Page 69

His loyalties had morphed, and I still wasn’t sure what game he was playing. But when he disappeared, I had to learn where my risk tolerance was without him telling me. He wanted me safe, and I wanted to help the cause, no matter the cost. Had he remained in Craven City, my cousins and I might never have come up with our ‘grand plan’ to get Thorn back on the throne.

Even if it were for the best intentions, he wanted to contain me like the innocent princess I had been, not the survivor I had become.

I had started down a road from which there was no going back. Thorn needed an army. And if not in the Sky, then at least on land. The first step was to get to the Wilds, find the displaced Annatalians that the General might not have a hold on. And find Ember.

Stepping back, I tried to smile. “I’m going to get some food.”

What I was really saying was: Goodbye.

***

Without Torran in the large roosting room, I could search the mirrored wall. I ran my hands along the icy surface, but there wasn’t anything there. Crouching in a corner, I pulled out the little book and read again, trying to find out how I could open the hidden door.

There weren’t instructions on how to find a door, let alone open one, but it definitely said that there was an entrance. Somewhere. With no better ideas, I did what I had done time and time again in the library over the years. I pulled out the amulet and clenched it in my palm, and chanted over and over: Life, Death, Rebirth.

Nothing happened.

I pleaded. I begged. I prayed to gods that I no longer worshipped; those same gods that had given men a way to turn the phoenixes into weapons and then did nothing about it.

Fuck!

In the distance, amongst the snow-tipped mountains, a flock of rogue phoenixes circled, and so there was no leaving out the front door. Could the book be so very wrong? Was it wrong about everything, or had so much changed in the space between when it was written and now that it was totally unreliable?

Pressing my palm onto the very middle of the wall, I talked to it like it was the archive door.

Please open—I have to get out of here before they cage me again.

There was a rumble of recognition from the little book in my pocket. “Don’t just murmur along—help me!” It bumped me once. It was sensitive, and that was the last thing I needed—a book with hurt feelings. “You do know if I don’t get out of here that you are readable now, and they won’t want anyone reading what’s on your pages. They’ll destroy you for good.”

I tried one last time. Life, Death, Rebirth.

A breeze rushed in through the vast expanse of the room, and the wall rippled.

Some of the stone disintegrated, and a dark corridor opened up.

“Wren?” Aster called from somewhere down the stairs.

There was no chance to wonder what lay beyond. This was the sliver of opportunity that the book had given me, and I intended to take it.

I stepped inside.

The wall closed behind me, and I was plunged into thick, black, dust-laden darkness. I was still gripping the amulet, so I did the only thing that I could and said, “Light, please.”

From beyond the wall, I heard another call from Aster. More distant and muffled now. My chest clenched at the thought of walking away from him. I would have stayed if I could, but not when he wanted me tucked away in some false safety. I had promised myself years ago that I would only ever choose my cousins, for we had kept each other alive when death was near, and I owed them everything.

When the soles of my feet had been whipped with fire magic from one of the laughing Barren Riders, it was Thorn who’d helped me walk to the library each day, and Ember who’d collected me. No matter how much I loved Aster, I couldn’t be with him.

Life, Death, Rebirth. “Light,” I whispered.

And a lone sconce flickered to life a little further down the corridor.

From beyond the wall, a phoenix screeched, and the floor vibrated; probably with its landing. So either Kit or Torran would now know that I was missing. My only hope was that they didn’t know about the FootPaths.

I hurried down the corridor, but it wasn’t like a normal one. This one hummed with magic, and the smooth, shiny walls of the workshop and hot springs gave way to rougher walls until I was standing in a small, square hallway. Pulling out the little book, I studied it again.

Speak the destination.

“The Wilds?” I said, my voice rough and unsure.