ALDER

by Melody Robinette

  Autumn almost ran into Victor as he came to a stop at a tall, forest green door. “You will be staying here.”

  “I thought you kept your prisoners in the tallest tower shackled to the wall. Or was that just your darling sister’s preference?”

  Victor ignored her as he pulled out a skeleton key and turned the lock. The door swung open, and Autumn momentarily forgot where she was. The room before her was more elegant and charming than any—including the royal chambers—in Arbor Castle. The color scheme was dark—blood red, rustic gold, and espresso brown—yet warm at the same time. A red rose design set in an enormous stained-glass window lit the room, facing out over the dark alder trees and the Opacious Sea.

  An inviting, cushioned window seat was settled before the window, making Autumn feel just for a moment like she wasn’t a prisoner in a cold, stone cave. Her eyes slid from the stained-glass window to the larger-than-king-sized, four-poster bed with a satin crimson comforter and pillows greater in size than her body. A massive wooden writing desk stood in the corner of the room beside a towering bookshelf stocked with Underground and Outsider literature alike.

  Connected to her room was a bathroom complete with a tub that could rival the one to which she’d grown accustomed at the castle, and a shower with spouts covering the walls, all producing a different stream and pressure—or so Victor said. He explained all of this to her in an almost bored voice, and she pretended not to be impressed even though, to her chagrin, she kind of was. The only thing missing was a kitchen. But she didn’t imagine she would feel much like eating.

  “Your personal servant will be Eris. Her chamber is located right next to yours, and she will always be available to you if—”

  Autumn turned to him with a raised eyebrow and cut him off. “A servant?”

  “Yes,” he stated evenly. “She will clean and turn down your room, deliver your food, and anything else you need.”

  Folding her arms tighter, she said, “I won’t be needing a servant, thanks.”

  “Well, that isn’t your choice, unfortunately,” Victor answered. “You may also come to me if you need anything or if you find Eris to be unsatisfactory. My chambers are just up the hall, with the red doors.”

  Autumn’s brows came together. “Um. I’m confused.”

  “Why are you confused?”

  “Well,” Autumn began conversationally, “mostly because you’re my mortal enemy. You’re directly responsible for the deaths of several people I loved. You’ve essentially blackmailed me into leaving my home forever—and now you’re acting like I’m just a special guest at a hotel you own or something. You said the reason you wanted me to come with you here would be clear, but it’s definitely not. In fact, quite the opposite.”

  “Well, it will be. Just not immediately. Patience was never a strong quality of yours, though,” he stated quietly. “I’ll let you get settled in and will return this evening to collect you for dinner.”

  “Dinner?”

  “Yes, you’ll be joining me for dinner tonight.”

  “No, I won’t actually,” Autumn said, dumbfounded at the audacity of this request.

  “As you wish. I will join you for dinner then,” Victor said. “I will have the meal delivered to your room this evening. Though, I assure you, the dining room would be much more comfortable.” Autumn only gaped up at him in dumbfounded disbelief. “I will return at 7 o’clock.”

  Victor left before Autumn could say anything otherwise.

  “Okay, then…” Autumn grumbled aloud, looking around her empty room, feeling more alone than she ever had in her life. She’d thought she had felt lonely after her parents’ deaths, after moving to Ireland. But she had Luke then. That had been nothing. Nothing compared to this.

  Autumn moved like a revenant spirit through her room, not sure what to do with herself. She scanned the books on the shelves, but none captured her interest. Lying down on the bed, she tried to will her body to sleep, to take her—if only for a moment—from the nightmare that was now her life, but she was wide awake. She contemplated using her Power to put herself to sleep as she had so many times in the past, but for some reason didn’t feel comfortable doing that here. It was almost as if she was punishing herself for the wake of pain she was leaving behind.

  But their pain would pass with time. And they would still have their lives. Someday, her act of sacrifice would be worth something. It wasn’t right now. Right now she wasn’t sure why she’d ever let Victor convince her to do this. But, eventually, she knew she would.

  Finally, Autumn heaved herself up off the bed and moved to the window seat, looking out at the alder trees towering in the distance, at the ominous shore, and the angry waves crashing up against the rocks. Dark shapes were moving across the ground, and it took her a moment, at this great of a vertical distance, to realize that what she was seeing were Shadows. Thousands of Shadows, crawling like the vermin they were across the forest floor, along the shore, some were even swimming—could Shadows swim?—in the murky water.

  Autumn pictured the dead Shadow back in Arbor Falls that was masquerading as her. She imagined Avery finding her there, as he had found his sister, and picking her up and holding what he thought was the dead love of his life. The fact that he would actually be cradling a Shadow, rather than her was almost too much to bear. In fact, it was too much to bear.

  And that was the moment she finally let herself break.

  She cried. And cried. And cried. Like soul-shaking, wall-crumbling, surely-that-girl-is-dying-in-there crying. She’d only actually truly sobbed a handful of times in her life, including the night after her parents had been murdered. She hadn’t even cried like this when she’d thought Luke had died, mostly because it usually took her several hours to process a situation before she fully comprehended the gravity of it. Luckily she’d found out rather quickly that Luke hadn’t actually been killed.

  But, now? She figured her current situation definitely merited some serious sobbing.

  * * *

  VICTOR hovered outside of Autumn’s door listening to her sobs. He couldn’t tell her the real reason he had brought her there. He couldn’t. Not yet. It wasn’t the time. He wasn’t quite sure when the time would be, but he knew it wasn’t now.

  “Eris,” he said as the Atrum servant breezed by him carrying a pile of folded towels. “Make sure Autumn gets anything she wants, all right? Maybe bring her some tea and scones soon. When she’s stopped crying.”

  “Of course, Sir,” Eris said with a slight curtsey.

  “And…she might need someone to talk to. Maybe try engaging her in conversation. She will have a wall up at first, but it won’t be long before she opens up to you. She won’t be able to help it.”

  “Yes, Sir. Of course.”

  “Thank you, Eris.”

  Eris nodded, curtseying again, before hurrying up the passageway.

  Victor moved back to Autumn’s door, listening. She was still sobbing. His jaw clenched, along with his fists, and he turned away before he did something he knew he’d regret.

  12

  Breaking News

  KYNDEL sighed dramatically before raising her voice at the stubborn castle guard who stood outside the main entrance, refusing to let her in. “The queen said I could stay here! Ask her yourself!”

  The guard fixed her with a resolute look, communicating that he wasn’t going to budge. “The Queen isn’t here at the moment, Miss.”

  “Then let me talk to Luke,” she said in exasperation.

  “He just left as well.”

  Kyndel groaned. “Where the heck did he go? This is ridiculous. You know who I am. You know I’m a Warrior. You know I’m their friend.”

  “I can’t let you through the doors at this time, Miss. I haven’t been given any instructions to the contrary by either the queen or king.”

  “Can you at least tell me where the heck they are so I can—” the guard was already shaking his head at this. “Ugh. Fine. Thanks so very much for your help.”r />
  Stomping a few feet away, she plopped down on the castle steps, resting her chin on her crossed arms. She sure hoped Autumn or Luke would be back soon, or else she might have to sleep on the ground outside of the castle that night. Nope. She had vowed to herself never to sleep on the ground again after those dreadful weeks on the Warrior quest. That had been plain miserable, though she and Ember had managed to have some pretty amazing makeout sessions in the woods.

  Kyndel had Autumn to thank for her and Ember’s relationship. If Autumn hadn’t asked for Ember to help her when Kyndel had been injured during the battle at Onyx Forest, the two of them would have most likely never spoken, much less…well, anything else.

  Ember had been nothing but supportive after their encounter with Kyndel’s father, even though the fiery redhead had sort of attacked him a little bit until she’d been called off by Kyndel. Before that little fiasco, Ember had had a brand new house of her own all lined up to live in, but of course, it was owned by the man who now loathed her existence, and that immediately fell through after what happened.

  Now Ember lived in a small tree home with her sister who’d just had a new baby. Ember offered to let Kyndel stay with them on a small cot in the living room, but she didn’t feel comfortable just waltzing into her girlfriend’s sister’s home like that. Plus, she’d always secretly wanted to live in Arbor Castle, and when Autumn offered, she’d jumped at the chance. Maybe Autumn would be okay with Ember living with her too, but she’d probably have to wait a little while before she asked. She didn’t want to overstep her boundaries.

  As much as people thought Kyndel had befriended Autumn for all of the “royal perks,” they were completely wrong. Autumn had been one of the first people she’d told about her liking girls and she’d been completely supportive about it, even though they’d hated each other at the time of this revelation, which showed just what kind of person she was.

  That’s what she loved about Autumn—her wide open mind. She didn’t judge anyone based on what they believed, where they came from, or who they loved. As long as it wasn’t hurting anyone else, she didn’t care. Kyndel had never quite been like that, but Autumn had sort of opened her eyes. How could she judge others when all she wanted was to be accepted regardless of her sexuality? Autumn had shown her the importance of that.

  After waiting for another zillion minutes, Kyndel finally saw figures approaching the castle from a distance. Finally, she thought irritably, standing up and shading her eyes to see who it was. She was pretty sure it was Luke and Avery. But it looked like he was carrying—

  The hand shading Kyndel’s eyes fell limply to her side, and her mouth dropped open in shock. No. It couldn’t be. As Avery and Luke moved forward into the blinding light of dusk, it was undeniable what—who—Avery was carrying. Autumn’s legs, arms, and head hung stiffly down in a grotesque manner. Her skin was as pale as parchment and her auburn hair and Warrior armor was spattered with dark, dried blood.

  Kyndel felt like a knife had pierced her through the gut. She couldn’t take the loss of another friend. She couldn’t.

  “No! Autumn! What happened?” Kyndel sobbed as Avery and Luke came within hearing distance.

  “Shadows,” Luke stated in an absent voice. His eyes were swollen and bloodshot.

  Avery didn’t speak.

  “The Queen!” the guard said, leaving his post. “No, Your Majesty. Tell me it can’t be so. Not Autumn.”

  Clearly, the Warriors weren’t the only ones who had cared for her.

  “It is,” Luke said in the same dead voice. “Please alert the Warriors and Casters at once. Atticus too. We…” he paused, collecting himself. “We need to arrange a royal burial. The best. She deserves the best.”

  “Who else knows? Does Crystal—?” Kyndel began, then stopped at the look on Luke’s face. “Do you want me to tell her, Luke?”

  He looked at Kyndel then in a way he’d never looked at her before. With appreciation, gratitude, respect.

  “No. That’s…that’s something I need to do. But, thank you. In fact, I should probably do that before the other Warriors are notified.”

  Luke squeezed Avery’s shoulder, glancing briefly with a grimace at his sister before leaving in the direction of the Healing Tree.

  * * *

  LUKE tore his eyes away from Autumn’s face and turned to make the long trek towards Crystal. Though, because the task ahead of him was so unpleasant, the walk felt like it took no time at all. Looking up at the Healing Tree, a feeling of dread spread throughout his body, filling his veins with a sickening chill. The last time he’d spoken to Crystal, she’d been urging him to leave her so he could meet Autumn in the throne room. She had been so happy for her, so excited for her best friend to get engaged. This would be the last thing she would expect. He hated to be the one to bring her this painful news, but he knew he was the only one who should.

  The past hour had been a hazy blur, and somehow he was supposed to clear his head enough to tell Crystal that their best friend—his sister—was gone. He took a deep breath before entering the room, but he knew no amount of air could prepare him for what he was about to say. So he went in anyway.

  “Hey! How did it— What’s wrong? What happened?” Crystal said, concern evident in her voice. She knew him too well. It was no use putting on any airs to soften the blow.

  Luke bit the insides of his cheeks, pushing back tears as he came to kneel down beside Crystal’s bed. “Crys…”

  “What happened, Luke?” she asked, her voice shaking. “You’re scaring me.”

  Jastin turned around from Charlotte’s bedside to look at Luke, his eyebrows rising in surprise when he saw the tears coursing down the usually cheerful redhead’s face.

  Luke shook his head and looked up at the ceiling, not sure how to word it, what to say. “It’s Autumn. She, uh, she—” a sob caught in his throat.

  “No,” Crystal said, her blue eyes sparkling with tears of her own now. “No. Please don’t say it, Luke. Don’t say she—”

  Luke nodded, a new wave of tears flowing from his eyes. “She’s gone, Crys.”

  “What happened, Luke?” Jastin asked, leaving Charlotte’s side for the first time in days and coming to sit on the bed beside Crystal and Luke, putting a strong hand on his shoulder.

  “We—Avery and I—we found her by the waterfall,” Luke said thickly. “She was surrounded by Shadows. She’d managed to kill some of them, but there were just…too many.”

  Crystal began to sob then, pulling Luke into a tight hug. Jastin kept a firm, supportive hand on his shoulder, bowing his head in sorrow.

  “She was supposed to be getting a diamond rose tonight,” Crystal said with a hiccup. “Not this. Not this.”

  “Do the other Warriors know yet?” Jastin asked in a low voice.

  Luke shook his head. “I’ve got to tell them too.”

  Crystal threw the covers off of herself, revealing her still-healing leg. “I’m coming with you.”

  “No, Crys. You’re not well enough—”

  “But I’m still alive, Luke!” Crystal said with a strangled sob. “I can go. Take me with you. I need to be there.”

  Luke frowned and looked over to the Healer, who had been watching from the doorway longer than he’d realized with silent tears running down her lined cheeks.

  “Would it be all right if I brought her with me to speak with the Warriors?” Luke asked the Healer.

  The woman nodded. “For a little while, it will be fine. Carefully. Just have her back for the night.”

  Luke nodded, and Crystal swung her good leg off of the bed and tried to stand, collapsing back onto the bed.

  “Dammit,” she said, starting to cry again.

  “Here,” Jastin said, offering his hand. “We’ll help you, Crystal. You can put your arms around our shoulders.”

  “Are you sure, Jastin?” Luke asked, glancing over at Charlotte.

  Jastin looked back at his fiancée, her brown eyes still resolutely shut, before
turning to Luke and saying, “This is what she’d want me to do.”

  So, with her arms around Luke and Jastin, Crystal managed to get all the way to Arbor Castle in her nightgown and one leg.

  “The warlocks are going to create me a false one soon,” Crystal said through heavy breathing, clearly trying to talk about anything but Autumn. “They’re going to teach me how to walk on it and everything. It will look almost completely normal when I’m wearing pants or—or a long dress. It—”

  Crystal’s voice cracked, and she started crying again.

  Luke’s pain was at such a high level at the moment that, to keep from going into shock, his body had just turned numb. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

  The two boys settled Crystal onto one of the castle steps and, to their surprise, Kyndel actually came to sit beside her, wrapping her into a tight hug before they both started sobbing into each other’s shoulders. Girls were strange sometimes.

  Avery was no longer out front, and neither was Autumn’s body. When Luke asked the guard where they’d gone he said regrettably, “Mr. Burke went to have the body prepared for burial before rigor mortis fully set in, Sir.”

  The technical, scientific term for what was happening to his sister’s body made it all feel surreal to him. These words made Kyndel and Crystal cry even harder and hug each other tighter.

  “Have you called for the Warriors?” Luke asked the guard.

  “I sent Ron to call them when I saw you approaching, Sir.”

  Luke nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Of course, Sir.”