Page 127 of Ash and Feather

Something about the sound and suddenness of that hacking set off alarm bells in the back of my mind.

After several seconds, he settled enough to mumble out more information. “I know Savna and some of her inner circle have been experimenting with different types of wards, but I can’t say what they’ve put around that old home of hers, or how they’ll try to keep you from reaching Karys if thatiswhere she was taken to.”

“Whatever they’ve done won’t stop me. If that’s where she is, I’ll find a way to reach her.”

With some effort, he met my gaze again and gave a slow nod. His eyes brightened for just a moment, back to their usual, otherworldly green, glistening with an emotion I couldn’t readily name.

An unspoken understanding felt as if it was passing between us.

He stifled another cough—or was perhaps too weak to expel it. Over and over this happened: deep, ragged, would-be coughs rocking his body until he was forced to slump fully against the wall, to sink to the ground before losing his balance.

“Are you all right?”

Commotion outside his cell answered me before he could.

I ran for the door and peered out.

Countless guards raced down the steps in the distance, pouring into the hallways and darting from cell to cell, shouting questions and commands at one another.

More coughing that sounded eerily similar to Cillian’s began to echo throughout the dungeon, occasionally pierced by moans and groans and agonized cries.

Then, somewhere far in the distance, I heard a guard shout, “The water! There’s poison in the water!”

I turned around to find Cillian clutching the same metal cup he’d been using to study his reflection. Turning it upside down. Watching a single drop of water fall to the cold stone.

Realization sank into me, the weight of it threatening my balance.

Cillian only laughed, shaking his head. “I should have known he would take measures to make certain no captives could spill secrets.” He bared his teeth in an uncharacteristically wild, rebellious expression. “He’ll be furious about even the little bit of information I’ve managed to give you tonight.”

I didn’t have to ask who he was referring to; it was becoming more and more clear who the greatest source of poison among their kind was.

I stepped back to his side, kneeling to pick up the metal cup, lifting it toward my face and inhaling. A faint scent of something earthy and bitter clung to it.

“Do me a favor, won’t you?” Cillian asked, back to his usual stoic appearance.

I remained crouched before him, listening, watching sweat bead on his face and trying to ignore the disaster steadily building behind me.

“Tell her…tell her I’m sorry.” As the words finished slurring from his mouth, he slumped forward. I tried to prop him back upright. Breaths still trembled through his lips, but his eyes were turning empty, unseeing.

My thoughts raced. He had helped Karys in the past. He had also betrayed her in Mindoth. But now he had told me where to find her…

He was, like so many caught up in all the wars building around us, neither good nor bad. Perhaps poison was a fitting end for him. Perhaps it wasn’t. Weighing souls and their endings wasn’t really within my dominion.

The only thing I was certain of was that Karys would be devastated by news of his death.

I didn’t think beyond this.

I grabbed his arm and poured all the energy I had into summoning a ribbon of fire that circled around both our bodies, binding us together. As the guard who had led me to the cell came rushing back into view, the ribbon of fire split into multiple strands, engulfing Cillian and me more completely, lifting us off our feet.

The guard watched helplessly as I rose from the ground. He yelled something, but it was lost in the roar of wind and flame. It didn’t matter, anyway.

I was leaving.

And I was taking Cillian with me.

We traveled as fire, then smoke, then nothingness through the aether, eventually reappearing near the spot on the shoreline where I’d emerged into this realm. The concentration of my own magic in this spot helped pull me back, as did the pull of Mairu and her magic. The goddess had returned here some hours ago, as planned, waiting and watching in case I needed backup.

Even though these things made our travel relatively easy, Cillian still looked far worse by the time we fully materialized beside the river.

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