Page 31 of Ignite
Annora and Ellerry’s faces float into my mind. Annora, Avery’s mother and a friend of mine. She taught me how to dreamwalk and didn’t make me feel like an outsider while doing it. And Ellerry—my chest tightens—kind and brilliant Ellerry. I never felt less-than when she was around. I didn’t have to pretend to be someone I wasn’t or think about all the things I was lacking in.
My magic stirs in my chest, and I give it a gentle tug, needing to feel the comfort of its steadiness thrumming beneath my skin.
“We were to appeal to the Lord of Shadows,” Brielle continues, her throat still raw. “To figure out a way to get the souls of those from the trial to be released without Vidaris knowing.” A muscle ticks in her jaw. “But it was Vidaris that was waiting for us, not the Lord of Shadows.”
Bitterness coats my tongue. We were wrong—so fucking wrong. I shift in my seat, my skin growing hot and itchy.
“We still don’t know what happened to Iris and Cyprian’s ground troops,” I add. “Or if the reports of Crean soldiers heading to the border had any weight to them.”
Graylen’s parents might not be big fans of mine, but that doesn’t mean they deserve to be forgotten. They were headed to the Shadow Lands just as we were.
Leda rubs a hand down her face, and I realize how exhausted she looks. “We have to trust Cyprian and Iris can handle the border for now,” she says with a heavy sigh. “Last we heard—before you found us on the border with Daimon—Cyprian sent a falcon to warn Mother of the reports. She’ll send reinforcements; she’s already lived through one war. Our focus needs to be on what we set out to do.” Leda’s voice is strong and even, her confidence in our mother palpable.
What Willow and Aster don’t know is that we learned Duke Wyman is Moros, the very human who stirred the rebellion of the last war. I follow Leda’s lead, trying to read between the lines of her words on how much we’re going to share with these warriors.
Aster nods his head, his gaze hard as he asks, “And you thought the Lord of Shadows would just…hand the souls over? Release them to Caelum out of the goodness of his heart?”
Leda’s eyes narrow at the implication—at how he looks at her as if she’s lost her mind.
I press my lips together. “Sort of,” I mumble.
Aster makes it sound far simpler than it was, but when it came to trying to convince him to help, that was the basic gist of it. We tried to get his help. We failed. Miserably.
“We were supposed to bargain with him,” Leda answers coolly.
My gaze flies to her. They never told me that. Though, given I wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place, I’m not entirely surprised.
“But—” Brielle hesitates. “We didn’t get that far. The Lord of Shadows… We know him.Bothof you know him.”
Her words settle, and it nearly sucks all the air out of the room. Aster and Willow share a look, but their faces are resolved—sad, almost. Not shocked, not demanding to know who it is.
Finally, Aster turns to Brielle and says, “We know it’s Daimon.”
The air in the room instantly turns to ice. They know—how long have they been hiding here? Keeping this from the kingdom…from theirqueen?
Thirteen
Turcicus
I reel back,my eyes snapping between Willow and Aster. TheyknowDaimon is the Lord of Shadows. Unease slithers into my stomach. Howwould they know? He’s confined to the Shadow Realm—even the council didn’t seem to know who he was.
I’m reminded of the fact that we don’ttrulyknow what Willow and Aster’s goal is. We don’t know why they were there when they saved us—what prompted them to leave Kauri to go to the edge of the Shadow Realms.
My stomach lurches, and my magic stirs, readying for the worst outcome. For the possibility that Daimon knowsthem—and knows where they are. Which means he would be able to find us. And right now, we aren’t prepared to face him again.
Leda hisses, jumping to her feet as she looks between them.
“You knew?” Brielle asks, her voice rising an octave. “And you never thought to come back andtell us?”
Willow shakes her head. “And what would that change—you knowing?” she challenges. I bristle at her tone. Knowledge is power, and right now…she and Aster are holding all of it. “The first time we saw him, we tried to talk to him. And then he tried to kill us—just as he did with you. We were lucky that we were able to get away. He killed over half of the people with us, Brielle.
“It was early in our search for a new home, and in one fell swoop he nearly killed all of us.” Her eyes sheen, and she looks to the side, swatting the tears away before they can reach the bottom of her cheek.
I flinch at her words. I’ve known evil men my entire life, but this is different. This is a man beyond redemption, no matter how much Brielle is convinced otherwise.
Leda stays standing, but her shoulders relax. Slightly.
“I know he isn’t the same. I had to fight one of my oldest friends, too.” Brielle’s voice cracks. “The friend that we all thought was dead. But he isn’t and he needs our help.”
