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River was still physically unharmed, as King Harold was wise enough to understand the cost of breaching a deal with a fae, but deals were complex things. While it didn’t state the consequences of taking away River’s liberty, it meant that the king was no longer acting towards him in goodwill, which nullified most of their agreement.
It meant that River could disregard part of the deal as well, and he was now free to search anywhere in the castle, no longer bound by his word that he would neither seek nor reveal any of Ironhold’s secrets.
Before, River had wandered through the castle, looking for the dragon heart, looking for some kind of Formosa evidence, but he had to keep his promise, and couldn’t enter where he had been expressly forbidden, or any restricted place. He couldn’t even tell anything if he ever found out, and it had been driving him insane. Naia’s accusatory eyes demanding answers were always on the back of his mind. But then, so were her beautiful eyes filled with worry for him, pleading him to stay, but he had to do this, he had to figure out Ironhold’s magic, had to understand what they were up to, or else there would be no way to fight them.
River was surprised at their idea of using iron against him, when they knew he was immune to it. He’d told the king it was because he was unique and partly human. Both true, of course, and yet not the reason he could stand iron. The reason was Naia. Naia and that wonderful, yet almost deadly kiss. And yet they were trying to use iron to lock him up? Iron magic. Perhaps they didn’t really understand how he was also immune to it.
He stepped into the hollow for a brief moment, just to cross the wall, then found himself in that same large chamber, which had guards at the other end. It didn’t matter, as River was under a glamour not to be seen. Freedom, freedom to go anywhere, was almost too much and he didn’t even know where to start. The library had restricted sections, then there were floors and floors down below, dungeons with prisoners, and way too many floors with “nothing” in them, where there had to be something. No. River knew where to go.
As he was about to move, a sharp pain in his stomach almost made him double over. He tried to recall what he’d eaten, but in fact he hadn’t had anything for over a day. This wasn’t hunger, though… this was… magic. Magic poisoning. Then his prison made more sense. The iron magic on its walls wasn’t there to deter him, it was there to mask something else, something that made his insides curl. Even though he was weak, he slipped into the hollow again and found an empty room, as he could no longer hold his invisibility glamour—and had no idea what kind of magic was poisoning him.
3
Through the Mirror
Darkness. That was a strange word. Had anyone ever truly seen it? True darkness, that couldn’t be seen. No difference between eyes open and closed, so that a sense was gone.
Leah was far from Fel, bracing herself to face whatever had been looking for him, hoping it hadn’t realized where he was, and yet she could still feel the eerie presence, still hear that eerie voice. And now she was nowhere, in the space between.
At least she had one sensation: cold. Cold as if she were stepping outside the Frostlake dome on a winter day—except she had no coat on. She would not last long here, and yet the only direction she could go was towards Fel, still pulling her as if they were tied together. But if something wanted him and they had somehow breached her mind, she had to keep her distance.
There was too much she couldn’t understand, too much she could not see.
She had to leave this place. Now. A faint light behind her made her turn. Not a light, a spirit. Her father stood there. Her true father, the one who had raised her, loved her, not the king who had rejected and perhaps even humiliated her mother. Leah’s father was King Flavio, from Frostlake, and maybe Kasim as well, now that she thought about it.
She was about to hug him, but he stepped back.
“It does no good to touch this other world, Leah. What are you doing here?”
“I’m lost.”
He tilted his head and smiled. “Are you?”
“I don’t know where to go. I… There’s something, and I don’t know how to fight it.”
He chuckled. “So you stay here and wait. It makes sense, it does. But is it a solution?”
“I can’t fight something that I don’t know, something so much more powerful—”
“Is it more powerful than you?”
Leah, who was already cold, felt a chill down her spine. “That’s not even a question. Of course it is.”
“Hmm. I’m sure you’ll know where to go, if you dare follow your heart.”
“My heart will take me to Fel. I know you said—”
“Humans, we’re fallible. I made mistakes. We could say I did the best I could with the information I had, but it still wasn’t right. You deserved the truth. At least you found it.”
“So King Azir really is my…” She couldn’t come to say it. “I’m a deathbringer?”
He sighed. “Indeed. You have his deathbringing and his blood. Looking back, hiding that magic from you sounds foolish and even irresponsible, but it’s not fair to judge the past like that. Now, standing atop a mountain, seeing everything, the path we took is obviously wrong, but you can’t see it when you are surrounded by woods.” He had a light chuckle. “Or perhaps I’m making excuses. I planned to tell you one day.”
“So you’ve always known it?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
Leah shook her head. “I understand. I’m not upset. I just… How do I get out of this place?”
