Page 159 of Curse of Darkness
“I know, T.” I sigh. “I do know her best.”
The doors to my rooms burst open, and Thiago stalks inside our chambers breathlessly. “Baylor’s nearly ready. He’s preparing an extraction team as we speak. But there’s a problem.”
“What is it?” I demand, folding the letter in half and dripping wax to seal it.
“Your mother’s finished staging. Her armies are pushing across the river into Evernight.”
I press my signet ring into the wax. Of course she is. It’s no surprise Asturia’s troops are engaging us now, right when we’re supposed to be making our way toward her sacred grove in order to get Theron and May back. She wants us to make a choice. She wants it to hurt. “Typical. Either we’re forced to leave Theron to her whims, or she wants to separate us. She thinks you’d never leave the front if her armies attack. Which would leave me to pursue a rescue attempt myself.”
Thalia snorts as she plucks the envelope from my hands and blows on the seal. “That’s what comes of ruling in absolute. Adaia cannot fathom that Thiago has people—loyal people—who can see to the warfront without him.”
“Can one of your demi-fey deliver my letter to the Duke of Thornwood?” I ask Thalia.
Thalia taps the envelope against her thigh. “Yes. Though I’ll have to accompany them almost to the outskirts of the Asturian army just to make sure. Sometimes I think it would be easier to herd cats.” She hesitates. “Do you think Thornwood will agree to your terms? We’ve made countless offers of negotiation to him in the past. He’s ignored every single one of them. He is loyal to Adaia—”
“He’s not loyal to my mother; he’s loyal to his people,” I counter as I take Thiago’s hand, our eyes meeting. We mapped out this plan in the early hours of the morning. A way for both Asturia and Evernight to survive. “And we can give him something no one else can.”
“Freedom,” Thiago tells her. “From the leash Adaia has around his throat.”
“The return of his daughter,” I add. Grabbing my cloak, I swing it around my shoulders.
And for once, Thalia has nothing to say.
32
The trip through the Hallow to the Briar King’s castle is uneventful. I make my offering to the ruins, slicing a knife across my palm and dripping my blood on the slate floors. The Hallow trembles, whispers of power curling through me. I hold myself on the brink there, teeth gritted against the pressure of all that magic, but I don’t dare accept it. Not yet. I don’t want Mother to sense what I’m doing.
“There’s no one here,” Thiago says, his eyes black and endless as he peers up through the stone roof, as if he can see right through it.
The world around me comes alive in a way that it wasn’t before.
The wight that protects the ruins stirs in the distance, but I brush my senses over it, telling it to subside, and it settles back into slumber.
Nothing moves as we make our way to the courtyard. In the distance, the sun sets, casting a rosy hue over the rose thorns that entrap the ruins.
“Here,” Thiago says, casting off his glamors to reveal himself in all his glory.
His glorious black wings splay wide.
“Are you ready?”
I curl my arms around his neck. “For my mother?” My breath comes out shaky, but I try to smile. “Yes. And never.”
Thiago’s palms skate up my spine, rasping over the braided leather of my armor. “She has no power over you anymore, Vi. Remember that.”
“I can remind myself a million times,” I admit, “and yet the second I see her, I know my heart is going to tremble.”
Too many years of flinching from her voice.
Too many years freezing into place, hoping her gaze won’t fall on me when she stalks into a room.
“It’s allowed to tremble,” he whispers, capturing my face between his palms. “Remember that too. True bravery doesn’t mean standing against your foes invincibly. It means standing against them even when you want to flee. It means fighting for yourself even when you don’t feel very worthy of such protection.”
“I’m not going to let my kingdom down,” I protest. “Or you.”
“I know.” His lashes lower, shielding those dangerous eyes from view. “But today, I need you to fight foryou, Vi.”
I can’t help drawing back, trying to work out what he’s saying.
