29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Evelyn

K ade was close.

Evelyn felt him.

His beastly strong-yet-kind touch vibrated through the barrier blocking her magic.

Evelyn’s magic danced at his proximity, flared in greeting. Their bond held power. Stronger, braver than the dark magic encompassing Evelyn’s or the distance between them. It pulsed and ignited, letting them caress the other.

I’m coming.

A faint whisper traveled down the bond. Not words. A feeling. Weaved with love, promise, and restlessness .

It mirrored her own state—the rage to escape this tower and reunite with him.

Soon. His promise ached through her bones, her entire being alight with his energy, the feelings of his soul. Goddess, he—

“Evelyn, are you alright?” a sweet voice pulled her back to the present, severing her connection with Kade.

When he’d reached out to her, Evelyn had stooped against the sofa, their bond so strong she lost her knees. Her knuckles had gone white as she gripped the back cushions for balance, a dizziness settling over her.

She blinked, and Belle’s ringlet curls came into focus. She held a stack of books close to her chest, chin resting on the top one. Her freckles scrunched together as her face pinched with concern.

“I’m…” Evelyn hesitated.

She trusted Belle. To an extent. She’d taught her magic and explored the secrets of the castle with her, but she wouldn’t risk Kade’s safety. She hid her shudder at the thought of Riven ever learning he was near.

“It’s the nausea, from the bracelets,” she said. “It still hits me from time to time.”

“Oh dear,” Belle said, setting the books down. “I’ll be sure to grab you some tea for that the next time I visit.”

Evelyn offered her a grateful smile and sauntered over to the books. The chrome titles glinted from the light of her fire. Evelyn thumbed through tabs and clips bookmarking pages and sections. “Did you pick up some light reading?” she asked.

Belle giggled. “Goddess, no. Ingrid’s been watching me closer than ever before, so I grabbed a handful of books and went off to my room. She’ll be none the wiser, believing I’m occupied for the night.”

“Does she not spend time with you?”

Belle's gaze snapped to the stone floor as she said, “She and Visha are quite in love. She spends time with me when she can.”

A solemness laced her tone. A pang of sadness went through Evelyn. She had considered the witch was lonely, but with Kade so close and escape at the forefront of her mind, she’d yet to consider Belle’s fate once she left. The castle was no place for the young witch. Could she risk getting them both out? Did Belle even want to leave ?

“So”—Belle ran her fingers down the spines of one of the books, her eyes downcast—“I’ve been following Riven the last few days.”

Evelyn’s blood ran cold. “What?”

Belle shrugged. “Not following him exactly, but watching him. He uses passageways and tunnels, too. There’s one he travels more often than others, and I’m fairly certain we can get there from the passage here in your room.”

“Through the abandoned servant’s quarters?”

Belle nodded.

Evelyn debated. Kade had felt close, the closest since they’d been separated. It wasn’t lost to her that he could already be in Drystan, hours or a day away from entering the castle. Did she continue risking herself searching for answers? The servant’s quarters were passed the fighting rings, and it had been the closest she’d come to crossing paths with a vampyr other than Tala.

Trailing Riven’s path and learning more about him was a greater risk. Sure, she had Matilda Moore’s knowledge, etched words from the scribbled prophecy, letters she’d yet to open, but what did it all mean? It felt like nothing, not enough to defeat the darkness once and for all when she reunited with Kade. And if he was close, time was running out to find more. This might be her last chance.

“Alright, let’s go, but let’s be quick.”

The servant’s passage was as eerie as it had been before. Worse, in fact, despite the brighter daytime gray streaming in from the high windows, shedding light on the bones, dried blood, and destruction Evelyn and Belle tiptoed around. Death gripped the space, and Evelyn fought a shutter. She didn’t need her magic to know something dark and wicked had happened in this part of the castle.

They were silent as they continued on, and this time, Belle veered them left. Broken foundation and piled beams fell into the stones of a tunnel. The temperature dropped as they climbed farther down. Evelyn ran her hands over the rock, some of it smooth, like water had weathered it, while other sections had been cut and broken by tools. Rubble crunched under their boots, the only sound in the empty tunnel.

Ahead, light flickered from a small, weathered hole. Both she and Belle slowed the closer they came, careful not to disturb the loose stones. Evelyn peered into the hole first, anticipation prickling at the back of her neck.

Below, a small humble cavern had been lit with hundreds of black candles. At the center lay a rectangular slab of stone, carvings etched onto its sides that bled into the dais it sat on. Rusty stains seeped into the center.

Blood.

“It’s…” Evelyn squinted. “An altar.”

Cold washed over Evelyn, and her magic grew flighty. Movement caught her peripherals, and both she and Belle cursed, ducking out of sight. Boots echoed in the cavern. Belle tucked her knees into her chest, eyes wide as a doe. Evelyn grabbed her hand and squeezed it in comfort and laid a finger over her mouth. She rose, slowly and to the side. Back flush against the wall, she strained her neck and eyes.

Prince Riven used the talon of his right hand to slice open his right palm. Blood dripped like the trickle of rain as he knelt, bowed, and laid his forehead against the dais. Crimson seeped into the stone, blood rushing through the crevices of the carvings. With arms splayed out ahead of him, Riven’s back shook as he murmured like a madman into the stone. What in the Goddess was he doing?

Evelyn swallowed, sure to not make a move, not a sound as she tried to listen to hear anything , even a single word to pocket and study. Nothing happened aside from the howling air in the tunnel and the swaying flicker of candles.

“ Answer me! ” Riven bellowed.

His cry was so desperate, so loud, it rattled the bones in Evelyn’s chest. Belle flinched, her curls and the layers of her velvet dress shaking along with her .

A chilling, raspy laugh echoed here, elsewhere, everywhere. A woman’s. It vibrated in Evelyn’s ears. The fire in her veins flared to the surface, heating her blood.

Steam rose from the carvings, Riven’s blood bubbling and seeping into the floor. An offering. A summoning. When he lifted his head, his eyes had gone black as ink. His head twisted, snapped, and tilted, as if something had taken over from the inside. As if something was in him.

Evelyn was too far away, too high to hear every word.

“Do you… trust…?” The woman’s voice came in and out.

Riven’s head snapped to the left, eyes blinking back to the color jade. Spittle fell from his lips. “You know—”

“ Don’t lie. ”

Like nails, the voice grated against Evelyn’s skin. Belle clamped her hands over her ears. Shit. The poor witch was petrified. Evelyn bent to her knees, losing sight of Riven and focusing on Belle.

“We’re going to be alright.” She barely spoke, barely whispered. “Remain still and quiet.”

Belle nodded. Red blotched her cheeks, and sweat matted her ringlets.

Evelyn rose, watching Riven again. He struggled, thrashing as he tried to regain control. His voice came out pained, ragged as he said, “I trust you. I only fear the plan.”

Did he mean the spell, walking in the sunlight, or breaking the curse? Which part of the plan did he fear?

His head snapped back this time, eyes bleeding back to black. He snickered—no, someone else snickered. “You have her, yes?”

Evelyn’s stomach backflipped. Whoever spoke through Riven meant her . There was no doubt they talked about the spell, and Evelyn listened, trying to grasp onto every word.

“I have already told you I have!” Riven said with frustration .

With black eyes again, he stilled. A slight nod. A twitch of the fingers. Evelyn covered her mouth, holding back the contents of her stomach as he licked and lavished his palm and sucked the blood clean off.

“Cast… cast in… cast in red, cast in red, cast in red.”

Wait. The words from the scribbled lines—Evelyn’s heart thumped, and she fought a gasp. In red had been carved into the wood, a word missing after land . Was that word cast ? Was this woman, this voice filling in the gaps? How in the Goddess did she know those words?

Riven, with black eyes, continued to chant the lines over and over. “Trust the timing. Trust the power. Trust the Blood Moon, prince. Please me, grant me what I seek, and you’ll get what you’ve lost, what your heart beats for. Walk in the Light. ”

The candles whooshed out, casting the cavern in shadowed darkness. Riven retched and collapsed to the ground, his hand over his heart, grasping it like it may beat out of his chest. That’s when Evelyn noticed—the absence of his bloodstone necklace. He crawled out of the cavern, cries of agony and fatigue splitting from him. Sad. Ragged. Broken.

Evelyn almost pitied him. Almost.

Belle tugged Evelyn’s sleeve. “We need to get back.”

Evelyn nodded, a tad numb from the experience. As a child in the summer months, her parents had whispered ghost stories and tales of the ancient faerie around a fire while she and her sisters listened, huddled under blankets and giggling against their parents’ passionate theatrics. Some stories, though, entranced Evelyn so much, the frightening tales left her wide and hollow, haunting her.

The voice had done that, the ancient darkness a sound she’d not soon shake. It rattled her senses, left her so uncertain she bobbed in an endless sea of questions.

She and Belle walked on the pads of their feet back through the tunnels. A hurriedness had bled into their steps, like the voice followed, moments away from appearing. In the shadows. In the stone. In the silence .

You have her.

Cast in red.

The Blood Moon.

What you lost.

Walk in the light.

Evelyn gripped the memory like she may lose the fragments. They came and went, filtering through her mind as she tried to make a connection. She replayed the words over and over, round and round up the tower steps. Why was cast in red so important? Wait, did a Blood Moon have that effect on the land? Is that what the voice had alluded to?

Evelyn furrowed her brow, her theory on the tip of her tongue, ready to share it with Belle as the hidden passageway door clicked open to her room. She collided right into the young witch’s back.

Straight ahead of them, three figures stood. Sneering with arms folded, Ingrid, Visha, and Tala waited for them.

“Isn’t this a lovely surprise?” the princess said.

Tala stepped forward, face void of emotion. “I think it’s about time you visit the dungeons, witch.”

Fucking flames.