Chapter 58

58

Ella

The thundering of wings drowned out all sound, even my hammering heart, yet I could still hear my saviors speaking frantically in my head.

Keep moving!

They're coming.

We'll get you out of here.

All I could see were black feathers everywhere and the marble floor passing as I sprinted through the castle, guided by the frenzy of birds.

"I need to get to the stables," I said, my lungs straining for air.

A loud bang of a door, followed by a short scream, filtered through the chaos. The storm of birds parted as I emerged from the castle and into the courtyard.

The heel of my glass slipper lodged itself in a crack between the stone steps, and I stumbled. My foot slipped free, and I rolled across the ground, ankle throbbing as guards rushed from the castle. I kicked off my other shoe as the cloud of crows split, half diving at my attackers, while the others swooped around me.

Dragging myself to my feet, I half-hobbled, half-ran toward the stables, my ankle screaming and heart hammering.

"Chastity!" I yelled as I burst through the doors. "I need to get away! Can you help?"

The mare kicked open the door to her stall. Climb up. No time for a saddle. Hold tight.

I dragged a stool next to her and mounted. I'd only ridden bareback a couple times when I was a girl, and never in a gown.

Where are we going? she asked.

"As far away as we can." I turned to the other horses, which were watching, wide-eyed and agitated. "The immortals want to kill me. Please don't lead them my way."

They whinnied, and two or three reared in support. My eyes fell on Tenebris. He watched me suspiciously, clearly torn between helping and duty. He nickered. Be careful, Ella.

Chastity charged out of the stables as Horace rushed toward me, his face beet red. Guards swarmed the gates as he extended his arm. "Run, little witch! You'll have no power in our woods. We'll hunt you down and burn you at the stake for all to see!"

An explosion of purple-white light pierced the air in front of us. Chastity flinched and dodged the blast, nearly sending me flying before she evaded the soldiers and bolted through the castle gates. The iron portcullis rattled and fell behind us, nearly grazing her rump as it slammed into the ground.

Hugging Chastity for dear life, I glanced back. Cassius skidded to a halt behind the portcullis, anger and betrayal cutting his face as he shouted for the soldiers to raise it.

If he hadn't been a prince, if the Triad had never existed, then perhaps things could have been different.

But they weren't.

We galloped through the nearly deserted streets of town, sending the few bystanders diving for cover. I glanced over my shoulder as the castle gates receded in the distance. Torches glinted in the night, but there were no signs of riders. Not yet, at least.

I closed my eyes and offered a brief prayer of thanks.

I didn't dare head back to the manor, so I turned Chasity toward the cursed woods, following the same route I'd taken with Cassius.

Do you have a plan? she asked as we plunged into the shadow of the trees. Where will we go?

"I'm not sure yet," I admitted. "We need to put as much distance between us and the castle as possible. Then we can decide."

Chastity snorted and tossed her mane. Not many can keep up with me, except for Tenebris.

My stomach knotted as thoughts drummed numbly against my skull. Would Cassius follow? Did I want him to?

Yes. To both.

I wanted desperately to explain everything and to beg him to protect my people, but a part of me worried he wasn't the man I thought he'd been.

Did he realize I'd been trying to save him? Or did he think I was one of the assassins as well?

I rubbed my palm against the deep ache in my chest. He's not going to save you now.

The Triad was coming, which meant I couldn't rely on him or anyone. I had to find my own way out of this mess. If they got their hands on me, I had no doubt they could force me to betray Cassius, my stepmother, and the resistance—anyone and everyone who'd ever helped me.

First order of business: don't get caught.

As Chastity followed the hunting trail deeper into the woods, the canopy thickened, filtering the starlight and forcing her to slow her pace. At least the path was familiar to her, and her steps remained sure, if not as quick.

"How well do you know the forest?" I asked.

There are plenty of game trails out here , she said with a tired huff. We can take one and lose them…unless they bring hunting dogs, of course.

I closed my eyes and strained my ears, listening for the baying of hounds in the distance, but all I could hear was the drumming of Chastity's hooves and the beating of my own heart.

That was something, at least.

My throat tightened as waves of sorrow crashed over me. I'd saved Cassius's life, but I hadn't been able to stop the assassins from revealing themselves and the resistance, and I hadn't had time to get Belle or Cara to safety. The bloodsuckers could very well murder the entire castle staff for this.

Guilt stabbed me, but as I replayed the events of the day over and over in my mind, a simmering fury took hold. My plan had failed, but the fallout was my stepmother's fault—hers, and the leaders of the resistance. They'd put our town at risk.

If they'd only listened…

I hardened my heart. It didn't matter. They hadn't listened, and there was no changing the past. I had to find a way forward. I had to find a way to fix things and protect the people I loved.

I'd thought Cassius would be the one to save us, but it had to be me.

I glanced at the trail ahead. The further we got from the castle, the deeper my dread grew. My options were limited. My first instinct was to go to Siggy, but I couldn't put her at risk. If the Triad found her, I was certain they'd execute her on the spot, not just for helping me but for what she was—the last sliver of hope for our people. She had to survive.

That left me with two options—take my chances in the cursed woods and cross the border or stay here in the Bloodvale and hide. The first option held a high probability of death, but the second was guaranteed suicide.

Since I didn't have any reins, I gently patted Chastity's shoulder. "Stop."

She slowly came to a stop. What is it?

"I need to think."

I closed my eyes, feeling the Triad's curse over the forest more clearly than ever—a deep, thundering absence of magic. It thrummed in my bones like a low, silent pulse, and now that I knew what to look for, I swore I could almost feel it drawing my magic out, feeding on it like the immortals fed on blood.

A slow, seething rage crested in me. How many girls were like me, born with magical gifts they never knew they had, cursed to have their power leeched away without their knowledge? I'd lived like that my whole life, only discovering something was wrong when I stepped into the castle.

My fists tightened, and I opened my eyes. As much as I wanted to flee, I couldn't run. I was the only mortal who knew the truth, and I couldn't share it. That meant finding a solution rested on my shoulders, and mine alone.

The dark woods pressed in, a cavern formed of stately trunks and branches, black and inhospitable around me—and yet, there was something comforting to the claustrophobic presence. I didn't fully understand the connection I shared with the wild, but I knew that as long as I was in the woods, I'd never be alone.

I was a whisperer.

The forest will always be there when you need it , Siggy had said.

A nervous hope budded in my heart, flickering to life like a sputtering candle. The trees had helped me before. Would they listen now?

I looked into the deep darkness and lifted my voice to address the trees. "I can feel the curse over this place with every beat of my heart. Can you feel it, too?"

The leaves stirred in the still night air. There were no words in my mind, but I understood the meaning of the sign. Yes.

I released a shuddering breath as a desperate plan began to take shape in the shadows of my thoughts. Cassius had told me the spell was like a whirlpool, drawing magic down into its heart. If the curse had a source or point of origin, perhaps I could destroy it.

"Can you guide me to where the curse is strongest? The source of its power?" I asked the trees.

I waited, a nervous sweat dotting my brow. The branches began to creak and groan. My breathing quickened as ancient limbs arched upward and the dense brush pulled back, creating a dark tunnel through the woods—a black hole beckoning me forward.

They'd listened.

Maybe it was my imagination, but I could almost swear the throbbing pulse of the curse was stronger now that the path was open, an inaudible beat echoing down the dark corridor ahead.

Chastity pulled away with a warning huff. Bad place.

I gently stroked her neck, soothing the agitated mare. "I know. I don't like it, either, but I'm afraid that's where I've got to go. I owe you my life for bringing me this far, and I won't ask anything more of you. You've risked enough."

I prepared to dismount, but she snorted and shifted. Not alone. We'll go together, if we must.

"Are you sure?"

The mare stepped off the trail and into the dark tunnel formed by the trees. I released a sigh of relief and stroked her neck. "Thank you."

Hopefully, I wasn't marching us to our deaths.

I twisted, looking back at the trail we'd left, then searching the trees on either side. "Can you hide our passing? I'm being hunted, and I don't want anyone to follow."

The bushes behind us stirred. Their branches swept the ground where we'd passed, obscuring Chastity's hoofprints, then stretched out and settled across the trail, hiding it from view. The forest closed in behind us, creating an impenetrable curtain of foliage.

My skin tingled. I was in a wild place with only one way out—forward.

"Okay, let's do this."

Chastity picked her way slowly at first. The arching limbs blocked out the starlight, leaving us only faint glints of silver to navigate by, but the woods provided us a safe path. In places where gnarled roots poked up dangerously from the forest floor, they flattened themselves as we passed and pushed unstable rocks from our way. The bushes bent to let us through, then folded back behind us, obscuring our passing.

It was like riding a wave, with the dark tunnel opening just ahead of us and closing behind. Chastity began moving faster as her confidence grew, and soon, we were trotting through the darkness.

The deep, inaudible pulse of corruption intensified with every stride, and the tiny hairs on my neck rose. The weight of the curse pressed down on me, a stifling presence. After a while, when I spoke to Chastity to reassure her, she no longer replied with words in my mind—just a nervous whinny.

My power was slipping away.

I gritted my teeth, clinging to the sensation of our connection. A cold sweat beaded on my forehead, but I pushed her on, and the trees still parted before us.

After what must have been an hour, the forest began to thin. The moon had long since risen, and the woods became a bright mosaic of silver light and shadow.

The black shape of a structure loomed ahead, and soon, the outlines of a spire emerged above the tops of the trees. Chastity slowed to a stop. The darkened building was a dilapidated church, abandoned in an overgrown clearing.

The repressive power of the curse was stronger than ever, hanging in the air like a choking cloud. The deep thrum of the spell they'd cast pulsed steadily from the sinister church ahead, an ethereal heartbeat that boomed through my chest and limbs. No longer a malicious sense of absence, it was a hungry presence, and I could feel it tugging away at my magic with every beat.

Whatever the mages had done, they'd done it here.

I swung my leg over Chastity's back and slid to the ground. Leaves crunched beneath my bare feet, suddenly focusing my attention on how still the woods had become. It was deeper than the simple silence of night.

This was a haunted place. A forbidden one.

I hitched up my gown and delicately picked a path into the clearing, then across the old cobblestone pavement that had been hidden by the dry grass. I stopped in front of the low iron fence that ringed the building. Someone had boarded up the windows, and heavy beams had been nailed across the door to seal it shut. Traces of red and white suggested it had once been brightly painted, but now all that was left was rotting wood and overgrown stone walls.

"What is this place?" I craned my head up.

A branch snapped behind me, followed by a sinister chuckle. "It's the place you're going die."

I spun around as the dark form of a man emerged from the tree line like a specter. Starlight traced the pinched features of his face and glinted on the rings covering his fingers.

Horace.

He grinned. "This is where your story ends, little whisperer."