by Meg Anne
Von reached for her hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “You alright, Mira?”
She went to nod and stopped herself. The truth was, she wasn’t. She just didn’t understand what her instinct was trying to tell her. “Stay on guard,” she answered instead.
Von studied her face before giving a slow nod. He made a low whistling sound that drew Ronan and Serena up short, along with the Daejarans standing nearest to them. Ronan met Von’s eyes and gave a short nod of his own. The sound had been a warning, some signal they had set up long ago so that they could communicate efficiently and without giving anything away.
Von kept his fingers threaded through hers, and Helena was grateful for the contact. No one else seemed to be having the same kind of reaction that she was having, other than mild discomfort because of the heat or a general dislike of the bugs. Whatever she sensed was affecting her alone. Lovely.
Helena drew on her power to amplify her senses, realizing the only way she was going to figure out what she was sensing, without it sneaking up and catching them off guard, was to actively search for it. She cast her awareness out, using her magically enhanced eyes to study the world around her. The trees and creatures of the swamp came into sharper focus, the colors of their life essence creating a vivid rainbow that would have been beautiful, if the feeling of otherness wasn’t also more apparent.
The trees glowed a deep earthy green, while the bugs appeared as floating specks of lavender, and there, beneath the surface of the water, something was a deep, pulsing red. Despite the size of the shape beneath the surface, Helena sensed nothing that had triggered alarm bells. She continued to search around her, seeing the warm glow of her comrades, especially the beautiful strands that linked her to her Circle.
Her brow furrowed, nothing so far felt out of place. It was not until her final sweep that she finally noticed something amiss. Amongst all of the color, there was a yawning chasm of empty black. Helena stumbled, the void causing her body to break out into a cold sweat. What was it?
Even as everything inside of her urged her to stay away, Helena forced herself to start moving toward it.
Worried voices called after her, surprised to see her break rank without so much as a word.
“Helena?”
“Kiri?”
She didn’t know how to explain what was happening, so she didn’t even try.
And then the one voice she could never ignore called to her. “Mira?”
“I need to see this.”
“See what?”
“I don’t know.”
“You aren’t going anywhere alone, Helena. We don’t know what’s out there.”
She knew better than to argue after what happened in Greyspire, and truth be told, she didn’t want to face this on her own. She just knew that whatever it was, she was going to wish she had never found it. She already wished she had never stepped foot in this Mother-forsaken realm.
Von said something to the others, but she barely heard him. She was wholly focused on the void. Reaching it was going to require crossing the swamp, and she was not equipped with anything other than her power to reach the other side. Not wanting to waste time trying to find a vessel that they could commandeer, Helena used the trick she had learned while visiting the Storm Forged and urged the water to part for her.
There were a few startled gasps behind her as the army witnessed the act. The water was nowhere near as deep as the ocean, and it did not take long for two walls of water to form on either side of her, both towering high over her head. From the corner of her eye, she could see glowing blue orbs that must have been fish playfully swimming in the still churning water.
Helena took the first tentative step, her heart somewhere in the vicinity of her throat. There was a squelching sound as the thick mud clung to her boot. It took more effort than she would have thought to cross the distance, the mud trying to suck her down into its depths. Despite the slow crossing, Von remained right beside her.
Soon, all she could hear was the sound of her racing heart as they finally reached the other side of the water and the raised bit of land where the source of the void seemed to reside. With each step that carried her to the edge of the darkness, she could feel a quiet voice whimpering in the recesses of her mind. No. I don’t want to do this. Please, don’t make me do this.
She was less than two steps away from the void when she saw something that would have had her falling to her knees if Von hadn’t been there to catch her. Bones. Thousands of small, child-sized bones.
There were no words. Helena gaped at Von, who was staring at the mass grave in disgust, his jaw continuously clenching and unclenching.
Rowena had done a number of terrible things, but this might have been the worst, if for no other reason than the sheer number of innocent children that she would have had to murder to leave behind that many bones. This was clearly what she had been busy doing with the children of Endoshan. What wasn’t clear was whether her new husband knew about it. The remote nature of the mass grave gave the impression that it was a secret, but given the sheer number of bones, someone had to have helped her. It was the only plausible way to cover up a genocide of this magnitude.
“Can you at least put their souls to rest?” Von asked.
The words caught Helena off guard, forcing her to a truth she had not had time to fully process. It was a sense of emptiness that had led her to this place, and a void by its very nature was an absence. It was difficult, but Helena forced herself to discount the piles of bones that were visible as far as she could see. She tried to focus instead on what else might be hidden beyond normal sight.
Helena sucked in a breath as realization dawned. “There are no souls here,” she murmured.
Von looked at her sharply. “In the Forest, even when Rowena had destroyed the Night Stalker village, the souls of those that were slain were still present. Why would it be different here?”
“Because of how she murdered them.” Helena’s voice was hollow.
Von turned to fully face her. “What do you mean?”
Helena swallowed, letting the hold of her power drop, not wanting to feel any more than she absolutely had to. She felt raw and battered, each new revelation bringing with it a surge of powerful emotions that were slowly destroying her. It was like she was under attack from the inside out, and she was entirely incapable of protecting herself from further assault. There was only one defense against the kind of atrocity she was facing, and it was something that the Mother’s Vessel would never know: an utter lack of empathy. Only someone truly soulless would be immune.
Soulless.
Helena’s eyes moved to Von. “She did not simply kill them. She stole their lives.”
Von’s eyes narrowed, not understanding the distinction.
“We have always known that Rowena twisted her power, using her Spirit magic to steal the wills and bodies of those that serve her. What we had not allowed ourselves to consider, was that it was more than just their wills she was stealing. Rowena creates her Shadows by taking control of their souls. It is how she gained so much power.”
Von looked pale. “I don’t… I’m not sure I understand.”
Helena didn’t blame him. It was too horrific a thought. “You have witnessed Rowena try and transform one into a Shadow.”
He nodded, having nearly been a victim himself.
“When she makes that connection, she is taking a part of their essence into herself, creating her own twisted bond. It is what allows her to assert her will over them. They are her puppets, because they are quite literally tied to her. She does not drain them completely, since the body cannot survive without its soul. She needs them to stay alive just enough that they can serve her.”
She could tell by the glint in his eye that Von was starting to understand. “Children cannot fight, so they have no use to her.”
Helena nodded. “And so she consumes every drop.”
“This…” Von started, his voice breaking, “this is the source of her p
ower?”
She desperately wished that she could deny it, but the proof was literally at their feet. “Whatever she has done to so pervert her magic, has allowed her to eat the souls of her victims. That kind of life force must be potent. It has exponentially strengthened whatever gifts she was born with.”
“So why isn’t she affected when the Shadows die the same way she is when the Generals do?”
It was a good question, and one she already guessed the answer to. “She has taken all but a drop of what remains in her Shadows. They are already a part of her; their loss is no more than a snip of hair falling to the ground. It is a different relationship with the Generals.”
“You’ve lost me again,” Von admitted, looking frustrated that he was slower to make the connections that she had.
Helena grew thoughtful, trying to think of an easier way to explain. “The Vessel required a Mate, one strong enough to help her withstand the strength of her power so that it did not consume her.”
Von nodded.
“Rowena stole power. More power than she was ever supposed to have. She is not strong enough to contain it on her own, and she does not have a Mate to help her carry the burden.”
“So she uses her Generals as a way to keep and control the power,” Von stated.
“Exactly. It is why they are so strong.”
“When she loses a General, she loses a significant amount of the power she amassed from the Shadows,” Von finished, finally understanding.
Helena nodded, looking back out over the scattered bones. “And it is why she was in such a hurry to recoup it.”
Von fell silent.
The kind of selfishness that would allow someone to kill without mercy was almost beyond comprehension. These were children. Hundreds and possibly thousands of lives filled with potential that would never be fulfilled. How could the Mother let this happen? Where is the justice?
Helena realized she must have asked the questions out loud when Von responded.
“You are the Mother’s justice. Let’s find her, Helena. Let’s find her and make her pay for what she has done.”
Helena turned her back on the bones, not wanting to watch as they slowly sank down into the black earth. There was no life left here. Whatever Rowena had done had caused the earth itself to recoil from the taint. Helena pumped her magic back into the land, even as she began to walk away. It sucked greedily, using her power to repair the damage. By the time they had returned to their friends, the water had reclaimed the path, and Helena knew without looking that the void was gone.
It was going to take a lot more than that for her to say the same. The proof of what they were facing, the level to which Rowena would stoop to win, could no longer be ignored. There was only one way this war would end, and it was the same way it started.
Death.
Chapter Sixteen
Although they had reunited with the others, Helena remained apart from the group, not ready to relive what she had seen just yet. She left it up to Von to fill them in on the discovery, and to answer the questions such a revelation would necessitate. Knowing that the images would haunt both her waking and nighttime hours was bad enough, but the thought of having to say it aloud and bring those images to life made her want to vomit.
“Are you alright, Kiri?” Reyna asked.
Helena jumped, not having heard her approach. It was a good reminder that she could not afford to become lost in her thoughts right now. She considered lying, but after eyeing the Night Stalker’s leader, she decided to go with the truth. “No.” She sighed. “Not even a little bit.”
“It sounds horrible. So many…” Reyna trailed off, the swirls of paint doing little to hide her pained expression.
Helena’s eyes fell closed, and she swallowed, taking a few seconds to let her stomach settle before she responded. “You would think, with as much death as I’ve seen in the last few months, that it wouldn’t affect me like this. But they were only children, Reyna. They didn’t deserve this; hell, not even the worst kind of criminal deserves it. Especially not what she’s done to them,” Helena paused, her shaking hand reaching out and grasping Reyna’s. “There won’t even be any peace for them. She didn’t just take their futures, Reyna. She stole their afterlife. Without souls, they can never return to the Mother.”
Reyna’s dark green eyes shuttered, but she returned Helena’s squeeze with one of her own.
The raw emotions were making her vulnerable, leading Helena to a confession she would not have otherwise made to any but her Mate. “I don’t know how to set my emotions aside and lead them right now,” she whispered, referring to the army at her back. “All I want to do is curl up and cry over the waste she’s made of those lives.” Helena’s voice was ragged by the time she was done speaking. She sucked in a quick breath and turned to face Reyna directly. “How do you deal with it?”
Reyna’s brows shot up in surprised. “You think that it’s a lack of emotion that helps me lead?”
Helena nodded. “In order to make rational decisions you have to set them aside, don’t you?”
“That sounds like something a man told you.”
The memories of Timmins and Joquil helping her prepare for her trial came to mind, and Helena almost smiled at how accurate an assessment it was. In her case, it had been two men.
Reyna laughed bitterly. “Maybe that is true for some rulers, but I would argue the opposite. It is the things we have the strongest reactions to that shows us what our path must be.”
Some of the tension in Helena’s chest loosened. Learning that a ruler as strong as Reyna let her emotions influence her decisions was a relief. Moreover, there was comfort, and a sense of solidarity, in knowing that she was not the only one who did so. Helena squeezed Reyna’s hand once more, this time as a silent thank you, before letting it go. She finally felt steady enough to continue the journey without borrowing someone else’s strength.
The Endoshan Keep came into view a couple of seconds later. It looked abandoned, but not because it was in ruins. This was no crumbling castle. Everything still looked pristine, as if everyone finished with their chores and simply got up and left. It was also entirely too quiet, the usual noises of people going about their day absent.
“You don’t think we’ll find her there, do you?” Reyna asked, watching Helena’s face as she took in their surroundings.
Helena shook her head, her eyes not straying from the keep. “No, I don’t.”
“And yet, you brought your army here anyway.” It wasn’t a question, but it sounded like one.
“In the end, it matters not if she is here. The choice led us to something we needed to see. If that is all we get from the excursion, it was still an important piece of the puzzle to collect.”
Reyna nodded her agreement. “The girl’s vision led you here for a reason. Perhaps it just wasn’t the one you had thought.”
The two women walked in silence a bit longer before coming to a full stop. The rest of the Circle caught up to them a few moments later, their collective faces grim as they studied the keep.
“It’s too quiet for an army to be housed within,” Kragen said, echoing Helena’s earlier assessment.
“That doesn’t mean someone isn’t tucked away inside,” Ronan pointed out.
“It would have to be a fairly small group,” Helena mused.
“You think we will find more than one person inside?” Von asked.
Helena shrugged. “Rowena would never go somewhere alone. Especially now. At the very least, she is going to keep her Generals close.” She shot Reyna a look.
The Night Stalker looked amused watching Helena carefully walk the line between her beliefs and her Circle’s expectations regarding what they would find inside. Studied more carefully, Helena had not actually answered Von’s question. She supplied a truth, yes, but it was one that allowed the others to hear what they wanted. Reyna winked at Helena before schooling her face back into a neutral mask.
“What do you want to do, Kiri
?” Joquil asked, putting the decision in her hands.
“We’re already here. We may as well go inside and see what there is to find.”
Von and Ronan split up the troops, selecting a small contingent of men to come inside with them. If Rowena was inside, they didn’t want to be caught off-guard. Although, had Helena really believed the Corruptor was here, she would have stormed the damn keep with her whole army, not a mere handful of men. No matter how talented they were.
Effie forced her way forward, her eyes leveled on Helena. “I’m coming with you.”
Timmins opened his mouth to protest, but Helena silenced him with a look. “As you wish, Effie. Just stay close.”
Without further ceremony, Helena and the others made their way to the door.
She could hear the sound of their footsteps as their boots scratched against the stone floors. There was no other noise to counteract the rustling echo off of the walls. Endoshan Keep was utterly empty. At least, so far.
“Effie, does this look familiar?” Von asked.
The blonde shook her head, her curls swinging wildly. “No. Everything was darker in my vision, and I don’t remember seeing any windows. I was underground, perhaps?”
The group looked around the expansive first floor for some sign of a stairwell.
“Over here!” Joquil called.
Helena and the others spun in a circle trying to find him.
“Where are you?” she shouted.
Joquil’s head popped out from behind what looked like the center of a stone wall.
Effie screamed, her hand over her heart as if she was trying to keep it from flying out of her chest. “Mother’s tits!”
“That shouldn’t be possible, right?” Ronan asked in a low voice.
“Definitely not,” Kragen replied.
Joquil shifted and suddenly his body was in full view. He was grinning. “Apologies, there’s a hidden walkway here. Just walk straight toward me and then look to your left, you’ll see what I mean.”
