“She is in the p-place where ash falls like snow. Where fire flows like rivers, scorching everything in its path.”
Ash falling? A fire river?
Naaz’s hand gripped my shoulder as he stumbled over a step. When I turned to face him, his eyes were wide and his chest rose and fell in heavy breaths. “Oh, gods…” he whispered. “That could only mean…” He turned to me with a grim expression that made even the shadows within me recoil in apprehension. “Kaiden. We need to get to her…now.”
Chapter 8
CAIN
Leaning my head against the cold and rigid stone behind me, I stared into my empty cell and had only one wish echoing in my mind—that the bitch wasdead.
When the iron creaked with three hundred years of rust accumulated atop the bolts, I didn’t bother turning my head to acknowledge my visitor. His heavy footsteps splashed against the puddled water left behind from the snow that had been brought in from the guards assigned tokeep watch.
As if any of them could actually stop me.
The chains, laced in hellebore, were nothing more than a skin sore, bruising my wrists to help keep the power at bay. If Morriganhadn’t drained so much of my blood, I’d be able to break the metal. Then, I could track that pestilent little bird and put an end to?—
“How did you do it, Cain?” Naaz asked. I was surprised to hearhisvoice. “Not that it matters.” He shrugged. “I’m just curious.”
Naaz was always the calm one of the bunch. Always calculated, always prepared. He held his nose up at the six of us since he was a child, under the false pretense that he alwaysknewmore. He kept his nose in his books, soaking up every ounce of information that his little mind could bear. Harleyadoredhim.
I chuckled to myself as I turned to face Naaz, thinking of the state I had left Harley in before they caught me. “Which part?” I asked him. "I could tell you how I snatched her. All the bodies I left behind, both bigandsmall.” I shifted myself up, leaning forward as I rested my elbows on my knees. “Or maybe I could tell you how I built her cage. Sometimes, I would raise it high above the torches, watching her dangle like a dead little leaf on a poisoned tree… and then, I would drop?—”
“No, Cain,” Naaz stopped me, just before it got good. His voice sounded tense and withdrawn. He was always very good at playing off of his emotions, but I heard it. “I just want to know how you didn’t get caught—how you moved about so discreetly. The attacks… Not a single one of your people were ever caught.”
I let a smile slip by as I leaned back against the wall again. “I glamoured them. I would disguise them as guards so that afterward, they could slip away without suspicion.”
“Then why not just have them kidnap her? Kill a guard in the middle of the night and pluck her from her bed?” he asked.
I laughed. “I could never get them past the castle wards. They’d be detected immediately.”
Naaz nodded and leaned against the opposing wall—nose upturned as he peered down at me.
You know nothing, Naaz. Nothing of the plans I had—the plans Ihave.Though, a single touch would tell him. “Are you not curious, Naaz?” I taunted, lifting a hand toward him. “Do you not want a little peek?”
He seemed to consider it for a moment, staring at the offering as his fingers twitched in resistance. But ultimately, he pushed off of the wall and walked further into the cell. “We know where she is,” he said quietly, a slight tremble in his voice.Was thatfear?
Beneath the simmering anger that continued to fester in my veins for her, a small spark of curiosity burrowed its way in. “Where?”
I still couldn’t understand how she disappeared the way she did. We searched everywhere. When I entered that room, it was empty—no more than a pile of fallen pebbles with a wall of dirt and stone. The only way that would have been possible was with a shadow walker, but I was careful not to keep any of those in my tunnels.
“The bridge.”
My head snapped up at Naaz as my entire body tensed. “That’s not possible.”
“Kaiden spoke to a seer. She confirmed where Morrigan had gone. I don’t knowhowshe got there, but…”
“The gate was closed,” I insisted. “When the war ended, it was destroyed. Ryuk?—”
“I have a feeling Ryuk lied about a lot of things,” Naaz replied, almost mumbling to himself.
She’s still alive… fornow…
The bond in my chest fluttered to life and I dragged my hand across it, willing for it to shut the fuck up. While my mind wanted to kill her for what she had done, the bond hummed at the idea of her being okay. I hated it.
“So,” I straightened my back, trying not to show too much enthusiasm, “what now?”
After pinning me with an incredulous look, Naaz scoffed and sat down across from me. “It needs to be all seven of us to get her back. I don’t knowwhy, but I have a feeling these seers are playing games that no one else is aware of. And I can’t see it.”
