Ren wipes the dirt from his hands on his cloak, then pokes at the embers of last night’s fire. I can’t stand the awkwardness between us.
“Why are you here, Ren?”
“I’m not here to rescue you, if that’s what you’re asking.”
My face turns pink. “No, I didn’t think you were.”
“Good.” He scuffs the embers with the sole of his shoe. “I’m going after Delia. She was my responsibility. Some men in the tavern spoke of a man transporting live goods to Belladoma that he kept tightly under wraps. I figured it was the best shot I had, and that maybe I could find the other girls, too. They described this man exactly.” His eyes blaze. He’s angry at everyone and everything and—most of all—me.
Perhaps this is my chance to set things right. And find out whether my sister still lives.
“I’ll help you.”
Ren scoffs. “I doubt that. You’re probably in league with him.” He nods at the cart. “You could be pretending. Maybe you’re a trap. I don’t know!” He throws his hands up and sits on a tree stump. The sun is gaining ground, tingeing the world with red and gold, including Ren’s hair.
“I’m not with him, but I do know him. This man’s name is Darrell and he attacked me on the road. He intended to sell me.” My voices lowers. “Just like the other girls. Said I’d fetch a fine price.” I sit by the dead fire pit, across from Ren. “I’ll help you. This is my fault. I’ll make things right, whether you like it or not.”
He snorts. “Wonderful. I’ve got the monstress on my side.”
“I’ve always been on your side. Unfortunately, I was deceived by the person I thought was my father.” My face burns again. I’m ashamed of my blindness. But Father was all I knew. What else was I supposed to do? What would anyone else do in my place?
“You should’ve known. Somehow.” His face twists. “Fine, you can help. But I’m in charge. This is my quest.”
“Thank you.” A smile of relief tugs at the corners of my lips, but I suppress it. It might make him angry again. “What are you going to do with Darrell? Leave him to rot?” I rather like that idea, but Ren shakes his head.
“Not yet. I need to know who he sells the girls to and where they are now. Unless you have that information?” He looks at me skeptically. He will never trust me again. If I were him, I wouldn’t.
“I only know what my fa—” I stop myself from using that word. Barnabas doesn’t deserve it, and it’s an insult to Oliver. “What Barnabas told me about Belladoma, and there’s no guarantee it’s true.”
Ren picks apart a leaf, bit by bit. He may as well be tearing up my heart. “It’s a start. What did he tell you?”
“He said that Belladoma is a city over the mountains”—I point to the purple crests in the distance—“and that the girls are well loved and cared for. He told me the city is filled with gardens and fountains and every pleasure they could want, but I doubt that now.”
“I think that’s a safe bet.” Ren says. “At least we know what direction to go. Darrell’s path confirms he was headed toward Belladoma.”
My face brightens. That’s the first positive thing he’s said since he arrived.
“When he wakes up, you can help me convince him to spill the exact whereabouts of the girls in that city.”
I frown. “How? I doubt he’ll tell me any faster than he’ll tell you.”
Ren laughs bitterly. “Barnabas only taught you what he needed you to know, didn’t he? We’ll have to torture him. Simple as that. With your claws and that tail, you were made for it.”
“Torture?” The word circles around my brain. To inflict pain. “You want me to hurt him until he tells us what we need to know.”
Ren doesn’t answer. He doesn’t have to.
I’ve already hurt so many. Do I really want to hurt another person?
Darrell would have killed me without a moment’s hesitation if it served his purpose. I was just more valuable to him alive.
If hurting him will help me reclaim my sister and Ren’s good graces, I’ll do it. I’ll do anything.
When Darrell regains consciousness, we’re prepared. He yells and curses at us for a full five minutes before he calms down enough to listen. He almost knocks the cart over in the process.
When Ren rattles the bars of the cage, Darrell ceases his hysterics.
“Who the hell are you, boy?” A jeer crosses Darrell’s face. “Do you fancy the monster girl?”
My skin warms. Ren scowls at the suggestion and that only makes me blush harder.
“I’m here to find out where you take the girls.”
Darrell snickers. “Well, I’m not gonna just tell you that, now am I? I’ll be needing some compensation for my assistance.” He holds out his palm and waggles his fingers.
Ren slams the hilt of the sword against the bars. “You’re in no position to bargain. We’ve got you locked up. We can starve you out if we have to.”
“I don’t think you’ll be doing that. There’s far too many travelers on this road. I expect we’ll see some merchant friends of mine any hour now.”
Ren’s face turns white. Waiting Darrell out isn’t an option. And we can’t expect him to help us out of the goodness of his heart.
Which leaves one choice.
I step forward, wrapping my clawed fingers around the bars. Darrell flinches. Good, I still scare him.
“You’ll tell us where you took the girls. All of them.”
“Not likely.” He scoots to the far side of the cage, but he can’t evade my tail as it winds through the bars and curls around his middle and neck. He gasps and struggles, but I squeeze harder. I may not be able to sting him, but I can choke him.
I yank him toward me until he is pressed up against the cage, close enough that I can smell the rabbit he had for dinner stuck between his teeth.
“You’ll tell us where you took the girls. Or I’ll carve the information out of your skull.” I tap his temple and a bead of blood forms, then rolls down his face. “Or I could just squeeze it out of you.” I tighten the noose of my tail and and he claws at it. “Your choice.”
“You wouldn’t,” he chokes out.
He’s testing me. A part of me abhors this, but I must do it for Ren. And for me. I squeeze harder. And harder. He sputters. Gags. The skin on his face takes on a blue shade. I have to look away, but I keep squeezing.
When he manages to nod in agreement, I loosen my hold. He coughs for several seconds and lies still on the floor of the cage, breathing laboriously. Ren must be disgusted by my cruelty. But he was right. It had to be done. If we don’t stop Barnabas and Darrell, some other naive hybrid Barnabas creates will be handing over the girls of the city.
I will stop them.
“I take them to King Ensel of Belladoma.” He spits up blood. I wonder if I crushed any of his ribs. I hope so.
Ren pales. “What does he want with them?”
Darrell grimaces, as though he’d like to smile but is in too much pain. “What do you think? Haven’t you heard the rumors?”
Ren gasps as understanding dawns on his face. He jabs the point of the sword at Darrell’s shoulder, stopping just short of puncturing skin. “You sold them to be fed to the Sonzeeki?”
Darrell holds up his hands. “This was Barnabas’s brilliant plan. He just cut me in on the deal. He pays handsomely, and I’m in it for the money. Besides, I’d be a fool to refuse a wizard anything. No, he’s up to something else. For him it’s personal.” He glances at me. “So was killing you.”
Ren paces before the cage. “All those girls, some so young. And Delia!”
“What is a Sonzeeki?” I ask, bewildered by their conversation.
Ren turns on me with fiery eyes. “Don’t you know anything? Belladoma has no flowers or fountains. It’s a city of mercenaries and traders. Their idiot king managed to enrage an ancient sea creature that lives below the city’s cliffs. If he doesn’t send a young girl off the cliff at the apex of each full moon, the Sonzeeki floods the c
ity. It’s why Ensel tried to take over Bryre in the first place and began this whole nightmare with the wizard.” He smacks his hand against a nearby tree, then shakes off the sting. Darrell chortles and is rewarded with a blow from the hilt of Ren’s sword.
“You.” Ren points and marches toward me. “This is all your fault.”
I stare at the ground, bits of grass poking through the soil. “I know,” I say.
Ren halts. He didn’t expect me to agree. He ought to know me better by now. I’m almost disappointed.
Resolve courses through me, washing away my sadness and self-pity. Yes, this is my fault. But I will fix it. Somehow, I’ll find a way to make Barnabas and Ensel and Darrell and anyone else who aided them rue the day they ever heard of Bryre.
I straighten my back and head for the horse pulling the cart. It whinnies and nuzzles my neck as I unfasten the reins.
“What are you doing?”
“Here.” I offer the reins to him. “We’re going to Belladoma. We’re getting Delia and the rest of those girls back.”
DAY SIXTY-TWO
I LIE NEAR THE EMBERS OF THE FIRE, GAZING UP AT THE STARS LINGERING in the early-morning hours.
Ren hasn’t spoken a word to me since I announced my plan. But he did come along after we rolled the cart behind a grove of trees and covered it with the tarp. The longer Darrell stays hidden and stuck, the better for us. If he gets out, he will probably go looking for Barnabas.
I shiver. The last thing we need is for the wizard to come after us. He may already be on our trail.
Ren slumbers, curled up in a blanket we snatched from Darrell. He looks cold and scared and I just want to wrap my arms around him and tell him everything will be all right.
But touching him is out of the question. He flinched when our hands brushed together while I handed him the rabbit I cooked last night.
I disgust him.
I don’t belong in Bryre. I don’t belong in Belladoma either, though Ren might think so. I don’t belong with Barnabas, my pretend father, nor Oliver, the real father of the once-me, Rosabel.
I don’t belong anywhere.
Ren yawns. I roll onto my back. It would not do for him to catch me gawking. The sun is up now, pushing the last vestiges of starlight from the sky. Neither of us knows how far Belladoma is, but we ought to get going. Darrell used to make the round trip in a few days, so I’m sure we’ll reach it soon.
What worries me most is how we’ll get the girls out of the castle. Even if we can find a way inside and reach them, they won’t go anywhere with the monster who brought them to Belladoma in the first place. And I’m sure I’ll need to use all my parts to the fullest to ensure their escape.
Somehow, I will have to convince them I’m on their side. I don’t expect it will be easy.
Ren rises and heads into the woods without a backward glance. He pretends I don’t exist. He can ignore me as much as he likes; I will help him no matter what he says.
He’s changed since Delia disappeared. Lines mar his warm face, giving him a drawn and sullen appearance. His eyes are still bright, but now with thoughts of vengeance instead of mischief.
That is my fault.
After Rosabel—I—died, he must have taken more responsibility for Delia. Now he’s lost them both.
As I put the gear we stole from Darrell together, a thought freezes me. Did Barnabas send Rosabel to Belladoma? Is that where I truly died? He never did say where he took my body when we disappeared from the palace. In light of all the lies he told, his assertion that I died instantly is dubious at best. I shudder despite the warmth of my cloak.
Ren returns, pulling a piece of jerky from his pocket. He chews while he mounts the horse and takes off along the path.
I do my best to keep up with him, but he spurs the horse to move faster every time I get close.
He leaves me with little choice. I will have to fly to keep pace with him. I stretch my wings and take off. I love flying, but I fear I only reinforce the monster in me in Ren’s eyes by doing so.
He still will not look my way.
“Ren.”
Nothing. Not even a quirk of the lips or twitch of the eyes. He remains silent, studying the road ahead while I flap my wings beside him and the mare. I veer into the horse’s path. It whinnies and rears, jostling Ren about in the saddle.
I hold out my hands imploringly. “You must talk to me. We need a plan.”
He tries to guide the horse, now back under his control, around me. I swerve into his path again.
“If we don’t work together, we’ll never succeed.”
That, at least, earns me a fierce scowl.
“It’s true and you know it. We need each other to do this. Otherwise, we’ll fail.”
He urges the horse onward.
“We’ll fail Delia.”
He circles the horse, his once warm face cold. “Fine. What do you want me to say? I’m thrilled I have to work with a monster to get the princess back from an evil king in his disgusting, squalid city?”
I sigh. “I understand you hate me. But I’m doing this for me just as much as for you or any of those girls.”
“For you? What stake do you have in this?”
My heart sinks into my feet. He has no idea who I am. Will he even believe me? A small part of me had hoped he might figure it out on his own. I take a deep breath. “The wizard killed me. I was once a girl from Bryre.”
Ren snorts. “What was your name?” He folds his arms over his chest, clutching the reins with white knuckles.
I steel my nerves. He can’t possibly hate me any more than he already does, though that is a small consolation.
“Rosabel.”
He nearly falls off his horse.
“Liar!” He whips the mare and she rears, then lunges ahead. I fly after them, weighed down by fear that any ounce of the trust he had in me may have vanished.
“I’m not a liar. Why do you think I seemed familiar when we first met? Why did Oliver recognize my eyes?” Ren turns the horse to face me.
“Stop!”
“Because my eyes belonged to Rosabel.”
“Stop it!” The mare stamps her feet. The threatening tone of Ren’s voice frightens her. I regret telling him, but it’s too late now.
“I know the rest of me doesn’t look like Rosabel. But her brain and her eyes are mine. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of her memories, too.” I take a tentative step closer. The expression on Ren’s face is unreadable. “That must be how I knew I could trust you, despite Barnabas’s attempts to instill a mistrust of all humans in me. You knew Rosabel well, didn’t you?”
“She was a lovely, kind girl. You’re nothing like her. She’d never help the wizard. She’d do anything to protect Bryre.” He spits.
“Which is what Barnabas convinced me I was doing! Saving Bryre’s children from the wizard.” I wring my hands, feeling awful and indignant all at once. “You must understand, Barnabas was all I knew. He brought me back to life and suppressed my memories with his magic. I had no way of knowing what he told me was a lie. Not until I met you did I begin to question. Now I question everything.”
“I don’t have to understand anything.” Ren heads down the path again, this time at a more reasonable pace. He’s angry, that much is clear, but perhaps I’ve gotten through to him a little bit. At least I tried.
He trots silently and I walk beside him for another half hour before Ren gives in and speaks. “Did you really believe what Barnabas told you about Belladoma? That it was a paradise?”
I grimace. “I did. He made it sound like the most beautiful place in the world. I begged him to let me go there when our task was complete.” My face darkens. “He said he’d be happy to take me to Belladoma as a reward. He meant it, too, just not in the way I thought.”
Ren grunts. “Belladoma is nothing like that. My grandfather used to trade with them years ago when Bryre and Belladoma weren’t enemies. King Ensel was just a baby. His father was a kinder man. Perhaps it was beautifu
l then.” He pauses. “Anyway, my grandfather once told me about an entrance to the city that didn’t pass through the main gates. He used it when he was in a hurry and didn’t feel like getting accosted by the guards or waiting in line. Catacombs carved into the cliff run beneath the city. Belladoma overlooks the ocean, so the only ways in are through the main gates or to find the entrance to the catacombs.”
Ocean. A vast body of water. Salty. I can’t picture it, but the air around us has taken on a saltier quality. We must be close.
“I’ve never heard of the ocean until now,” I muse. “Barnabas never told me about that part.”
Ren shakes his head. “Belladoma is famous for its location and its ravenous sea monster. The latter is why King Ensel has quite the penchant for throwing people off the cliff when he tires of them. His courtiers are notorious for their short life spans.”
“Then why would anyone want to be his courtier?”
“Because their families are the only ones in the city who eat on a regular basis. He only allows one hundred of them. In order to get the position, someone needs to be thrown off that cliff.”
This is where I sent those poor girls. “That’s insane.”
Ren nods. “It is. The rest of the city is stricken by poverty. People will do incredible things to feed themselves and their children. To the king it’s all a game.” His face pales. “Now Delia and the other girls are part of the game, too.”
The thought chills me. He is right, of course. I must stop it.
“Anyway, if we can find the entrance to the catacombs, we could get into the city unnoticed and decide how to proceed from there. My grandfather said the entrance was at the base of two huge trees twining around each other, in the woods outside the perimeter of the city walls.”
“Perfect. There can’t be many trees like that.”
Ren says nothing, only rides onward.
DAY SIXTY-THREE
WE FOUND THE TWIN TREES LAST NIGHT, HUDDLED TOGETHER LIKE TWO children trying to keep warm on a cold winter’s night. The hollow looks like an animal den, but the stairs just inside the entrance reveal its true purpose.
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