Chapter 63

Tears blurmy vision as I make my way to the Grand Library. I throw open the door and hurry to the table, where I pour a goblet of wine with a trembling hand. Asha's limp, lifeless body fills my thoughts as I bring the goblet to my lips and drink the entire thing in one long, desperate gulp.

The wine burns on its way down, but it doesn't change anything. It doesn't take away the soul-crushing pain. Nor does it quell the anger I feel toward the person who murdered Asha. That's the only explanation. Someone sneaked into her cell last night and killed her.

With a strangled cry, I hurl the goblet across the library. It shatters against the stone wall in a spray of shards.

Sadness rips through me as I bend over the desk and grip the edge. My shoulders shake with barely suppressed sobs as the pain crashes over me in waves. None of this was ever supposed to happen when I left Bakva. I just wanted to learn how to control Lyra's magic…and well, I wanted to be with Jasce.

Now, Asha is dead, and Emerin is missing.

I have destroyed my family!

I grab the jar of wine and tip it back. Over and over again, I drink, desperate to numb my thoughts, but even as the wine burns my throat and clouds my mind, I still think about Asha. I slam the jar down on the desk as a sob escapes me.

"Annora?" Aleksander's voice startles me, and I look up to find him standing beside the table, concern glinting in his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Asha is dead," I say, the words like lead in my throat.

Surprise ripples across his features. "How? Her injuries weren't serious when we took her to the dungeon."

"Someone murdered her," I say numbly.

He paces back and forth in front of me for several moments before stopping and turning to face me. "I know how to find out who's responsible."

Hope grows inside me as I swipe a fist across my blurry eyes. "H-how?"

"There's an ancient looking glass inside The Pyre Sanctum," he says. "The glass holds the power to reveal truths. We can ask it what happened to Asha."

He moves closer. "I cannot promise it will work. But we can try."

I rise on unsteady limbs and follow Aleksander into the corridors, but instead of taking the right that leads to The Pyre Sanctum, he takes the first left.

Confusion furrows my brow as I glance around. "I thought we were going to The Pyre Sanctum?"

He offers me a reassuring smile. "I forgot that the entrance to the tunnel leading to the looking glass is through here, not The Pyre Sanctum."

We stop at the end of a long corridor, where Aleksander presses his hand against a stone. To my surprise, a hidden door swings open with a grinding creak, revealing a narrow tunnel.

Aleksander takes a torch from the wall and gestures for me to follow him into the passageway. I step into the tunnel and teeter on my unsteady feet. He offers me his arm, and I cling to him as we walk through the passage.

"How much further?" I ask after a while.

"Not much longer. The looking glass is hidden deep within the palace to protect its power from those who might misuse it."

I nod, grateful for his guidance and the glimmer of hope he's offered me.

Together, we will find out who murdered Asha, and I will kill that person.