My house.
We make our way to the study and down the hidden stairs to the basement below. I’ve been here several times since the night I first ventured back to my home, and I’ve grown numb to the sight of my father’s study. I’m less haunted, but still far from healed. I suppose even trauma grows tired of its endless tormenting, if only for a little while.
A deep, taunting voice greets me when I make it to the bottom of the stairs. “There she is.”
I wave at Finn from where he sits, ankles crossed over a table and arms behind his head. He smirks in response, and my gaze drops to Leena who is currently residing on the floor littered with maps.
Aside from being different Resistance leaders throughout Ilya, I’ve come to learn that each of them has a purpose, something they contribute to the cause. Leena is a talented artist, and all our detailed maps are thanks to her, whereas Finn thrives in designing the leather armor and masks. Lenny is their eyes and ears in the castle while Mira is a Silencer, making her obviously valuable.
Leena grins when she sees me and leaves her work behind to join us, Finn following to sit in the circle of chairs. “No Mira today?” I ask, looking around the large room filled with tables covered in documents and cots covered in messy linens.
“No Mira today,” Calum says quietly. “She’s tending to her mother back home.”
I’m debating asking questions I probably shouldn’t be asking when Calum quickly redirects the conversation. “So, Paedyn, what do you have for us? Anything?” I can hear the same desperation in his voice that has been there every time I’ve visited and had to admit my failures.
But not today.
“I found the tunnel. Well, actually, Kitt led me right through it earlier today.” I’m practically breathless, finally exhaling the words into existence. They all lean in, eyes wide as I tell them about my plan and the impossibility that it worked.
When I finish, it’s Finn who breaks the silence. “I knew you’d wrap the future king around your little finger.”
“I’m proud, Princess,” Lenny says with a lopsided grin.
With that, I delve into an explanation of everything I’ve seen and exactly where the passage begins and ends. “After entering the tunnel through the last cell on the left, about halfway through you’ll see a fork in the road. The path to the left leads to the door by the training grounds, and the path to the right leads all the way to the Bowl and the room underneath the box.”
Leena is greedily scribbling down the information, taking in my every word and transferring it onto paper. In a matter of minutes, they know where the passage is, where it leads to, and how to find it.
“There’s only one problem,” I add, spinning the ring on my thumb anxiously. “You need a key to get into the passage, and it just so happens to always be on Kitt.”
Finn snorts. “Easy. Undress him.”
I throw him a look before turning back to Calum. “I can get it. At the ball, I’ll grab the key and give it to Lenny. Since the Trial is the next day, Kitt won’t have time to realize the key has gone missing before then.” I chew on the inside of my cheek before adding, “I hope.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Lenny says with a yawn.
I pin him with a stare. “Anyone who will be going through the tunnel and into the box needs to enter at the door by the training grounds. So, Lenny, you’ll need to let them in since the door only opens from the inside, and from there, you can head down the tunnel towards the Bowl. Understood?”
Lenny gives me a curt nod. “Understood.”
We talk for at least another hour, discussing the details. And then Lenny and I are standing to leave, stretching our stiff bodies before waving our goodbyes and heading back up the stairs.
When we step outside, the cool breeze bombards me, and I find myself shivering once again. Lenny slings an arm around my shoulder and tucks me close, ruffling my hair with his other hand in the process. I’m laughing, pushing his palm away as I attempt to smooth down the crazed silver strands now tumbling over my shoulders.
“The ball is tomorrow,” Lenny says, almost sounding solemn.
“The ball is tomorrow,” I echo, my voice barely more than a whisper.
“And then it’s the final Trial.” He’s staring up at the stars looking down on us.
I exhale a shaky laugh, seemingly unable to come up with my own words since I say, “And then it’s the final Trial.”
Lenny looks at me, eyes full of laughter. “What are you, a parrot or a Paedyn?”
I snort and let my head fall back to look up at the starry sky. My answer is quiet, thoughtful. “I don’t know what I am.”
I feel a squeeze on my shoulder and turn to see Lenny smiling down at me. “You’re Paedyn Gray. Silver Savior, silver-tongued, and quick to shove her silver dagger into people.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
Kai
Screams. Terrible, tortured screams bounce around my skull, echo in my mind.
Her.
It’s her.
I’m running through the halls of the castle, sweating, searching, screaming for her.
The only response is a cry for help, a beg for mercy.
I throw open her door, bursting into the room and scanning the darkness.
Something silver glints in the moonlight streaming through her open window.
There.
Her hair. It must be that beautiful, silver hair of hers.
But what my eyes land on is not beautiful.
No, it is broken.
She is covered in blood, sitting in a pool of it. Tears are streaming down her face, now contorted in agony.
Pain beyond belief.
Suffering beyond saving.
I catch sight of that silver glint again, but it’s not her hair shimmering like I once thought.
Dagger.
It’s her dagger.
Its sharp point is pressed against her chest, drawing blood that runs down her body and mirrors the tears running down her face.
What gruesome symmetry.
I’m suddenly beside her, kneeling in a pool of blood. Her blood.
She doesn’t see me, doesn’t speak, doesn’t do anything but scream.
Anguish. I’ve never seen such anguish.
“Paedyn! Pae look at me!”
Nothing. No reaction.
More sobs. More blood.
I grab hold of the slick handle belonging to the dagger she is slowly pressing into her heart.
It’s covered in blood.
Blood so sticky it’s clinging to my hands, crawling up my arms, coating me in the one thing I will never be able to wash off.
I never wanted her blood on my hands. Never her blood.
Her head turns, ever so slowly, her tear-streaked face now angled towards mine.
“Make it stop.”
She’s whimpering.
Paedyn doesn’t whimper.
“It hurts so much. Just please make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop!”
Sobs are wracking her body, and I’m holding the knife still while she desperately tries to sink it into her beautiful heart.
“My heart hurts.”
More sobs. More cries to let her die.
This is wrong. This is so very wrong.
Paedyn is too strong, too stubborn, too special.
She can’t die. I won’t allow it. Not by her hand or anyone else's.