She nodded, letting out a small sigh. Kicking off her shoes, she tucked her feet up under her.
“Are you cold?” I asked, moving to wrap the coverlet around her without waiting for an answer.
“I think it’s just exhaustion…and shock, I guess.”
She looked completely lost, drowned by the cover and the large bed. Sometimes I forgot her young age—it was easy with Hazel to think she was older than her years. She had been through so much since she arrived, and I sometimes wondered how she had the courage to keep her spirits up, to maintain an unwavering faith that she and her friends would survive this world and return to their own.
“I can’t believe that Benedict didn’t share any of this with me. It’s been going on for so long—why didn’t he tell me?” She looked at me wide-eyed, as if I would have the answers.
I had none to give her. I was so cut off from the nuances of emotion, human or otherwise, that I would hardly know where to begin.
“I’m sure he had his reasons,” I muttered.
“I guess I was distracted all the time,” she replied, her voice thick. “I should have taken the time to speak to him more, to check how he was adjusting to everything. He wouldn’t have kept all that to himself…I just don’t know how he coped. I’m a crappy sister.”
I turned to her in astonishment.
“Hazel, you are an incredible sister. Ever since you arrived here you have put your brother first, above all else—your own life, my life.” I thought of her attempt to murder me, and smirked. “No brother could have asked for more. It is humbling to see your love for him. It is something I doubt I will ever truly understand.”
She looked taken aback by my speech. She remained motionless, gazing at me with the tears she’d been holding back slowly, soundlessly running down her cheeks.
I strode toward the bed, throwing caution aside, knowing that I would despise myself later. I only knew one way to provide her with some comfort—no matter how brief.
My heart felt like it was going to break through my ribcage as I stood before her, looking down at her small figure, the waves of her hair falling around her shoulders and her bright eyes staring up at me.
Walk away!
This will only end up one way. You will destroy everything that she is, everything that she holds dear.
“Please,” she said. It wasn’t with desire or want, but with need.
“It won’t change anything,” I replied hoarsely.
“I know,” she replied.
I picked her up from the bed, holding her small frame against mine. Her arms wrapped around my neck, her legs around my waist till there wasn’t an inch of space between us.
This time it was she who lowered her soft lips against mine. I could taste the salt of her tears as our mouths melted together. The kiss grew hungrier, more desperate. As much as Hazel needed to block out her current reality and the events of the last few hours, I found that without realizing it, I needed to do the same.
I needed to be with the creature I put above all else: the strange old soul I had fallen in love with, the woman I would put before my own life.
While evil waited for us outside, Hazel and I drowned in one another’s kiss, knowing that facing the darkness could wait.
Hazel
Tejus had stayed with me for a while as I attempted to get some sleep. I had let my head rest on his chest, being slowly lulled by his heartbeat. Just as I was about to finally drift off, Tejus had been called out by a guard and left me alone in the room. As soon as he was gone, I tossed and turned for a while on the emperor’s bed, but eventually gave in, staring at the ceiling while my mind whirled with the aftershocks of having my world turned upside down so completely.
The terror I felt for Benedict made me feel utterly hopeless, but I was also starting to realize that I wasn’t alone in any of this. Whatever was happening between Tejus and me, I knew that I could afford to fall to pieces and he would manage, somehow, to pick me back up again.
Something in him had changed since the night of the coronation. He was just as protective over me as he had always been, his demeanor just as harsh and impenetrable, but now it was occasionally tempered with tenderness. The more I thought about him trying to push me away—like telling me in our mind-meld that he wished he could protect me from himself, battling with himself constantly when I knew part of him wanted to kiss me—the more I became convinced that Tejus was trying to behave unselfishly. That he was trying to save me from something, maybe even himself.
If that was true, then Tejus had changed dramatically from the man I had first met, who had told me to never underestimate that side of him.
His own attempts to protect me from himself seemed completely misguided. I wasn’t worried about what Tejus kept hidden behind his various masks of indifference and the walls that he put up to isolate himself from the rest of the world. I was only worried about not seeing him—being denied the chance to decide for myself who Tejus was, the bad and the good.
Tonight it was difficult to understand how I’d ever thought of him as cold and heartless. He had done nothing but try to help me, both practically in terms of getting Benedict back home, but also providing me comfort and kindness when I’d felt my absolute worst. I wouldn’t forget it.
As soon as this was over and my brother was safe, I wasn’t going to let Tejus hold back anymore. I was going to get to the bottom of what he was hiding from me—what he thought I so badly needed to be protected from. I loved him now, that much I knew, and I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
I heard a knock on the door, and Tejus entered. I sat up abruptly, ready.
“We think we can hear him coming down the corridor. It’s time.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
I tightened my robe around me as we left the emperor’s room and hurried down the hallway. Tejus’s frame was tense, and I felt my own body seizing up with anxiety as we moved closer to the passage.
The sentries and the kids were sitting where we’d left them, all cross-legged and upright, each human behind a sentry, with a few sentries gathered who didn’t have human helpers. I also noticed some of the sentries from the servant quarters had come to join and help out. Jenney was sitting with Yelena, holding each other’s hands tightly.
I moved to stand with Tejus at the entrance to the passage. I couldn’t see anything yet, but as a hush descended, I could hear the faint sound of footsteps walking slowly toward us.
“This isn’t going to hurt him, is it?” I asked Tejus.
He gave my hand a brief squeeze.
“No. All the power will be focused on the barriers,” he promised.
I wanted to call out to Benedict, to run in there myself and drag him out of the clutches of whatever was controlling him, but I realized it would be pointless—and was more likely to scare him off in the opposite direction.
Come on, Benedict, I prayed. Come back.
I waited with bated breath as the footsteps got louder. Tejus’s hand didn’t leave mine. A few minutes passed and we heard the sound of heavy stone grating across the floor. I looked up at Tejus, who looked as surprised by the noise as I was.
“A door?” I asked.
“It sounds like it,” he murmured.
The sound came again, but with a heavy thud that sounded like it had closed shut. To my relief, the footsteps continued in their movement toward us.
“Are you ready?” Tejus asked me.
“Yes.”
“I’m going to start syphoning as soon as we see him.”
I nodded, not moving my eyes from the passage.
Soon my brother stepped out from the darkness. I could only really see his face, lit up with the light from the torches I’d laid down. It was ghostly white, and seemed to float disembodied through the gloom. His eyes met mine, but they were completely clouded and didn’t even flicker with recognition.
Benedict!
At the same time as my brother approached, I felt Tejus’s feathery-light touche
s to indicate that he was starting to syphon off me. I pushed my energy out to him as best I could, but my mind felt like it had been frozen in fear along with the rest of my body.
“Try to focus,” Tejus whispered.
I was trying, but it felt like he was asking the impossible.
Benedict was moving closer, his lack of expression indicating that he wasn’t even aware we were there. Behind me, I heard the deep breathing of the sentries—the effort they were using to push their energy forward and destroy the boundaries.
Beneath my feet I felt the ground tremor. It was light at first, but then it jolted and rumbled more loudly, and I could feel the gray walls of the castle creak and shift and then the sounds of ornaments falling—the smashing of mirrors, and light scatterings of plaster falling down onto us.
“It’s going to collapse on him!” I screamed, starting to rush forward into the tunnel. Tejus yanked me back, gripping me around the waist.
“No, Hazel!” he roared. I fought him, but his grip only increased.
Benedict didn’t even seem to realize what was happening, keeping his footsteps steady. The floor rumbled even more loudly, and I realized for the first time that I could almost see the barrier that had been built in the distance—it seemed to glow with an icy-blue light for a few moments, and then started to shake and rip, curling up into bright white sparks, like a tissue being set alight.
It’s working!
Benedict was only a yard from the entrance. A few steps more and he would be safe.
“Benedict!” I cried out as more dust and debris poured down from the ceiling of the passageway. As soon as the last blue light was gone, Benedict seemed to regain control of himself. He looked around wildly, panting in shock as if he hadn’t realized he was in the tunnel.
“Benedict!” I cried again. “I’m here, it’s okay. You’re safe!”
I lurched forward, angry that Tejus was still holding me back. There was no longer any danger, but Benedict had frozen, no longer moving toward me as terror seemed to sweep through his body.
“Hazel?” he cried.
“I’m here!”
My voice was drowned out by a sharp whipping sound as air rushed out of the passage, knocking me backward into Tejus’s body. No sooner had it blasted out than it sucked itself back in with a giant whoosh, fluttering the cloaks of the sentries and pulling Tejus and me forward. He reached out swiftly and clasped the frame of the doorway to avoid us being swallowed up by the tunnel.
Benedict was digging his hands into either side of the wall, his nails scraping over the stone as the force of the air tried to pull him back to wherever he’d come from.
“LET GO OF ME!” I screamed, knocking my elbows back into Tejus’s chest.
“Are you insane? No!” He pulled me back.
“I can’t hold on!” Benedict groaned.
“You have to hold on, I’m coming,” I cried back, tearing at Tejus, trying to force him to let me go.
My eyes met my brother’s for a moment.
Hold on!
His eyes widened with shock as his fingers gave way and he was dragged back into the tunnel, his body disappearing back in to the darkness.
“NO!” The cry tore from my chest.
Just as abruptly as it had come the wind ceased, and the shaking of the castle settled down to tremors and then nothing at all. The hallway was left in a deathly silence.
I stood in the passageway, looking into the gloom, trying to comprehend what I had just seen. Eventually I could hear the sound of soft sobbing, probably coming from Yelena.
I couldn’t cry.
I was empty.
Ruby
I took my time in the bathroom. It was easy to do; in the middle of the room stood a large mosaic bath, practically the size of a kids swimming pool, surrounded by pots of plants that were obviously flourishing within the humidity of the steam that constantly rose off the water. Dotted around the bath were plinths made of blue stone, which held towels and pots of scented oils, and one was carved into a low dip to create a hand basin. One side of the room was entirely made up of floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the night’s sky—which here was a navy blue covered in bright stars, completely devoid of the dark clouds that had overshadowed Hellswan.
I had spent hours in here already, scrubbing off the red rain that had seeped through my robes, and trying to remove the bone-cold feeling I had from traveling for so long.
As soon as we had arrived at the castle, we had been greeted by a minister waiting at the gates, as if he had known we were coming. I guessed they’d seen us approach, and had kindly prepared a grand room for us, with two adjoining bathrooms and a massive double bed…
Which was the other reason I was spending so much time in the bathroom. I felt weird sharing a room with Ash without really understanding why. We’d all shared a room when we’d first arrived at Hellswan, and a tiny little cubby hole at that. But it was slightly different now, I supposed, and as much as it would be nice to have some privacy with my sort-of boyfriend, it also gave me butterflies in my stomach.
“Did you drown?”
Ash’s voice floated through to me from the bedroom, making me laugh.
“I’m coming out in a minute,” I called back.
Hastily I pulled on the fresh robes that a servant had presumably left me. Once again in Queen Trina’s kingdom, we hadn’t seen a great deal of staff since we’d arrived back—just two ministers: the one at the gate, and another who showed us to our room in near silence, telling Ash that the queen would speak with him soon.
I stepped through into the bedroom, glad to be clean and warm once more.
Ash was sitting on a chaise longue in one corner of the room. He looked slightly uncomfortable, and I wondered if it was for my benefit that he’d avoided the bed.
“Hey, Shortie, welcome back.” He grinned at me.
“Hey, yourself. Sorry I took so long… that rain was disgusting.”
He shook his head. “I wish I knew what the hell was going on with that place—why would they put up barriers at a time like this? Something’s not right.”
I snorted. “There are a lot of things not right at the moment. Julian’s been missing for ages now, the borders around Nevertide still haven’t come down, and then there was that horrible goat…” My voice trailed off. I wanted to mention the nymphs I’d seen in the castle earlier today, but I didn’t want to get into another disagreement about Ash taking the position of Queen Trina’s advisor.
“Do you think there’s a connection?” Ash replied thoughtfully.
“There usually is.” I sighed. The one thing I knew about the supernatural world was that things rarely happened out of the blue—there were always clues and signs that something unpleasant was bubbling under the surface. People usually ignored them till it was too late.
“I just can’t work this one out,” I continued. “There are too many elements. Too much I don’t know.”
Ash nodded. “I thought while I was here we could try to look up that symbol we saw in the barn, see if there’s a reference of it anywhere. I’m assuming Queen Trina’s got the same kind of library that Hellswan has—a bunch of history books written by dead ministers.”
“That’s a good idea,” I replied. “But how long do you think we’re actually going to be here?”
“I suppose until we hear that the borders have been removed. There’s no point otherwise. You might as well try to get used to the place, Shortie. I know you’re not happy being here, but we should be grateful we’re not stuck in some damp old barn tonight.”
He was right, I was grateful for our lavish surroundings, but it didn’t stop me from feeling distrustful of the queen, or being slightly weirded out about the lack of inhabitants in the castle.
“I know…but don’t you find it a bit unnerving that we never see a soul around here? I mean, how safe do you feel?” I asked cautiously.
Ash laughed.
“It’s obviously just run very well. It’s not lik
e we’re without anything. Maybe Queen Trina likes her staff not seen and not heard. It’s not all that unusual. I feel safe here—safer than I ever did at Hellswan, and it’s my home. And listen, if there is something weird going on here, or Queen Trina’s up to no good, then better that we discover what it is.” He smiled up at me. “I’ll protect you, Ruby. You don’t have a thing to worry about. I promise.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “That’s a stupid promise.”
“I’m confident.”
“You’re cocky,” I quipped back, “there’s a difference.”
Ash rose from the chair and walked toward me. I didn’t know what he was doing, and smiled at him uncertainly.
“I’m going to try something.” He grinned down, standing right in front of me with only an inch of space between us. He took both my hands in his and wrapped them around his back, moving us closer. Suddenly, without warning, he lifted me up in his arms, cradling me as he walked back toward the chair. I giggled, nervous and feeling the same fluttering in my stomach that I’d experienced in the bathroom. He sat down, placing me on his lap.
“Right, we’re going to mind-meld…but this time, instead of sharing memories, I’m going to try to send you some of my general calm. See if I can affect your mood that way.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’ve been locked out of the castle and you’re calm? Oh, please—I saw you screaming in a bloody rage at Tejus.”
I could feel Ash smiling behind me, and he lazily wrapped his arms around my waist. “I’m calm now…Trust me.”
My hands closed around his. I smiled to myself. I already felt slightly calmer and we hadn’t even started yet. It seemed that in this instance, Ash’s touch was enough.
“Oh, by the way,” Ash murmured into my hair, “sleeping arrangements…I’m more than happy to sleep on the floor if that will make you more comfortable. I’m not assuming we’re going to…you know.”
I felt my face redden.
“No, uh, it’s okay, you don’t need to sleep on the floor. The bed’s huge—we’ll manage,” I replied, grateful that he’d brought the subject up, even if I did feel super awkward.