A strangled sob brought me back from a world that no longer existed.
I pressed my lips to her forehead again. The heat of my tears melted my skin. “They thought you were me, Lu,” I whispered into her hair. I gripped her blood slick hand and squeezed so tightly that I would not be able to pinpoint the moment that she stopped squeezing back. Hands gripped my waist and pulled me up.
“Come, let us make her comfortable,” said Pyrus.
“Don’t touch me!” I went to her again.
“The contract,” Lulu breathed.
I reached into the pocket of the cloak and retrieved the contract I’d made with Wargrave. I shoved it into my pocket as tears blinded me. With that, they took her anyway. I grabbed hold of her hand. My aunt and uncle made reassurances to me to let go. To let them be with her.
I let out one agonizing scream that echoed through the hall before releasing her hand. I watched her arm go slack as they took her away. My aunt’s wails told me that she was gone.
I took a few steps, unsure of where I was going.
Fierce rage replaced the devastation. Not ten seconds went by before my father called for a sedative. Not long after, I felt the prick of a needle. I fell into someone’s arms, a peaceful calm sweeping over me that slowly closed my eyes, pulling me deep into a midnight blackness.
I awoke in my bed. The sun shone brightly through the open drapes. It could have been that same morning. I could have dreamed it all. It took only a minute for everything to catch up to me, though, and when it did, it slammed into me, knocking the breath from my lungs.
I sat up and looked about the room. Someone had changed me into a sheer white nightdress. Sudden panic rose in my chest. I couldn’t smell her. The sun was too bright. I couldn't see her at all.
I stumbled out of my bed and ran for the door, tangled in my blanket, but before I could make it, it swung open and Pedoma entered.
“My clothes,” I said, launching myself at her. “Where are my clothes?”
She forced her way in and closed the door, pushing me away gently. “Listen to me now, girl. Are you listening?”
I shook my head, barely comprehending the words coming out her mouth. I kept on asking for my clothes. The ones I’d picked out for leaving Stormwall, the ones that smelled of blood and my Lulu. Not this nightdress covered in flowers and lace.
It sprang up in me like a wave. I held my hand to my mouth and screamed into it, tears coming in droves. I could hear her telling me that my obligation was to my kingdom. I could hear myself telling her that I didn’t need her. Why did I lie to her?
I bit my tongue and tasted blood. The same blood that ran through Lulu’s veins. The same blood that was now cold and black. I heard her in my mind. It hurt at first, but now I don’t feel anything. I wished to feel nothing. I wanted to be nothing.
I lifted my head to see Pedoma kneeling in front of me. She stared at me for a few seconds and then offered her hands to help me stand. I wiped away the tears from my cheeks and let her yank me to my feet.
“They have postponed the wedding,” she told me. “Thank the gods for small favors.”
“She’s gone,” I said, weakly. Gone.
She drew a thumb under my eyes,. “Nothing will bring her back. Nothing. All you can do now is live. Do you understand?”
I nodded, thinking of how Henry and Lulu were now together in the afterlife. I blinked and saw Fray. My Fray, who was alive and made my heart ache.
I had to find him.
“Do you have a safe passage?” asked Pedoma quickly. “A way out?”
I nodded, thinking of the cemetery wall. “Her funeral,” I said, my breath hitching in my throat. “I’d miss it.”
“Funerals are for the living, not for the dead,” said Pedoma. “The dead will go on living until they are forgotten. She will be with you. Always.” She unfolded a piece of paper and held it out. It was my contract with Wargrave.
“Your aunt says her jewelry was all but gone. She paid something off for you.”
What did you bargain for, Isabelle?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “A cure for the Gwylis.”
Pedoma’s eyes widened. “And, did it work?”
I nodded.
“She shouldn’t have done that. She should not have gone there.”
“She went because she loved you. Her very last act in this life was one of kindness.”
Lulu had said that she was empty. I knew now what she had meant. It was the feeling of having done everything in your power to make things right. She’d had no regrets when she’d died. Her soul was light and free to soar.
I balled my fists. It had to be the Gwylis who had killed her. Thinking it was me, they had knifed her in the street and run like cowards. Red flashed behind my eyes. Pedoma was right. I had to go and meet Fray as we’d originally planned. I had to summon my courage.
“At sundown, I will go,” I told my handmaid. The moon is my friend, and the night will guide me.
“I will never see you again.”
I nodded. If I ever did see Pedoma again, it would be covered in the blood of every person who had a hand in the deaths of those I loved. If ever I was to step foot back into Stormwall Castle, I would be a monster, and I would tear apart those who hurt me. Revenge was a wave, and I sank beneath it.
Chapter 36
I dressed as black as the shadows that followed my path down the echoing hallways of Stormwall Castle. I brought nothing but the bow from Ashe and Henry’s dagger, which I strapped in a sheath on my forearm.
I made my way down to the second floor via the back staircase and down to an unused portion of the catacombs. There were no torches down there. It was damp, and wet, and smelled of decay.
I didn’t need a candle to light the way. I required only darkness that night.
Crim had done what I had asked. Whatever distraction he concocted worked. Nobody followed me. There weren’t any guards around the cemetery either. It didn’t make a difference. If there had been, I would have fought my way through. I swallowed hard in front of the wrought iron gate that guarded the dead. I should have been grieving Lulu. My insides twisted with the memory of what had happened. It was my fault. My fault.
I sunk down in front of Henry’s gravestone. Right now, my aunt and uncle were mourning a daughter, and my parents, a niece. The entire kingdom would come to see her laid to rest and their faces would be draped in black gossamer.
Because of me.
Heartsick, I laid down and curled my knees to my chest. Tears stung my eyes, making it hard to swallow the panic I felt building inside. I held my breath, counted to three, and then exhaled.
If only I hadn’t kept secrets from the one person who loved me unconditionally. The one person I’d pushed away.
My heart began to settle as acceptance took over. Pedoma was right. Lulu was going to stay dead, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it now. I closed my eyes. Just for a moment. Maybe to dream and see her again.
Someone said my name. Whispered it.
“Izzy, it wasn’t your fault.” The voice came from my brother, who stood in front of me. He watched me sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes. Or was I still sleeping?
“Is Lulu with you?” I asked, my throat hoarse.
Henry shook his head.
I pursed my lips, suppressing tears. “Where is she?”
“Happy. Somewhere better.”
“So, where are you?”
“In the In-Between. Where the Unfinished dwell.”
Henry looked away and moved his mouth to scratch his chin as he always did when he was lost in thought. Visions of my dream flashed before my eyes—the one where my father had put a sword through my brother’s heart. A dream within a dream?
“I can’t stay long,” said Henry. “This may be the last time you will ever see me.”
“Why?”
Henry smiled. “Because I believe in you, sister. You’ve always been the smarter one.”
My brother began t
o fade so that I could see straight through him. Henry hadn’t come here to tell me that I was smart. There was something more.
“What I showed you, that was all true,” said Henry. “Every bit of it. I don’t regret one thing that I did. Our father is a murderer, a warmonger. He is the devil himself.”
My chest tightened as I recalled my dreams. My father killing Henry, the vision of my father dead—they were all true. But if Henry had shown me the past, was he also trying to show me the future?
I breathed out carefully. One thing at a time. “Were you bitten by a Gwylis by choice or…”
“It was a choice, Izzy. Don’t think for one second that it wasn’t.” He frowned. “Izzy, you must stop him somehow.”
That was when I nodded. “I will, Henry, and we will meet again someday, I believe that.”
“I love you, Izzy.”
“I love you too, Henry.”
Then, he was gone with the winter breeze. I closed my eyes, squeezing out the last bit of tears, and when I opened them, my cheeks were dry. I sat there for a few seconds before moving toward the wall, newfound courage in my heart that rose in me like a tidal wave.
Chapter 37
The dawn was chill with a thick layer of gray as I moved through the woods, slashing the branches with my dagger. I knew better than to stay and risk putting myself in danger. I’d waited for too many hours already.
I walked across the crisp grass of the field, mindful of my surroundings. It would still be hours before my parents noticed my absence, and I was already ahead of them.
With a deep breath, I hurled myself across the field and toward the edge of the woods where the land met the sea in sweeping cliffs. The sun still hadn’t broken through the cloudy sky. I ran uphill toward one of the highest ridges, dropping my hood from my head.
“I’m sorry about your cousin.”
He stood at the edge, looking out into the ocean as the sun peeked through, making his blue eyes lighter. It disappeared again just as I moved to stand beside him. Through the morning fog, I wasn’t sure what he was planning to see. My blood froze the second he finally turned to look at me.
His face was a picture of fear.
“What is it?”
He beckoned me closer to the edge, so close that loose rocks fell from where the toe of my boots came to a halt. He pointed down toward the shore where, through the mist, dozens of ships were anchored.
I would not have questioned it if the sails hadn’t borne the black and silver colors of the Peek Islands.
“Your friend Ashe is a traitor,” said Fray. “Their king is down there. They have weapons and close to five thousand men. They weren’t even going to wait for a ceremony.”
The King of the Peeks was down there and somehow that didn’t surprise me. “They knew my father would be back for the ball,” I said. “You were right.”
I stepped backward, dizzy. Then, I started to laugh, wildly, in utter disbelief. The prince had told me to trust him. He’d said he would help me, and all this time he was as distrustful as my own parents. I would have screamed in anger had Fray not pulled me into him.
“This is a battle we cannot fight,” he said into my ear. “The Gwylis of the Old Kingdom are days away. Gods forbid they—” Fray loosened his grip and lost his breath. “Maybe the rumors were true. Has their king sided with the Gwylis?”
I shook my head, his words barely registering. “I can’t.”
Fray narrowed his eyes. “Can’t what?”
“I can’t go back there.” The words were a lie. I had to go back. No matter what they had done to me, my parents did not deserve to be killed. I couldn’t leave them to their deaths.
Fray pressed his lips to mine and pulled away, his gaze fixed on me in a way that made me want to crawl into the ocean and disappear.
“You don’t have to,” he told me, shaking his head. “Ever.”
“But they have to be warned.”
“They didn’t believe you before, so what makes you think they would now?”
Fray was right. No matter what I said, my father and mother would dismiss every word. I still had friends back at Stormwall. Crim. Pyrus. Pedoma. What would become of them?
“Would it be so bad if the Rowan family did fall?” Fray asked.
My fists clenched as I pictured Henry’s body falling to the ground, lifeless. I felt numb. Empty. “No. It wouldn’t be so bad at all.”
“You’re lucky,” Fray said.
I laughed softly. “What makes me so lucky? And don’t say you.”
Fray gave a crooked smile. “No, you’re lucky because you have such strong power behind you.” He looked past me as if he were unsure that we were alone. His forehead furrowed. He kept talking but took a step past me. “Henry, Lulu—you will never be alone even when you think you are.”
There was a sudden muffled shout from somewhere in the trees straight ahead. We both held our breath, hearing boots crunching along the frozen ground. A loud crack of a snapping branch, and I swiftly drew my dagger.
“I will strike you dead if you touch her!”
A moment later, Ashe came into view, holding his bow with an arrow drawn and pointed past me. He looked ragged, the fur on his coat frosted over as if he had been out in the woods all night.
His eyes were violent and locked on Fray.
“When I said I’d help you, I didn’t mean this,” Ashe growled, stopping some twenty feet from us. He bared his teeth, and his words shot poison. “What are you doing with him?”
“That is none of your business, traitor,” I snapped back, positioning myself in front of Fray. “Go back to your castle.”
Ashe lowered the bow, but only an inch. “My castle?”
“It will be once your father is through with it,” said Fray, stepping out from behind me.
Ashe drew his arrow again. “You can’t speak,” he said. He looked to me and then back to Fray. “How are you speaking?”
Fray gave a soft laugh and shook his head. “You don’t know, do you?”
I looked at Ashe. The twisted anger in his face switched to confusion. His eyes danced between Fray and me, trying to keep the arrow straight. “What are you talking about?”
When I didn’t answer right away, he screamed through a cage of a teeth. “Isabelle!”
“Yell at her again, and I will rip your throat out,” roared Fray, taking a step toward Ashe. I jumped at the rage in his voice. “If you want answers, look down over that cliff, Prince.” He bowed dramatically. “Go. I won’t push you. You have my word.”
Ashe took a tentative step. I gestured for him to pass. I even sheathed my dagger in good faith. Fray had done the same. We both watched the prince look down at the ships, and for a moment I did want to push him over the edge until he suddenly fell to his knees, his bow dropping to his feet.
“I thought it was a joke,” he said. “I didn’t think my father was serious when he said he wanted to take over this kingdom.” He looked back at me, his eyes clouded over. “Izzy, I didn’t know. Believe me, please.”
“Do you believe him?” asked Fray.
Frustrated, I grabbed at my temples. “Do I trust you?” I sneered toward Ashe. “You are as honest as my father.”
The words cut through the prince, and he winced. “Izzy, please.”
Tears spiked my eyes. “Ashe Paratheon, you are as dead to me as Lulu, but I will not grieve you the same as I grieve her.”
Ashe started to push to his feet but stopped when he looked at Fray towering over him. “If I die today, at least let me die knowing that you believe me,” he croaked. “Izzy, just give me that much.”
Fray licked his lips and pointed to the trees. “It’s too late.”
Out of the trees came a dozen or more Peek soldiers. My heart stopped beating when Archibald came into view. With a cruel, cold smile, he said, “Well, what do we have here?”
Chapter 38
“Archibald. My father is here, and he’s brought the entire Peek army with him.”
I watched the moment when Ashe realized that his friend for many years was probably the one relaying messages to the king. I knew there was a reason why I hated his guts and I was glad it wasn’t solely based on looks.
“This boy is a Gwylis,” said the captain, pointing a large battleax at Fray like it was an extension of himself. He moved it to me. “And this princess is a whore.”
I bristled. “Don’t believe him, Ashe. I’ve never lied to you, and you know it.”
“Never lied? You were with this boy on the night you promised yourself to the prince. That makes you more than a liar.”
I tensed and clamped down on the handle of my dagger. “You were listening, you sick bastard?”
“Believe me, I didn’t want to, but I had to be sure of your damning sins.”
“Same sins. Different devils.”
“Different day. Same old whore.”
Rage took me to a different place all its own. And I wasn’t the only one. In one swift motion, Ashe’s sword shot out and slashed the air just in front of Fray. I screamed for him to stop, but something had taken hold of him.
“Back away now, boy.” Fray’s legs spread to brace himself, his tone deadly. “Back away!”
“Ashe, please. You don’t need to do this.” I steadied my voice the best I could. “Just let me go. Just like you said you would.”
“He can’t.”
I paused and looked to Fray.
Fray stepped toward Ashe so that the point of his sword touched the breasts of his jacket. “He’s in love with you.” He cocked his head like a dog. “Aren’t you?”
Ashe said nothing. He appeared to be gritting his teeth. The men closed in around us. Some were less than fifty feet away now. I shook my head.
“No. You said that you didn’t love me. You said—”
“A lot of things that I meant,” Ashe interrupted, his eyes locked on Fray’s. “That was the only thing I didn’t.”
Unspoken Page 24
