Page 3 of The Princesses of Ruin (The Princesses of Ruin #5)

Chapter three

Alyse

I mentally skirt the dark wards around the palace and drift through the field that stretches out at the foot of the mountain. Lumi’s glittering blue-gray essence is a beacon in my otherwise faded spectral view.

Projecting my magic to manifest a ghostly body that can not only hear thoughts, but see people and objects, has been essential. Mental images can sometimes be wildly inaccurate, and when we’re translating runic markings, that can spell death.

My magic illuminates the grass and takes shape in a vague, female form. The void of essence I know to be Freian steps out from behind Lumi’s glowing aura. The world is swallowed by his nomaj presence. He’s like the night sky between the stars—all black.

“She’s so dim tonight…” Freian thinks as he addresses me courteously out loud.

“We need to know what her plan is for the captives,” I say, not bothering with formalities. This is war, after all.

Lumi shifts her weight and crosses her arms. “Don’t we all?”

“You have nothing?” I ask, the heat in my voice slipping out past my guard. “You’re under her roof. How is it you’ve discovered fuck-all? ”

Freian cringes, his shoulders coming to his ears. “We’re trying, princess. It’s not easy to move about anymore. She’s taken over the guard.”

I suck in a harsh gasp, feeling my body back in the Nest and Kaz’s hand on mine.

“Hemsworth?” I ask, pushing more energy into my ghostly form.

“We haven’t seen him, or several others, for days,” Lumi says. “She may be trying to break them—”

“Or she’s consuming them,” I say, my jaw clenched so hard it hurts.

Lumi shakes her head. “No, she’s waiting. There haven’t been any rituals for over two weeks.”

Why would she halt her progress with how close she’s come?

I sigh. There’s no point in speculating without enough information, and I came here for another purpose.

“Do you have pages, Freian?” I ask, turning my attention to the void beside Lumi.

“Yes,” he says, reaching into his black bag. The paper glows with a hint of purple.

Kazimir’s purple.

Freian turns them to me so I can read. Runic shapes are scrawled across the parchment in precise, violet lines of ink that’s been enchanted with Kaz’s magic. I’ve never been so grateful for his inventions. In the margins, Freian has left notes and ideas of what each symbol could be relating to.

“Paper,” I mumble through my physical mouth.

Kazimir guides my hand to a page and one of his pens is placed between my fingers. I replicate the marks, looking between my ghostly eyes and my own body to confirm their immaculate accuracy.

“Which book was this from?” I ask .

“The red one, middle shelf, far left,” Lumi says.

I scribble the words “red, middle, left” on the page next to the runic symbols. I turn my gaze to the drawing of the Void room on the table before me. The bookshelf beside the clawfoot cauldron is outlined in stark detail, and the red book is right where it should be.

“Anything else?” I ask Lumi.

“Food stores are getting low, and much of the backup supplies in the Upper Kingdom were burned.”

“How long do you have?”

“Eating how the bitch has the past three nights, maybe a month. Most of the servants will starve well before then.”

“She’s been hosting dinner parties for her ‘guests’ to keep them docile,” Freian says. “We’ve been trying to spread the word of her betrayal, that she burned the Upper Kingdom, but it’s not taking.”

Fuck.

The displaced kingdomites are already a draw on our resources, but we’ll figure something out. We have to. If we can’t, we’re not fit to lead, either.

“We’ll prepare deliveries of grain and whatever else we can spare through the underground within the week,” I say.

“That’s another thing,” Lumi says, and I groan internally, not needing her to finish the sentence.

“She’s watching you,” I interject.

Lumi nods.

It was bound to happen. Ashai knows Lumi can mold earth to an extent, being the head groundskeeper, but she must’ve realized Lumi’s power went far beyond making plots for orchards and rosebushes.

There’s magic in her blood that’s older than what my people were granted by the gods, and Ashai must sense its growing presence on the grounds with everything we’ve been doing .

“She may not know exactly what you can do yet. Halt the updates for at least a week.”

“And the supplies?” Freian asks.

“We’ll fly them in at night,” I say. “I’ll send you the locations remotely when we drop them.”

“She’s been warding the airspace, erecting spires etched with runes that make my skin crawl,” Lumi says.

My jaw aches as I grit my teeth. “When?”

“Today. She had me digging the holes.”

It would be suicidal to attempt to subvert the wards without knowing what they are. It could be standard protection barriers, or a proximity alarm, or a turret to blast us out of the sky.

“Did you document any of the symbols?” I ask.

“They’re like the others,” Lumi says, pointing to the page in Freian’s hand. “Unknown to me, but dark in nature. Hellsborn.”

My thoughts jump from one possible solution to the next, none of them viable. I mutter a curse and Kaz squeezes my hand.

“You’re not alone, vy drecoul.”

I take a steadying breath. “I need to consult the conclave. I’ll be here tomorrow night with our plan.”

Lumi turns away without another word, her mind shielded with walls of earth so all I can sense is her displeasure.

Freian bows. “Be safe, princess.”

“You as well.”

“And please tell Kaz I’m taking good care of his books.”

I sense the mirth in his being. Not even war with a god can dampen his spirit. “I will.”

I cut the ties of power to my ephemeral presence and feel the wind blow through it, dispersing my magic. The vision of the field fades, and I’m once again in my body. It aches. My skin is still raw on my cheeks and arms from the flames.

Kaz pushes a cup of water into my hands, and I drink deeply. When the cup is empty, I reach for the bottle of wakeful potion.

He catches my wrist. “You’ve had too much already.”

I hold his glowing gaze. “The consequences of toxication are minimal at this stage.”

“This is your second day awake. Your mind needs rest,” he says.

“I’m essential for communication within the palace. Rest will have to wait,” I say, reaching for the bottle with my other hand.

He pushes it out of reach with a burst of air, and fire burns up my belly to my mouth.

“ Release me .”

Gold tendrils surge out through my lips and burrow into his eyes. He yanks his hand back as if I’ve burned him. My heart lurches and my lungs seize as his posture goes rigid.

I lost control.

“I’m so sorry,” I utter, reaching out for him, touching his face and chest.

He closes his eyes, relaxing as my hand caresses his cheek. The steady thrum of his heartbeat under my right palm reminds me of the depth of his affection. He’s not trying to hamper our efforts. He’s trying to protect me.

“I will take a two-hour rest, no longer,” I say, and his eyes snap open. “Then I will sleep tonight.”

He clenches his teeth but nods. He pulls my arms around him, and I lean in, crawling into his lap. The warmth of his body is a soothing balm, and everything seems to melt away under its heat .

He nuzzles my hair, taking a deep inhale through his nose. “You’ve been giving so much of yourself. I need you to be whole when this is done.”

“I know,” I say, planting a gentle kiss on his jaw. His stubble is longer than normal, and it tickles my lips. He hasn’t been taking care of himself either.

His arms band around me tighter and he whispers, “I won’t survive your destruction.”

I hold him tighter, pressing his face to the crook of my neck as I close my eyes. “We can do this.”

We hold each other for what feels like too long. Every second counts in this war, and we’ve taken too many. But I steal them anyway.

And then sleep steals me.