The hardened tone of her voice made me shudder. I wanted to lash out with my magic, but to do so meant I would lose the chance to see him at all. Reluctantly, I pulled my magic back inside and waited for nightfall.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The two wraiths led me inside the ballroom, though that was a poor term for the room. It was a palace unto itself. My jaw dropped as I stood under the enormous pillared ceiling partially open to the air. On top of the mountain, with only a few wispy clouds in the sky, the stars burned in vivid hues of gold and indigo. Below the stars, the tops of snowy peaks glowed in the moonlight.
Fairies and nobbinflies flitted under the pillared arches, their lights mingling with the starlight. Green vines grew around the archways, and clusters of flowers bloomed in purples and periwinkle blues, filling the air with a sweet fragrance.
Several staircases spiraled to balconies that encircled the room. People dressed in elaborate clothing and wearing masks were milling about on the balconies. I felt as if I’d been transported into another realm altogether, a place so filled with magic that anything was possible.
As I waited in the room, I noticed the stars spinning overhead. Confused, I studied the sky, wondering what enchantment the witch had used to make the stars move. Although Silvestra frightened me, I had to admit that her powers were something awe-inspiring. Not only had she created the ballroom, but she’d also created my own gown. I stood under the enchanted sky and ran my hands over the silk covering my arms. The dark plum, almost-black silk shimmered in the starlight around jewels that had been woven into the fabric, and the elaborately beaded bodice gave way to a full skirt that flowed to the ground.
Nerves pinched my stomach as I waited alone in the ballroom. What would Kull think when he saw me? Would his mind still be his own?
I walked toward the middle of the room and crossed over a mosaic of tiles arranged to resemble the universe. A small golden sun glinted from the center of the floor, and woven around it were planets in differing jewel tones—amethyst and garnet, sapphire and olivine. Magic emanated from the floor as I walked across it, making it seem as if I floated above the universe.
When I reached the room’s center, I stared at the people crowding the balconies above me, wondering why they’d all stayed up there. Alone, I stood awkwardly, fidgeting with the lace on my sleeves until a pair of heavily carved doors standing across from me swung open.
Silvestra entered.
She wore another silver gown, though more formal than the last, with a dramatic, plunging neckline and a full skirt whose train swept the ground. Her eyes, silvery aquamarine, glinted as she crossed the room to stand in front of me.
I shied in her presence as she stood over me. Her gaze was so intense I felt the dragon hiding inside her, dangerously close to the surface.
“We welcome you to our gathering,” she said.
Behind her, a large group of people entered the room, dressed as I’d seen them on the balcony in ruffled collars, masks with jewels and feathers, and gowns so exquisite some looked as if they’d been spun of gold and silver. Were these the wraiths?
A woman neared me, and I noticed her skin was mottled with sloughing scales. So this was what her wraiths did when they weren’t busy being tortured. The sheer number of wraiths was overwhelming. How many people had she transformed? Hundreds?
Silvestra clapped her hands, and music starting playing. It was a haunting, slow melody played on instruments similar to cellos and pianos. Those gathered began dancing, and Silvestra turned away to sit on her throne on the opposite end of the chamber, leaving me alone once again.
I scanned the crowd, my heart pounding as I searched for Kull. What if he wasn’t here at all? She’d promised he’d be here, but how could I be sure she’d keep her promise? Or worse, what if she’d transformed him already? If so, I swore I would use every ounce of my power to bring this castle down on her. I didn’t care if I died. She would suffer for taking him away from me. He was the only person in the world who kept me sane, who made me feel whole and loved, and I would die if he were gone because there would be nothing left of me.
I wandered up the staircase, my heeled shoes clicking against the marble. Several people passed me, and I scanned each one, focusing on their eyes, but found only the yellow, filmy eyes of the wraiths hiding behind jeweled masks.
The room seemed even more immense as I wandered the balcony, pausing occasionally to stare down from above. The carved stone railing felt cold under my fingers as I paced the landing, glancing from one face to another, looking for Kull. I wandered all the way up to the top tier, but I still couldn’t find him. I wore no mask, so he would have been able to find me if he were… himself.
Silvestra had told me he would be here, so perhaps it was time I had a chat with her. Magic gathered in my fisted hands as I made my way back to the dance floor and toward the witch’s throne. People gathered around the witch, but I pushed past them to face her.
“Where is he?” I demanded.
“Calm, child. He is here.”
“Where?”
She studied me for a moment before answering, as if sizing me up, wanting to understand my actions.
“He waits for you in the garden,” she finally said and pointed to a small alcove with an opening leading outside.
I shoved past the wraiths and headed toward the alcove. The music faded as I wandered into the immense garden outside. The damp air smelled of rain. Water trickled through small streams, weaving through the rose bushes. I followed one of the streams down a shallow slope, walking on a stone footpath, which was difficult to do in the heels.
The dress rustled quietly as I moved down the path. Fairies flitted through the tree branches, whispering and laughing, their lights bobbing in and out of the branches. None of them noticed me, although not long ago, I’d helped to restore their starstone. Other than the fairies, the garden was empty.
I stopped walking to focus on the fairies. As I stood still, one of them flew to me and hovered, her tiny face scrunched with curiosity, her blonde hair wild and studded with periwinkle flowers.
“I know you,” she said. “Are you the one who saved my kind?” she asked in a small voice.
“Yes,” I answered. “How do you know me?”
Another fairy, a male, hovered closer. “All of our kind knows you. You are the one who saved our starstone.”
“I suppose word travels fast with fairies,” I said.
“Yes. We owe a debt to you,” the male said. “How can we assist you?”
My heart leapt. Perhaps this was my chance to escape. “Can you find Kull and get us out of here?”
They eyed each other and then looked at me. “Our magic is limited in this place. The witch only allows us here because we keep her flowers alive, but when we enter her grounds, our magic is weakened.”
As usual, nothing worked out for me. “I see.”
“But we will be here if you shall need us. You have but to ask.”
“Thank you,” I said.
They only nodded before flitting away, their lights diminishing as they flew toward the sky. My heart sank as I watched them go. Trouble always followed me. It seemed a constant in my life.
I put the fairies out of my mind and continued wandering through the garden. After reaching the hill’s base, I took in my new surroundings, standing on the edge of a cliff that dropped hundreds of feet below. Walking along the cliff’s edge, the sound of trickling water turned to a roar as the smaller streams combined to form a river.
Up ahead, under the silver moonlight, mist fogged the air where the river turned to a thundering waterfall. In the mist, I found a man standing on a rock wall. He faced away from me with his hands clasped behind his back as he stared over the edge.
Although he wore the same refined clothing as the rest of the gathering—a dark green tunic with jeweled collar and cuffs, dark pants, and tall boots—I knew him immediately.
“Kull,” I called,
rushing toward him.
He rounded, his eyes wide with surprise as I neared the distance between us. As I approached, I almost didn’t recognize him. His eyes weren’t his. I stopped and drew back. He looked at me as if he didn’t know me.
My heart dropped.
“Kull?”
He blinked as if coming out of a trance, and the look disappeared. “Olive?”
Stepping off the ledge, he approached me, walking guardedly, and then stopped. We only stood a few feet apart, but to me, it felt like miles.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
He forced a smile.
My insides squirmed. This was him, wasn’t it? It felt as if the shadow, that constant companion that had haunted him since his father’s death, that had only recently been lifted, was returning once again.
I went to him and hugged him gently, resting my head on his chest. His heart beat in steady, slow thumps. It was still him, and I refused to lose him again.
“Kull, what did she do to you?”
He took my shoulders and moved me away from him, then pulled down his tunic collar to reveal a band of stone around his neck.
“She’s trying to make me one of hers.”
A clammy sweat broke out over my skin. “We’ll stop her. I won’t let that happen to you. We can escape.”
He turned to stare at the waterfall. “There is a way,” he whispered, and then pointed. “Down there.”
I studied the water as it barreled over the edge. There was no way to tell what lay at the bottom, but the drop didn’t look survivable. “Is that the only way?”
He stepped closer to me, took my arm, and leaned toward my ear. The roaring water almost drowned out his voice.
“Listen carefully. You must meet me here after the ball. There is a hidden staircase that runs the length of the falls. We’ll escape together before she changes me.”
“Kull, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“She said she’ll kill you if I try to escape.”
“Then we must go together. We’ll return to the ball for a time, and we must pretend to not know about the staircase. The queen is smart, but she’s overconfident. No one has escaped from this place, and so she thinks it’s not possible. But that’s only because she’s taken these people’s free will, so they have no reason to escape. She’s grown lax. That’s how I was able to find the staircase so easily.”
Glancing past him, I tried to see the hidden staircase but could only see the mist reflected in the moonlight. What if the collar were messing with Kull’s mind and making him see things that weren’t there?
“You’re sure there’s a staircase down there?” I asked.
“Yes, I discovered it earlier when she was away.”
“Are you sure we can use it to escape? What if it just leads to another part of the castle?”
“I don’t know, but I’m willing to try whatever it takes to escape this place.” Desperation shone in his eyes.
I wasn’t sure if I should follow him or not. It didn’t seem as if he were using sound judgment, but I couldn’t blame him—he was about to become the queen’s prisoner for the rest of eternity. Squeezing his hand, I knew I would follow him through hell and back if it meant we were together.
“All right,” I said. “After the ball, I’ll return here.”
Kull kissed my forehead, and I took in the familiar scent of his skin and hair, the wild essence of dark forests and sandalwood. We would survive this somehow. We always did.
He returned with me to the ballroom where a new melody played, a sound that conjured sadness and heartache, two emotions that were all-too familiar. I squeezed his hand, and we crossed onto the enchanted dance floor. As we did, the other dancing couples backed away, and there was a pause before a new song started. When the music began, I found the witch still sitting on her throne, her odd, aquamarine eyes following our movements.
Something nagged at me, a feeling that I was being toyed with, but I didn’t know that I had any control over it. As long as the witch controlled Kull, she controlled me. Silvestra turned away to speak to those gathered around her, but even so, I felt her presence as she kept watch over us. More than anything I wanted to escape from her, but I knew that now wasn’t the time.
The floor seemed to move with the music, making the sun, planets, and stars spin along with us. Kull held me close, and as we danced, the spell enveloped us. I no longer felt hunger or fatigue or worry—the enchantment masked all feelings and emotions, and the floor became reality. We no longer danced on a solid floor, but among the stars, with their heat brushing our cheeks.
Excitement tingled through me as Kull spun me away from him and then back again. His hands held me steady as the other dancers whirled past us in colors of deep plum and turquoise. Jewels glittered, mingling with the twinkling stars, and I was certain I was no longer on Faythander, but in a completely new reality. I lost all comprehension of time as I danced through the cosmos, certain I’d never seen anything so stunning in all my life. Twinkling lights surrounded us, and I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but I thought I heard them singing—a melody that conjured images of wind chimes.
Kull pulled me closer, and as I looked into his eyes, my heart pounded. I would never find anyone else like him. He made me happy in ways I didn’t comprehend. I gripped his hand tighter, wanting this moment to last forever. In another place, maybe I would have worried at the prospect of Kull’s bleak future, maybe I would have been nervous about escaping the castle, but for now, I enjoyed the dance.
When the music faded, I wasn’t ready. I held Kull’s hand as he led me off the dance floor, and we stopped underneath a quiet balcony.
“Did I tell you that you look beautiful?” he said.
“You didn’t mention it.”
He cupped my face, then ran his thumb over my cheek, making heat rush through my body. My chest tightened as he leaned toward my face.
“Then let me remedy my blunder. You look breathtaking.”
“Breathtaking? That might be a stretch, don’t you think?”
“It’s the absolute truth.”
“You know I hate wearing stuff like this.”
“But you should wear it more often.”
“Why? It’s impractical,” I picked at the lace on the sleeves, “and really uncomfortable.”
“Olive,” he said, taking my fidgeting hand. “Why do you not believe me when I tell you that you’re beautiful?”
I looked away. “I don’t know.”
He placed his finger under my chin and moved my face to meet his gaze. “Do you believe me when I tell you that I love you?”
“Yes, of course I do.”
“Then why did you leave?”
Because of Theht. Because I’m destined to kill you. I’m destined to kill everyone.
I wanted to tell him but didn’t know how. My throat constricted. How could I be with him when I knew I would kill him?
“I’m here now,” he said. “You can tell me.”
“I can’t,” I whispered.
The hurt shone in his eyes, but he didn’t press the issue. Instead, he turned away to stare at the dancers as the music began to play.
“Do you know if the witch found my sister?”
“I think she’s still searching, which is a good thing. Heidel is hopefully on the other side of the continent by now. I pray we’ll be as lucky.”
“I agree. We’ll escape right before the last dance. We’ll do it quickly. There will be enough commotion to distract her for a few minutes at least.”
“Are you sure it will work?”
In my opinion, he sounded too confident. Or desperate. Either way, I didn’t share his optimism.
“I’m sure,” he answered, “because if I’m wrong, then it means I’ll become her slave, and I would rather die than become one of them.” He nodded toward the gathered dancers.
They moved without intention, as if t
hey were marionettes in an elaborate theater, guided by others with no thought of their own. They belonged to the witch, every thought and every action, an existence worse than death.
Kull was right—we had to escape. We had no other choice.
Kull took my hand in his and led me up the staircase to the top balcony. This close to the sky, I felt as though I could reach up and touch the stars. The music sounded distant as it drifted from the bottom floor. I leaned against the stone railing. Vines grew up the marble pillars, and large, cabbage-sized roses bloomed in shades of black and red.
Kull and I stood near a set of large, open windows. I tasted the night air, chill and crisp, as a breeze brushed against my cheeks. As we stared out over the mountaintops, the moon rose higher in the sky, casting its silver light over the snow and making it sparkle.
I had to grudgingly admit that it was beautiful here. Kull wrapped his arm around my waist as we stared at the scene in front of us. Somewhere out there was the entrance to the undiscovered land and the cave where I had found Theht. The memory made me shudder, and I closed my eyes, trying to get the images out of my head.
Standing in the desert. Theht’s voice in my mind as I reached up toward the sky, out into the darkness where I felt the asteroid flying through space. Using my magic to change its course. Watching as everyone died… Seeing Kull’s corpse at my feet and knowing I was responsible.
“Olive,” Kull said, “are you okay?”
“I… yes. Of course.”
“Will you ever tell me what’s going on? Ever since you went to that cave, you haven’t been the same.”
“I know.”
“Then will you tell me what happened?”
I studied his face. “I’ve got to find a way to undo the prophecy.”
“The prophecy about the Deathbringer?”
I nodded.
“The last time I checked, you didn’t believe it was true.”
“Yeah. Things changed.”
“Something happened in the cave that made you believe it was real?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Silverwitch Page 8
