Chapter 23 Ren Monroe

The next morning, Theo took Ren by the hand and led her carefully up the western tower. They skirted loose stones and sprawling cobwebs, arriving just in time to watch light crawl over the empty plains. Sunrise patiently carved mountains into the empty nothing. The two of them wrapped themselves in extra blankets, curled around each other, and watched morning take its first breath.

"You're quiet," she noted.

"The whole world's quiet up here."

He kissed the back of her hand. Ren could feel herself slipping. It had been such a gradual slope, her affections for Theo. Maybe that was why it actually ended up being so dangerous to her. She would have resisted a quick falling in love. Some nonsensical, butterfly feeling. Falling for Theo had been more like walking slowly down a hill and finally realizing she was in a new place, breathing in an entirely new air. She knew this moment—wrapped in his arms—was only uncomfortable because it was like nothing she'd ever felt before.

Theo had made a liar of her. The promise she'd made to the Tin'Voris was on the verge of collapse. What would she do? If she had to actually choose? Would she save Theo or take her revenge? The thought made her stomach turn. It would be far more preferable to arrange events so that no choice would have to be made. The two of them would burn House Brood to the ground—and then they would make their own house from its ashes. That would be the way of it.

It had to be the way of it.

"Now you're quiet," he noted.

"What else is there to say?"

She turned back. Their eyes met. Theo leaned toward her. Ren felt a bright thrum across their bond just before their lips met. He tugged pleasantly on her bottom lip. She reached up and ran a hand through his golden hair, pulled him closer, kissed him harder. All the emotions running across their bond flared in a white-hot instant. It felt like the world was on fire, like it should be. The two tangled together beneath those blankets for a long time—the sunrise forgotten.

The waxway candle was almost done burning.

Ren sat there, quietly focused on an image in her mind. An empty field outside Morningthaw. It was a small town that her carriage had stopped at on the way to Nostra. She'd purposefully walked out and memorized an abandoned stretch of grass, as well as the delicate flowers that bordered the field. Every detail she needed to travel back along the waxways now.

Theo was there. He sat behind her, humming softly. She'd almost told him to stop being distracting, until she realized that she actually liked the sound. It was calming.

Down the hall, she could also see flashes of Dahl performing her various duties. The girl had been scarce ever since Ren's arrival. An incredibly hard worker, but rarely visible. Ren would find her bed made or her towels folded, without once spotting the girl inside her quarters. All of her initial fears about a forbidden romance felt foolish now. She saw how Theo saw her—like a little sister. Their kinship was wholly derived from a shared loneliness. Who else did they have up here besides each other? Ren hoped Dahl would continue to be useful when Dahvid Tin'Vori arrived. She knew it would be no small task to smuggle hundreds of soldiers through the mountain pass in the middle of the night.

Don't race ahead,she thought. Take it step by step.

Dahvid still needed to win his gauntlet. Ren would need to check in on Nevelyn Tin'Vori's progress. If there was even a hint that their plan was going awry, she and Theo would fall back on their own contingency plans. They would not waste their one shot at House Brood on a crumbling strategy.

She kept expecting her bond-mate to balk. Instead, he'd been the steady, driving force of all their discussions. Ruminating on every possible strategy. Offering up family secrets like they were the cheapest currency in the world. Ren had learned so much from him in their brief time together, but she suspected there were secrets Theo didn't know about his father's power. Secrets that would only come out when they truly put him to the test. They'd find out what those were soon enough.

"The candle's almost out," Theo whispered. "Last chance to join House Shiverian."

A smile ghosted on her face. "I prefer the sound of House Monroe."

"Honestly, I do too."

There was quiet. Ren watched the wax continue to melt down the side of the candle. The time was coming. She did not want to leave but knew it was necessary. They must part now if they hoped to survive together.

"The last time we traveled the waxways," Theo said, "you saved my life."

Ren nodded. "I don't like to think about that."

He'd looked so pale. So very on the verge of death.

"I think about it all the time. I wouldn't be here without you, Ren."

She waved it away. "It was nothing."

"It was everything."

He kissed the side of her head before rising. She watched him circle around the other side of the candle, and a sharpness filled the space in her chest. Was this truly what people spent their lives chasing? Why did love feel so much like a knife that had been sharpened and plunged in far too deep? She swallowed once before looking him in the eye.

"Promise."

He frowned. "Promise what?"

"Promise you're with me."

He held her gaze. There was a great burst across their bond. It felt like a thousand ropes were lashing themselves to her, invisible hands tying each one. It felt unbreakable and vast. Theo whispered the words into that waiting power.

"I promise."

The magic sealed his words. She knew he would not waver, no matter what. Ren felt like she might cry if she kept looking at him, so she fixed her eyes on the flickering flame instead. She drew on the image of that empty field again. Her breathing slowly calmed. It had always been Ren's preference to snuff the candle herself. Her hand was steady as she reached out to pinch the waiting flame. Just before the spell activated, she heard a final whisper from Theo.

"I love you, Ren."

Magic pulled her into darkness before she could answer. Ren shoved forward through space and time. Her chest tightened uncomfortably, unbearably. Then her feet set down. The world colored in around her. She was in the empty field. Ren stared at the trees and the flowers and the distant town that was just waking up. She had a feeling Theo had waited until that final moment to say the words so that she wouldn't have to decide whether or not to say them back. Ren found it much easier to whisper the truth to the trees.

"I love you too."

She patiently set out the next candle and followed the rituals, lighting it and picturing the next location. She'd need to travel through the waxways twice more to get back to Kathor. It would be the work of just a few hours, though, instead of a full-day carriage ride. Ren's first priority back in the city would be to meet with Nevelyn Tin'Vori. Hopefully, the girl had made fine progress in Ren's absence.

The second candle burned down quickly. Ren echoed the same process and appeared on the edges of an abandoned farm. Candle, light, repeat. It was only noon when the third and final candle burned down to nothing. Ren had intentionally picked the location for its elevation—which she felt was close enough to the Heights to work. With the balcony of Theo's apartment centered in her mind, she made the final leap through time and space.

Pain.

Ren dropped to her knees. There was a pain in her neck so sharp and so piercing that she felt like screaming. Instead, she gritted her teeth, blinking down at the sun-brightened stones. Had something gone wrong with her jump? Was she in the wrong location? It took nearly a minute for the sharpness to fade. When Ren was finally able to raise her head, she saw the answer.

There was a full-sized stone gargoyle on the balcony. No more than a few paces away. He would have been several feet taller than Ren if he stood upright, but his posture was slumped so that his great stone fists knuckled down on the floor to keep him upright. The reason for Ren's sudden pain was struggling beneath the creature's left foot. Pinned to the ground.

"Vega!" Ren said. "Let her go!"

She reached for the horseshoe wand at her belt, but the gargoyle only offered a nasty grin. Ren saw the creature's eyes flick up, looking beyond her, when something struck the back of her head with force. Darkness threaded the light, consumed it entirely, and the world faded.