, but I do not wish to push you.

I will be gone again for the next few days, but when I return, I hope we may talk then.

I hope you know how sorry I am.

I miss you,

Marsh.

His words lingered on the page like ghosts—silent, distant.

They didn't pull at my heart the way I thought they might. I wasn't angry anymore.

Just…indifferent. The world had shifted beneath my feet in ways even Marsh’s absence couldn’t explain.

My focus wasn’t on him; it was on Kadian.

The shadows that clung to him had deepened, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was slipping through my fingers.

He was unraveling, and I was helpless to stop it.

That night, as the sun sank behind the palace walls, I found myself standing in Kadian’s room.

He was already curled up in bed, the light in the room dimming with the fading day.

“Get up,” I nudged him gently, my voice soft, though my desperation clung to the words.

“Why?” His voice was muffled, buried in the pillow.

I could feel the weight of his weariness, the heaviness that had settled deep into his bones.

“We haven’t gone to see the entrance to the Court of Whispers yet. It’s time for us to embrace adventure. Let’s go explore.”

He didn’t move, didn’t even open his eyes.

I hated to press him, to drag him out of whatever darkness was swallowing him, but I was afraid of what would happen if I didn’t.

“Please, Kad. I need this. I need a distraction. Do this for me.”

His sigh filled the space between us, heavy and slow.

He rolled onto his back, his face blotched with the evidence of recent tears.

His red eyes searched mine as if looking for a reason to care.

“What do you have planned?”

I tried to lighten the moment, pulling out two pastries I’d swiped from the dining hall.

“I brought us snacks.”

He stared at them for a beat longer than necessary.

He hadn’t been eating, and seeing him wasting away broke something in me.

But finally, after what felt like an eternity, he sat up, pushing the blankets away.

“What’s your plan, Brida?”

“Let’s go check out the entrance,” I said, a hint of excitement bleeding into my voice.

“I heard some of the first-floor students talking about it. It sounds…interesting.”

"Interesting like the Mirrors of Reflection?"

I grinned, knowing he’d catch my meaning.

“One and the same.”

He shook his head, but I could see the faintest hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his lips.

“Fine,” he muttered, and I squealed, unable to contain my joy.

“Let’s go.”

The palace at night was a different world.

The day’s golden light, which illuminated the vast corridors and high ceilings, had been replaced by the ethereal glow of moonlight.

Silver spilled in through the windows, catching the gold filigree on the limestone walls and turning everything soft and shimmering.

As we walked, I tried to fill the silence.

“Addie told me this hallway was one of the first things built in Azmeer,” I said, gesturing toward the long corridor lined with iron-wrought windows.

The soft moonlight bathed everything in a silvery hue.

“It was meant to honor the moon goddess, said to be a daughter of one of the Primals. No one’s sure which, though.”

Kadian glanced at me, but his eyes were distant, his mind elsewhere.

I pressed on, hoping to catch his interest. “Azmeer’s built to reflect its natural surroundings. They believed that the magic—the life of the land—came from the moon, not the sun.” I stepped closer, placing my hands on his sides and turning him to face the windows.

“That’s why they built this here. It has the best view of the moon. And on the other side…”

The mirrors.

The entire hallway was awash in silver; the moonlight caught and refracted a thousand times over.

The effect was breathtaking, as if the light had become a living thing, breathing around us, filling the space with its soft, radiant glow.

“It’s beautiful,” Kadian murmured, his voice hushed.

“It’s like there are gems dancing in the air.”

I followed his gaze to the crystal chandeliers above, each catching the light and casting a cascade of shimmering reflections on the walls.

For a moment, it was as if we were standing inside a dream.

We stood there in silence, letting the beauty of the place envelop us.

Then, I placed my hand on Kadian’s back and guided him forward.

We walked, our footsteps soft on the limestone floor.

After a while, Kadian broke the silence.

“You don’t know where you’re going, do you?”

I smirked, unwilling to give him a straight answer.

“That’s part of the adventure, Kadian. Allowing yourself to get lost…learning from the journey, and then finding yourself again.”

He laughed, a sound I hadn’t heard in weeks.

The lightness of it lifted something inside me.

As we continued, he spoke again.

“I made my decision, you know.” His voice was quiet, but there was a weight to his words.

I stopped, turning to look at him.

“What decision?”

“I’m going to the Eternal House.”

Relief surged through me.

“Are you sure?”

He nodded, though there was something uncertain in his expression.

“Yeah. I think…it’s what I’m meant to do.”

“Why?”

His eyes flickered with something—hesitation, maybe?

“I don’t know. I have this…feeling about Lil. She’s not in the House of Reflection. I can feel it. It’s like…we’re connected somehow, but it’s distant. Faint.”

I swallowed, my throat tight.

“Why do you think that is?”

He exhaled, running a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know, Bri. I don’t know her. Not really. But ever since I first saw her, it’s like…it’s like I can’t get her out of my head. There’s this pull…this need. And it’s only getting stronger.”

His voice cracked, and I could feel the pain in his words.

“Some days, I think I can smell her. It’s like she’s right there, and it drives me mad. I feel like I’m suffocating without her.”

I took Kadian’s hand into mine and squeezed it as we walked along in silence.

I said nothing as I had no words that would offer him comfort.

Only despair.

After several minutes, I halted us as I reached into the back pocket of the billowing pants I was wearing.

“What’s that?” He raised a single brow at me.

“A map, of course,” I looked at it.

“You’ve had a map this entire time?” He grabbed it from my hands.

“You should know that despite my wanting to embrace adventure,” I said.

“That I seldom go on one being unprepared.”

He chuckled as his eyes met mine.

For a moment, the Kadian I’d always known looked back at me.

But as fast as blinking, he was gone.

He studied the map for a moment, “we’re here.” He pointed to a part of the map that was titled Astral Observatory.

“And we want to go…” His eyes scanned the map, “here. This way,” he gestured his arm forward.

As was commonplace on our adventures, I let him guide the way.

“What’ve you heard about this entrance?” He folded the map and handed it to me.

“Not much, only that it is shrouded in mystery. Whatever that means,” I smiled.

“How intriguing,” he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, “thank you for getting me out tonight.” He gave a light kiss to the top of my head.

“Anytime.” I placed my hand over his and squeezed it.

When we reached the final corridor, the limestone walls darkened to slate gray as we approached the entrance to the Court of Whispers.

“What is that?” Kadian pointed to a pale sheen that began to slither along the floor, moving with an unsettling grace as it raced toward us.

“I think it’s mist.” The words barely left my lips before the mist reacted, rising like a living thing, its tendrils curling into the air.

It swelled, swallowing the end of the hall in a thick, ghostly shroud.

The atmosphere grew oppressive, each step forward making the air feel denser, more suffocating.

It clung to my skin, cold and damp, a clammy touch that sent shivers racing up my spine.

At first, the pounding of my heart drowned out everything else, but then I heard it—a faint, almost imperceptible sound.

As we ventured deeper into the mist, the sound grew clearer: whispers.

Faint at first, they caressed the edges of my mind, soft and melodic, like voices from a distant dream.

Yet, there was something off about them—something ancient, wrong, like forgotten voices clawing their way back into the world.

You do not belong here.

The words slithered through the air like a serpent, brushing against my skin, cold and intimate, as though the speaker stood mere inches from my cheek.

I shivered, my heart hammering.

I glanced at Kadian, hoping for reassurance, but his face had gone pale, drained of color, his eyes wide and distant, staring into a void I could not see.

You do not belong here , the voice hissed again, harsher now, a razor-sharp edge to the words.

Before I could react, Kadian bolted, his movements frantic as he disappeared into the mist, swallowed whole by the thick, swirling fog.

“Kadian!” I screamed, chasing after him, but the mist was alive, moving faster than I could comprehend, closing in around me, sealing me off from the world.

It pressed in from all sides, suffocating, endless.

The whispers morphed into something else —laughter.

Low, mocking, a sound that curled in my mind like smoke.

We know who you are, Brida Larrow.

You do not belong here.

A cold terror gripped me, sharp and unyielding, tightening around my chest. I pressed my hands to my ears, desperate to shut out the voice, but it was inside me, creeping under my skin, burrowing deep into my thoughts.

“Get out of my head!” My mind screamed the words, but the laughter only grew louder, more vicious, more invasive.

Oh no, dear Brida. You came to us.

You have no power here.

My heart raced, panic clawing at the edges of my sanity.

I spun in place, disoriented, searching for any sign of Kadian, but the fog was impenetrable, a void that devoured everything.

The world had vanished.

I was blind, helpless.

“Where’s Kadian?” My voice trembled, thick with fear.

Where he is meant to be , the voice hissed, its words dripping with dark amusement.

“What does that mean?” I snarled.

Some who come here are granted information.

You will not disturb him.

I grasped at any semblance of control, clinging to the only thing that might help.

“Will you grant me information?”

The mist shifted, swirling tighter around me as if considering.

Then, the voice responded, low and dangerous.

What will you offer?

“I’ve nothing to offer you,” I whispered, my voice cracking with fear.

The laughter returned, a soft, chilling purr.

Oh, but you do. So much.

The mist curled closer, brushing my skin like icy fingers, teasing at my senses, its presence heavy, watching, waiting.

Every breath I took was laced with the weight of something ancient and malevolent.

It wasn’t just mist—it was alive, sentient, and it knew me.

It knew my name. My fears.

The whispers grew louder, pressing in from all sides, gnawing at my thoughts.

“What do you want?” I asked, though I already knew the answer would be dangerous.

A favor. When the time is right.

My blood ran cold. This was no ordinary magic—it was a pact, a promise that I wasn’t sure I could keep.

The weight of it pressed down on me, suffocating, as the darkness coiled tighter around my mind.

I needed Kadian, needed to find him before this thing consumed us both.

But then Kadian’s scream pierced the air—a sound so raw, so full of pain that it ripped through the fog and into my soul.

Panic flared in my chest, my pulse racing.

“Yes!” I shouted into the mist. “Yes, we have a deal!”

Silence followed, a heavy, crushing silence.

Then, the voice returned, colder than ever.

He is dying.

My heart stopped, fear flooding my veins like ice.

“If you hurt him—” The threat was empty; I knew I had no power here, no leverage.

But the words escaped me anyway, trembling with desperation.

He is not dying by our hand but by the bonds.

The words hit me like a blow.

Bonds? The mist swirled with cruel laughter, mocking me as if I were a child lost in a game far beyond my understanding.

My mind raced, trying to piece together the impossible.

“Bonds? What are they, with whom?” The words felt hollow in my mouth.

Foolish girl. There is much you do not yet know.

The chill deepened, the weight of the unknown pressing harder on my chest. I needed answers, needed to save Kadian before it was too late.

“Tell me where to look. Tell me how to help him.”

The voice chuckled, a sound full of dark amusement.

The time will come when all shall be revealed to you.

Frustration and fear warred within me.

“How do I help him?” I pleaded, my voice cracking with the force of my desperation.

Both must accept the bond.

The room spun, my heart pounding as the impossible truth settled in.

“How am I supposed to help him if you do not tell me what bonds these are and whom he is bound to? What if they don’t find each other?” I asked, my voice barely more than a whisper.

The voice was quieter now, almost contemplative.

We do not belong to the Primal of Death.

That is not ours to say.

Even still, that is not all that ails him.

What is coming will bring a great change.

A shiver ran down my spine.

The Primal of Death?

I’d never heard of such a thing.

This was magic far older, far darker than anything I’d encountered.

There is much you do not yet know.

And just as quickly as the mist had consumed the world, it began to dissipate, peeling away like smoke in the wind.

The hallway emerged once more, and at the end of it, Kadian knelt on the cold stone, trembling, his hands covering his face.

I ran to him, my heart in my throat.

“Kadian?”

He was cold to the touch, his body slumped and frail.

When he looked up at me, his eyes were hollow, haunted by something I couldn’t see.

“They’re waking up,” he whispered before collapsing into my arms.