Kalen
Ibraced my arms on the wooden wall that curved around the western edge of the Kingdom of Light, peering through the hole where I usually met Tessa. In the distance, a river snaked toward the forest and the ramshackle village of Teine, whose dirt-packed homes withered beneath the gleaming fae city on the hill. Tessa’s familiar golden hair was nowhere to be seen.
Tension transformed my body into a coiled spring. I hadn’t been able to contact Morgan in the past few days, and I couldn’t reach Tessa’s dreams. When I sought them, all I found was a silent darkness. I couldn’t bear to think what that might mean. Everyone dreamt, even if they could not remember. If she wasn’t…
“Anything?” Alastair asked from beside me.
I shoved away from the wall and shook my head. “I can’t see much from here.”
Alastair frowned, palming the hilt of his sword. As a warrior, he was always battle-ready, his black hair pulled into a ponytail to keep it from blinding his eyes. All fae had enhanced strength, speed, and agility, but Alastair was stronger than most, his muscles so substantial the seamstresses struggled to make his shirts large enough. He could knock down this wall, if Oberon’s damn invisible barrier wasn’t stopping him.
“I hate to say this, Kal, but the poor girl might be dead,” he said gruffly.
Toryn sighed from where he paced nearby, his emerald eyes pained. Neither of them had met Tessa, but they felt as responsible for her as I did. She’d put herself in danger for us. Guilt wound a rope around my neck and squeezed tight, trapping the oxygen in my lungs. I never should have asked her to steal the gemstones. We should have found another way.
“I thought we were being careful,” Toryn said. “Oberon hasn’t patrolled the chasm edge in centuries.”
The light fae king had stopped worrying that the humans would scale the chasm. For the most part, they wouldn’t even dream of it. Something must have tipped him off.
“Captain,” a voice called from my pocket. It had to be Morgan. She was the only one who used that name to communicate with me. Oberon had forbidden her from speaking my name, even the twisted one he’d given me—The Mist King. She couldn’t even discuss me with anyone. He knew she’d once been loyal to me and likely suspected that she still strained against his invisible bonds, sawing at them in any way she could.
I pulled the gray communication stone from my tunic and held it before my eyes. Morgan’s voice called for me again. I motioned at Alastair, who grabbed some flint and quickly got the smallest spark of a fire going. With the metal tongs I’d carried with me, just in case, I held the stone over the flame.
Morgan’s furrowed brows were the first thing I noticed, along with the hollow look in her silver eyes. My stomach dropped. Something terrible must have happened.
“What’s happened to Tessa?” I asked through clenched teeth.
She pressed her lips together. “She’s here at the castle. She’s been chosen as the next queen.”
I drew back as Alastair hissed. Toryn stopped pacing. His jaw dropped. Thank the moon she was alive, but to her, this might be a fate worse than death. Oberon would bind her to his side through fae magic. She would never be able to escape him. Even after he used her up and discarded her, she’d be forced to remain in the castle, hidden away in the Tower of Crones.
She would spend eternity stuck with him.
“We need to get her out of there,” I practically growled.
Morgan blew out a breath. “It’s going to be difficult. He has her under very close watch. Her new maidservant never leaves her quarters. And while I’ve managed to secure a position outside her door, Oberon has given me strict orders. You know that means my hands are tied.”
Morgan was incapable of going against Oberon’s direct orders unless she found a loophole. The only reason she was able to communicate through these stones was because he didn’t know about it. The second he did, she’d be forced to stop.
“The wedding is in a month,” she continued. “We have some time to plan, but I have to be careful. Guarding Tessa means being under close observation myself. I can’t contact you often. Also, there’s something else…”
I furrowed my brows. “What?”
“I’m forbidden to speak of it, to anyone. All I can say is something has happened, and Tessa is hurting because of it.” She cast a quick look over her shoulder. “And I daresay she would be willing to doanythingto destroy Oberon. Do you still have the Mortal Blade?”
Toryn popped in beside me with raised brows. “Not with us. It’s safe and sound back in Dubnos.”
Morgan dropped her voice into a hiss. “Let’s get Tessa out of here. You can take her to Dubnos and give her the Mortal Blade. And then she can sneak back into the Kingdom of Light and kill Oberon.”
“Morgan,” I said, tensing. This was a terrible idea. We’d discussed doing something like this before, but we’d never followed through on the plan. It required smuggling a mortal out of the Kingdom of Light and then back in. Easy in theory. Hard as fuck in reality.
The stone wavered as the magic ran out.
“Think about it, Captain. You wouldn’t need to steal his gemstones anymore. This would be a far easier way to destroy him.”
A crackle followed her words, and the stone blinked out. With a frustrated sigh, I pulled it from the fire and tossed it away from me, wanting to rid my mind of Morgan’s words. Oberon had chosen a cruel punishment for Tessa. And I had no idea how we were going to save her from it.
Eleven