Chapter 33
Lyv was awake earlier than she wanted to be. Knowing what was going to happen today, though, she hardly slept a wink. She loved the way she woke up, though, which Jai's head resting against her chest as he slept, arms secured around her waist. Lyv was just watching him, running her fingers through his hair and tracing random patterns along his shoulder.
They had spent some much-needed alone time together, though they stopped themselves from going too far just like they agreed. That didn't mean they couldn't play, which satisfied both of them just enough to keep the edge off. Jai hadn't put any clothes on afterward, falling asleep before he could, but the silken sheets were gathered at his waist enough to cover him.
Almost another hour passed before he shifted against her, nuzzling his nose into her stomach. It was a good thing, too, since she was supposed to meet Cleo soon at the dragons' quarters.
Lyv smiled as he groaned against her. "Jai, I kinda need to get up."
His lips brushed against her, though she could feel the heat of him through the fabric of his tunic she had on. "Five more minutes."
"Now I at least know where Elys picked that up from. He did the same to me yesterday morning when I tried to get him up."
"He just didn't want to see Kav leave, so he was trying to put off waking up."
True. Elys was pouty all morning while the two princes and their Krahzaran envoy prepared to leave. Cleo was definitely more chipper, knowing her treaty and trade agreements were signed with what she wanted and that she wouldn't have to deal with Malik any longer. She even toasted to their departure the night before at dinner, though not for a safe journey home. Rather, it was because she was happy they'd be gone. Malik rolled his eyes at that, sighing heavily.
Lyv gave Jai five more minutes, but he ended up just dozing off again. Somehow, she was able to get herself out from under him. He moved when she did, burying his face in her pillow with his arms crossed underneath it.
It didn't take her long to shower and dress in her leather riding gear. When she was braiding her hair into two thick plaits, though, a certain darkness appeared in the corner of the bathing room before a ring of shadows appeared.
"So, that mate of yours...did you wear him out last night? And is he still naked underneath those sheets?" Cleo asked, grinning, as she stepped out of them. She was wearing a similar outfit, though hers was a deep burgundy red with gold accents, and her hair was twisted into a bun on top of her head. "Because that's something I'd like to see."
Lyv snorted, rolling her eyes...and yet couldn't help but grin back. "Of course. Why do you think he's still sleeping?"
Cleo's laugh was so loud it was surprising Jai didn't wake and come see what they were doing.
She leaned back against the counter beside Lyv, her emerald eye shifting back to the closed door, onyx one covered as she was wearing her golden eyepatch again. "You told him what we were doing, right?"
Securing her second braid with a leather tie, she nodded. "He doesn't like it very much. Neither does Gideon and Mik. They're just overprotective."
"Kalla's that way with me. Has been my whole life. I already saw her sneaking down to the dragons' quarters with Thia and Allel to meet us there."
"Of course. I had to beg Jai last night to not follow behind. It took some convincing, but he finally promised, especially when I threw Elys into the mix."
"And it probably didn't hurt that you promised him a few other things that you two seemed to do last night."
Lyv's smile was sly as she winked. "Of course not."
Cleo's laugh trailed off as her expression shifted to one Lyv knew well. One of longing, of envy. It brought up a topic of conversation they hadn't discussed yet.
"So, does the Queen of Arloerin have anyone special?"
"Nope," she snorted, glancing back over at her. "Of course, I've had lovers, but not...not what you and Jai have. Not yet."
"At least you're thinking positive."
"Mmm."
"And if anything, you'll get a husband out of Kav once he's old enough. I saw those starstruck hazel eyes staring at you anytime he was in the room. I think the kid's got a crush on you."
Cleo's gaze grew distant. "Probably because his mother's filling his head with ideas. But I can't even think about that, especially when Sophea's going to push it as long as I live, even if I take a husband as consort. Like that will ever happen, though. It takes a special kind of male to handle me...or so I've been told. Multiple times. There's only so much heartbreak a female can take before she seeks a male for one thing and one thing only."
Oh. Now, Lyv understood. "You're absolutely amazing, Cleo, dark magic, scars, tattoos, and all. You know that, right?"
Thoughtful, she cocked her head to the side. "I am, aren't I?"
Grinning, Lyv finished getting ready with Cleo chattering beside her. Other than her sword on her back and her dagger on her thigh, there was just one more thing Lyv wasn't wanting to forget. Though she had her healing magic, she still slung her bag over her shoulder just in case, especially when it held all of her medical supplies.
"Ready?" she asked Cleo after everything was in place.
"Ready."
Of course, Lyv had to wake Jai up just enough to give him a kiss. Half of his face was still pressed into her pillow, so she only got to press her lips to the corner of his mouth. He stirred, eyes slowly opening to look at her.
"We're going," she whispered to him, her face still close. "We'll be back in a few hours. Promise."
Jai swallowed against the dryness in his throat, shifting to look at her fully. "Are you sure you don't want us to come? I don't like the fact that you and Cleo are going alone."
Lyv brushed back his hair from his forehead before brushing her lips against his again. Through the bond, she could feel his worry, his panic growing. Just like he told her the night before, he didn't want them going alone, not knowing exactly what they would face. They had an idea, though.
"We'll be fine, love. Go back to sleep and get more rest before Elys starts to run rampant through the palace."
"Guess that means I need to put some pants on, too, huh?"
She laughed, shaking her head. "I love you."
Jai's answering smile made her heart stutter. "I love you, too, princess."
As Lyv and Cleo made their way through the still silent palace, the lamps along the walls flickered on to light their way to the front doors. A heavy fog had settled over Arloerin, thought the first rays of sunlight would quickly burn it off.
Just as they thought, Thia, Allel, and Kalla were standing in front of the dragons' quarters. Roshan and Ollyn were already fitted with their saddles while Erly, ever the mother dragon, was worrying over them. While Roshan was trying to nudge her away, Ollyn was watching with amusement. Odanth, however, was nowhere in sight, probably already out for the day just like he did every morning.
Thia was the first to spot them, reaching out to grasp Lyv's hand as soon as she was close enough. "Are you sure you don't want us to go with you?" she worried.
"You're sounding like Jai when he asked me the same thing just a little while ago."
"Well, you can you blame us?" Allel asked, then nodded to Kalla. "We know what happened there the last time someone went to Veres. We were there."
Lyv tried to look at the bright side. "Well, at least the vessel doesn't contain dark magic anymore, huh? That's in me and Corliss already, so what's the harm?"
They didn't appreciate the question.
"We'll be fine. We've both got our swords. I've got my dagger and medical bag just in case. Not to mention Ro and Ollyn..."
"We still don't like it," Kalla complained, crossing her arms. "We'll be watching, though. If you need help, send one of those blue orbs of yours up as high as you can and make it explode. We should be able to see it from the tower...which is where we'll be waiting to see you two come back."
The three females were still worrying over them even as they secured themselves on their saddles. Roshan was more than ready as he stretched out his wings, copying Ollyn's movements just a few seconds after he did them, warming up for the flight ahead of them into new territory.
As soon as they were in the air, Lyv breathed out a sigh, watching as Arloerin dropped away from them below. The city was just beginning to wake up, lights turning on and windows opening to the new day. The lands surrounding it was the same with workers still rubbing their eyes as they headed out into the vineyard and below into the underground cellars. They all looked up to see their queen and her cousin flying overhead with their dragons, though, managing smiles and waves as they passed.
Everything they knew disappeared in the distance as they continued northwest. Though the sun was rising behind them, the lands below seemed to get darker, colder. The grassy hills turned to barren flatlands, which then turned into rocky slopes as they reached the mountains. These mountains had no name, though, since no one dared to even speak of them.
Lyv shifted, peering down just as Cleo motioned for them to fly lower.
The first of the ruins were visible then, what must have been an old circular watchtower. Now, though, it was only partially standing, its red tiled roof having caved in and scorch marks along the edges of a giant hole in the crumpling stone. What was once the city itself was the same, just ruins of buildings overgrown with vegetation. Lyv even spotted what must have been a palace centuries before, its layout so similar to the one in Arloerin, but there was hardly anything left.
Cleo landed Ollyn in the center of the city, right next to a hooded statue in the center of a dried-up fountain. Eerie silence echoed around them, though that was quickly shattered by Roshan and Ollyn's heavy breathing, then Lyv and Cleo's boots hitting the cracked stone beneath their boots.
Lyv stayed close to her dragon's side as she looked around. "What happened here?" she asked. Her voice was low, but Cleo was still able to hear her.
"No idea," she answered, straightening after jumping off Ollyn. "I've only flown over, not actually landing to look around. Like I said, no one comes here. At least, no one's come here and come back to tell the tale. Besides Corliss and the others. But then again, she didn't remember what happened here either. At least that's what Kalla told me."
After telling the dragons to stay put where they were and having them both huff out their disagreement, Lyv and Cleo started walking down the main road toward the crumbled palace. It wasn't just stone and vegetation they had to step over. It was the remnants of the life that was there before – shattered pottery, broken carts and carriages, torn and shredded scraps of fabrics so encrusted with dust they'd hardened and almost fossilized into rock.
It wasn't until Lyv took one more step, not watching where, and crushed a skull beneath her boot.
As soon as she realized what it was, she saw another beside it, a complete skeleton.
More just a few feet away.
No, there were dozens, hundreds all around them. And entire city having dropped dead from some unknown cause.
Fear gripped Lyv then, which made her light and dark magic spark to life within her. While her light kept her mind clear as crystal, her dark was making shadows curl around her, a cocoon of safety should something unexpectedly strike out.
But these weren't human or mage skulls. The angles of the cheekbones and jawlines were much too sharp to be either. It was a race of people who were here in Laria before, but now extinct because of some unknown cause.
Cleo knelt down beside where Lyv stood frozen, lifting one of the skulls in her hand. "There are whispered histories throughout Laria about this place, but nothing definite or written down. The people who lived here were a race no one knows the name of, but their remains are only found here in Veres and in Arloerin. There are catacombs beneath my kingdom with tombs holding skeletons just like these. It shows just how old my kingdom is. We don't know the connection between them, though."
"And what are those histories?" Lyv gulped.
Gently placing the skull back down at its final resting place, Cleo peered up at her. "That Veres fell into total darkness, destroying its people, its culture, and the city itself. It hasn't been the only one either, but I'm sure you already knew that. The darkness that you and Corliss hold...it's a destroyer of worlds, of people, of entire cultures."
"So, it was the darkness that destroyed it?"
She nodded as she stood, dusting off her hands on her leather pants. "Just from those whispers, I think that's what happened here. The darkness was used by someone who didn't know its power and they ended up wiping out the entire city before it was contained enough to not destroy all of Laria. The person who was its keeper managed to contain it in the vessel it had been in since. Before my mother went looking for it, of course."
"You know where it lies?"
Without a word, Cleo started forward, watching every step she took with Lyv following close behind her.
Just in case, Lyv kept her hand on her dagger and her magic on alert. The number of the fallen grew as they made their way through the ruins, the vegetation that overgrew in it thickening. There was a little bit of life in the dead city, though. They caught sight of a few deer and other animals who ran as soon as their heard their approach, birds flying overhead and into the nests they'd made within the twisted vines.
Other creatures had also made their home in the ruins. More specifically, some sort of spider. It was their webs that gave their presence away first, silken strings weaving the most beautiful designs. Lyv had to step closer to even catch sight of one of them – a pale white spider with pitch black eyes that stared as soon as it spotted her. It wasn't just staring then...but rather preparing to jump and sink its fangs deep into her skin.
Cleo yanked her back before it made a move. "Don't get close. Stay as far away from those as you can," she warned. "Those are minette spiders. Its venom is lethal, even with people with magic like ours. It burns right through it and..."
"I...I know what it does," Lyv said with a shaky voice. "We have them in our world, too. Jai was almost killed by it before I was able to save him. And Destan...that's what killed him."
Cleo's brows furrowed. "I've only ever known them to be here."
"Well, they're also supposedly in the Wilds of Ethran."
"Hm."
Lyv and Cleo made their way to the palace where the dead still laid. The numbers grew as if they'd tried to make their way to safety. There had been no safe place, though. Carefully walking up the steps to the remnants of the wooden doors, the last of the skeletons they saw were laying on either side, both of them with a dull golden and jeweled crown just a few inches from them.
"Not even graverobbers dare to come here if those are still here, huh?" Lyv said, nodding down to them.
"Nope. This place is cursed and taking anything would bring that curse elsewhere. No one dares to. Have your sword out, all right?" Cleo huffed out a breath, reaching back to unsheathe her own. "This place...gods, I'm already shivering. If you feel the temperature drop, be on your guard...because the wraiths will soon follow. That's their one giveaway."
"How are swords going to help if they can't be killed?"
"You can dissipate them for a while, but they will always come back. We'll hopefully be gone by then, though."
"Has anyone gotten past the wraiths before?"
"My mother, for one."
"And?"
"...that's it."
Neither of them made a move to step inside, staring into the overgrown foyer, the ceiling missing and the two staircases on either side coming to an abrupt halt just a few steps from where the second floor was supposed to be.
Lyv wasn't the only one to ring herself in her shadows then. Cleo's manifested around her wrists, twining through her fingers.
They took that last step together.
The temperature dropped as soon as they did.
Whispers followed as Cleo led the way between the staircases through to the main hallway. The glass ceiling overhead was shattered, the shards crunching beneath their boots. Faded paintings, both portraits and landscapes, hung crooked on the walls or fallen on the floor. It was darker here, though, so Lyv created a glowing orb of light in her hand, then tossed it in the air. It was suspended in front of them, following just a few feet ahead with every step to light their way.
"Never thought to use fire magic like that," Cleo said, nodding to the orb.
Lyv smiled. "I use this all the time. I did even before I knew who I really was, back when I thought I was just a human princess with magic in Escarral. My sisters would love it when we were little because we'd be able to stay up late at night without having to turn on the lights. We were almost caught once by Bence when he came to check on us, hearing our giggles...but then he announced he knew we were still up and proceeded to tell us stories early into the morning. He'd do it with my sisters' children whenever they would come visit. It became sort of a tradition."
Cleo smiled softly. "You must have loved him a lot. And I can hear in your voice how much you miss him."
She had to swallow the lump that formed in her throat. "I always will. All of us will. Of course, my sisters and their families...but also Jai and Gideon. They were really close with him, too."
They continued down the dust and ash covered hallway. The people portrayed in the paintings seemingly following their movements with their eyes. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but Lyv caught herself looking behind them every few moments, having felt they were being followed.
"How do you know where to go?" she asked Cleo quietly then as she turned another corner to a short staircase that ended at a metal door.
"You weren't the only one my mother left a journal to. She went into a little more detail about this place, where she went to find the vessel. There's a secret passageway in the dungeons below. We have to be extremely careful there, though. Like iron in your world that nullifies a person's magic, we have eslien ore. It does contain iron, but there are a few other elements we're not sure of in the mix. It's extremely powerful. So powerful, it was what helped keep Corliss in check whenever she was still here. Iron couldn't touch her, but eslien could."
Lyv's mind raced. "So, that's means..."
Cleo stopped just to give her a pointed look. "Yes, that means we could use it on you and Jai to keep the dark magic at bay, but it wouldn't get rid of it completely. I have a feeling you're going to want to keep your magic, both light and dark, so don't even think about it. Now, are you wanting to get to the vessel and leave or are you wanting to continue chatting?"
"I'll take the first option."
"That's what I thought."
With every step they took down into the darkened dungeon, Lyv shivered even in her warm leather. Her orb of light was sparking the torches that were held in sconces on the walls ever dozen feet. It shifted ahead as soon as the space opened up in front of them, falling into metal firepit in the center of the dungeon that illuminated the entire area.
As soon as Lyv's eyes landed on the metal bars of the cells, her magic jumped in response. This was definitely different from whenever iron was near her or even when she was wearing the gold band Corliss had used to control her. She kept her distance, but so did Cleo, having also been clearly uncomfortable by being so close.
Those cells still held dozens upon dozens of skeletons of the people who had been locked up. The air was stale, unmoving for being so far underground and without any ventilation. There were no windows, no outside light to cast down upon them. The only source would have been from those torches, which didn't look like they had been lit very much. The darkness was probably what would have driven them all mad.
"There," Cleo said as she came to a halt in the back of the dungeon. She nodded to another door, one made of stone with carvings of a language no one knew anymore. "This is where it was kept. There's an enchantment on the door, which is what's written on the outer corners. You have to pay tribute to get inside, though."
Lyv swallowed hard. "Tribute?"
"Blood tribute. Just a small cut should suffice."
Gods, what was she getting herself into? No, rather what was she willing to do to get this godsforsaken dark magic out of herself and Jai?
Without a second thought, Lyv sheathed her sword and pulled out her dagger just a second apart, slashing the blade along her palm before pressing it against the stone door. A bloody handprint was left when she pulled back.
Cleo looked impressed. "I thought that'd take more convincing."
"Not when we're here for a reason, right?"
Looking down at her hand, both of them watched as the small pool of blood in her palm slowly receded back into the cut before her healing magic took over, knitting together the gash within seconds.
"What...?"
"Healing magic. I get it from my father's side."
Shaking her head, her cousin looked up at her. "You really are something else."
Lyv managed a smile. "So I've been told on multiple occasions. Now, are we going or not?"
The first step they took into the hidden room within the dungeon...well, it sent another shiver right down Lyv's spine and, by the looks of it, Cleo's also.
It wasn't the orb that lit up the space then. No, that had flicked out as soon as the two of them were inside. An oily substance ringed the outer portion of the room, which immediate sparked and caught fire. Except this fire wasn't dancing with reds and oranges and yellows. No, these flames were burning black and silver.
The same language etched into every space of the stone walls. Spells and enchantments and histories neither one of them could read. Several skeletons laid scattered about, but these weren't of the same race they'd seen above. No, these were humans, mages. The words continued to spiral onto the floor, curling in until they wrapped around and finished at the center where a dais stood.
A box sat open on top of it.
Made of a dark gray metal with complex swirling designs. It was a metal that didn't seem of this world or even her own. Lyv immediately felt the pull toward it before she even took another step, her pulse pounding in her ears.
"Careful, Lyv," Cleo warned, but she sounded as if she were a mile away.
She continued forward, sheathing her dagger, hands reaching out until they were just inches away from the box. Peering down inside, it was lined in red velvet. A small cushioned pillow was made of the same fabric.
And on top of it...the largest obsidian stone Lyv had ever seen.
"Mother above," she breathed, her hands pausing before she even thought to reach out and touch it.
Because she didn't know what would happen if she did. Didn't want to find out just yet. This is all they'd come here to do, to grab the vessel – the obsidian stone – and get out of there. There was no trying to transfer her dark magic, no even thinking about it.
"Grab it and let's go," Cleo urged from behind her as Lyv's pounding pulse steadied in her ear. "I don't..."
As soon as Lyv closed the lid of the box, encasing the stone inside...the temperature dropped to freezing, both of their breaths visible in front of their faces. Hurriedly, she shoved it in her bag, letting it fall inside just as she reached behind her to unsheathe her sword again.
The black flames flickered and sputtered out.
Lyv spun around, blind, and desperate for anything to appear within her sights. "Cleo?"
"Here," Cleo called out from her right.
Hand searching, Lyv finally grasped hold of hers before they turned, backs pressed together.
"What's happening?" she asked.
She felt Cleo shiver behind her. "Wraiths."
A strange, bluish green light illuminated in several places around them, hovering over the skeletons of the fallen. The ghostly forms manifested then, pieces of the people they were before. They looked solid, though Lyv knew better. They were dressed in rags, in rusted and blood-stained armor, gripping twisted steel swords with boney hands. Their skin was rotting off, exposing bone and muscle beneath, skulls and chests broken open.
It was nothing like Lyv had ever seen before.
"Oh, shit," Cleo breathed. Apparently, she hadn't either.
The wraiths were the first to move. Silently screaming, they turned to mist, rushing forward to Lyv and Cleo.
Lyv's hummed inside her, her darkness extending out to wrap around her sword in a way it hadn't before. Like it was thinking on its own, knowing this was what they needed in order to dispatch the wraiths.
Backs to each other, Lyv and Cleo whirled, swords swinging yet not hitting the wraiths as they moved. Their rusted sword clanked with theirs, but they still couldn't connect with their decaying bodies. Not when they were shrouded in mist that allowed their blade to slice cleanly through without hitting anything.
It wasn't until Lyv saw one manifest fully that she knew her sword could slash through it. The wraith rushed at her, rusted sword held high above it, but she slashed lower, right through its rotting body.
It disappeared in a blinding light, making them all pause.
"Wait until they look solid, then strike!" Lyv yelled out to Cleo.
Just a few seconds passed before her cousin was able to do exactly that.
"Thank the gods!" Cleo cried out. "I thought we wouldn't..."
"Not now!"
The two of them danced around the swinging rusted swords, waiting for the right moment to swing their own at the solid bodies of the fallen around them. The wraiths weren't waiting, still going at them with rusted swords that caught each of them a few times. Lyv swiped away the trail of blood that rushed down her cheek from a scratch that healed in moments, but Cleo's magic wasn't as fast.
There was a huge gash in her jacket on her shoulder. Blood seeped through it, almost unnoticeable against the red leather. Lyv's healing magic jumped to her, feeling the stinging pain before sending a rush of soothing magic into the wound.
The preoccupation allowed for the last of the wraiths to gain momentum on them, though. Cleo had ducked out of its way and fall to the floor, landing on her back and pushing the air from her lungs, but that allowed for the sword to connect with Lyv's back. It didn't cut through leather and skin, though. Lyv's dark magic took over, sending a wave of shadows crashing down upon it. It screamed and withered, disappearing just like the others in a flash of light, its rusted weapon clattering to the stone floor.
Silence rang out around them, but was broken by Lyv and Cleo's heavy breathing, the pounding of adrenaline through their veins.
Sword still clutched in her hand, Lyv turned to Cleo...but was startled by the look on her cousin's face when she saw her fully once the black flames lit up around them again.
"Lyv," Cleo breathed.
She knew what she was seeing – Lyv's entire body ringed with shadows, her dark magic pulsing around her, emerald eyes turned onyx.
Sucking in a breath through her nose and exhaling from her mouth, Lyv closed her eyes, trying to reign it in. Having not been as strong as it was before Jai took over half, it was easier, but it still wanted to fight her, wanting to have her completely.
Oh, no, you don't, she thought before wrapping it tight in magic chains within her.
Lyv hadn't felt it fight her as much as it did then, but then again it hadn't been so close to the one thing that would be able to contain it completely in so long. Of course, that darkness would be on edge, which just meant she would have to keep a better hold on herself with it in her presence.
Cleo was still staring up at her as she pushed herself up to stand, sheathing her sword now that the threat was gone. "What...how...?"
Knowing her eyes were back to normal, Lyv looked back at her. "That happens from time to time, but at least we're all right."
"Lyv, I've never felt dark magic like that before. It doesn't even come close to my own. How...how did you survive that before, when it was all your own and Jai hadn't taken on some of it?"
Lyv didn't answer. She couldn't.
Cleo shook her head, wiping the dirt off her pants and assessing the gash in her shoulder that was now healed. "We got what we came for, didn't we? Let's head back because you know everyone is probably pacing the front of the palace waiting for us."
Sheathing her sword, Lyv huffed out a breath. "You're probably right. Plus, I don't want to stick around for those wraiths to come back."
***Ugh, I loved this chapter! It totally brought me back to Emmy and Hattie's series...if those series had been fantasy! Still loving the cousin time with Lyv and Cleo, though! It's making me sad that we're almost about to leave Arloerin, though. Just four more chapters until we say goodbye to Cleo...for now, that is!
What did you guys think? Comment and vote!
Happy reading!
- Ansley***