Page 54 of Staff of Nightfall

“Where?” Alfred called. “You have no idea—”

“I’ll head for the palace.” Regulus clutched the grip of his sword until his fingers hurt. “I’ll follow the route Adelaide most likely would have taken. Or I’ll track Carrick. One way or another, I will find her.” He lowered his voice, guilt carving a hole in his chest. “I have to.”

Chapter 20

Between the memoryof the torture, the collar leaching her magic, and the gnawing in her stomach, Adelaide felt lightheaded and dizzy, even lying on the ground. A night and most of a day had passed since the sorcerer had left her in the shed. She’d slept poorly. It was impossible to get comfortable, and fear of Kirven and his torture haunted her dreams. She grew weaker with each passing hour. Worse, she reeked, although she could now ignore the scent of urine. So far, she had managed to avoid defecating on herself. But she had begun to worry whether her magic would return when she got the collar off. How she would remove it, she didn’t know, but she would find a way.

At this point, she was even too exhausted to be angry. She had spent part of the morning trying to escape the ropes, or even to stand up and hop her way to the door with the idea of breaking it down. When that proved futile, she had sat with her back against the wall, her rage building, lashing out at everything that had gotten her to this point. At the center of which, in the moment, had seemed to be Regulus. Adelaide finally understood why Mother had been so angry with him.

Regulus had gotten her involved with the sorcerer. Regulus had made an enemy of Nolan Carrick. Regulus was the reason Nolan had found Kirven and was now unstoppable. Regulus had the idea to split up, hadn’t been there to help her when Kirven attacked. But as the pain in her empty stomach increased and the day dragged on, her anger cooled.

Regulus hadn’t wanted to serve Kirven. He hadn’t wanted to take her to Kirven, either. And Adelaide had made an enemy of Nolan, too. She had agreed to splitting up. Maybe the person who deserved the blame for her predicament was herself.

In the end, she decided to blame Kirven. He was behind all this pain. Everything—her years of hiding her magic, Regulus’ pain, her capture, Nolan’s immortality—came back to him. That spark of righteous anger kept her from utter despair. Sooner or later, someone would come, that’s what Kirven said. They’d have to untie her, and she would make her escape. She would find Regulus. And somehow, someway, they would see that Kirven didn’t hurt anyone else.

Adelaide was lying on her back, watching a bat trying to find its way out of the rafters, and wondering what it would be like to fly and if insects tasted any good, when the door to the shed opened. She squirmed to a sitting position and squinted at the influx of evening sunlight and the figure outlined in the doorway.

No. Not him.

“Gracious, Adelaide!” Nolan dashed forward and knelt next to her, brow wrinkled.

“Don’t touch me!” Her voice croaked.Why did he have to come himself?Adelaide wriggled away, her heart racing. He grabbed her shoulders, looking her up and down. She hated the involuntary whimper that caught in her throat. But unlike Kirven’s, Nolan’s touch didn’t hurt.

“Did he hurt you?”

“As if you care.” Her stomach twisted and emitted a strange groaning sound.

“I care. He left you like this?” Nolan sounded surprisingly upset. “Have you eaten?”

“Yes, he left me like this. And how could I have eaten?” She wiggled her fingers by her shoulders.

“Hold on.” Nolan darted out of the shed and returned a moment later with a bag in hand. He pulled Regulus’ dagger from the back of his belt and cut the ropes off her torso. Adelaide groaned as her arms fell to her sides. She would have clawed his eyes out if her cramped muscles had allowed her to move her arms.

He took a wineskin from the bag and offered it to her. “Water?”

She tried to reach for it and moaned. Her muscles prickled everywhere they weren’t numb. Her arms didn’t want to obey.

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