Chapter 10

Anger made the words pour out of me, Tavion staring down at me with that slightly amused expression, and I winced.

Too much.

As usual, I didn't know when to shut up.

"I mean, Nightcairn was beautiful. Probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life," I overexplained. "And I hate to see beautiful things destroyed."

"Have I ever told you how much I love you?" Tavion tipped his head to the side, and the look on his face made me stop breathing altogether.

"I don't love you, Anaria. I exist for you. Even now, the distance between us is too far." He lifted our entwined hands and pressed his warm lips to my knuckles. "My home—the only one that really matters—is with you. Wherever that may be, however far we have to go, I will follow, no matter where you lead."

I opened my mouth to say…I don't know what, when Raziel snorted.

"Okay, Montgomery, I see I have to up my game, maybe learn poetry or the lute or some shite. But we have unwelcome company." He lifted his torch and there, on the ceiling, was the unmistakable gleam of black rot.

A whiff of that foul odor had us moving, the pack mule pressing up against me like he couldn't get out of these tunnels fast enough.

"What are we going to do with him?" I asked, nodding to the mule, those big, brown eyes staring up at me with such trust. "We can't leave him here with no escape. And if he stays in the tunnels, there's no food and more of those creatures."

"Anaria…" Tavion began, and I shook my head.

I stopped, bracing my feet on the floor. "No, we are not abandoning him when he's carried all of our shite all the way from Blackcastle. I won't leave him to die."

"Are you planning to hold him in front of you on the wyvern?" Tavion asked, not even waiting for my answer before he plowed ahead. "No, and neither can the rest of us. I doubt Tristan can even carry something that heavy." He scanned the mule with a critical eye, and I swore the nag bristled at the weight reference.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, you're just fluffy," I whispered.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Tavion." Raziel admitted through grit teeth. "Unless mules can fly, he has to stay. Maybe the blight isn't as bad as we think," he added quickly. "Maybe there's a clear path into the mountains and he can forage for himself. Otherwise…"

I stroked his fluffy cheek. "Don't listen to them. We're taking you with us, no matter what they say."

"We can stop here." Raz held up a hand, and we all scanned the walls. No sign of blight, but along with the soft glow from the mouth of the cave was that familiar reek.

Shadows moved in front of the dim light, a deep thud rattled the ground, then Tavion and Raz were brandishing their knives like the weapons had jumped into their hands. A deep voice echoed down the tunnel, followed by the grumble of a wyvern.

Then a very angry Zorander stalked toward us. "You were supposed to stay back until I came for you."

"Yeah, that was the plan." Raz lifted the spluttering torch and pointed at the ceiling. "The blight is all around us. We're assuming it's right outside?"

"Not yet. Tristan just got back from his recon flight and there are still some pockets of untouched land. One of them is the Wynter Palace. Tempeste is completely overtaken."

"What about between us and the Wynter Palace?" I asked breathlessly.

"Nothing but a sea of black," Zor said crisply. "Anaria and I will go first since I'm not leaving her there by herself. Tristan will fly back for you two."

Raziel took one look at me and grit his teeth. "No, he'll have to get the mule first, then come back for Tavion and me."

Tavion went to say something, and I crossed my arms over my chest, daring him to open his mouth.

Zor's narrowed eyes bounced between us, but when he saw my face, he smiled tightly. "Fine. I'm not wasting my breath on an argument I can't win. A pack mule will be a welcome luxury when we're crossing the Pale." He grinned at Raz and Tavion. "Sorry you two bastards have been usurped by a mule." Then all humor died in his eyes as Zor stepped to the side, giving me a view of what awaited us.

My beautiful, verdant forest was dying.

Mottled gray leaves littered the ground, branches shriveled on blackened trunks. The lush undergrowth was withered and brown. No sign yet of the wet, sticky rot, but decay was coming. The air tasted foul, every breath coating my mouth with a revolting taint.

"Get on." Zorander tugged me forward, Tristan's deep purr rumbling up through me as he lifted me onto the wyvern's back.

Zor climbed on behind, that deadly, spiked tail slashing back and forth, stirring up dust. My stomach lurched when his wings thundered, then we were engulfed in a reeking cloud, the arches of the catacombs growing smaller and smaller as we gained altitude.

Raz and Tavion became two specks outlined in the dark mouth of the tunnel, then I couldn't even make them out as we rose above the clouds.

Up here the smell dissipated, the murky air smelling like a chill winter wind from the mountains, fresh and clean.

But the view from up here…

Holy gods.

The entire forest was pockmarked with rot, irregularly shaped spots of black spreading outward. There was no rhyme nor reason to the infection, only that the blight remained mostly to the north as if Corvus could only reach down so far from his lair.

Tempeste was completely overtaken, every white stone, every pristine spire coated in greasy black as if the entire city had been drowned in spent lamp oil. Nothing moved down in those once-vibrant streets, every inch covered in Corvus's foul corruption.

"What do you think happened to Bexley?" I asked Zor, the wind ripping the words from my mouth so violently he had to lean close to hear me.

"Let's hope he escaped before the city was overtaken. If he headed south, he might have stood a chance."

I nodded, grateful for Zor's arms banded across my waist, for the rumbling purr echoing up through my body as I took in the sheer devastation of the once-beautiful forest.

Corvus wouldn't stop here.

That vision…According to the blue-eyed boy, Corvus and Gelvira had destroyed half our old world before Vitigis stopped them, costing him his life. Zorander wouldn't hesitate to make the same sacrifice to keep this world safe, and I tightened my hold on his hand.

And Gattica and Saphrax—Raz and Tristan in this life—had traded their blood to lock the twins away forever and save our old world. We'd imprisoned the twins in the Pit, but only because we were forbidden from killing them.

But we weren't on Empyrean any longer.

And killing wasn't forbidden here.

I wouldn't allow them to destroy this world, and I wouldn't sacrifice my friends either. We'd have to find some way to rid this world of them without paying that high a price.

Tristan glided through the clouds like a wraith, passing over the circling Reapers, close enough I made out their tattered shadows streaming behind them, then banked right and began his descent toward the palace.

He touched down in a cloud of dust, one that smelled like dirt, no hint of rot of blackness. "This is one of the untouched pockets," Zor said, lifting me down, my knees wobbling beneath me until I got my bearings. "There are several others to the south that might be worth investigating. Two were around towns or villages."

"Let's get settled then decide." I stared at the cold, imposing fa?ade. The palace was exactly how we'd left it several months ago.

Tristan lifted off in a mad rush of air, leaves billowing in his wake. By the time the air cleared, he was a dot against the sky before the clouds swallowed him up.

Even the mountains around us were mostly untouched, only gray granite and white snow visible as far as I could see. But my beautiful forest, stretching from the foothills to the south, was decaying from the inside out.

Over Tempeste, Soul Reapers still circled. With a jolt of surprise, I realized I'd gotten used to the sight. In fact, I'd have been more worried if there weren't any Reapers. I wondered what other foul things roamed Tempeste's streets these days.

"The world is dying. And I can't do a fucking thing to stop it," I muttered, heading over to sit on the Wynter Palace's white marble steps. Zorander stationed himself in front of me, feet apart, knife gripped in one hand as he scanned our bleak surroundings for signs of movement.

"And I hate to admit it, but all this time the Oracle was protecting us by keeping her brother's corruption contained. The blight, the Reapers, those bugs, all of them were created by Corvus. What other foul things do you think he's made, waiting to send after us?"

"Impossible to tell." He dragged his eyes away from the overgrown brambles. "But one thing I know, he's trying to undo the good you've done, Anaria."

He stiffened as something rustled in the brush, both of us relaxing when a tiny bluebird popped out. "And you've done so much good."

His face softened. "We'll figure out how to stop him. You aren't alone, Anaria, not anymore. You have all of us now. And once he and his sister are gone, we'll rebuild everything he's destroyed."

I swallowed around the lump in my throat. "Not if we don't figure out how to kill them."

Zor settled beside me, taking my hand and pressing his lips into my palm. "If there is one thing I know after all my years seeing battle and death, it's everything dies. There's a way to end them, we just have to find their weakness. What did you and Tavion see when you touched the skulls?"

I went over the vision—twice—while Zor held my hand, his thumb rubbing circles over the spot where his lips had been. "Keystones were everywhere?" Zor finally asked. "Do you think our old world is where they came from originally?"

I shrugged. "They all looked exactly like this one." I pulled it out of my pocket with my free hand, unwilling to let go of him with my other. "How many exist here? Do you know?"

"Two that I've heard of, including that one." He studied the stone balanced on my palm. "And this really boosts your magic?"

"Yes, like when I used the stone to save you. But I don't really understand how the magic works, so it mostly just glows." As if on command, a gentle light pulsed softly at the stone's core before I slipped it back into my pocket.

Zor skimmed his lips down my cheek, and this time, that featherlight touch sent heat zinging through me. "The palace seems safe enough; we'll have time to come up with a plan. I want to discuss the possibilities the stone could be used as a weapon. Then decide how to get across the Pale, given everything's covered in blight."

"I promised everyone I'd make this world better, Zor, and I'm not keeping my word. I have to stop him. Before I was able to harness the magic of the forest, but…" I loosened my fist from where I'd been gripping the warm stone.

"He's destroying that too."

"Strategic move. Corvus is threatened, so he's cutting off your power." Zorander wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer. "We have to cut off his. We weaken him, find his vulnerability, and exploit that."

"How do we even do that?"

Zor looked around us. "He can't touch this place. Why?" His eyes narrowed as a speck materialized out of the clouds above us. "This is where we start. There are a handful of spots left untouched by the blight. We figure out why, then we see where that leads us."

Tristan returned with the terrified mule clutched in his talons, the poor thing too scared to make a sound, thank the gods. He set the beast down gently, then was off again, spiraling up through the thickening clouds.

"Storm is coming," Zor observed as I let the mule bury his face into my chest, his fuzzy body trembling. "As soon as Tristan's back, we'll go in and get some fires started. Get you warmed up."

I shivered and studied the darkening sky.

"Do you think Corvus knows we're here?"

Zor closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his face changing by the second like he could taste answers on the cold snow-flecked wind.

And why not?

Somehow—I didn't understand how—I'd known the palace would be safe.

Somehow, I'd known we would find answers in those tunnels. We'd have discovered more if we hadn't been attacked, and I wasn't naive enough to think that timing had been an accident.

Corvus didn't want us seeing our past.

Didn't want us to know the secrets hidden in those bones, but we'd never touch those skulls again. We'd have to find another way to figure out his weakness.

The keystones were an interesting angle, but so was this pristine border of untouched rock and forest around the palace.

"He knows." Zor opened his eyes, and for a second, the briefest flash, stars burst in his eyes like galaxies exploding in the night sky. "But there is something here he can't touch."

"The Oracle's magic?"

"Could be. Or the Wynters'. There is witch magic here, layered in the stones, into the bedrock beneath this place. My guess is, your ancestors spent as much time protecting the mountain as they did constructing the castle itself."

Tristan dropped beneath the clouds, Raz and Tavion clinging to his back as he descended at an impossible speed. On purpose, I realized from the terrified expression on Raz's face, the muffled curses coming out of Tavion's mouth when the wyvern skidded across the stone, his talons raking grooves into the rock.

Raziel spilled off one side, Tavion the other, before they both doubled over and vomited.

I swore the wyvern was smiling when he stomped up to me.

"You were very, very bad, weren't you?" I pressed a kiss to the top of his head, and he chuffed happily. "Thank you for getting us all here safely. Now as punishment for being an arsehole, you get to bed down the mule and make sure he's happy for the night."

Those eyes glowed and I gripped his face tighter. "Do not even think about eating him, Tristan. I mean it."