Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

A knock on my door woke me at dawn. I'd just barely gone to sleep and debated ignoring the visitor, but another irritated knock pulled me from bed. Bleary-eyed, I pulled the door open to reveal Camelya, standing there clutching an envelope to her chest with a frown on her face.

Wordlessly, she thrust the letter into my hands.

I kept her gaze as I ripped it open, trying to find a clue to its contents in her face. The envelope only held my name across the front in handwriting I instantly recognized as Emyl's.

Letters filled my eyes, and my chest clenched as they formed words and sentences.

It was a multitude of words. Words telling me the worst news of my life. The news I'd been dreading yet waiting to hear ever since that cough had bid me farewell.

Rhyon had contracted the blood plague.

My eyes scanned the letter again, searching for answers, but they snagged on the date. The letter was dated two days ago, the day after I'd arrived at the castle. My head snapped up. I'd known in my heart that it was true, what the cough I'd heard the day I'd left had meant. But seeing it here, in Emyl's messy handwriting, laid out for anyone to see… "I need to go. I have to?—"

He could be already dead. He was so young. The plague would kill him faster than the normal seven days, and if he'd already been sick when I left, that only left him three days, maybe four. Only left me three days. I'd wasted so much time already trying to find a way to earn the trust of those who knew the castle to peer beneath the secrets of the gilded walls. I'd taken too long, and now my baby brother was going to pay for my mistakes.

My mind spun, and I could not catch my breath. Camelya just stood there looking at me. With a scoff, I let the letter fall to the ground between us and rushed to the wardrobe, pulling out clothing. I rifled through the bottom of the wardrobe, looking for a bag, but there was none. Grunting, I slammed the doors shut. I did not need to take clothes with me; I could make do. I needed to get home as soon as possible.

Sifting through the clothes on the floor, I pulled on a clean dress and began my search for socks and boots for the journey.

Emyl could not possibly care for Rhyon, and I hardly trusted that the first thing he'd done was send me a letter. He would have spent at least a day denying that our brother, our precious Rhyon, had contracted the blood plague. But even if he'd just begun showing symptoms two days ago and Emyl had acted quickly, it could be too late. Rhyon was young, and his little body would not be able to fight it off for as long as I or our mother had.

"Odyssa, stop," Camelya said, suddenly in front of me and holding both of my forearms. "Breathe. I need you to tell me what is happening. What did the letter say?"

"My youngest brother has the plague," I said, barely choking back the sob at hearing the words aloud. Admitting Rhyon had the blood plague was a blow to the stomach, and I had to swallow back the bile that threatened to rise in my throat. "He needs someone to help him. My other brother cannot—I have to go. I need to leave, now."

Camelya bit her lip, looking nothing like the self-assured and confident woman who'd brought me into this hell. She squeezed my arms tightly as I struggled to focus on her. "I am sorry, Odyssa. But no one is allowed to leave."

The room felt like it was closing in, but this time, the walls did not sway. A sob ripped from my throat before I could stop it, and then the tears followed. Camelya turned blurry and then I was falling, my legs no longer able to support my weight. I crashed to the floor, and vaguely I felt the pain of my knees making contact with the stone, but it was nothing. The pain was nothing.

Camelya slowly knelt beside me, one of her hands tentatively resting on my back. I wanted to scream at her, to shrug off her touch, but it felt nice to have the comfort of another person. I wanted her to hug me, to soothe me and tell me everything would be alright, but I knew it wouldn't be. She barely knew me, much less was fond of me. I shouldn't be seeking comfort in a stranger, not when my own brothers were alone, suffering through this hell. No one had comforted me since I was a child; I hadn't needed it then and I would not let myself need it now.

I leaned away from her, trying to stifle the sobs. The tears flowed freely still, burning hot tracks down my cheeks and neck. "I am sorry, Odyssa," she repeated.

"What do you mean no one can leave?" I cried. "Corbyn left to get me, to get others. Surely there is a way out! I need to get back. You don't understand—he's just a child ."

"I do understand," she said. Her voice was hard, but not cruel. "I understand more than you know, and I wish I could help you. But we cannot leave. You knew that when you joined."

"He's just a child ." My voice broke and I buried my face in my hands. An icy touch pressed up against my thigh, and I didn't need to look to know the cat was there. Oh, how I wished it was real, that I could bury my face in its fur and let it soak my tears. I dropped one hand to the cold spot.

Both Camelya and the cat sat with me while I cried and stayed until my tears had long dried up and my fingers on my right hand had grown numb from the coldness of the cat's presence.

"It will be okay, Odyssa," she said, still rubbing long paths up and down my back. "I know it does not feel like it, and it likely won't for a long time, but death is not the end."

"It's not fair," I muttered, pressing the heels of my hands against my stinging eyes. Death could not take Rhyon—I would not allow it. "He cannot die. It's not fair. It should not be him."

She sighed. "No, it's not fair, my dear. But as is life."

I said nothing as I lowered my hands, and instead kept my eyes on the cat still pressed against my leg. It looked back at me, tilting its head and staring with those huge yellow eyes.

"If you'd like to write a response, I will have it dispatched immediately."

My head snapped up. "What good would a response do? My brother is dying and you've locked me in this hell!"

Her eyes widened and she took a step back. "Odyssa. This is not my doing."

"Every single person in this castle sits here and has no care for those on the outside. No care for those who have died choking on their own blood." I stood. "Because you believe yourselves safe here behind your gilded walls and iron gates, but you are not. You believe yourselves better, but you are not. And if it takes me to my last breath to prove it, I will die happily knowing the prince has suffered as much as I have."

Her eyes widened even more and shifted ever so slightly to my right. I kept my gaze on her. I knew what she was looking at, could feel as my marks had once again peeled away from my skin to echo into the air.

The air crackled with energy, tingling against my tongue. The hairs on the back of my neck stood and her eyes shifted to something behind me and she visibly relaxed, pressing her hand against her chest. "Oh, good, you're here. She's losing it, I fear. Is there anything you can do?"

I whirled around, only to find myself face-to-face yet again with Tallon. No smirk played on his face now as he looked at my marks and the undulating shadows that mirrored them outside my body. His brows furrowed and he reached his ungloved hand out towards me, his own marks seemingly swirling beneath his skin. "Sleep, Odyssa."

My mind tried to cling to consciousness, trying to focus on how his marks moved and what was happening , but blackness crept into the edges of my vision and then I was falling, powerless to keep my eyes open any longer.

In the last vestiges of my awareness, I prayed for Death to take me in exchange for Rhyon.

As sleep took a stronger hold, I felt soft pressure on my back and behind my knees and warm breath against my ear. "It is not your time yet, little wolf. Sleep now."