Page 5

Kiara

I haven’t heard anything in days, but I know you’re alive. Mother and Father may be pissed at me, but for once in my life, I’m taking a risk. I’m going to steal a page from your book.

An unmailed letter from Liam Frey to his sister, Kiara Frey, year 50 of the curse

I woke to Jake’s bright blue eyes.

“Morning,” he said, an anxious smile playing on his lips.

The single lamp lit on the inn’s bedside table cast the dingy space in shadows. I must’ve pass ed out as soon as we’d stumbled inside; I still wore my boots.

“Tell me yesterday was a dream.”

Jake solemnly shook his head. “I’m sorry, Ki. I wish it had been . ”

I cursed as I eased onto my elbows, scanning the small room and its chipped green walls.

“We’ve missed our chance now. Cirian will be in a position to either kill Jude and keep the Godslayer or lure us to him, using him as bait.” That’s what I’d do if I were a malevolent asshole with a crown. And if Maliah was correct, and he was ruled by the Moon God, Cirian wasn’t Jude’s only foe.

Jake shifted to the side table and returned with a pair of worn black gloves.

“You burned the other pair,” he said with a shrug. As if his offering didn’t mean the world to me. “I snagged these from the innkeeper’s office, so try not to make a show of flashing ’em around. The bastard certainly overcharged us enough.”

“One day in Fortuna, and you’re already a thief?” I tried to smile , but it hurt. I clutched the gloves affectionately to my chest.

Jake scooted against the headboard , and I did the same, allowing myself to lean against his shoulder and revel in his solid comfort. He reached for my bare hand and held it in his, uncaring of my scars.

We sat there for many long minutes until Jake spoke.

“We’ll find him, Ki, but not before we get a plan in order. Gods, I’m surprised they caught him to begin with. It’s rather disappointing.”

I shoved up from the bed, ignoring a wave of dizziness. Something nagged at the frayed edges of my thoughts, but I couldn’t quite piece it all together.

“Ki…” Jake warned, rising with me.

“You’re right. Jude shouldn’t have been captured so easily.” Granted, there had been a decent number of soldiers storming the city, and Jude had likely been taken by surprise. Cirian wanted him in his clutches , and he’d sent out an entire army.

“Now what?” Jake asked, his lips twitching as he fought to keep them from slipping into a frown. Gods , he was trying so damned hard to be brave. It made me try just as hard.

Steeling my spine, I held his stare. “We’re going to need some horses.”

…

Half of the people meandering about the streets of Fortuna still appeared drunk from the evening before, and the other half rushed through the masses, likely on their way to work.

More than one door hung off its hinges, and plenty had been removed entirely. The crimson soldiers had done a number on the city, and homes were boarded up with plywood and tin.

I ground my teeth when my boots sloshed into what appeared to be a pool of blood.

Those men enjoyed their assault. They decorated the city in red and left it in shambles without a glance back. Yet the citizens carried on without pause.

“There.”

I grabbed Jake’s hand and forced us to a halt. There was a stable across the boulevard, and as our luck just so happened, the only person standing guard at such an early hour was asleep, a worn checkered cap pulled low over his eyes.

My pulse hammered in my throat as we rounded the softly snoring man, a set of iron keys clutched in his hands. I motioned silently to Jake.

“No,” Jake whispered, but I’d already reached for the keys. He didn’t have a tight grip, and if I could just—

The snores ceased. As did my hand. I held my breath and waited, sweat slicking my brow. A moment later, the wheezing snores continued. I sighed in relief.

Wrapping my fingers around the main ring, I gently pried the keys from his grip. When one of the keys clanged against another, he flinched, those snores once again coming to a halt. I could sense Jake’s eyes on me, could feel my muscles tensing, readying to bolt.

But the man just adjusted in his chair and slumped backward, fast asleep.

Thank the gods.

Waving Jake ahead, I slipped into the stables and assessed the locked pens.

A distinct prickling sensation slithered down my spine. I frowned as an odd sense of familiarity accompanied the feeling. Like I’d been here before—which was impossible.

“Check the stalls,” I whispered to Jake. The first two I came across were empty, though the third had a mare that appeared suitable. I kept going, inexplicably drawn to the last stall.

Heat simmered beneath my skin at what I found—

“ Starlight ,” I croaked, peering through the iron bars of her locked stable.

She should be dead. But…

I reached through the bars, my hands trembling, my eyes prickling with relief. Her human-like black eyes peered back at me, sparked with knowing. She dipped her head in a slight bow, always regal.

Gods, I wanted to rush inside and run my hands through her forever-tangled mane and kiss her nose while she snorted in affront. My heart, for just a moment, felt lighter.

“She’s alive,” Jake muttered from behind me, as stunned as I. “Impossible.”

“Apparently not,” I said, blinking back the threat of tears. Before the Mist and all of its illusions, I would’ve made myself believe that my mind was playing tricks on me. I knew that wasn’t the case.

Starlight was another mystery I’d yet to solve.

I clutched the iron lock with a grimace as Jake went to work trying out the different keys. “Did she find Jude and bring him here? We saw hoofprints in the Mist.” I swore the mare smiled in reply.

“That’s a stretch,” Jake replied, finally finding the right key. He twisted the lock. “But then again, she’s not dead like she’s supposed to be, so it’s a possibility. She always creeped me out.”

I swore Starlight glowered at him in return.

“We’re getting you out of here,” I told her, opening the pen. I tried to run my hand down her shank, but she pulled back, her front hooves rising a few feet from the ground.

“Whoa, we’re leaving,” I tried to soothe. “It’s all right, girl.”

Again, she reared back, coming down hard and rustling the hay in her pen.

I stepped closer, her movements having shifted the straw.

A flash of red caught my eye.

“What is that, old broad?” The sunfires illuminating the stables flickered, their glow weak, but I saw the symbol clear enough.

A square matchbook…with what looked to be a claw mark decorating a pint of ale.

I picked it up, twisting it this way and that. It was just a matchbook.

Starlight thumped her hooves as if in frustration.

“What is it?” I asked, feeling foolish for speaking to a horse.

Starlight inched closer, hot puffs of air escaping her nostrils. She touched the matchbook with her nose before lifting her head and centering those unusual eyes on me.

“Does this mean something?” I held it up, frowning.

Starlight nickered, whipping her head. Her agitation was well known.

“You don’t think…” Jake trailed off, scoffing. “It can’t be a clue.”

Starlight pierced him with her signature scowl. I don’t believe I’d ever seen another horse make such a face.

I pursed my lips, thinking. “If Jude did find her in the Mist and rode her here, then there’s a chance he left this here. Like you said, a clue.”

It was a small chance, but a memory flickered to the front of my mind.

“Oh, gods. What’s that face?” Jake grumbled.

“I recognize the name,” I murmured. “That symbol… It’s a tavern by the main boulevard. The one with all the bright tapestries.”

“I wasn’t paying that much attention. Though, in my defense, there was an attack happening,” Jake said, gnawing at the inside of his cheek. “Should we check it out before we head to the capital? Just to be safe?”

Starlight seemed to calm, even trotting back to my side. She bumped her muzzle against my chest, and I ran my hand along her neck.

“I say we go. If it is a clue, then we’ll kick ourselves later for not paying it attention.”

“She better be right.” Jake shook his head, his hair flopping in his eyes. He scowled at Starlight, his stare narrowed.

“We’ll be back really soon,” I promised the mare, who pushed into my chest with vigor. I hated to leave her here a second longer, but we couldn’t ignore the possible gift that had fallen in our laps.

Stepping away, I quickly gave her my back before I hesitated any longer. Jake locked the pen but slipped off the key before we placed them back before the stablehand.

“The Sly Fox,” I said to Jake once I’d ushered us beyond the main boulevard and down a side street. “It had a claw mark on its sign. It could be a long shot, but—”

Pain devoured my torso, my scar ablaze. Through the thin linen of my shirt, it shined—only dimmed when Jake dragged my cloak across me in an attempt to shield its unnatural glow. I stumbled, half tripping into the nearest alleyway.

“What’s happening?” Jake asked, holding me upright, a deep crease running through his brow. “Your skin is burning up like the other night.”

The pain was too much all at once, like a thousand bee stings prickling my flesh.

I brought my hand to rest on the scar, praying for the agony to cease, to allow me a chance to suck in the air I desperately needed.

Jake pestered me for answers, but I was physically unable to talk. I was suffocating, drowning in magic I had no idea how to stop. How to command.

Both light and dark were working together, but this time, it felt different. Like I had no control over my actions.

I slumped against the stone wall behind me, landing on my bottom, gasping as warmth trailed down my cheeks. Salt slipped between my lips. Tears.

Jake’s face faded in and out as black dots danced across my vision, the heat in my chest warming to an excruciating degree. Was this what it felt like to die?

That’s when I heard it—

My name.

“Kiara.”

Everything went still. I’d recognize that voice anywhere, and its deep timbre chased away some of the panic. Just enough for me to take in a deep gulp of air.

My fingers clutched at the raised and jagged wound running wildly below my heart , my connection to the commander. Our matching marks of death.

“Kiara,” Jude’s voice called out again, tinny and stifled.

I couldn’t hear anything else but him, and the black spots from earlier swelled until they eclipsed the alley and Jake entirely. I sensed the shadow beast within me rear its head, battling to overpower Raina’s light. It surged to the forefront, my body tingling before growing numb.

A figure wavered into view, a lone man curled into a ball, unmoving.

Winding clouds of ash enveloped him on all sides, but the smell… I could smell something rotten and coppery and mildewed.

“Jude?”

The man shifted, groaning.

In this in-between place where a film of black coated my eyes, I couldn’t make out much.

Still, my heart rate doubled and a twisted relief coursed through my veins. It was him.

Jude moved again, and this time, I was awarded a better view of his face. His deep onyx hair fell across his right eye, his stormy pale blue one almost incandescent in the dim. I noticed that his hand rested on his chest—right above his scar.

“Jude, where are you?” I tried and failed to advance.

My limbs wouldn’t work, frozen in place like I was stuck in mud.

I didn’t understand how I’d gotten here, or if this was all a dream, but it felt too damned real for me to do anything but claw my way to him.

“Now I’m hearing your voice,” Jude whispered, a grumbling noise of anguish slipping free from his throat. He rolled onto his side, exposing his back—

I swore the walls trembled at the enraged growl that reverberated in my throat.

His back was covered in vicious red that had crusted at the seams of a dozen or more gashes. Each of his exhales caused them to split, beads of fresh blood bubbling to the surface. I’d never seen such cruelty.

“What the fuck did they do to you?” I thundered. My teeth ground together as I fought against the invisible barrier. “Who whipped you?”

I’d kill them. I would draw out their death for hours. Days. Take my time with it.

A chilled breeze swept across my brow, shadows curling around my shoulders. My beast demanded blood.

Slowly, sensation came back to my hands, though every particle of air stung.

“I used to be able to withstand hours of his play , and now look at me. Hearing voices.” He laughed, though it was brittle.

“It’s me!” I shouted, pounding on the barrier, gritting my teeth as I attempted to move. “Turn around and look!”

My demand must’ve broken through his daze, because Jude turned over, though he hissed in pain. A deep furrow took up residence between his eyes. “Kiara?”

“Yes, you fool!” I yelled, elated given the circumstances. He could hear me , too. See me. “Now where are you so I can wring your neck for leaving me?”

I inspected the rocky walls as the darkness crept away, but they offered no clue as to his location. The common stones could belong to any of the fortresses near Fortuna that Cirian had gifted his lords. If he was already imprisoned, then he couldn’t be in Sciona. Which meant we had a chance to catch up to him.

Jude awkwardly pushed to his elbows, his hands manacled in thick silver. “Gods, it is you,” he said, shock widening his eyes. “Only you would threaten me in the state I’m in.”

“I’ll wait until you’re healed before I make good on my threats, but tell me, before whatever this is goes away. We saw them take you from the city, but we lost track…”

Because I’d set a damned fire and ruined our chance to fight back. Nope. I wasn’t going to say that.

Jude opened his mouth but shut it. Instead, he peered down at his chest. The mark I’d left on him shone in stark contrast with his pale skin, the veiny blue - and - black lines sprouting like twisted vines. “It warmed right before you came,” he said, almost to himself. I tapped my chest, focusing on its heat. His head popped up. “How is this possible?”

I definitely was going to strangle him. “Tell me where you are.”

Jude went stiff but shook his head. “Cirian. I…I don’t know where I am.”

I understood his features well enough to know when he lied.

“I’m going to find you,” I promised, my eyes prickling. “You better not give up until I do—”

“It’s a trap,” Jude quickly interrupted. “Cirian wants to use me to get to you.” He groaned, trying to push to his feet. His voice turned firm. “Don’t come, Kiara. Don’t let him get you. If there was ever a time you listened to me, please let this be it.”

Maliah had warned us that Cirian was under the Moon God’s control. And if Cirian had Jude in his possession, our faceless enemy had him as well.

Jude stumbled, righting himself a moment later. He took a step closer, toward me, and all I wanted to do was reach out and hold him. He lifted his hand, wonder brightening his brown eye. When he moved to touch me, to cup my cheek, his hand struck a barrier of impenetrable nothingness.

He cursed. “Of course. That would be too easy.”

I brought my hand to where he hovered, our palms an inch apart, separated by magic and defeat. “We weren’t made for easy, Commander,” I said, my voice a rasp. The burning in my eyes increased. It was a sensation I wasn’t accustomed to.

Jude’s throat bobbed. “I never should’ve chosen you,” he said, his lips thinning.

“Enough with all that,” I grumbled. “I’m your reflection, Jude, remember? Our destinies were always entangled.” I just so happened to fall for him. And fall hard I did.

The room gave a violent tilt. We didn’t have much time.

“Listen,” he started, urgency replacing the adoration he’d radiated seconds before. “The boy in the green tent…” His words were breaking up, his voice muffled. “…in the alley at The Rolling Dice. He has…”

Then I couldn’t hear him at all.

He mouthed my name, but the fire within me was dissipating, and the in-between world was gradually disintegrating piece by piece like grains of sand blown away in a storm.

“Jude!” I cried, wisps of onyx shadows winding about his frame, devouring him.

My shadows.

I screamed his name until my voice grew hoarse and I couldn’t see a damned thing. I screamed until a jerk caused my body to fall, fall, fall —

Hands gripped my shoulders, solid and firm.

The grimy stones of the alleyway came back into focus, as did a notably concerned Jake.

I gasped, inhaling the putrid air of Fortuna. “Jude,” I panted, meeting Jake’s bewildered gaze. “I saw him.”

“What are you talking about?” Jake rasped, helping me rise. He ran a flustered hand through his hair, his body visibly trembling. “What just happened? One moment you were fine , and then you went into this creepy , catatonic state. You were practically gray. At one point I swore you flickered out of existence entirely, and I thought—”

I noticed his cheeks were wet, his eyes rimmed in red.

Shit.

“I’m fine,” I promised, though it was a lie. The lingering effects made me dizzy, but I swallowed down the panic to hug him close. I wound my arms around his waist and pressed my head against his rapidly rising and falling chest. “I’m all right, Jake. I’m here.”

He’d thought he lost me. Like he lost Nic.

Jake’s grip on me tightened to the point where I couldn’t suck in a full breath, but I didn’t mind. It was a reminder that we were still here, still fighting, and still together.

I drew back to look him in the eyes. Another tear fell, sliding down his cheek and to his stubbled chin. Catching it with my finger, I proceeded to wipe away the rest of the wetness, rubbing soothing circles on his skin with my thumb.

“I’ll explain,” I promised . “But we have a real lead now, Jake.” Another treacherous seed of hope planted.

We just had to follow the trail of clues Jude left behind before Cirian murdered him.

Which meant we could already be too late.