Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Shy and the Order

I should have known Roth wants the Eurydice.

I do my best to control my reaction, but inside, my heart races like it wants to escape the cage of my ribs. The air in the room feels heavy, like someone’s sucked all the oxygen out of it.

The Eurydice inspires war like religion because the Valryn are usually split on how to handle her powers. Sure, it’s our job to train and support her, but does that mean we let her loose in the world, or do we keep her on a tight leash?

“Efforts, Successor?” Elite Abrams asks. Abrams is tall and lithe and has long black hair. His voice is as imposing as his figure. “Have we confirmed her incarnation?”

Instead of answering, Roth explains, “We believe Shadow Knight-in-Training Lockwood was tracking the Eurydice before his death.”

Lockwood? The knight who died in New York a couple months back?

“On what grounds?” Elite Val asks. Valryn around the room exchange looks.

“A journal was discovered among Lockwood’s things after he passed. It included information on a girl who captured souls with a thread that he suspected was the Eurydice.”

Well, that is pretty incriminating. The Eurydice is the only being who controls the Thread of Fate. She uses it to make resurrection coins. They are her way of ensuring souls pass safely through the Adamantine Gates. Still, there’s something in the way Roth keeps glancing to the side that makes me think he’s not telling the whole truth.

“Why are we just now hearing about this?” Elite Abrams looks around the room, as if someone other than Roth DuPont can tell him. The Order has never really respected Roth, even if he is the future luminary. They mostly just placate him like a spoiled child. “Shadow Knight-in-Training Lockwood died two months ago.”

“The case was being investigated, Elite Abrams,” Roth says. “It appears Shadow Knight-in-Training Lockwood went rogue. He was still training, after all.” Roth’s eyes slither to me. I clench my hands behind my back. “He must have realized he was on the trail of the Eurydice and thought he could bring her in all by himself.”

Something about that doesn’t sit well with me and not just because Roth looks at me as he speaks.

“Are you suggesting the Eurydice had something to do with Lockwood’s death?” Elite Abrams asks.

“Chase Lockwood, a healthy, teenage Valryn, dropped dead out of nowhere, and while the police ruled his death natural causes, the evidence suggests otherwise. Lockwood’s soul was stolen.”

There’s a heavy silence.

“If this is the case, what of the Eurydice? Have we been able to track her movements?” Elite Gwen asks. Her pale hair stands out like a white flame amid the black-clad members.

“We’re working on identifying the girl Chase mentioned in his journal, but we believe she’ll make her way to one of the other three Compounds in the United States, since the Adamantine Gates once stood at each location before they were destroyed.”

It’s a good guess. The gates were melted, leaving behind a black lake that gives off high levels of energy, attracting all kinds of things—death-speakers and the dead. Unfortunately, it also attracts Influence.

“And you would like the Order’s approval to search for her?” Abrams asks.

“It is our job to locate the Eurydice. We should be searching for her. Clearly, she has demonstrated she’s dangerous. She took Lockwood’s life.”

Oh, hell. I see where this is going now, and it’s not good.

“If what you say is true, then the Eurydice should face consequences for misusing her power.”

“She is hardly trained,” Elite Val argues. “Indeed, as much as you remember it is our job to locate her, you forget it is also our job to train her.”

“We can’t do that if we do not find her first,” Roth argues.

“There is no doubt we need her,” Elite Gwen adds. “Without the souls passing into Spirit, Influence is becoming stronger. Just this week, a plane went down in Switzerland. One hundred and fifty people killed.”

“I thought Charon opens the gates for mass death,” says Ezekiel.

“One hundred and fifty must not have been enough,” another adds.

There is a strange, tense silence after that comment. I can practically hear Roth tallying his supporters.

Charon has never been hands-on. He doesn’t see us as his children or anything like that. We were created for a simple purpose—to protect human souls, enforce the rule of the Order over death-speakers, and protect the Eurydice. When we fail him, we are punished. Many believe that’s what the last seventy years have been, a punishment for our failure to protect the Eurydice in her last life when she was murdered. It was after her death that the Adamantine Gates were dissolved, effectively cutting us off from Spirit.

“I’m assuming this is why you’ve assembled an army of shadow knights.” Elite Abrams’s eyes cut to us, lingering longer on me than anyone else. I have a feeling it’s from the lack of threading on my uniform.

“I would hardly call them an army,” Roth argues.

“Really? Then what do you call several trained soldiers? Sending armed Valryn after the Eurydice will only frighten her away from us. She may not even know what she is—”

“Then what do you expect us to do? Reason with her?” Roth makes the suggestion in jest, even laughing, but Elite Abrams isn’t joking.

“That’s precisely what I expect. The Eurydice has not incarnated in seventy years due to her murder in her last life. If she is hurt again in this incarnation, we might never get her back.”

If she’s back now, we’re lucky. It was Charon who saved her soul in her last life—he opened his own portal into the land of the living. Sometimes I think she might have come back sooner had the Order found her murderer.

“So the Order approves of the search then?” In that moment, Roth reminds me of the child the Order thinks him to be, asking to drive his father’s car—not the soon-to-be luminary. It makes me chuckle, and I have to shut my mouth quick after glares from Abrams and my father.

“Not with your army,” Abrams says and stands. “Assemble a team—a few knights, that’s it. Choose wisely. We’ll alert knights at the other Compounds to search for her as well.”

Elite Abrams leaves and is followed by several Valryn. Some linger—including Ezekiel—and I know it’s because they support Roth’s aggressive search for the Eurydice and her prosecution for Chase’s death. Roth’s dark gaze shifts to the knights around the room. He calls out a few names—Pia, Naava, Idris—all trackers. Emerald thread embroiders the fronts of their uniforms and circles the lengths of their arms. They step forward and salute, accepting their task.

Finally, my father’s voice rings out. “Shadow knights, you are dismissed.”

I start to leave.

“Shadow Knight-in-Training Savior,” Roth says. “Stay.”

My first thought is that Roth needs me to drive him to the closest ice cream shop, but a look at my father makes me think otherwise. My heart pounds—surely Roth isn’t appointing me to search for the Eurydice too? Hadn’t he insulted my training status on the way here?

“Elite Cain tells me you have aspirations of becoming a commander.”

This is not new information to Roth. It’s one reason he gives me such a hard time.

“I would see the appointment as an honor, Successor,” I say, working hard to control my voice and move my jaw. Roth has that stupid glimmer in his eyes that tells me he knows I’m struggling and he’s amused.

“Then find the Eurydice for me.”

“Excuse me, Successor, but…I don’t want to be granted a title without having earned it.”

“If you find the Eurydice, then you have earned it, Tracker.” Roth turns to Elite Cain. “See that Shadow Knight Savior receives his new uniform promptly…and ensure my team has all the tools required to find the Eurydice. Soon.”

And just like that, I’m ranked as a shadow knight. So why don’t I feel better? I always imagined this moment would feel better. It would feel…earned. Leave it to Roth to rob me of an experience. Why does he want the Eurydice anyway? He’s not the kind to concern himself with Influence’s hold over the world unless it affects him. He can’t suddenly care about humans now that he’s becoming luminary.

No, there has to be another reason.

Those unanswered questions gather in my chest like clouds on the horizon.

A storm is brewing.

A battle.

The worst part? I’m not sure whose side I’m on.