Page 135 of Between Soul and Vessel
The general continued, “We did manage to find her; however, she was not alone.”
Tension drifted around every one of us, hanging like fog in the air—dense and hard to see through.
The general took a shaky breath and then said, “Nockrythiam was there.”
The throne room erupted into chaos, faces filling with shock, eyes stretching wide with horror. While they all panicked, I remained calm—
Hopeful.
If Nockrythiam was truly back . . . that could changeeverything.
“Calm yourselves.” The empress’s voice erupted like thunder, bouncing off the gemstone walls as she rose from her throne. “Istood against Nockrythiam in the past, and it wasIwho won that battle.” She spoke with great conviction, taking her time to deliver the message because she wanted it to sink in. “I will do the same again. I will protect you all from the heathen and his ilk. I will ensure what we have built remains intact. No male will destroy the laws of our realm.”
As the people around me nodded, I realized a sad truth—
They were all under her spell, blinded by her lies and the familiarity of what they knew.
“Do not fear, my loves,” Empress Avena cooed performatively, placing a dazzling smile on her face. The charade came to her just as easily as if she were changing jewelry. “I will do all within my power to crush Nockrythiam and protect you.”
People began to cheer and clap, endorsing her words.
I felt sick to my stomach.
She told them not to fear, but that’s exactly the emotion she was trying to seed into them. That was how she had controlled them for so many centuries—by selling them hersnake oil, convincing them there was a problem they needed her help taking care of, telling them a monster was prowling outside their doors, when the truth of the matter was, she was already inside.
Later that night, I was in my room, my stomach flipping and flopping. Tonight’s dinner was one of my favorite plates—roasted, lemon-stuffed chicken and warm, creamy mashed potatoes, but I had barely touched it.
My nerves were bad, my palms sweaty, and I was shedding hair like a stressed-out cat.
There wasso muchriding on tomorrow.
After Shadow had retrieved the map, we’d debated for a few days, but we’d finally come up with a plan to escape. The only downside was that it put us dreadfully close to when Victor planned to take me away. However, it was the best plan we had, and it would allow us to travel a great distance before anyone realized we were missing. One of Shadow’s soul crusher events was scheduled for tomorrow, in an arena with an underground river that ran directly beneath it. The river was going to be our horse, carrying us away faster than our legs ever could. Hopefully, it would give us enough of a head start.
Hopefully.
I finished going through the satchel we planned to take with us—for the third time that night—and closed it up, walking over to my armoire. As I stuffed it inside a skirt andhid it in the very back, a knock sounded on my door.
My heart leapt into my throat and my fingers went straight for my rabbit’s foot . . . I thought I had been nervousbefore.
Knock! Knock!There it was again, and whoever it was did not sound patient.
I froze. I didn’t know what to do. It wasverylate.
Toolate for visitors.
“Avriel, are you in there?” Mercia urgently spoke from the other side of the door. “Her Majesty is losing her mind, and she needs all council members and priestesses to help her look.”
I shoved a breath into my stiff lungs, forced myself to blink, and moved toward the door. By the time I got there, my sky-high blood pressure came down a few notches. I opened it and said with a fake yawn, “Sorry, about that. I fell asleep at my desk. You gave me quite the startle.”
“I can tell. You look paler than milk,” she said, offering me an apologetic smile. Tonight, her shoulders were coated with monarch butterflies. The orange and black beauties were lined up in a perfect row. The color and pattern in their wings matched the sleek, body-hugging dress she wore. “Sorry about that, but it’s urgent.”
“What’s going on?” I asked, leaning against the door. Firstly, because I’d nearly almost had a heart attack a few short seconds ago and needed the support, and secondly, because I wanted to keep up the charade of being tired.
“The empress is looking for two souls she had stored in the Archive of Souls Tower, but she can’t find them. She ishaving everyone go through every box. If they aren’t found, High Priestess Calandra could lose her life.”
High Priestess Calandra oversaw the highly secretive tower, which very few were granted access to. I had only seen her a handful of times, but from what I knew of her, she was quite kind. It made me sad to hear her life might be in jeopardy. Part of me wanted to help, but the other part of me knew I should stay as far away from the empress as possible—I was already on edge. I didn’t need her growing suspicious of me at the last minute.
“But the tower is forbidden to lower priestesses like me,” I said, hoping I could wiggle my way out of this.
