I sit in the dining room as Caleb prepares sandwiches. After hours of searching, he didn't find Roane, and though we try to act as normal as possible, we're both tense and worried. The magical world is changing, and it's impossible to ignore. The air is leaded, heavy with grim uncertainty. Truthfully, as he slides a plate across the table to me, it feels like the last supper. But if there's one thing I know, I'm not leaving Roane out there alone.
"You don't have to come. I can find my way back to the bridge," I tell Caleb. I pluck at the edges of the bread unable to take a bite, not with the way my stomach twists with worry and my heart hurts. I shouldn't have let Roane leave.
Caleb wipes his mouth and moves his plate aside, his sandwich barely touched. "I'm coming with you, Ro."
"It's too dangerous for you to come. Convent can't afford having you killed, especially non-magics."
"That's what I'm betting on," he says. "We need to find Roane, but if we run into any trouble at the bridges, I can send out a call for help. Convent will do anything to save me." He shrugs. "Besides, I'm not letting you go back there alone."
I blow out a sigh. If the time after my failed Crossing ceremony taught me one thing, it's that Caleb is stubborn. He sticks to what he believes in and the people he loves, and I know this isn't an argument I'll win. "Fine, but what are we going to do about Mage Claudius?"
He chews in silence for a few seconds as if replaying all my confessions in his mind. I told him everything we learned from the Sprite Queen and his mother's journals. The only way we'll survive the coming war is with no secrets between us, no darkness. That meant telling him that Mage Claudius was the last person to see his mother alive and that she was scared for her safety, thus willingly walked into the Nether for the sake reuniting the realms, even if it cost her her life. I had held my breath, expecting him to get angry, yet in knowing her reasons for sacrificing herself, his resolve was ignited.
"You really think he did this?" he asks me.
I nod. "There's a chance he's innocent, but the optics aren't good. He saw her last and never told anyone. Why hide it? After seeing him, The Sprite Queen said your mother was scared and desperate more than ever to unite the realms, and she must have been desperate to willingly walk into the Nether. She must've known he would've killed her if she didn't stop trying to bring the realms together. And now he wants you to marry his daughter? It's not a coincidence. He wants power and he's going to get it, no matter the cost. What I don't understand is this: by marrying you to Vale, he gets a higher position in the council once you inherit, but what about everything else? Why supply the trolls with non-magics? What does he get in return?"
"There's only one way to find out. We have to find Roane, maybe he can set up a meeting between us and the Troll Prince before the Coronation."
I blow out a breath. That's easier said than done. "I don't even know where to start looking. I told him to go back to the caves if he needed to rest, but if he isn't there then—"
A knock at the door cuts me off. I dash into Caleb's room and close the door partially. Whoever it is, Caleb keeps them by the door. They're gone quickly, and a few seconds later, Caleb appears, alone.
"It was a guard," he says, coming into the room. His posture is tense and his jaw tight. Walking straight to his closet, he starts dressing.
"What happened?"
He pulls on a t-shirt and paces the room, silent. A second later, he's yet to say a word.
"Caleb?"
He stops and rubs a hand against the back of his neck. "They discovered a man last night just outside of the gates...unconscious."
"No," I breathe, gripping the bed frame, my legs suddenly weak beneath me. "Please don't say it's him."
"He didn't have a lot of information, but they're holding him in the dungeons downstairs."
"You mean he's here?" I push off the bed frame and grip Caleb's arm. "Is he okay? I need to see him, Caleb. It's my fault he's in there."
He slides on his vest and kisses me. "My Uncle is making an important announcement shortly and requests my presence afterward. I'll go down to see who's guarding him and figure out a way to get you down there." He flips to the Convent channel and walks into his closet as I stare at the logo of two ravens circling a flaming orb on the screen, my heart rattling in my chest. If Roane is being held in the dungeons, our mission has grown exponentially more impossible. But I won't give up on him; he never gave up on me.
"Did they tell you what the announcement is about?" I ask him, dread settling into the pit of my stomach. First, they find Roane, and then an important announcement is being made. It can't be a coincidence though I pray with every fiber of me it is.
Caleb walks out of the closet and clasps his Convent robe shut. He shakes his head. "He just said it's important and that I should watch."
The Convent logo fades. A podium appears with the Convent emblem, and behind it, our white flag with the same symbol. The stage is empty and all is quiet. I remember the last time I watched the Convent Channel, it was when Caleb's uncle Mage Edwards announced the Great Mistress' disappearance and his takeover of power until Caleb was ready to inherit.
Caleb sits down beside me and I curl at his side, my stomach knotting and re-knotting. None of what's happening feels good.
Mage Edwards walks onto the screen. Facing the camera, he focuses directly ahead as if silently reprimanding anyone who's talking during this time. He takes in a breath.
"As you all know, we recently suffered a great loss with the disappearance of the Great Mistress. We hoped and prayed, used every magic at our disposal to locate her, but to no avail." He pauses, clearing the emotion in his voice. "Her disappearance isn't the only one we have grieved, however. For the past few months, our non-magics have been disappearing. Someone has been taking them from us—a faceless enemy that is not faceless anymore."
"No..." I breathe, my greatest fear coming true.
"This enemy is an old yet very present foe, and I will make no secret of it. The Trolls have found a way to leave the Nether and cross Division lines to enter our lands. Yes, this is alarming. Not only do they offend us by casting aside treaty laws, but they are the ones who have taken our beloved non-magics, smuggling them back to the Nether."
I gasp. "That's not true!"
"There is no need to worry. We have gathered enough information to prove their ill intent, to prove that even the Nether is not punishment enough for these monsters. It can no longer hold them and they must be eradicated."
I fold over feeling sick. Numb.
"We will carry this out immediately, once again securing our lands. Once they have been eliminated, we will take control of the bridges and of the Nether. The neighboring magical communities will have the chance to prove their allegiance to our new empire of white magic. Those that are against us shall be the enemy."
He closes off his message with words of victory and a prayer for those who already lost their lives. I can barely hear any of it through my thundering heartbeats. All the pieces come together in my head and the final picture sends a shiver down my spine.
"It's all been a ploy," I whisper. Sliding my feet from the bed, I press them firmly on the floor, needing stability. "All along, they've been giving the trolls our girls so in the end, they could blame the trolls and justify a takeover."
Caleb leans forward, staring straight ahead as if he too realizes something grim. As if reading his mind, I know exactly what he's concluded. Still, I deny it.
"Tell me he can't do this without your approval, Caleb. The Trolls didn't steal the girls, and they didn't take your mother. Tell me he can't go to war without consulting you. Please..."
"I have no power until I inherit, Ro. Until then, all choices go through him."
I'm shaking; it feels as if my bones want to vacate my body with each shudder. I brought Roane here, and now this is happening, and now his people will pay. But not only his people. "None of the other realms will approve of our people taking over the Nether and the bridges. It will cause a war that will destroy our entire world. Their greed will take away everything we have." Roane's words slams into me then. Darkness will take away everything if we let it. "We can't let them do this."
Caleb shakes his head. "How are we going to stop it?"
"By finishing your mother's work. We need to get Roane to talk to his Prince and," I set my jaw, "I need to go see the Faeries."
You guys know what that last sentence means, right? I think some of you do... *fangirl scream*
I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I know it's been a while since I posted but I've been working so hard on my book that's GETTING PUBLISHED!!
It's called SEVENTH BORN and it will be out September 4, 2018! You can find more info and see the pretty cover here (I posted it as an external link too!)
https://www.wattpad.com/599743227-seventh-born-book-one-of-the-witchling-academy
I'll be having contests and sharing sneak peeks so be sure you're following me!
Thank you for reading!!!