Page 59 of Shadow's Heart

The sorceress clearly debated keeping her in the hot seat but relented, her irises stilling. “Yes, we’re the sole source.”

“How many live here in the castle?” The sounds of gambling and sex continued from all corners of the place.

“Just under fifty. Though fewer have arrived of late.” Had tension stolen over the table’s occupants? “Yet Xodin has scouts who fly over the realm, and they’ve reported two immortal males recently arrived. Maybe vampires, but the scouts had trouble seeing through the haze and geysers.”

“Did one have black hair? It might be my brother!”

Silt too tensed at the possibility, his vow like a shadow over him.

Xodin shook his head. “Neither did.”

Oh.

Both Mina and the sorcerer seemed to stand down.

Enti said, “Be glad your brother isn’t one of them, princess. Their survival is doubtful. They got sidetracked even before the wendigo hunting ground.” She added in anit-happenstone, “Pursued by the undead hellhounds.”

“We missed those.”

“To your fortune—there are few things as disturbing as their howls carrying across the wasteland. That pack was chasing the newcomers straight toward the revenants’ bog. While we have a couple dozen of their ilk lying in wait outside the castle,thousandsinhabit that bog. The two immortals will be doomed. Probably already are. Time moves differently there.”

“Within the same realm?” Silt asked, sounding distracted, his smooth steadiness from before gone. “I assumed that time varied between Nightside and the mortal world, but not within a single plane.”

“A week at Castle Vitis could equal a day in the wendigo hunting grounds. When poor Xodin first started flying over the realm, the time changes used to confuse him terribly.” Enti patted his horns, an erogenous area in demons, and those lengths straightened as his lids grew heavy.

Well, then.Mina only drew her gaze away when she sensed Silt’s eyes narrowed on her. She shrugged. Xodin was an attractive demon, and, unlike some people at this table, he’d made no murder vows against Mina’s family.

Enti lowered her hand, growing serious. “Nightside is a cruel prison, which makes Castle Vitis a place of refuge. I wanted to extend a formal invitation to you both to stay here as long as you like. We can all pass our sentences . . . until the Gaolers parole us.”

Silt’s head swung around to the sorceress. “Parole?”

Twenty-Seven

Enti smiled. “Correct. We’re each to serve a minimum of five hundred years, but the Gaolers only release prisoners during an Accession. Sadly, I’ll be here for half a millennium more till the next one. Yet it’s not so bad.”

Silt had never considered the possibility of a release! If Enti spoke the truth, then all he had to do was survive here for five centuries, and this plane wasn’t much worse than Poly.

Yet Kosmina looked suspicious. “How do you know about paroles?” Despite burning to secure her “information,” she’d been on her best behavior during dinner. Royal etiquette must be ingrained in her.

“When I was captured, I read the minds of the Gaolers,” Enti said. “I know their intent. You earn your freedom through survival and learn your lesson never to offend again.”

“I find that . . . illogical.” The vampire pushed aside her goblet. Setting aside her royal socialization as well? “If the Gaolers released immortals, then every Lorean would know about this place. And what am I meant to learn since I never broke a law?”

“Unfortunately, you are in an unfair quarantine situation. Of your other point, perhaps the Gaolers will make us forget about this place and that’s why none speak of it.”

“How is a lesson to be learned when the punishment is forgotten?” Were Kosmina’s eyes reddening more?

“I have no idea. But the fact remains that we will be released.”

Silt frowned. The sorceress sounded like a zealot, determined not to entertain contrary arguments. Still, that didn’t mean her belief was wrong.

Kosmina said, “I appreciate your offer to stay, but I will continue searching for an escape.”

Enti sighed. “Your plague might not progress to the end for years. You can remain here in safety, or you can court death out there or worse—for no reason.”

Silt would much rather be dead than transformed. “Why are you so certain there’s no escape?”

Xodin answered, “Because my demons and I searched almost every inch of Nightside looking for one. The only place we haven’t explored is this realm’s most deadly heart—the hive of the ghouls.”

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