Chapter Fifteen

“I know this story, I think.” Harrow shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Everyone does. Furie’s mate attacked a village in your territory, and when you retaliated, he was killed.”

Darya looked away. “That is what happened. To a point.” Was that guilt in her expression?

“Was it on purpose?”

Her silver eyes flashed. “What do you think?”

Harrow studied her closely. The Queens could be benevolent goddesses one day and fickle, ruthless tyrants the next. “I’ve heard tales that Furie’s mate was blood-crazed, obsessed with warring. I was told that Furie was the senseless one, who hungered for power and preyed on innocents. But that’s not true, is it? I think you were sick of defending your borders from the constant threat of invasion. You killed him on purpose and tried to make it look like an accident.”

As the truth sank in, her heart broke all over again. This was the real reason she’d lost her people. Darya was not a protector, but the aggressor in a war that had plunged the world into a dark age.

Again, Darya’s gaze wandered away. “Think you so little of me, daughter of the Water?”

“Am I right?”

Reluctantly, she nodded. “Furie was incapable of denying Ferron anything. She lured him in with the promise of immortality, but that wasn’t enough. He wanted every soldier in his army gifted with Fire magic, and I feared what would happen if she allowed her powers to spread too rampantly. Her queendom was growing too powerful, and I had to put a stop to it.

“So when Ferron and his men attacked my borders, I dispatched a secret cadre of soldiers with special orders to assassinate him and make it appear to be an accidental casualty in the skirmish. He was a legendary warrior, but even he could not defeat two dozen men at once. The assassination was a success, but my plan failed. Furie knew her mate was too skilled a fighter to ever be killed in a mere raid. She didn’t believe my ruse for a second.” Darya sighed heavily, appearing her ancient age for a brief moment. “Needless to say, I paid for my betrayal many times over.”

Harrow couldn’t speak. That old grief had risen in her throat like bile, transformed into helpless anger. Her mother’s death, her clan’s death, all the Seers’ deaths… They were all because Darya had betrayed her sister and Furie had retaliated tenfold. In their struggle for power, they had broken the land and their own people.

Countless lives had been lost. Centuries of wars had ensued. The losses were staggering.

“I know what you’re thinking, dearest, and it’s nothing I haven’t thought myself a thousand times over.”

“Then why are you still fighting? Why not end this?”

“How can I? After her warrior’s death, I tried my best to reconcile with Furie, but there was no reaching her. Her grief consumed her, changed her utterly. I had no idea she cared for the man that much.” She shook her head. “I never could have imagined. My own mate passed away eight centuries ago—he was tired of immortality, so I released him from my life-prolonging magic. I still think of him on occasion with fondness, but Furie… Once she was light and life and progress, the favorite of the people. She was never the same after Ferron’s death. She never recovered. She spent centuries stewing in rage, plotting her vengeance, and when she finally exacted it…”

“She wiped out an entire group of Elementals.”

Harrow knew this story, had heard it over and over, and she didn’t want to hear it again. She didn’t want to think about it anymore, didn’t want to dredge up that old grief that never went away. Nothing anyone could ever say or do would make it right or take away the pain.

“Yes. Furie unleashed her vile creatures upon the world and destroyed my Seers in the span of but fifty years. I had no time to muster a defense and no way to protect them when they were spread across all five Territories. I lost everything I’d ever loved.”

Harrow sighed. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because it’s necessary to understand what I’ve spent the last several decades doing. Most people think that after the death of her Seers, poor Queen Darya slunk away behind the walls of Castle Vari and was never heard from again. In reality, I was searching for a way to ensure Furie could never again unleash that kind of destruction upon the world. She was satisfied with the blood spilled then, but what’s to stop her from doing it again? Until recently, no one had ever found a single defense against her wraiths, for how can one harm that which is but a ghost? I was determined to find a weakness in a creature that apparently had none.”

Harrow’s eyes widened. “All this time, you were searching for a way to kill a wraith?”

“Precisely.”

“And…?”

“And”—the Water Queen smiled triumphantly—“I was successful.”

“How? What did you do?” Harrow sat up straighter in her chair. She was not a violent person, but one whose entire lineage had been eradicated could not live without desiring some kind of justice. It was the only way to stay sane after such a tragedy. She’d always longed to strike back but had dismissed the idea as impossible.

But this changed everything.

Except Darya’s smile twisted. “Well, I was successful…to a point.”

“What do you mean?”

“First, let’s discuss wraith physiology. A wraith is a specter. Incorporeal. A spirit cannot meet a physical death, for it is not of the physical world to begin with. But wraiths can form a corporeal body for several hours at a time. When a wraith settles into a physical body, he becomes as vulnerable as any other Elemental species.”

“Are wraiths Elementals, then? I’d heard they were evil spirits from the Shades that Furie found a way to capture.”

“No, they are her creation. But, since Furie’s magic was twisted and depraved by her grief, her Elementals were formed twisted and depraved like her. Her sorrow warped her mind, and it made her creatures abominations.”

“So you found a way to kill them? Did you force them to take a physical form?”

Darya shook her head. “There is no way to force them without Fire magic. Furie can make them do whatever she wants, for their very essence is Fire, and she controls that Element. My Water magic is the antithesis of that and was therefore almost useless against them. That was why it took me half a century to have any results with my test subject.”

“Test subject? What test subject?”

Darya folded her hands neatly in her lap and gave Harrow a long look. “Wraiths were created to be enslaved to Furie’s will. Their very word, once given, binds them.”

A trickle of foreboding ran down Harrow’s spine, but she suppressed it.

“Since she created them, Furie was able to control their speech and force them to vow to do her bidding. Her wraiths were bound by her to kill the Seers. One wraith in particular was sent to eliminate your family.”

“But it left me alive.” Harrow knew this. “How?”

“Because it disobeyed her.”

“But I thought they were bound and couldn’t disobey?”

“They couldn’t,” Darya agreed. “It should have been impossible. But for this one wraith, it wasn’t. To this day I don’t know why, and I don’t think Furie does, either. The wraith spared you for whatever reason. Perhaps it didn’t deem you a worthy opponent. I doubt it was from any place of compassion. They are heinous things, formed by a heinous being, and aren’t capable of it. But whatever the reason, Furie was livid. She punished the wraith responsible for the failure severely.”

“How do you punish a ghost?”

“She can manipulate them with Fire magic, do whatever she wants to them. They are like golems, molded from the clay of her evil nature into powerful, unstoppable beings that obey only her. When displeased with this one, she dispatched a foul punishment. Agonizing torture lasting for months.”

“Dear Goddess.”

Darya wagged a finger. “Don’t make the mistake of feeling sympathy for those creatures. Excruciating pain is the only experience such a beast deserves to have. Its existence is a stain that taints the very fabric of our reality. They are abominations.”

Harrow smothered her disquiet. “So why does it matter if Furie tortured the wraith that left me alive, then?”

“Because, child, Furie made a mistake. Torturing her wraith weakened it to a mere wisp, rendering it powerless for a time. To begin experimenting on how to kill these creatures, I first needed to trap one. But they were far too powerful, and my Water magic didn’t work against them the way I needed it to. After several years of attempting in vain, I was presented with the perfect target by Furie herself. Weakened by the torture, the creature stood no chance against me. I captured it easily.

“From there, it was a simple matter of changing how I wielded my magic so I could find a way to trap it permanently by myself. Studying how Water magic had almost the opposite effect of what I intended, I soon found ways for my power to work and devised a prison for it. The wraith eventually healed and regained his strength, but by then, the cage I’d fashioned was inescapable. I spent the next fifty years trying to find a way to kill it.”

“Fifty years,” Harrow echoed.

“Yes, well, did I not just say they were considered unkillable?”

“What did you do?”

“First, I tried convincing it to assume a physical form so I could kill it that way. But, as it was a creature of hatred that had endured years of torture, nothing I did could break its will. It resisted my efforts with remarkable tenacity. So I changed my tactic. If I couldn’t persuade it to change by itself, I decided there had to be a way to force the change.”

“Was there?”

“Yes, though it took decades to uncover it. I won’t go into the science of it, for that level of magic is too complex for any mortal mind to grasp—even yours, dear daughter, with your Elemental lifespan.”

It was nice to know Darya had such a high opinion of her intelligence. “What was the result?”

Darya leaned forward, almost eager now. “I lingered in Castle Vari with my test subject for many years until I finally uncovered the secret formula. At last, I discovered the perfect balance of Water magic with the wraith’s inherent Fire nature. At the moment of application, there was a massive explosion. It took out the entire west turret of the castle, in fact. When the dust settled, I knew I’d been successful, but unfortunately, the creature was gone.”

“Gone? Where did it go?”

“It was sent back within the Fire Territory, since that was the place of its original creation.”

Deep inside Harrow, the Water started to churn, as if encouraging her to make some connection. “I don’t understand.”

“I created a body for a creature that didn’t originally have one and then forced it to occupy it, similar to the way our souls are bound to our physical bodies at the moment of conception.”

Harrow stared at the resplendent Queen, trying to wrap her head around this madness. “You actually created a physical body for the wraith?”

“Precisely. The body I created was a replica of the physical body he would have formed temporarily as a wraith, but it was formed by my magic. All I did was apply the skill Furie used to create wraiths in the first place, but in reverse, with Water instead of Fire.”

Harrow gave up trying to understand. Perhaps Darya was right, and her puny, mortal mind couldn’t wrap itself around such concepts. “So…where is the wraith? Did you finally kill it?”

“It escaped, as I said, transported to somewhere in the Southern Territory.”

“How do you know for certain?”

“I am the mother of all Seers. Do you not think I possess your abilities? Have you never used your powers to locate someone before?”

“Oh. Yes, of course.”

“I found the approximate location of the wraith and then contacted Audra, requesting her aid in retrieving it and returning it to my territory. A few weeks later, I received word that Salizar had successfully secured possession of the creature.”

“Salizar?” Harrow frowned in confusion. The Water was frothing with agitation inside her.

“Yes. As I said, he is an emissary of the Air Queen.”

“But I thought Salizar went to Allegra to—” The words stuck in Harrow’s throat, and she choked on them.

Suddenly, it all slid into place.

“No.”

Darya’s eyes softened. “I’m afraid so.”

“No. It’s not— Raith— He’s not—”

But suddenly, the Water inside her was telling her it was so.

The writhing, boiling waves settled into perfect stillness, and everything became crystal clear.

Why now? Before, she’d been so positive. She’d told Salizar she would bet her life that Raith wasn’t what he thought he was. And now this? Had her power deluded her on purpose? The Water didn’t scheme or trick.

But the ringing of truth inside her was unmistakable.

Still, she fought it, unable to accept that she could have made such a terrible error in judgment. Suddenly short of breath, she jumped to her feet, clutching her throat. Where was all the air? She needed to breathe. The room was spinning.

“I’m so sorry, dear.”

“He can’t be— I would have sensed—” But her feeble protests held no sway over the power ringing true inside her. She bent at the waist, gasping for breath.

“As I said, I created a new body for him. It’s akin to being reborn from a mother’s womb. Just as we don’t remember what our souls were doing before we arrived in this world, the wraith didn’t have memories of what he’d done before his rebirth.”

“But he hadn’t— I sensed that he hadn’t killed.”

“He hadn’t killed in his new body. His kills were done in his previous existence as an incorporeal being. That’s why you can’t sense the many stains upon his spirit. He was reborn as my creation. He is, in effect, a new species. A physical wraith. A perfect merging of Fire and Water. A possible impossibility.”

“That’s why he doesn’t remember anything?” She could scarcely get the words out.

“Yes. The moments after the magical explosion that transported him back to the South will be the first memories he has, as they were the first moments of his new existence.”

“He’s the one…who killed…”

Darya nodded solemnly. “Your mother. Everyone in your clan. It was him.”

“Raith…killed…” Harrow’s stomach heaved. Her knees gave out, and she sank to the floor, wrapping her arms around herself, suddenly unable to stop shaking. The room felt like it had entered a blizzard, the origin of which was her frozen heart cracking in two. “No…”

“I am truly sorry, Harrow. As soon as Salizar sent word to Audra of your interest in the wraith, I began efforts to contact you and warn you. I knew you wouldn’t believe Salizar if I entrusted him to break the news.”

“Why didn’t you get to me sooner?”

“I couldn’t. I am powerful, but it takes advanced magic to weave a dream spell this deep for two people, especially when you were fighting me so determinedly. Every time you ignored my call from the surface and chose to dive into the deep in your dreams, I had to start all over again.”

“T-two people?”

“As we have this conversation, I’ve also trapped the wraith in memories of his past existence. He is currently reliving every pain he endured and every death he dealt in vivid detail. Living life without memories of his torture was a gift he did not deserve, so I have relieved him of it.”

Even now, a tiny part of Harrow’s heart ached to imagine Raith reliving such torment. How those memories would hurt him.

Protect him, the Water suddenly demanded inside her. He needs you. Go to him.

No! she screamed mentally, pushing the power back down.

Or had she screamed aloud? Judging by Darya’s flinch, she had.

Raith was a wraith. And not just any wraith. The very wraith who’d killed her beloved mother and her entire clan. The very wraith who’d floated down amid the carnage and stared into her eyes, head tilting as he studied her like a bug beneath a magnifying glass.

Those eyes… Fire and shadow. They were the eyes she had stared into as they made love just hours ago.

Harrow scrambled across the floor on her hands and knees and threw up into the potted plant by the window.

How in the Goddess’s name had she been so resistant to the truth? Why hadn’t she pieced it together sooner? Why had she been so bloody stubborn? Salizar had warned her, all but telling her exactly what Darya just had, yet Harrow had refused to believe him. Why?

She remembered Raith’s inclination to kill Salizar, the blank look on his face when she’d told him he couldn’t go around murdering people. He’d genuinely not understood why killing was wrong.

Because he was evil. Because he’d killed her mother and her entire family.

GO TO HIM. The Water rose like a flash flood. PROTECT HIM.

I will never go to him! Harrow screamed back at it, shoving her power back down, this time slamming the door behind it.

Eventually, she rose from the ground, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, uncaring if she appeared disgusting to the beautiful Queen sitting in the armchair. Everything felt numb.

Her heart had shattered into a million pieces. Her mind had switched off, unable to comprehend any more pain or sorrow. All that remained was numbness.

And cold, deadly purpose.

“What do I do?” Her voice was flat, strange to her own ears. Inside her, the wellspring of her power had become a silent, empty pit, as barren as the Southern deserts.

“You have to get away from the wraith immediately. Salizar is under orders to retrieve him and bring him back to my territory. As soon as the wraith is within my boundaries, I can dispatch him. As long as he remains in the Ether Territory, he is under Queen Nashira’s protection. We can’t act there without risking war.”

“Why—” Harrow swallowed hard, her raw throat scraping. “Why would Nashira protect him?”

“I don’t know, but she has made it abundantly clear that there are to be no executions in her territory without inviting her retribution. I can’t afford to start another conflict. The wraith must be brought here.”

“E-execution…”

Executing Raith. Killing him… The thought horrified her.

“It has to be done, child,” Darya said softly. “It’s the only way. He isn’t what you thought he was. Do you understand that now?”

Harrow could only nod numbly. Could only feel emptiness, aching in her chest, burning, stabbing pain. Confusion. Loneliness. Betrayal.

“I need you to tell me where you’re hiding, Harrow, and I’ll pass on the information to Salizar. You’ll be released from the dream and awaken. I’ll continue to hold the wraith under. He won’t wake until after you’ve left. Head back to the circus grounds directly, and Salizar will go to the Underground and recapture the wraith.”

Harrow just nodded.

“Where are you staying, child?”

“You can’t just use magic to find me?” Why did she even care? Why was she hesitating?

“Your escape plan worked well. Using the Water to divine your location has given me some results, but the Underground is a vastly populated area and Allegra is so doused in Ether magic, it’s nearly impossible to track anything within it. Half the streets disappear as soon as I start to get close in my scrying, as if the city itself is trying to hide you from me.”

Finally, Harrow forced herself to say it. “I’m upstairs at the Ouroboros tavern.”

Darya shut her eyes briefly. “That complicates things. However, if you are quiet and careful, you should be all right. When you leave, no one must see you. There are people searching for you—people who do not want you to rejoin Salizar. If they find you, they will take you. Do you understand?”

Harrow nodded numbly again. It didn’t occur to her to ask more questions. She only wanted to be alone where she could hide from the world and try to make sense of the mess that was her entire life.

“Do you understand what you need to do?”

“Wake up. Leave the tavern without Rai—without the wraith seeing me.”

“Without the wraith or anyone else seeing you.”

Another nod. “Return to the circus grounds.”

“Exactly. We’ll get you out of Nashira’s territory as soon as possible.”

“I don’t— I can’t be near—”

“You’ll be nowhere near the wraith, I promise. I’ll do everything in my considerable power to ensure you never again have to set eyes upon him after leaving that tavern. And soon he won’t be able to hurt you ever again.”

Hurt? Did Darya think Raith had violated her in some way? If only the truth were that simple.

“I went with him,” she admitted, the shame burning her skin like fire. “Willingly.”

“I know, dear, but you mustn’t blame yourself.”

“I thought we were connected. I thought the Water was telling me we were connected. I thought I l-loved—” Her stomach heaved again, and she swallowed hard.

Darya’s voice was soft. “You were confused, child. A gentle heart like yours was never equipped to handle such a devastating loss. Your longing for family distorted the connection you felt to the wraith.”

“I didn’t— I was so certain he wasn’t—”

“It doesn’t matter, dear. No one is blaming you. Wraiths are beautiful, alluring creatures for a reason. Furie created the perfect killer. Death that arrives at one’s doorstep in an appealing form is much more likely to be invited inside, don’t you think?”

Death at her doorstep. That was exactly it. Beautiful, sweet Death had come knocking and tricked her into inviting him in. Desperate for love, Darya had all but said. It was true. All Harrow had ever wanted was to belong. All she’d ever wanted was to feel loved.

Death had taken that longing and twisted it into something foul. Even now, her body was back in the tavern in Allegra, no doubt encased by Raith’s strong arms, lulled into a false sense of security.

She had to get away. Far, far away. She had to run until her legs gave out and she collapsed in exhaustion. She had to scream until her voice broke. She had to wash herself for days. No, she had to burn all her skin off and regrow it anew so not a single cell in her body remained that had ever touched him with love in her heart. Love for the very thing that had murdered her mother.

False love. Love that was a lie.

For Mellora, she had to do this.

Steeling herself, she turned to Darya. “Send me back now. I’m ready to wake up.”