Chapter 41 Nevelyn Tin’vori

Nevelyn glided through unfamiliar halls.

At least unfamiliar to her. Tessa Brood knew them well. The three connected castles felt endless. She could not even begin to fathom why one family could ever need all of this. She moved through the gilded rooms with great caution. She was unarmed. She'd intentionally removed Tessa Brood's vessels and left them outside the gates. If she lost control of the girl, she didn't want Tessa to have a way to defend herself.

A weapon wasn't necessary. She was granted access purely because she was Tessa Brood. If a door was barricaded, the servants would quickly open it to allow her inside. Others peeked out from behind upturned furniture. Each time, she offered the same advice.

"Put down all of your weapons. Do not resist them. If someone comes, surrender."

Everyone stared back in disbelief. She kept moving. There was no time to explain. She could only hope it was enough to save them from wasting their lives in defense of the Broods. Nevelyn was following Tessa's internal compass to get to her father's favorite study. She hoped to find Landwin there, and Ren Monroe with him. It was impossible to know how their part of the plan had progressed. Too many moving pieces. Too many variables.

She arrived at the second glass bridge.

Her mind stumbled over what she saw. It wasn't what Tessa remembered, and Nevelyn understood why. All of the glass had shattered. As if an explosion had gone off. In the distance, where the bridge should have connected to the third castle, Nevelyn saw a gaping hole. Debris was everywhere. Some kind of duel had broken out here.

She picked her way carefully through the glass, but her mind stuttered again. The briefest of flickers. She saw her other self. The empty room. Garth was standing for some reason. She saw him pacing back and forth like a caged animal. He said something to her, but she could not make out the words. Could not afford to focus on them, because her grasp on the other world might slip.

Settle down. Stay in the moment. You have more to do.

Nevelyn shook the cobwebs of her mind. The bridge appeared. She crossed most of the way and was forced to leap over the spot where the foundations had split. There were shouts ahead. Great bursts of magic echoed down the hallway. She followed their sound and came upon a room that was in utter ruin. Theo Brood was there on the floor. She stared in disbelief. Why was he here? Had Dahvid brought him? Had their initial plan changed? He was struggling to sit up, one hand nursing an injured rib. His eyes landed on her.

"Tessa?"

A snatch of magic sounded farther down the hallway. Nevelyn ignored Theo. She slid on through the shadows. The hallway opened up to a landing. There was a wide stairwell that fed down into a large reception area. There, a battle unfolded. Nevelyn stumbled to the railing and saw Ren Monroe. Their confidant was pinned behind an obnoxious statue. One of the Broods of old glared out, though half of his face had been blasted off. Landwin Brood was halfway down the steps. He showed no concern for his ancestor's legacy as he unleashed another devastating spell. It sent the stone head rolling away. Ren Monroe ducked out, answering with her own magic. A bolt of arcane light that Brood swatted away with no more than a wrist-flick. It was clear. The girl was losing.

"Stop!"

Nevelyn started down the stairs. Landwin's head whipped around. Ren was staring at her, clearly trying to figure out which version of Tessa Brood was about to join the fray.

"Tessa?" Landwin's attention swung back to Ren. "Good. Help me finish this traitor. And then we can attend to your brother."

He turned his back to her. An unthinkable mistake, except for the fact that he saw his daughter coming down the stairs to help him. She reached for the knife along her belt and took the steps two at a time. At the very last moment, some instinct forced him to turn around.

Nevelyn's lunge became a tackle. It was the most bone-crushing physical hit she'd ever felt in her life. There was the initial blow, their breathless flight, and then a second devastating crunch as they collided with the hardwood floor at the base of the steps.

The two of them slid together and Nevelyn landed on top. Landwin's wand—or at least she thought it was a wand—skidded into the shadows on their right. Her knife was closer. She snatched it off the ground, struggling to keep her balance, and then drove it down into his throat.

It caught impossibly in midair. An inch away from actual flesh. Magic hissed between them. She saw a translucent shield, surrounding his entire body. But as she kept driving the knife down, the spell trembled with movement. It was breaking. Underneath all that pressure. The knife had to work. This man needed to die. She drove it down again.

But Nevelyn flinched back when Landwin Brood's face transformed beneath her. His features melted and shifted. She still held a knife, though the heft of it was heavier. The face beneath her was Garth's. Lovely Garth with his broad smile and his toss of brown hair and a great red slash across his neck.

"Garth!"

She was back in her own body. Her temples pulsed with pain. Her entire body reeled, threatening to collapse sideways, but she fought off the feeling. Garth needed her. One of the cords must have ripped. She looked up. No, it had been severed. The knife. Garth had come to help her, against her wishes. He had come forward and cut her down. Thinking it was Nevelyn.

And Tessa Brood had made him pay for it.

Nevelyn ripped the fabric of her dress. She balled it up and pressed it to Garth's neck, but so much blood was already on the ground. It spread out from him, forming dark tributaries.

"Garth," she begged. "Wait. Please, Garth."

His lips were moving. He reached up to her, his hand trembling violently.

"Stay with me! Hey! Stay with me, Garth."

The blood had already soaked through the fabric. It was staining her hands. Garth tried to say something, but the noise guttered back down his throat. A sickly rattle. Nevelyn watched as the light left his eyes.

She screamed. A noise that began deep down in her chest. It was so loud that it didn't even sound human. She thought they would hear it echoing over the city, louder than anything that had ever split the air. But then she remembered the walls were enchanted. Layer upon layer upon layer.

As she cradled Garth in her arms, she knew no one could hear her.