Chapter 20

Nobody cameto find me or burn me alive.

Get up, a voice in my head urged me.

I'd had a plan, right? I'd planned something before I went to the kitchen, foolishly thinking that Romin's word was going to keep me safe despite knowing who Tristian and Emil were, how they thought. Foolishly thinking nobody was going to sneak up on me anymore, just because Romin had ordered it.

But I'd had a reason for going out there in the first place. I'd gone to get food because I was so fucking hungry, and I also needed food to carry with me on my way to…Mount Agva.

To Storm, so I could convince him to come back with me, so I could shrink him and take him through the eighth mirror, so then he could find Grey.

Grey, who was alive and standing and with his wings spread to the sides, as if he were waiting for me. As if he was calling for me to save him.

I sat up straighter instantly, the image of Tristian's deformed body and wall and floor and doors right there in front of my eyes still. That had been my magic. All I'd wanted was for him to let go of me and not be able to reach me anymore, and my magic had done…that.

Had I killed him? Had I left him for dead on the ruined floor in front of his tower?

"Does it matter?" I asked Grey's portrait, and I could have sworn his face looked mad. I could have sworn his eyes were bloodshot, and he said, no. No—it didn't matter. No—Tristian could rot in hell for all I cared. I would not feel bad about it, even if I'd killed him. He was going to bite me and rape me and do with me whatever he wanted.

I most definitely didn't regret anything at all.

But right now, I had a choice to make. I could either sit here and wait for Romin or Emil or anyone else to find him and come through that door and kill me for real.

Or I could get my shit together and go find Storm.

It didn't take me a full second to make that decision.

I stood up and I put on the clothes I'd prepared before going to search for food in the kitchen. Boots and two pairs of pants and a thick cardigan from Grey's closet, as well as his leather jacket. And to top it all off, I had the coat the skinwalkers had gifted me at the party to keep me warm no matter how cold it was on Mount Agva.

Then, I put the necklace of the witches around my neck, and the dragon tooth that the dragon riders had given me, too. They said it belonged to Storm's mother, and that they'd brought it to me to help me connect with Storm better. The other brides had told me once that the tooth didn't really work, that the dragons never cared about them—not that the brides ever tried to make friends—but maybe it would work this time. Maybe Storm wouldn't eat me when he smelled this on me, and I told him that Grey was alive. It was worth a shot since it was light, and I barely felt it around my neck.

Lastly, I took the faerie-bee honey from the box of spices the faeries had gifted me because I remembered what the big man at the Faerie Bazaar had said when he shoved his wooden spoon in my mouth—even dragons lay down their claws for this honey. Again—worth a shot, so I put the container in the leather bag with the rest of the food, and Valentine's book, too.

And…that was it. That was all I had. Gold coins, food, magic.

If that wasn't enough, I was doomed anyway.

"I either come back with him, or I don't come back at all," I told Grey's portrait. "They'll kill me if I do." And I was good at hiding, wasn't I? I was good at being undetected, just like Valentine said. Just like I proved it to myself once more today, when in the mirror room.

If I couldn't bring Storm back for whatever reason, and if he didn't eat me, I wouldn't be returning to this castle no matter what. I'd live in the woods or in the mountains. I'd keep myself hidden until the day I died.

But Romin, Tristian and Emil were never going to touch me again.

It was earlywhen I left a note for Zane to feed the birds in the cage in my room, and made it out of the back door of the castle. I thought for sure the guards wouldn't let me through, and I was prepared to unleash my magic on them, too. I was still weak, still hungry, though I'd eaten a little bit on my way out of the tower, but I would still try. What did I have to lose, anyway?

Fortunately, the guards didn't stop me. They let me through without a word, just like always.

The woods seemed darker tonight. Colder, even though I was wearing thick clothing. The fur coat was hanging on the strap of the leather bag around my shoulder, but maybe I needed to put it on me even before I reached the mountain.

Quinn wasn't there, though. It was still only eight p.m., and she wouldn't be in the woods so early, and I didn't have the time to wait, either. So, I made my way into the town, wondering if it was a better idea to just find someone else to take me to Mount Agva.

The problem was, someone else would possibly tell Romin on me if they figured out that I wasn't just a succubi passing by the Whispering Woods. If they learned who I was—which they would the moment I told them where I wanted to go—they'd turn me in instantly. I had no doubt about it.

But Quinn wouldn't because Quinn wasn't just someone from the town. She'd been sent for me—from Valentine, no less, and right now she was my best bet.

So, I went to town, and I went to Mina's, and to most of the other shops and bars on the cobblestone street that was the town's main one, but I didn't find her for almost an hour.

Instead, she found me.

"Looking for me?"

I jumped back, barely containing a scream when I was just at the edge of the woods. Quinn was sitting on the rooftop of the building to my left, one leg up, elbow resting on her knee as she watched me and grinned.

Heat had gathered in my stomach so quickly. It was becoming easier to separate the magic from my emotions now because it was so much stronger. Like, because I'd already used it on Tristian earlier, it had become more powerful within hours—or so it felt to me.

"You scared the shit out of me," I said, focusing on taking in a deep breath, on pushing down that magic. I was thankful for it—it was the only weapon I really had, but something told me that it could get out of control really fast if I didn't learn to pull it back before it did.

Something told me that if I were to let it, it would explode out of me without my needing to focus on what I wanted it to do.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry about that."

Quinn jumped. As silent as a damn ninja, she jumped off the rooftop so gracefully, like it was the easiest thing in the world to do, and she landed on her feet without so much as a sigh.

"Well, look who decided to show up tonight. Is her highness bored of me already? Or did you just get lazy, is that it?"

Alarms rang in my head as she approached me with that easy smile on her face, perfectly unsuspicious—just like I had been.

"Sure. I got lazy." I straightened my shoulders, reminding myself once again that it didn't matter who she was or how we came to meet. "I don't really have much time right now, but I have a new offer to make you. Keep the money I gave you, and you'll get another bag of gold if you do something else for me," I said in a rush.

Her brows shot up and she looked positively shocked. "Wait, wait, hold on," she whispered. "Holy shit—you're really quitting?!"

"Yes." She could call it whatever she wanted, but I didn't need to learn how to fight right now. Grey was alive and I knew where he was, maybe even how to bring him back, and I needed nothing more in the world than to try to do just that.

Quinn shook her head, more surprised than I had thought she would be. "But you were doing so well," she finally said, and she had the audacity to sound disappointed.

"I want you to take me to Mount Agva, Quinn. I'll pay you." She knew the way—she'd said so herself. I needed her, even if I hated it, because I couldn't afford to die on this trip for some stupid reason I didn't see coming because I didn't know what the hell lurked in the other parts of the Whispering Woods.

A pause.

"You're fucking with me," she concluded.

"I'm really not." And I looked down at my body—at my jacket and my bag and the fur coat.

She looked, too, and once more, her brows rose to the middle of her forehead. "What the fuck? Are you insane?! You're going to get killed!"

Just like that, the tiny amount of patience I'd brought with me ran all out.

I rolled my eyes. "As if you care."

"Of course, I care, you?—"

"I know, Quinn," I cut her off. "I know."

The look in her eyes confirmed it, even though it only lasted a split second before she recovered.

I'd never been very good at reading micro expressions on people's faces, and I hadn't even realized how much that had changed until now. Until I started to actually pay attention.

"Know what?" Quinn said, just like I knew she would.

"I know you didn't accidentally happen to follow me and trap me. I know you're not my friend." I had never really let myself trust Quinn, but it still surprised me. I still wished she had been real.

She shook her head, but her cheeks betrayed her when they turned a slight pink. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I smiled. "He sent you." Valentine had sent her all along. "He sent you to train me, didn't he." Because he wanted to help me. He was still watching out for me, even when I thought he was going to kill me the first chance he got.

Valentine fucking Evernight—the most unpredictable person I'd ever met in my life. So typical.

"I—"

"Please don't bother trying to deny it—you're only wasting my time here," I told Quinn. "And I don't care. I never trusted you anyway. I don't care why you did what you did, but Valentine is gone, as I'm sure you know. And I need to get to Mount Agva, now."

"You can't be serious," she whispered. "Do you know what that place is even like? If you don't freeze to death, you'll be fucking eaten or incinerated by the dr?—"

"Fine," I cut her off, taking a step back. "I'll just find someone else to take me." I had the gold coins. I'd pay people not to ask questions, too. Anything it took.

But before I moved a single step in the town's direction again, Quinn said, "Wait!" And she raised both hands toward me. "Hold on a second. Just hold on!"

I did. "Yes?"

"Why?" She looked really frustrated, cheeks flushed and glistening eyes wide. "Why do you want to go to Mount Agva—why?!"

"Reasons."

"What reasons?!" she said, exasperated.

Closing my eyes, I took in a deep breath and I reminded myself that I needed her still, that she was safer than anybody else I could find in this town.

"Reasons I cannot reveal to you. All I can tell you is that Romin knows, and I need to get to that mountain by tomorrow, or we will all be in big trouble."

There. I lied through my teeth, even knowing that Quinn had a sense for truths. I lied, and so what if she caught me? She'd been lying to me since the day we met.

"Master Romin knows," she repeated, so suspicious I thought for sure she was going to call me out on my bullshit.

"He does," I said with a nod anyway, and I sounded so sure I was tempted to believe myself.

But Romin did know, didn't he? He knew that Storm was in Agva, and he also knew that Grey was in whatever place the eighth mirror showed.

Technically speaking, Romin really knew.

Quinn squinted her eyes at me for a second… "I don't get it. But why? Why won't he go himself?!"

She believed me.

Holy fuck, she actually believed me.

"Because it has to be a bride, and the others are not fit to be out of the castle walls," I said in a rush. "So, tell me—will it be you, or do I need to find someone else to guide me?" I touched the leather bag strapped to my shoulder. "I've got the gold coins right here, Quinn."

She took a whole minute to pace in circles in front of me, muttering to herself, shaking her head. My patience had already run out and I had to grit my teeth and sink my nails into my palms to keep myself from speaking. To give her the time she needed to make up her mind.

She finally sighed. "How'd you know about me?" she finally said. "Did he tell you?"

I held back a flinch. "No, Valentine didn't tell me anything before his banishment." He'd only smiled as the sky swallowed him whole. "I knew when I realized he wrote the book you so kindly bought for me."

Her eyes closed instantly. "He was sure you'd never seen his handwriting before," she muttered.

I laughed—couldn't help it. "I hadn't. But I did just before Romin banished him." On the printed music in that leather folder he'd left on the piano.

"Well, fuck," Quinn said, pulling down the hood of her brown shirt as she rubbed the back of her neck. "He said you'd never find out."

"I did," I whispered. "How did you know him, anyway? How did he find you?"

Quinn looked down at the ground right away. "My aunt used to work at the castle when he was a boy. She took care of him. Babysat him all the time. They were really close," she said. "She lives here, and he still visits her all the time. When he went to her about you, she sent for me right away."

Incredible how my heart could still break because of Valentine—and he wasn't even here.

It doesn't matter, I reminded myself yet again. Nothing mattered except Grey.

"What will it be, Quinn? Will you take me to Agva or not?" I forced myself to say.

"It's dangerous," she told me, and she sounded terrified now. "So many animals—wild animals live around it. It's a tough road to walk."

I raised my chin. "I understand if you're scared."

She laughed. "Of course, I'm scared!"

"Then don't come." If it came to it, I was going to find my way to that mountain on my own.

"For fuck's sake, Fall," she said with a sigh. "Of course, I'll come. He'd kill me if he knew I left you alone."

"Well, Valentine is not here, so…" I shrugged, pretending I wasn't affected by the memory of him smiling as the hole in the sky pulled him up.

"No, he's not," Quinn whispered to herself, and I could have sworn that her eyes were teared up. Like she really was sad. Like she really cared about Valentine. "I'll take you to Mount Agva. But you have to understand this—we will need to run. We will need to hide from animals. And there's a very, very good chance that we'll die before we set foot on the mountain. We'll be burned to a crisp by the dragons who live there. Or eaten—one or the other."

I nodded. "Noted. You'll get your coins when we get there."

She flinched. "I don't want your coins, Fall."

"But you'll take them anyway." I would not be accepting charity, no matter what kind of a deal she'd made with Valentine, or what her relationship to him was.

The most important thing right now was that we were going. She was coming with me.

"I'll need to go to my aunt's to pick up a jacket and some food," she said.

"I have food." I tapped the bag again.

"But I need a thicker jacket. It will get colder the closer to Agva we are."

"Quinn, we need to leave right now. It's very, very important that we do." Before Romin and Emil returned and found Tristian where I'd left him. Before they came out here searching for me.

"Ten minutes," she said, moving backward to the town. "Ten minutes and I'll be right here I promise. Just wait for me."

I sighed. "Hurry up!"

She started to run down the street lightning fast, and I turned to the trees, to the darkness of the woods, and went a bit deeper until the light of the town didn't reach me. I didn't want to be seen by anybody, and I also wanted to make sure that nobody else was around us right now, that Emil or Romin or anybody else hadn't followed me outside the castle.

So far so good.

Sitting down with my back against a tree, I allowed myself to breathe in deeply. Grey's silhouette that had flashed in that mirror was right there behind my closed lids, and it gave me more motivation than I'd ever need—not just to get to Mount Agva, but to come back here with Storm.

He'd bring Grey back here if he could find him. I believed that with my whole heart—he would bring Grey back even if he had to carry him across the world.

A noise caught my attention—a small noise that was familiar to me by now, and it made my heart jump.

I froze, straining my ears, all my attention on them, and…I heard it again.

It was a snickering-like sound, like a squirrel but a bit different. It was a sound I'd heard before, many times, and I'd know it in my sleep.

I jumped to my feet, eyes wide and unblinking as I looked at the trees again, sure that I was hearing things. Sure that I was imagining this because there was no way it was real. No fucking way…

"Shadow?" I whispered to the woods because it sounded just like him. Exactly like him.

And something moved to my right fast—a small winged creature jumping from a branch higher up the tree, to one lower. To one I could see.

Every drop of blood in my veins turned solid. Shadow was sitting on that branch, wings folded to his sides, his beady eyes on me as his long pointy tail swished to the sides gently. My mouth opened and my hands closed over it. Tears in my eyes, blurring my vision, and I blinked them away as I slowly moved closer to him.

"Shadow, what…what…" I shook my head because it made no sense. "How are you here?"

It was Shadow—I knew that dragon as well as I knew Valentine. I knew the shape of him, the colors on him, his pointy face and those black eyes. It was him sitting there on that branch, watching me as he made that sound again, as if to confirm it. As if to answer my question, except I didn't speak dragon, so I didn't understand a thing.

"What the fuck."

I didn't even jump this time when Quinn spoke from behind me, much too close—and I hadn't even heard her approaching. I turned, shaking my head still.

"It's…it's Shadow," I told her, even though she was looking right at him, too.

"That's not possible," Quinn said, and she was just as terrified as me.

"It's him," I told her because it was. It was Shadow sitting on that branch, not a single doubt about it.

"It's really, really not possible," Quinn insisted, coming to stand next to me. "Valentine is gone. Shadow is in Agva by now. That's not him."

"It is! I know Shadow, Quinn. I named him myself—it's him." Then I reached up my hand and said, "Shadow, come here," because I must have lost my damn mind.

Shadow moved.

My God, he jumped off the branch, and Quinn stepped back just as he touched his small talons to my knuckles.

Pointy face. Black eyes. That sound of him coming from deep in his throat. "It's you," I whispered, shaking my head still. It was Shadow.

And he spread his wings the next moment and flew away, deeper into the woods to find another branch to sit on and watch us.

"That makes no sense whatsoever," Quinn whispered, her face pale and her eyes wide like she was looking at a damn ghost.

And me, too—because he was. Shadow was Valentine's dragon, and he was still here, and he was so…calm. So relaxed as he swooshed his tail slowly.

I'd seen what happened to dragons when their master was banished, hadn't I? I'd seen Storm in that clearing trying to fucking rip his own wings off his body with his teeth. The image was in front of my eyes even now.

"Dragons go insane when their masters are gone, Fall. They go insane—they lose their minds!" Quinn insisted, pressing her fingers to her temple. "It's not him, I'm telling you. It can't be."

I agreed with her—it couldn't be. But it was. That was Shadow, I knew it in my bones. And if I hadn't seen Valentine get swallowed by the sky with my own eyes, I'd have searched this whole damn Isle for him myself.

But I'd seen. Valentine had disappeared in the sky the exact same way as Grey, and after, I'd seen Shadow on that apple tree in the courtyard. He'd been calm then, too, but I hadn't made anything of it. Romin had been so sure that Shadow was gone already when I spoke to him again that I didn't even question it.

Nobody had, yet he was here now, watching me, waiting for me to move, as if he knew exactly where I was going. As if he planned to follow behind me like he always did.

I shook my head at myself, at a loss for thoughts, for possible explanations once more.

"Let's go," I said to Quinn because I simply didn't have the time. I had no clue how much longer Grey would be alive—I needed to get to Storm right now.

"Are you sure about this?" Quinn asked as we moved toward Shadow.

I wasn't, not even close. "I am," I said anyway, for both our sakes.

Something was most definitely going on here, and I couldn't wait to find out what. For some reason Shadow being here, so calm and normal, didn't surprise me as much as I thought it would because once again, it was typical Valentine. He was chock-full of secrets and so unlike anything or anyone I'd ever come across. Of course, Shadow would be the same. His size alone confirmed it—he hadn't grown at all since he'd hatched, which I'm sure meant something I had no clue about.

Valentine had planned something while he was here, something big. The question was, did it all stop with his banishment—or was his banishment the beginning? Was thatthe reason why he'd been so desperate for it?

I had no idea, but Shadow followed us silently, sometime flying ahead and sometimes behind us, and when we got close to the lake where I'd seen Sedelis, I was suddenly sure that the hooded man she'd spoken to was Valentine.

I was suddenly sure that whatever he'd planned, it was all connected to the sirens as well.

I just hoped the result wouldn't be as disastrous as a part of me believed, and that Grey would be here to put a stop to whatever was coming.