Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six

T he bells were on their last three tolls when we slipped through the private doors along the side of the ballroom that opened right next to the stage. The same doors Eadric had dragged Talyssa through.

The musicians had already begun to falter from the eerie chiming of the bells, but our presence only quickened their fall into silence. What a sight we must have made, though we fit nicely into the decor. It was almost ironic, that tonight's theme was red and black, and I was itching to spill Eadric's blood across the black mirrored floors. Fate, perhaps.

Those closest to the stage were the first to notice us, a woman giving a strangled gasp and stumbling back as she pressed her hand to her chest. It didn't take long after that. Murmurs exploded through the ballroom, traveling back through the crowd, and by the time the twelfth toll sounded, and the lingering noise reverberated through the stone of the castle, the room was silent and all its two thousand or so eyes were solely on us.

Fear radiated off the entire room in waves. For a moment, I felt an uncomfortable prickling at the back of my neck as if someone were behind me, and I shifted minutely.

"Steady," Tallon reassured. "It is only his magic and the castle watching. There is no sign of Cethin here. Yet, at least."

"If he appears, you promise to tell me?" I asked out of the corner of my mouth.

"You would know."

I curled my toes into my shoes to keep from fidgeting. Whatever Tallon's plan, he'd certainly gotten the attention of everyone left in the castle. Along the side walls, I saw Zaharya, Elena, and Maricara standing together. Blood-red veils shrouded their faces, though I knew they were staring directly at me.

Finally, after an eon it seemed, Prince Eadric noticed us from his spot at the entire other end of the ballroom. Even from this distance, I could see his shoulders tense and his fists clench at his sides. Beneath his mask, I imagined his face growing ruddy.

"You dare show your faces here?" His voice boomed, echoing off the walls in spite of the black velvet that hung from the ceilings. The revelers flinched at his anger, and many were looking rapidly back between us and him. "You dare make a mockery of me? I shall have you hanged by dawn."

"We dare," Tallon replied. His voice was not loud to my ears, though I saw the faces of those throughout the ballroom as it carried through the room regardless. He tilted his head slightly. "And I shall like to see you try it, Your Highness."

Eadric's eyes darted to the doors to his left before returning to us. A flicker of red in my vision, and I saw Zaharya subtly moving down the wall to stand in front of the doors, her chin held high beneath her veil. Eadric's eyes snapped back to us and I let my mask of composure slip enough to allow my feral grin to appear. He would find no allies here tonight, even amongst those he'd thought were loyal.

My heart soared when Maricara and Elena followed Zaharya's lead, moving to stand in front of the other two sets of doors. It would not stop anyone from leaving should they want to, not really. Three could not compare to a thousand. But the imagery, the imagery Eadric himself had created, was a far better deterrent than force ever could be. Three faceless figures, standing guard at the doors, shrouded in blood and oh-so-clearly on our side.

Despite the relief I felt, my panic was also growing as Eadric continued to stare at us, a slow grin emerging on his face. If we failed again, it would not just be Tallon and me that died, but the others as well. Out of my periphery, I watched Tallon, searching for a sign that Eadric's mystery benefactor had appeared, but he remained relaxed, staring back at his former employer.

The crowd's murmurs started back up, with some of his constituents looking back at Eadric with concern as they, too, waited for his response.

Emboldened by the implication of his cowardice, Eadric rolled his shoulders back and began toward the stage. It was a slow walk, one that attempted to speak of unhurried rage, but to those who cared to look closer, his hands were trembling and sweat beaded on his forehead. His eyes kept darting to the walls with each step.

"You betrayed me," he called as he meandered past the quarter-way point. "You betray me, you try to steal from me, your whore tries to kill me with your putrid magic, and yet you still have the nerve to stand here in front of me. At the ball I conduct in your honor."

"You broke the bargain, my prince." Silence fell as I spoke rather than Tallon. "You stabbed him, and you broke the control you had over his magic. You have nothing now."

"We'll see about that," he sneered, nearing the halfway length. As if on cue, a deep rumbling emanated from the stone, rattling the glassware. A vase skittered and fell off a nearby table, shattering upon the floor. Darkness seeped out of the cracks in the walls and the taste of ash burst across my tongue so thickly I couldn't hide the gag.

"Soulshades," I told Tallon as he looked at me in concern. "He's called more Soulshades."

His eyes narrowed back on Eadric, though he responded to me beneath his breath. "There is no god here; we can stop him and we can kill him."

I spat, trying to rid my mouth of the acrid taste of smoke.

Along the wall, someone screamed as the Soulshades began to tear through the wall, just as they had in the cellar when they attacked me. Voices erupted as people pushed and crowded toward the middle of the room.

"Your Soulshades are no threat to us," Tallon called. He waved a lazy hand at me. "She destroyed them all already. You can call as many as you like—it won't protect you."

Eadric's eyes widened then narrowed as he processed the new information. "It matters little. She can destroy as many as she likes, and I will simply keep calling more."

"What god did you bargain with, Eadric?" Tallon mused, still intensely casual in his stance. "To make it so you could violate the Beyond and Kalyx's realm?"

"Perhaps I bargained with Kalyx himself."

At that, Tallon tipped his head back and laughed. The sound was so genuine and carefree that even the Soulshades halted in their slow journeys out of the stone. "Truly, you must think me stupid. Kalyx would never bargain with you, not after you worked so hard to keep him out of this castle and to prevent him from getting me out of my bargain with Gavriel."

Eadric's face reddened. A tension-filled moment passed as we all waited for his response. He raised a jewel-laden hand and pointed at us. "Kill them."

My heart raced as the Soulshades lunged, but it wasn't us they lunged at. I cried out in warning, lurching forward as the Soulshades instead lunged towards the revelers, entering their bodies and making them jerk before falling utterly still. A moment of silence, so tense I might have been able to cut through it with my dagger, and then chaos erupted. People screamed, rushing toward the doors, but no one ever made it to the red-veiled sentries; the Soulshades pouring out of the walls possessed them before they could. One who did make it shoved Maricara to the floor, only to find the doors would not open regardless.

Eadric had sealed us all in here.

My blood chilled. Perhaps we'd underestimated him. I did not want to kill all these people—the ones possessed by the Soulshades and the ones who'd done nothing but cower—but if I had to in order to get the treatment and escape this place, I would. I would kill whoever stood in my path.

"This is my castle," Eadric called over the shouting as he spread his arms wide. "It, and everyone in it, is under my rule."

Rage like I'd never seen before flitted across Tallon's face. He drew a bloodstone dagger from his back, larger than the one he'd strapped on my thigh. "You are a mockery of a ruler. And I will take great pleasure in killing you."

"You can certainly try, herald ."

I barely had time to draw my own dagger before the Soulshades were upon us.

"Kill them, Odyssa," Tallon shouted as he stabbed the first one to reach us. "They cannot be saved now."

"You saved me," I reminded him. My heart pounded as I dodged the grasp of the first Soulshade to reach me. Slashing with my knife, I aimed for non-lethal strikes still.

"That Soulshade…" he grunted as he killed another, "was not under Eadric's direct command." He shoved off a couple that had surrounded him, dispatching them both. "If you want to save these people, do what you did in the hall."

I gritted my teeth and tried to find that well of power inside me. I chased the feeling I'd had in the hall when I'd banished the others but nothing came. Only a flicker, a recognition of my request and a response that it could not oblige. "I can't, Tallon."

He glanced at me out of the side of his vision as we continued engaging with the possessed. The ones I'd merely injured before had returned, and given my lack of magic, I swallowed thickly as I aimed for their throats and their hearts. I was willing to kill to get the treatment and escape, and now, I would.

Bodies fell to the red-bladed knives we wielded, but still more and more possessed appeared. I could hear nothing over the thundering of my blood in my ears, could taste nothing but the acrid smoke, could feel only my blood-slicked grip on the dagger's handle.

"You can end this," Eadric called, breaking through the roaring in my ears. He examined his nails. "Bend the knee and swear your fealty to me and this can stop."

"I want to try something," Tallon said, pausing to look at me fully. "Do you trust me?"

"Do it." I did not hesitate. If there was something he could do to help us, he needed to do it. And as far as trust, despite our beginning, I'd never trusted anyone more.

He nodded, and then his magic was surrounding me, swarming and dark and blocking out the rest of the room. It should have terrified me, knowing what else his magic could do, but the inky tendrils that embraced my body were warm and inviting. As quickly as they'd encompassed me, they melted into my skin, pulsing along the lines of my own marks before they settled.

Power thrummed through my blood. He'd given me some of his magic, and I intended to use every bit of it. A pale-faced Tallon nodded once, continuing his own battle with his dagger as he encouraged me yet again. Raising my hands, I directed the power out, watching as my marks surged towards the possessed, once again engulfing anything in front of me. My marks, fueled by Tallon's magic, swallowed up the possessed. And then just like before, it collapsed in a blink, rushing back into my body and sending me reeling.

I stumbled but caught my footing before I fell, throwing my shoulders back as those who had been possessed also stumbled, shaking their heads and rubbing at their eyes. They were pale and shaky, but most importantly, alive.

Fingers wrapped around mine and I almost flinched before my body caught up and realized it was only Tallon. I let him gently pry away my death grip on the handle of the dagger, my fingers aching as they unclenched. He nodded once, smiling quickly before he turned us to face Eadric and the rest of the ballroom once more.

One step closer.

The castle settled into a stillness I'd never experienced since stepping inside those gilded gates. Once more, it was merely a castle, layers of stone and wood and metal. Nothing more.

"I'll just summon more," Eadric panted, his eyes wide as he stared at me.

"There are no more." I wasn't sure how, but I knew my words were true without a doubt. There was no more evil left to draw from inside these walls. "There is nothing."

He spluttered, fingers twitching as he tried and failed to summon anything left to combat us. But nothing came to his aid. His people watched on in horror, cowering against each other with wide eyes.

"You have nothing," I said softly.

"What shall you do now then?" His eyes flicked to Tallon beside me. "Is now your chance to gloat, Tallon? To boast your superiority over me? Do you wish to take the throne, herald of Kalyx? You wish to be the King of Veressia?" He shook his head. "The people will never accept you."

"I have no use for a crown."

"Then why are you still here?" Eadric roared, spittle flying out and coating his lips. "Will you kill me now? Show these people who you truly are?"

"He will not kill you," I replied. He drew back in shock and returned his attention to me finally, but I continued. "I will be the one to claim the honor of ending your miserable life. And then I will take the treatment from your corpse and liberate Veressia from the tomb you shoved them into."

Eadric narrowed his eyes, and slowly he stepped up onto the stage. "I welcomed you and your ilk into my castle, offered safety and security, and this is how you repay me?"

"You stole us from our families and made it seem like an honor."

"You know I gave him the command to kill your brothers, right? The day you arrived, they were already marked for the grave before you ever set foot in this ballroom." His venom was hissed, quiet but no less deadly. He turned his gaze to Tallon, a vague smirk of victory in his beady eyes, as though the information would make me turn on Tallon.

The information on the timing of the order was a shock, but I refused to give Eadric anything to use against us. I curled my lips back over my teeth as my marks warmed against my skin, writhing and begging to be freed once more, to feast upon Eadric's blood. Tallon squeezed my hand and gave a subtle nod. His command for me to let the magic go and do what it wanted. To embrace it once more. "You're too late again, my prince. I already knew that. And now, you will pay for it with your life."

My magic lashed out, pulling away from my skin and expanding into a mass of inky darkness, all sharp edges and smoke twining together. Tallon was the only one in the ballroom who did not flinch and cower in fear.

The mass slithered over to Eadric, who—with no magic left to call upon—was petrified where he stood, and wrapped around him, squeezing tightly around his limbs, his torso, his neck, before covering his face. I did not need to see beneath the blackness to know that it was forcing its way into his nose and throat—I could feel him choking beneath the power.

Tallon reached his hand out, twining his fingers with mine. To the crowd, perhaps it was a sign of endorsement, but to me, it was reassurance. Reassurance that it was not me who was beginning to choke on my own blood. "Draw it back," he murmured. "He does not deserve the dignity. Let them see him die."

I imagined the swarm of shadows sinking back into my skin, warming my body from the inside out, and like a snap, they retreated from Eadric's body and did exactly that, settling back along my arm and neck. They had grown again, spreading across my chest and collarbones now and nearly reaching my other shoulder.

"You're dead, my prince," I whispered. This time, with Tallon at my side, I did not flinch or falter when blood began to pour from Eadric's nose and mouth. I did not retreat into my own mind or picture my mother's body. I watched, and I relished the Coward Prince dying by the very weapon he'd sought to control. It may not have been at Tallon's hand, but knowing we were both free now was a relief.

He clutched at his throat and choked, blood flying from his lips and splattering across his face and chin. Trembling hands reached out towards the crowd, begging someone to help him, but no one moved. Money could not buy loyalty, it seemed. Another gurgled attempt at Eadric speaking echoed across the floors. It grated on my nerves as well, his audacity to die as dramatically as he had lived. His face was both flushed and pale as he suffocated on his own blood, spitting it out with each rasping breath that only sucked more of the crimson poison into his lungs.

Sylviana curled against my leg on the side opposite Tallon, and I couldn't help the smile that formed. "It's funny," I murmured to them without looking away from Eadric, who was still trying to take his last breaths. "I'd always feared the dark before. But the two of you seem content to turn that around."

His chuckle was low and rich as he stepped ever closer, our arms nearly touching now. "Now you are the darkness. And no one will ever harm you again." He leaned down, brushing his lips against my ear. "You have never looked more stunning than now, my wolf. I cannot decide if I want to show you off across Veressia and the Beyond, or if I want to lock you in my room and never leave."

My body thrummed with both power and arousal, but I was all too aware of the slowly dying prince and his gaggle of revelers to respond the way I wanted to. We still needed the treatment, and I still needed to get to Emyl as soon as possible. "After," I promised. "You can do both, after we see Emyl."

With a last gasping choke, Eadric's body slumped to the floor, falling into the pool of blood, his unseeing eyes staring up at the bejeweled ceiling. The tomb of his own creation.

The ballroom was silent as I pulled away from Tallon and approached Eadric's body. I never faltered, stepping through the spreading mass of blood along the floors, not caring how it soaked into the bottom of my dress as I bent over his body and began rifling through the pockets of his jacket and pants. Glass clinked against glass as I moved his jacket, and I dug into the inside pocket, retrieving two glass tubes filled with crimson liquid.

I held them up to Tallon to see. "Is this it?"

He approached and nodded, but frowned and turned his back to the crowd so only I could see his face as he squatted down beside me. "That is them, but there should be far more than two. Last I saw, there were thirteen. And in this form," he nodded at the vials, "they still need to be split apart. One vial is enough for five hundred or so people."

I chewed on my lip. I had the treatment; I could get to Emyl now if I wanted. I could even give some to Zaharya and Maricara and Elena, who still stood guarding the doors, even as the crowd began to grow restless. But this would not be enough for Veressia as a whole. A thousand people, only enough for those inside the castle walls. Never mind the perhaps seven thousand or so still on the outside, trapped in Jura and the surrounding villages, and who knew how many more beyond the mountains as well.

"How many are infected, Tallon?" I asked. "I assume you have stopped infecting new people since his hold broke, but how many are already ill?"

His face tightened with shame and he could not meet my eyes. "Too many, I fear. In these last days, he had me afflict many."

A beat of silence as I processed his words, processed the pain on his face, the shame and embarrassment that had him ducking his head.

"I am sorry, Odyssa."

"Don't. He made you do this, didn't he? You would never have done this on your own, would you?"

He looked horrified. "Of course not."

"Can you amplify my voice, the way you did with yours?" I asked, closing my hand around the two vials and standing. He still would not look at me. Transferring the vials to one hand, I lifted his chin with the other and splayed my palm across his cheek. It was a balm when he sighed and turned his face into my hand, pressing a kiss there, where the jagged scar from the wine bottle still lay. I curled my fingernails against the scruff lightly dusting his jaw. "Do you trust me, Tallon?"

"Of course." Tallon nodded and then frowned as the rest of my words settled. "Unquestionably, and with everything I have."

His words caught my breath, unexpectedly solemn. It hadn't truly been a question I needed answering, but hearing the conviction in his voice, seeing it on his face… I couldn't deny how comforting it was. And despite everything that had happened, everything he still had not told me, I trusted him too. Yet, the words stuck in my throat, and all I could offer was a nod and a grateful smile as I stepped back and lowered my hand from his face.

We both faced the anxious crowd. I took a deep breath, reaching for Tallon's hand only to find he'd been reaching for me already. My exhale settled me.

"I know there is more treatment somewhere in this castle. I also know that for nearly the past year, you have all turned a blind eye to the suffering of the people outside these walls, content to revel in the manufactured safety of this prison. You drowned yourself in liquor and plied yourself with food to ignore those you think beneath you." My magic began to lift from my skin, playing into the charade without instruction. "Whoever of you is the first to tell me where the remaining treatment is will get to live."