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I stepped away from him, barely catching his next words over the snapping of a twig beneath my boot.
“And then I saw you.”
My mouth opened, but no words came out.
“I saw you, and I couldn’t do it. I tasted the wild magic all around you, and I sensed you weren’t tearing me apart on purpose. I wanted to help you, like I helped the others, in the hope you would learn to control your magic.”
A gentle breeze lifted the hair beside Ash’s face. The blueish mist that pulsed around him floated toward me once again. I tucked my hands behind my back, but I couldn’t deny that my heart tumbled sideways at his words. His magic hovered before my face, mingling with the silver mist spilling from my own skin.
At the gentle touch of his magic to mine, I let out a bottled breath. It felt warm this time rather than cold, and the light sparkled like the facets of a diamond in sunlight.
The king had built the Labyrinth; Ash had only been a tool. He’d crafted all the monsters, but only according to the king’s desires. All in an effort to save one woman.
I stared at the leaves over my head, where glittering blue and silver mist rioted in the sunlight. It reminded me of the peculiar way snow in winter caused the air to glow when billowing down from tree branches. It was beautiful—dangerous and lovely, a mad mix. All of this magic was his. Everything here. Every monster was a part of him.
“Who was she?” I croaked, thinking of the woman I’d seen in his memories, the one he’d admitted he started a war for.
Ash dipped his chin. With eyes downcast, he said, “She was the king’s sister. I’d fallen in love with her, despite my lack of royal blood. She’d loved me, too, or so I’d thought. She wanted to run away to be with me, considering she was already betrothed to another man she hated. I promised her I could make it happen. Arrogant fool that I was, I planned to use magic to alter the memories of her guards and anyone who witnessed our escape. I failed. We were caught. But I didn’t give up. I promised her I would grow powerful enough to create the world she wanted.”
He flashed his eyes at me, then looked quickly away before continuing. “She told me I had to become powerful enough that the king would never think of breaking us apart. While I worked furiously to gain power, the king got wind of my growing abilities, and he sent his spies to eliminate me. That only made me fight harder. Despite what the king thought, I never wanted the throne, I only wanted him to approve my betrothal to his sister, which he would never do unless I bested him. Then she got sick, and I didn’t see her for a month. I stole magic in that time, and when I learned she’d grown sick to the point of death, I blazed into the palace and poured my magic into her, trying to save her.” Ash’s throat bobbed twice. “It didn’t. It pushed her into the place between living and dying that suspends life. And then the man she’d been betrothed to, the one I thought she hated, stormed in and declared I’d killed his wife. In that month when I thought she’d been ill, she’d gotten married instead. It was all a lie. Her illness was feigned, and I nearly killed her.”
As he spoke, I’d stopped moving. I pinched my lips between my teeth and stared at Ash, trying to ignore the aching sensation in my chest. His eyes remained fixed on something to my left.
“She said she loved me,” he scoffed. “But when I proved too weak, she married another man. It drove me to madness. I wanted to consume more power than ever. I wanted to destroy the world she’d chosen, but I also wanted to heal her. So she could see that I’d become what she’d always wanted.” His knuckles cracked at his sides. “But I failed.”
My throat was dry, but I croaked out the words, “Was she ever healed?”
Ash hung his head and kicked a mushroom poking up through the leaves. “The king said he would heal her if I surrendered and built him this Labyrinth. I was shut in here before I ever learned if he’d kept his word.”
Pain lanced through my ribs. “The king’s sister, you said? Her name was—”
“Evelyn,” he finished.
My eyes closed slowly as I nodded. “She died of old age when I was young.”
Ash lifted a hand and raked it down his face. His mouth opened, then snapped shut. “She lived.”
I offered another small nod. Nan was right about one thing: his wounds were deep. So deep, he’d locked them away with magic and destroyed the key. It was not unlike the way I shoved my darkest thoughts away behind closed doors. I’d inadvertently dug up everything he’d tried to hide—no wonder he’d been so hostile at first.
“Without you,” he said, “I never would have thought of Evelyn again. I never would have let myself face what really happened all those years ago. So, thank you.”
He stared at me with raw desperation, waiting for me to respond. Sometimes truth can hurt more than a lie, but I was glad he’d told me all of this. Now I knew the truth about Henry Asher, villain of our era. And I had an idea—a wild one, but one I couldn’t stop thinking about.
I reached for his hand, pulling it up so I could link my fingers with his. “Thank you for showing me. Now, I think I know a way to get us out of here.”
18
Ash’s eyes brightened as I took his hand, but at my words, he shuttered his expression once again. “Vera, I’ve told you. There’s no way out.”
Trying not to let his words discourage me, I lifted my shoulders and stepped around him, staring out at the forest. “No, listen, you made this place to lie. You said it yourself. It lies about everything, including the fact that there’s no way out.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No, it isn’t,” I said confidently. I was fairly certain that I’d figured out something he’d been too blind to see. “I’m going to find Edith, Nan, and Ferrier, and we’re going to go home.”
“Vera, wait.” He reached for my arm. The warmth of his fingers on my skin sent an extra wave of heat up my already flushed skin. “This place is not going to just let you leave. I built it so that…” His voice was strained, as if his words were coming out through a sieve. “I built it so that no one could get out.”
“No, you built it so that no one would think they could get out.”
