CHAPTER ELEVEN

Our second flight was shorter than the first. Now that I was somewhat more composed, I could appreciate the grace with which Alaric navigated the sky, catching different air currents and riding them smoothly. Still, I couldn’t see myself ever growing accustomed to the experience of being held so closely to someone else without burning them alive.

Before long, Alaric took us down again, this time landing in front of the hollow of an enormous tree.

“We’re not on a path,” I said, almost without thinking. I’d been too distraught earlier to realize how deep we were in the wilds of the Silence.

“I’m a creature of the Silence,” Alaric said, barely glancing at me. “I don’t need a path.”

I gritted my teeth at his arrogance, then realized that the hollow was actually a shelter, with supplies tucked into its nooks and crannies. As I watched, Alaric picked up a stick and drew a rough circle in the earth around us. “As long as you stay within the circle, my magic will protect you.”

“From what?”

He raised an eyebrow. “From detection by the Wolves. Creatures of the Silence. Other things.” He snapped his fingers, and a cook fire sprang to life before me. Then he pulled out a small cast-iron pan and some vegetables from his supplies and settled down to cook. It was so incongruous a scene that I felt a sensation oddly like whiplash.

“What, no magic food?” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“No,” Alaric said shortly. “Food conjured by magic is always lacking. If you have a choice, do not take it.” He refocused his attention on the pan.

I sat down near the fire, crossing my legs. It still made my shoulders tense to sit so close to Alaric, even though I knew I didn’t have to worry about what would happen if he shifted unexpectedly. I wondered how it would feel to be this way around everyone, once the curse was broken. Try as I might, I couldn’t imagine it.

“Here.” The vegetables were done—Alaric pulled a bowl from somewhere and passed it over. Our fingers brushed, and the touch sparked heat within me. I looked away, hoping he wouldn’t notice if I was blushing.

After we had eaten, I set my bowl aside and looked at Alaric. “All right,” I said. “What is your plan?”

He stared into the fire. “Katen stole my wings and hid them. That is the source of her power over me. When they are in my possession once more, I will be free to strike against her.”

“Does she know that you’re looking?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. She knows I’m not as besotted with her as I once was. But whether she believes I would ever betray her on purpose… I don’t know. Regardless, we must retrieve them before I can strike her down.”

I nodded. At least on the face of it, the task seemed simple enough. “So where do we start?”

“That’s the trick,” Alaric said. “I’ve scoured the Silence over the years. I’ve found no trace of them.”

“So you have no leads,” I said, my heart sinking.

“Not exactly. There is a woman who used to work for Katen who might know where they are. She fashioned locks and keys around the palace, that sort of thing.”

“But then this woman must be loyal to Katen, correct? Or she wouldn’t still be alive.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “I see you’re catching on to the way Katen works. And you are correct—except that Katen doesn’t know she’s still alive.” And there was something about the smug way he said it….

“You were supposed to kill her,” I said slowly. “But you didn’t.”

He smiled wryly. “I thought I might have need of her someday. But it was difficult. I was ordered to wipe her from the face of the earth—so I erased her existence… but only from Katen and myself. I placed a charm over her so that I cannot find her, cannot see her, cannot interact with her, not by word or action or deed, so long as she does not betray me to Katen.”

I thought this through. “That would mean you need someone else. Someone you trust. To find her and speak to her.”

“Exactly,” Alaric said, the approval in his voice sending warmth through my body. “That’s where you come in. I have reason to believe she is still in the Gather—you should be able to find her there. Then I’ll tell you what to say on my behalf, and you’ll get the information from her.”

“What makes you think she’s still there?”

“I can’t sense her… but what I do sense, sometimes, is an absence. At times, there are places within the Gather that seem to disappear entirely from my sight. I can think of no other explanation than that the spell is working to keep me from seeing her.”

He’d crafted himself a loophole. Clever of him. This also suggested that he’d been planning this for some time.

“What would you have done, if I hadn’t come along? Who would you have asked for help?”

“No one, perhaps,” Alaric said, his eyes gleaming. “I’ve waited a very long time to find someone with as much at stake as me.”

There were many ways to reckon time… but I had a feeling that Alaric was talking in decades, not years.

“How long have you been in Katen’s service, exactly?” I said.

He shrugged. “Time passes differently in the Silence. But to the outside, to the Mundane? One hundred years—perhaps longer.”

I gasped. That was a lifetime. I’d thought my almost eighteen years of solitude unbearable. But he’d been waiting five times as long.

He picked up a twig from the ground and twirled it between his fingers, then tossed it into the fire. “Do not feel sorry for me, Lena,” he said tightly. “I deserved much of what I have suffered. But I am ready to be free.”

I believed him. Foolish and dangerous of me, perhaps. But I did. And more than that, I wanted to help him.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s go to the Gather.”

Alaric smiled at me, and for a moment I could see what he must have been like all those years ago—carefree, trusting.

Then he turned, as though he’d heard something that I could not. “Get behind that tree,” he said, his voice strained. “Quickly. And do not move, no matter what you hear.”

He sounded worried enough that I scrambled to obey. I crouched down, leaves crackling under my boots, but couldn’t keep myself from peering around the tree trunk.

The air above the fire shimmered, and then somehow parted, as though someone had cut through it with a knife. Through the gap I saw a woman’s face framed by long, red-gold curls, and a wall of stone behind her.

“How goes the hunt?” she said impatiently.

Katen. I pulled myself back behind the tree, my heart racing.

“The girl was not where I expected to find her,” Alaric said. He sounded disinterested.

“But you killed a pack of Wolves. Why?”

“They saw the girl just before I arrived. I could not take the chance that they would report back to Shale. Besides, it amused me,” he replied, his voice frighteningly cold.

The woman laughed cruelly. “See that you restrain yourself next time—I am running out of excuses to make to my father.”

“As you command,” Alaric said.

“And do not let the trail go cold. We cannot risk someone else finding her first.”

There was unnerving silence—and then a heavy sigh. “You can come out now, Lena,” Alaric said.

I stood up, my shoulders tight. “That was her? Katen?”

He nodded. “She was checking up on me. Since I haven’t found you yet.”

I swallowed. “Did you really kill those Wolves?” I said, my voice tiny.

Alaric looked away. “I had to.”

“When you spoke with her, you sounded so… different,” I said.

“It is an act, Lena. My entire life is a charade.” He stalked to the edge of the shelter and put one hand against the tree trunk. “It’s unbearable,” he said, almost too low for me to hear. “That is why I need you, and why we must not fail.”

---

I slept fitfully that night, nerves fluttering under my skin. I thought I’d made the right decision in aligning myself with Alaric, but the stakes were so, so high. I dreamed about Miranda as I’d last seen her, crumpled on the ground in the Silence. I didn’t even know if she was alive. I hoped she was. Even though she’d lied to me, I didn’t want to consider a world without her in it. And that thought alone scared me.

Lena.

My eyes sprang open. It was the same voice that had called my name in the river, that had tried to call me from the path.

I sat up. Alaric was asleep on the other side of the shelter, his chest rising and falling evenly as he breathed. The fire had burned down to embers.

“Who are you?” I whispered.

Come see.

Ferns unfurled, lighting a path that led outside the circle Alaric had drawn.

I hesitated. Alaric had said to stay put. And I now knew there were dangers in the Silence that I was unequipped to handle.

“No,” I said. “If you want something from me, then show yourself. I won’t play games.”

A breeze rippled through the trees. Something snapped in the underbrush, and a deer crossed in front of me, its antlers wreathed in luminous pink flowers. I stared, captivated—and then I saw the figure standing behind it. It was tall and slight, its features indistinct, and as I watched, it beckoned to me.

I got to my feet.

“Lena?” Alaric was instantly awake. “What are you doing?”

The figure vanished.

“I thought I saw something,” I said sheepishly.

I couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but I could feel the weight of his attention. “The Silence will try to trick you,” he said finally. “Try not to let it. Go back to sleep.” I heard him snap his fingers, and just like that, the fire sprang back to life, chasing away any lingering shadows.

---

In the morning Alaric flew us most of the way to the Gather and let us down on a path before we arrived. We were still deep in the Silence, but in the distance, I could hear the rumblings of people. Lots of them.

“It’s important that we are not seen together,” Alaric said. “You’ll follow the path and enter the city alone. You’ll blend in better without me by your side. Once you’re in, go to the tailors’ quarter. I’ve felt a strong absence there.”

“I don’t suppose you’d like to provide more specific directions?”

“Ah. Yes,” Alaric said, looking just a little sheepish. “The Gather is divided into two districts, high and low. The low district is where you’ll enter—you’ll see mostly markets and tradesfolk. The tailors’ quarter is there.”

“And the high district?”

“That’s where Shale built his palace. Most blood mages live there as well. But you needn’t worry too much about it. You won’t be going anywhere near it, and besides, you wouldn’t be allowed admittance anyway.” He cleared his throat. “The woman you’re looking for is named Cyn. When I knew her, she was tall with green eyes—and she wore her hair long. She had a dog; I remember that, too. I don’t know how much of that is still true.”

That was it? Not much more than a name and a description that was who knows how many years out of date. The task felt impossible before I’d even begun.

“And what shall I say to her, if by some miracle I actually find her?” I said.

“Tell her that the raven has come to call in her debt. She won’t fight you on it.”

“What should I ask her?”

“I will tell you what to say.”

“Very well,” I said. Alaric nodded once before dissolving into thin air, leaving me standing alone.

A cold wind blew across my face, and I pulled my cloak around me. I hadn’t put on my gloves this morning—now I fished them out of my pocket and drew them up over my hands. I had to be careful. The Gather would be rife with mages—and people. It would be so easy to trip up, to get caught—to hurt someone.

I steeled myself and started down the path. Soon I rounded a curve, and there before me lay the Gather.

The city’s silhouette was as sharp as broken, jagged blades against the sky. It was beautiful, spread out in glittering black stone and a sea of lights that dazzled against the eternally twilit backdrop of the Silence. And somewhere within waited the mage who had cursed me—and her more dangerous father.

I was seized by an urge to run.

Instead I pulled my hood over my head and made my way toward it.

As I got closer, I saw the buildings reached high, narrowing into pointed spires at the top. There were no gates at the city entrance, but it didn’t take long for me to notice that there were still defenses at play. Certain stones glowed underfoot as people stepped over them, and there were guards standing watch.

What did the stones do? I knew so little about the extents and limits of blood magic. What if the stones were somehow able to sense criminal intent? Or… what if they sensed the amount of power within each passerby? For the first time, I wondered just how much of Katen’s magic was flowing through my veins. Why hadn’t I succumbed to blood plague, like so many others? I decided to ask Alaric about it later—for now I had to focus on the task at hand. I walked forward, keeping my head low and holding my breath as I passed over the stones.

Nothing happened. I let out my breath, but my pulse jumped as the flow of traffic pushed me farther into the city. I hunched my shoulders and kept my elbows tucked in, taking short steps to avoid bumping into anyone.

The crowd emptied out into a market with stalls lining the street. The aromas of all manner of food filled the air. Despite my caution, I had to stop myself from staring. Sparks of light danced along a young girl’s knuckles; as she clapped, the light coalesced into lightning between her palms. A brightly colored cart displayed a sign advertising THE SECRETS TO ALL MANNER OF WONDERS, and the pages of books on display fluttered as I passed. Musicians on one corner played instruments that I did not recognize, but my feet felt an unsettling urge to speed up and step in time with the tune. There were stalls filled with baubles that moved without being touched, glowing potions in bottles that emitted colored smoke when unstoppered… There was even one shop proprietor boasting that her hats brought good luck to their wearers.

I was enchanted. For a split second I imagined what it would have felt like if Miranda had been standing beside me. How she would have taken my hand and led me through, showing me this wondrous place in a world where, for the first time, I could picture myself belonging.

But then I caught a glimpse of the blood plague dancing across a face, and I shuddered. There was darkness here, too, now that I remembered to look for it. Uniformed guards jostling through the crowds, leaving glowering faces in their wake. Side alleys harboring people huddling together against the cold. An ever-present sense of wariness.

I looked around, hoping to see Alaric nearby, but he was nowhere to be found. I was on my own.

I couldn’t find a sign pointing the way to the tailors’ quarter so I took a deep breath and approached a woman wearing a blue kerchief who was manning a clothing stall at the edge of the street. “Excuse me,” I said. “I’m looking for the tailors’ quarter. Can you tell me how to get there?”

She peered at me. “New here, are you?”

I flushed and tensed, readying myself to run or to pull off my gloves and defend myself.

Her lips pursed as she took in my reaction, and she lowered her voice. “You’ve nothing to fear from me, dearie. But take care to guard yourself—it’s not safe to ask just anyone for help around here. As for the tailors’ quarter, you’re close. Go to the end of the street and turn right,” she said, pointing.

I nodded my thanks and tried to walk with purpose, like I knew where I was going, as the clouds above burst and a sheet of rain descended upon the city.

I was shivering with cold and my breath was misting by the time I passed below the sign signifying my arrival at the tailors’ quarter. Someone fell into step with me—Alaric. He wore a hat drawn low over his face, and a shabby brown cloak. It was a good disguise, for something improvised. I wondered how recognizable he was in the Gather—although in the rain, there were few about to notice him.

“Here,” he said suddenly, stopping in the middle of the street.

We were in an open square. There were easily fifteen businesses with signs swinging in the wind, and far more places to look if one counted all the residences I suspected to be set above the shops.

“That’s most helpful,” I said dryly. “I don’t suppose you have anything more specific to share?”

I took Alaric’s silence to mean that he did not.

With nothing else to go on, I knew of only one way to find Cyn. I walked to the nearest door and knocked. Loudly.

No one answered at the first or second door I tried. The third opened upon an elderly man who looked me up and down, then shut the door in my face before I’d even gotten a question out. I was about to knock at the fourth storefront when I looked across the square and saw a small spotted dog sitting on the stoop outside a door, waiting to be let in.

As I watched, the door opened. A woman wearing a red scarf over long blond hair bent over and picked up the dog in a towel, then went back inside. The door closed behind her.

Alaric had said that Cyn had once had a dog.

“Did you see that?” I asked.

“What?” Alaric said, frowning.

That was all the confirmation I needed. I crossed the square and knocked on the door.