by Kaylin Lee
“She’s busy tomorrow.” Si’s growl came from the doorway.
I met Si’s eyes, grateful for his familiar, grumpy presence. “You’re back.”
The blond man looked between the two of us then held up his hands in mock-surrender. “Just thought I’d ask.” He scooped up his pack, edged warily around Si, then darted out the door.
My shoulders sagged as the last of my prey disappeared into the forest outside the trading post.
Si approached me slowly. I fought the urge to go to him and press into his embrace. When had I started seeing him as a source of comfort? As a substitute, I wrapped his jacket tighter around me, burrowing into its thick, worn folds.
What would happen if I replaced the scrap of Bri’s glove with something of mine? Would the locket reveal that Si was as fascinated by me as I was with him?
For a moment, I was tempted to try, but logic prevailed. It didn’t matter how Si felt about me. Bri was still cursed, Althea was still hunting me, and the Masters still lurked somewhere in the mountains. Love wouldn’t solve anything.
“I hope you had better luck hunting than I did,” I muttered.
“No. Nothing.”
“I’m sorry.”
His grim expression didn’t waver. “Let’s get home. I shouldn’t have left you here. Who knows if those men will talk about you? Word could get back to Althea and her guards.”
I nodded and followed him outside, staying close beside him as we entered the wood. “I was so close.” I squeezed my hands into fists, remembering the locket’s rapid cooling. “The necklace warmed for a little while. That’s the signal of true love.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
I pursed my lips. “Well, it was just warm. Not hot. I think to break the curse, it will have to be really, burning hot continuously, like it was in the tests back in Asylia.”
“I see.” He glanced at me. “I’m sorry. Sounds like your sister means a lot to you.”
“You heard?”
He looked away. “A bit at the end.”
My throat clenched. Sorrow rushed through me as I followed Si through the woods. This was the only time my sister had ever needed me, and I’d let her down, once again.
~
We had to be close to the cave. My feet were sore, but I could barely remember making the trek. Si must not have minded the silence, either, as lost in thought as I had been.
Where were the Masters keeping Bri? Had they sent a message to my mother yet? Was Mother preparing to rescue my sister, not realizing that Bri couldn’t be saved?
The crater. Go up, go now, the shawl had screamed into my mind. A hazy picture of snowy rocks and a dark, hidden tunnel had accompanied the curse’s words.
“I think I can find her.” It was twilight when I spoke, my voice rusty from disuse.
Si paused and met my eyes, his brow furrowed. “What? Find who?”
“Bri. The Masters. Their … their hiding place.” I cleared my throat. “The cursed shawl was giving me directions along with orders to leave the cave and go to the Masters. I can see a picture of a hidden entrance in my mind’s eye now, a tunnel like the one to your cave. But I don’t know exactly where it is.”
Si rubbed his forehead, looking exhausted. “I think I might know,” he said, his voice grim. He resumed walking.
“You can find the tunnel?” I scrambled beside him, shivering in his jacket as the icy wind whipped down through the valley. The closer we got to the mine, the colder and more miserable the forest became.
“I was to meet someone at a spot near the top of the mountain to hand you off. But they didn’t tell me how to find their dwelling or wherever they’re keeping your sister.”
“If you took me to that spot, I bet I could find the tunnel the shawl wanted me to take.” My words soured my stomach, but I couldn’t take them back now. “That means I have to find Bri’s true love, Si. Between your knowledge and mine, we could bring him right to my sister. And he could break the curse and help her escape, so the Masters wouldn’t be able to set their trap for my mother.”
Si grunted and picked up his pace. “It’s possible. I’ll give you that. But I don’t see how you’re going to convince some man to fall in love with a girl he’s never met.”
“I certainly won’t succeed if I don’t try. I think I need to go back to the trading post tomorrow. Try again with those men, if they return, or with anyone else I can find.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed looking for a man who doesn’t exist. And something tells me that’s the last thing your sister would want.”
A man who doesn’t exist.
I swallowed a surge of bile and blinked to clear the heat burning in my eyes. Si wouldn’t look at me, and as we approached the cave, it was all I could do to keep up with his hurried pace. I thought of Weslan’s words back in the cozy Office of Kireth Studies in Asylia. Not everyone has a true love at their beck and call.
The locket was cold and heavy on my chest. I remembered the way it had cooled as I told the men at the trading post more about Bri, the same way it had cooled for me as I’d passed interested young men in the Mage Market back home.
What if there wasn’t anyone out there for either of us?
The search for true love had always been a game to me. Now, it was a battle, with life or death stakes. Too bad I’d never been less likely to win.
Chapter 28
“No one brought any shawls home, right?” Anton elbowed Si the next evening. “I don’t want to get strangled in my sleep by a demented piece of fabric tonight.”
“’Course not.” Anders looked scandalized. “We’re not stupid.”
Si rolled his eyes and went back to cleaning his crossbow. “Keep talkin’, kid,” he muttered. “Keep talkin’.”
Anders grinned at me then stretched casually and glanced at his eldest brother. “So, Si, when you realized just how—”
“Ouch!” Drew yanked his hand from his pocket. A large drop of blood appeared on the tip of his index finger. “That hurt.”
“For the last time, you’re supposed to keep your knife sheathed when you’re not using it, Drew.” Damian rubbed his temples. “You can’t just throw it into your pocket like a savage.”
Drew flushed. “I found a present for Alba outside.”
Si stilled, then he set down his crossbow. “What’d you find?”
Drew looked sick. “Just a comb,” he mumbled.
“Take it out of your pocket.” Si stepped between Drew and me.
I peeked around Si as Drew slowly extracted a sparkling, gem-encrusted comb out of his pocket. The teeth were long and sharp, and a drop of his blood glistened on the tip of one tooth. He gave an odd shiver then met my eyes, his brow crinkled in a desperate-looking V. “It’s so pretty, don’t you think? As soon as I found it, I knew it was perfect for a fair maiden like you.”
He moved toward me, holding out the comb, but Si put a hand on his chest as I stepped back.
Drew wasn’t dissuaded. “C’mon, Alba.” He lifted the bloodied comb higher and shook it, making the gems sparkle in the light from the luminous overhead. “It would look beautiful in your hair.”
I flinched as Drew shuffled closer again, his movements awkward and jerky.
“I don’t want to wear it,” I said. “Just put it down, will you? Set it on the ground.”
The other brothers hovered around us. The cave was so quiet I wondered if we were all holding our breath at once.
Finally, Drew lowered the comb. Perhaps it was just a normal comb and not cursed after all. He bent slowly and set it on the ground, then he smiled at me, his eyes oddly glassy. “We can just clean it later,” he said, sending me a conspiratorial wink.
The adult gesture was sickeningly unnatural on his childish face.
“And anyway, I need you to come with me.” His expression shifted from friendly to urgent, his face changing like an actor giving a terrifying and strange performance. “There’s someone out there who needs help! B
aby … Baby Elis! He’s the one you healed before, remember? He’s hurt again.”
Drew’s cheeks were bright red, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. “You have to come with me. Outside. Now. Or the baby might die.”
Si kicked the comb out of Drew’s reach, and the little boy sent him a ferocious glare.
My breath caught. This wasn’t right. None of this was right. The comb had cursed him, clearly, but to do what? Get me out of the cave? What was waiting outside?
“No, Drew.” I felt frantic. What would the curse drive him to do if I denied him a second time? “I’m sorry, but I’m not going with you.”
“You’re a healer mage. You can’t refuse to help someone in need.”
I flinched at his unfamiliar, furious tone.
Drew’s eyes widened and pooled with tears. “I mean … didn’t you take a vow? What if something happens to the baby and his—”
“NOW!” Si’s sudden roar startled me, and I stumbled away from him.
Anton darted forward and grabbed Drew around the middle, trapping one arm and holding the cut hand out to Si.
Si grabbed Drew’s hand and pressed a large, pink crystal to his palm. “Hold him still!”
Drew writhed as the crystal puffed out gold sparkles, a strange, sizzling noise coming from his hand. “It won’t work!” he shrieked, his boyish voice ragged and furious. “My Masters are too strong for you children!”
I pressed a hand to my mouth. The obcillo crystal should be working faster than this. The curse still had hold of Drew. What would we do if it failed?
The sparkles continued to puff out of the crystal, but their glow weakened every moment that passed.
I didn’t know where Si had found his older-model crystal, but if it was anything like the ones I’d used in Asylia, it should have been able to break ten curses in a row in a matter of seconds. Instead, it was struggling to break a single curse.
Drew kicked out at his brothers, but they held him fast. “They’ll kill you, Alba!” Rage contorted his features. “They’ll kill you and your mother and your sister too! And it will be just the beginning!”
“Si!” I wanted to run forward and heal Drew, but as long as the curse held, my healing would accomplish nothing.
Si shook his head helplessly and pressed the crystal harder into Drew’s hand. “Why isn’t this working?”
“It’ll work,” Damian said, hovering over Si’s shoulder. “Just hold it a little longer. It has to work.”
As though yielding to Damian’s promise, the crystal gave one last angry sizzle, then it blackened and shattered against their hands.
Drew crumpled immediately, his face blanching and his head lolling against his chest. Damian rushed forward as Si and Anton lowered him slowly to the ground.
“What’s wrong with him, Damian?” I was going to be ill. How could Lady Althea have hurt a little boy in order to get to me? I lurched toward Damian and Drew. “Let me through! I can heal him!”
Si held up a hand, keeping me away. “Wait until we know if the curse is really gone.”
I held my breath as Damian examined Drew’s pupils. Then he gently shook his little brother until he roused.
“Drew,” he said gently. “Drew, are you there?”
The boy’s eyelids fluttered open. “I’m sorry,” he croaked. “I don’t know why I was so mean.”
“Water.” Damian gestured to Anders, who sprang forward with his canteen. Damian helped Drew drink then eased his head back. “You were under a curse, kid. It wasn’t your fault. Do you remember how you got that comb?”
“I found it outside on the ground,” he mumbled sleepily. “I thought it would be a good present for our princess.”
“You wanted Alba to go outside the cave with you. Do you remember that?”
“Mm-hmm.” Drew’s eyes drifted shut. “The lady was waiting for her in the Hollow. She was going to bring her to the Masters. I think the comb was supposed to cut Alba, not me. But it … it added.”
“Adapted,” Si corrected quietly, but Drew was already asleep.
Si sat back on his heels and brushed the blackened crystal fragments from his palm before glancing at me. “I thought I might need it for you. I picked it up at the trading post yesterday.” He wiped his hand on his pants then ran his fingers through his hair. “Just in case. I didn’t think …”
“It seemed like it wasn’t going to work at first.” Basil stood beside me, shivering in his thin jacket. “I’ve never heard of an Asylian obcillo crystal not working.”
“I think that curse was really strong.” I swallowed. “Just like the shawl.” I knelt between Si and Damian. “If you let me heal him, I can probably check at the same time to make sure no remnants of the curse remain. I won’t be able to remove it, since my magic is not absorbent, but at least …”
“At least we’d be able to sleep tonight without worrying he’ll wake up and do something terrible,” Anton finished, his tone dark.
“Do it, Alba.” Si looked exhausted, but he straightened watchfully as I took Drew’s limp hand.
The skin of his palm was blackened from the crystal, and as I shut my eyes and sent a probe of magic through him, I realized the crystal had burned his skin. Sickened, I followed up with another wave of magic, taking inventory of every discomfort or pain.
When I’d healed everything, I released him and opened my eyes. “No curse left.” I couldn’t bring myself to smile at the news. What if the crystal had failed? What would have happened to this poor boy because of me?
I’d failed to find Bri’s true love out in the Badlands, and I was starting to doubt whether true love stood a chance against such powerful curses, even if I managed to find him. It was time to admit defeat before someone else got hurt.
“Clearly, it’s time for me to leave.” I stood, swaying unsteadily after the draining of my magic. “Please believe that I never thought Drew would be harmed because of me.”
Si stood and held my gaze, his hand on my arm to steady me. “Alba—”
“If I’d known I’d be endangering your brothers like this, I never would have stayed here.”
“We wanted you here.” Damian rose and stepped away from Drew’s sleeping form. “It’s no one’s fault, what happened. No one’s but Lady Althea’s.”
Si and I followed. I wrapped my arms around my chest. “I still need to leave. Or it’s just going to happen again, and one of you will get hurt again—or worse. And what if she finds the cave? I’m leaving tonight.”
Damian and Si exchanged glances, and Damian nodded once. “Then we’re all leaving with you.” Si took a thick stack of marks from his pocket and handed it to Damian. “The trading post was hurting for cinderslick. I got enough from selling the rations to pay off the debt to the mine.”
“Thank you, brother.” Damian and Si embraced then stepped back. “We’ll need victus rations for the trip to Asylia,” Damian said as he folded the marks into his pocket. His tone was calm and matter-of-fact, as though he’d already prepared himself for this moment and was unsurprised to find it arriving tonight. “If we put in one more day at the mine, and save the victus carefully during the journey, we should make it.”
“And Si and I can hunt on the way,” Anders said eagerly. “I bet I’ll bag at least a wolf or two on the plains.”
Si cracked a smile. “More like a rabbit or two.”
Damian didn’t smile with them. Instead, he met my gaze, his expression sober. “We’ll get you safely to Asylia, Alba. It’s as much for our well-being as it is for yours. You’re not a burden to us, understand? You’re part of our family. I’ll never regret the day Drew brought you home, and neither will any of my brothers.”
My face heated at his words, and I found myself staring at the ground. A skinny arm settled around my back. Basil offered me a small smile. “Nope. We never will.”
“Fine, fine,” I managed over the lump in my throat. “We’ll go to Asylia together.”
Chapter 29
Dr
ew was the only other person in the cave when I woke the next morning. Instead of bounding happily over to me, he lay silently in his bunk, still asleep. He must have been exhausted from the curse, even more than I’d been from healing him.
I sat slowly and rubbed my eyes. My stomach gurgled, but I didn’t dare look for the leftover victus stash in the cupboards. We’d need every last scrap of it to get across the Badlands. I had no idea how much time the huge Sentinels’ fomewagon had saved over walking across the plain between Asylia and the Gold Hills, but it could have been days.
A canteen sat on the wooden table, and beneath it, a note scrawled on a scrap of ancient paper.
Trading post, it said in a slanted, even hand with large, wide letters. Getting supplies for the trip. STAY IN THE CAVE. —Si
My lips turned up in an automatic smile at the thought of Si scowling at the paper as he wrote the note. How was it possible to picture his facial expression so clearly simply from words on a page?
“Don’t worry, Si,” I whispered to the note. “I’m not going anywhere.” I grabbed the canteen and crawled through the tunnel to the river cave and picked up the lantern from the ground to light my way over to the rushing water. No one had fixed it to the rock wall again since my glimpse of Althea in the pool of water, and I preferred to keep the lantern nearby.
I dipped the canteen in the river until it was full, drew it out, and took a long sip, letting the ice-cold water fill my empty belly.
“Alba!” The clear, quiet voice startled me. I dropped the canteen, but I grabbed it just before it rolled into the river.
“Drew?” I looked over my shoulder and lifted the lantern, but he wasn’t in the cave. “Do you need water?”
“It’s me, silly girl.” A woman laughed, the sound quiet and mocking. “Surely, you didn’t think I would give up, did you?”
I glimpsed Lady Althea’s face in the pool’s reflection, but I drew back, unable to face her directly. “You won’t find me,” I managed as my chest tightened in familiar panic. “You’ve already failed.”
