Page 82 of A Whisper in the Walls

Tessa blinked at Ren. Took one look around the room. And then darted into a shadowed recess on their right. Ren hadn’t even realized it was a door. The girl vanished—and was replaced a moment later by her father. Landwin had the tooth clutched in his hand. Ren raised her wand. Theo did the same. Both of them were closing in on where he stood.

“There’s nowhere to go,” Ren said. “Put down your vessel. Surrender to us.”

Landwin smiled. “And then what? What do you think will happen? Do you really think that you get to run House Brood?” He was looking at Theo. The smile darkened into laughter. “Gods, Theo. Show some intelligence for once. If you kill me, they’ll feast on our entire house. Everything you have. Every comfort you’ve enjoyed. The other houses will come and they’ll take it all. You’re not ready. You’re not cunning enough to run a house. You never were.”

“I’m cunning enough to know you’re buying time,” Theo said, lifting his wand. “Hoping someone else will join the fight and come to your aid. They aren’t coming, Father. Tessa just left you. Thugar is dead. It’s just us now. I’m also cunning enough to know that three of your four shields are already destroyed. You’ve used your best magic. This is over.”

Landwin’s eyes darted between them. He snorted with derision.

“Just us. Fine. I want you to remember that I gave you a chance. By this time tomorrow, I will be back in this hallway. All of the houses that serve our house will rally to my banner. And when we come back here to root out all of the rats, I’m sure you’ll be gone. On the run. Maybe you’ll flee to one of the freeports. But when I find you—and I promise, I will find you—what I do to you will make Nostra seem like the most pleasant of dreams.”

Theo swallowed. They’d arrived at the final act of the play.

“You’re bluffing, Father. There’s no way to escape.”

Another heartless laugh. “Gods, you know so very little. There are secrets that belong only to the head of our house. Passed down through generations. One day, those secrets might have been yours. Now you’ll never know them.”

He raised his dragon’s tooth vessel. Ren put on a fine show, casting one more desperate bolt of magic. It crackled helplessly against the shield. Theo raised his own wand, but before he could cast anything, Landwin Brood ported from the room. The air whispered around them and went still.

It was silent. Ren and Theo exchanged glances. For a while, neither one of them said a word. And then Ren smiled in triumph. Theo smiled grimly back.

“I told you,” Theo said. “I told you he’d do it.”

This was one of their great secrets. Long guarded by all the great houses. Knowledge that belonged only to the head of the house. The safest way to travel had always been with a waxway candle. It was the proven, known method. But the very first travelers had apparently ported by using the fangs of dragons. The Shiverians had wisely hidden that knowledge. The great houses quietly collected every dragon’s tooth in existence. The cache was well protected—and each head of house was gifted one when they ascended their unofficial throne. Theo had learned all of this one night when his father had far too much to drink. He’d shared the secret he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone else.

A method for instant teleportation. It was far faster than any waxway candle, but it also came with its own limitations. Theo’s father had told him that it could take the possessor to a single, fixed point. That place had to be designated well in advance. Theo had never brought the subject up after that, for fear of earning more of his father’s displeasure. But he had quietly wondered where his father would choose to travel if his life was ever truly in danger.

He’d never learned the answer. But Ren had.

For a moment, it was just the two of them. Standing in the eye of the storm. Theo’s smile faded first. There were signs of damage all around the room. Broken statues and shattered vases. One spell had completely obliterated the wooden railing running up the stairs. Ren knew this could not be easy, knew that he’d feel some measure of guilt for being the one who let the wolves inside his family’s house. She was trying to think of the right words to comfort him, but he spoke first.

“It doesn’t feel the way I thought it would.”

Ren nodded. “I know. I’m so sorry, Theo…”

“No. That’s not what I meant. It feels like I finally did something right.”

He cast one final look around the room, then met Ren’s eyes.

“We should secure the castle. I don’t want any of the servants killed.”

Ren could not help it. She swept across the room and hugged him. All this time she’d wondered who he might become. If he could really transform into someone other than a Brood. For the first time, she felt certain he could. She allowed herself to imagine their future together. One that did not involve plots or revenge or any of that. This future existed well beyond the shadows that the last decade had cast over their lives. Theo hugged her back before wincing with pain.

“Oh. Your ribs. Sorry,” Ren whispered as she pulled away.

“Don’t be. You saved me again. What are we at now? Five times?”

“Honestly, I don’t bother keeping count anymore.”

He offered her that lovely smirk. She would have kissed him if their faces weren’t quite so covered in blood. Instead, the two of them quietly adjusted their cloaks. A quick straightening of collars and tucking in of shirts. Vega settled on his shoulder. Ren regripped her wand. Armed and ready, they started walking into the next hall, together.

43 DAHVID TIN’VORI

Cath was covered with a black cloth someone had found.

He set guards to watch her body and then started across the estate. He felt as if he’d lived and died a hundred times. Like a ghost who could not leave the world, even after the ones he’d loved had vanished from it. Ware was gone. Cath too. All he had left were his sisters, and right now he had no idea what fate had befallen either of them.

Fires had broken out. His mercenaries were getting out of hand. Some of them were picking their way across the battlefield. Only a few were helping the wounded. Most were gathering valuable weapons and armor and piling them on a crop wagon that had been commandeered. For the survivors, it was as perfect a mercenary run as they could have imagined. They’d won but with enough losses that their cut of the reward would be far more substantial. Dahvid had nearly reached the back entrance to one of the castles when he heard it.

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