Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

WREN

Word came far sooner than Wren had expected. Leander had agreed. Still expecting some kind of betrayal, Wren tried to make herself ready when really there was nothing she could do to prepare for this. The caves lay beneath the city, deep in the earth. The way was lit by flickering lanterns and the sisterhood would accompany her there. She didn’t like the way they watched her, these women who served the great darkness. Their eyes were far too knowing, hungry, and she didn’t like the feeling that she was missing something or being used in some way. She had no reason to trust them, not even Hestia or Oriole who had come to her rescue in the throne room.

There were those among them ravenous for power, Oriole had said. And Hestia had not denied it either. Those who would use the Nox or release old magic to get it.

A small treacherous voice inside her said she’d made a mistake. She should have trusted Finn then, should have tried to escape with him. But she hadn’t. Her mind had not known what to think or which way to go. She had looked into the face that had tormented her since they’d arrived here and hesitated. That had been Leander’s gift then, forcing a wedge in the trust between her and Finn. He must have loved that, mustn’t he? She had handed him his second victory of the day, more so when she saw the betrayal in Finn’s face.

What must he be thinking now?

He’d seen her choose the sisterhood instead of him, and now she was demanding him as sacrifice.

And she was risking herself to do it. If anything she feared Hestia was downplaying the danger. She could feel the power in the air and in the earth, waiting for her, a sense of the Nox just biding its time.

Once more she wore the gown Leander had forced her into for the presentation to the king; much as she wanted to tear it from her body, it fitted the role she needed to play now. Her hair glittered with gems, and flowed down her back, the longest and most powerful she had ever allowed it to grow. Given the amount of magic in the air around her, she feared that if she tried to cut it off it would just grow back again in moments. And there was dark magic everywhere here, in the air, in the rocks, in the water coalescing on the ground, even in the lantern flames. She could feel it crawling over her skin and tracing invisible fingertips across her scalp. It prickled at the back of her neck and whispered sweet promises just on the edge of hearing.

All she had to do was reach out and take it.

Elodie’s voice haunted her, lingering just out of reach, telling her not to be a fool, to reach for the light, to cling to it, to deny the shadows and push away the empty promises of the shadow kin.

When she was a girl in Cellandre, she had danced with the forest itself more than once and its song had almost swept her away. Elodie had pulled her back and kept her safe and made her promise never to put herself in such a position again. All magic was dangerous.

All the same, what else could Wren do? This was for Finn. She couldn’t abandon him.

She could do this, she promised herself. She had to. She would be strong and resolute and she would make it through this some way. Even if she had to sacrifice herself for him…so be it.

The mouth of the first cave opened above her, stalactites like teeth overhead, glistening. The Sisters accompanying her stopped, waiting with their lanterns as she stood there, looking up at the opening.

‘He will already be waiting,’ Hestia said. ‘That was the agreement. But to reach the cave of sacrifice you must pass through the rest – the deepest dark, the emptiness, the longing and the despair…’ Four caves, each with a name more desolate than the last. That was the path Wren had to follow to reach the place where the royal family would leave their sons to die for their goddess.

‘No deeper, Wren.’ Hestia stroked her hair gently. ‘There are places where the deepest secrets are buried, where the Nox herself would fear to tread. There are things that would break your will and twist your mind. The kings of old used them to try to constrain the Nox, or enslave her. Their use cost the line of Sidon everything. They were taken and hidden. For everyone’s safety. You must keep hold of yourself. Here, this may help.’ She pressed something cold and hard into Wren’s hand. It was a glass pendant, like the one she had given Finn. The one he had broken to bring them here, which Leander had used to swap their bodies and escape Pelias. It wasn’t black though. This one looked like someone had captured gold dust in a ray of light.

‘What is it?’ Wren whispered. The other Sisters had drawn back and only Hestia remained, giving her this parting gift as quietly and secretly as she could.

‘The last of my magic, I fear,’ said the other woman with a brief, brittle smile. ‘A travelling spell, like the other. If all else fails, it will carry you and whoever you touch to safety. Just break it to activate it.’

‘How will it know where is safe?’

Hestia hugged her. ‘It will know.’ She stepped back then and bowed to Wren. ‘I fear I’ve made a terrible mess of this. I should never have underestimated the lengths Leander would go to. He makes plans within plans, and will not settle for anything less than total control. And the Nox…my goddess can be rational here, sane, but only here, I think. Close to the heart of her power, the place she made her own. She may try to beguile you or persuade you to help her. And she may be convincing. But once she leaves this place, so too goes what remains of her sanity. It is just a fleeting thing and not to be trusted. Be careful, my dear girl. If I fail…if something happens to me…’ She glanced over her shoulder briefly and then fixed Wren with a look of such determination that it stole her breath. ‘Protect my boy, and my true king, please, my lady. I beg you. Protect them for me. Keep them safe. And do not let Leander win.’

Wren nodded slowly and it felt like a kind of bargain made in the darkwoods, something which bound the two of them together. She wanted to say ‘But nothing will happen to you’ or something like that, but the words failed even as she thought of them. Her eyes burned as Hestia turned away and vanished, leaving her alone.

I can do this.

But another part of her doubted that. There was no light down here. And how could she reach for the light if there was no light anymore?

Finn was waiting. She didn’t have a choice. If she didn’t go, Leander would surely kill him. Or just leave him there to a slow and torturous death.

Steeling herself, gathering such magic around her as she still could, Wren stepped into the shadows.