Chapter 9

The Thorn Road

Elara did not give Caelen her name. Seris broke the tower windows; Rhyse turned the moon-thread in his palm into a blade; Tavin set fire to the severance writ where Caelen could see it. In the confusion they took Nima back, but the prince escaped with a sliver of her darkness and the route to the Thorn Gate.

The rescue changed nothing cleanly. Nima returned diminished, and the gate had begun to wake beneath the western wood. Rhyse insisted they travel with a small party before the Sun Guard could seal every road: Elara, Seris, Tavin, and himself.

On the Thorn Road, brambles grew around the wheels and opened only when Rhyse bled onto them. Elara watched him cut his palm for the third time. "You could have commanded Nima to come back."

"The contract does not give me that right."

"Caelen thinks it does."

"Caelen thinks crowns are excuses."

At dusk they passed a lake that reflected no sky. A woman stood in the water, dressed in a faded Veyran gown. Elara knew her before she knew why.

"Mother?"

The woman raised both hands against the glass surface from the other side.

Elara waded into the lake before anyone could stop her. The water was shallow around her boots, then suddenly deep as a well. Rhyse caught the back of her coat and pulled her hard enough that she landed against him on the bank.

"Do not touch it," he said. The command arrived too quickly, too much like Maelin's voice. He heard it too. His grip loosened at once. "Please. The mirror takes what it is offered."

Elara pushed herself upright. Every sensible part of her knew a reflection in cursed water was not a reason to risk the only person who could testify against Maelin. None could compete with the sight of Aster's mouth forming her name.

Tavin crouched at the shore. "There are letters." On the water's surface, dark writing appeared: DO NOT OPEN THE GATE FOR ME. A second line followed beneath it in another hand: OPEN IT FOR THE CHILD.

Rhyse went white. Nima folded close to Elara's ankle. "That is the dead oath. It wants the living world because it was denied one."

Their camp that night was small and exposed. Seris placed sentries; Tavin argued with a Veyran scout he had trained; Rhyse sat apart cleaning a blade he had not used. Elara approached him because the silence between them had become another enemy.

"You said you could not command Nima," she said.

"I cannot. I will not."

"Those are different things."

"They are." He looked toward the lake. "I have been given power over people who did not choose me. I am trying to learn that having it does not make it mine."

It was the closest he had come to an apology. Elara wanted to believe it. Wanting was not proof.

At midnight, the thornwood opened a path by itself. A woman's voice called from within, clear and shaking.

"Elara. Do not let your aunt see me."

"Do not touch it," he said. The command arrived too quickly, too much like Maelin's voice. He heard it too. His grip loosened at once. "Please. The mirror takes what it is offered."

Elara pushed herself upright. Her mother had vanished fifteen years ago. Every sensible part of her knew a reflection in cursed water was not a reason to risk the only person who could testify against Maelin. None of those parts could compete with the sight of Aster's mouth forming her name.

Tavin crouched at the shore, studying the ripples. "There are letters."

On the water's surface, dark writing appeared: DO NOT OPEN THE GATE FOR ME.

The figure beyond the glass struck the surface with both hands. The message blurred. A second line formed beneath it, written in a different hand.

OPEN IT FOR THE CHILD.

Rhyse went white. Nima folded close to Elara's ankle. "That is not Aster. It is the dead oath. It wants the living world because it was denied one."

Elara looked at the king. "Your mother hid this here."

"My mother hid many things." His voice was stripped of ceremony. "I do not know which of them was intended as mercy."

Their camp that night was small and exposed. Seris placed sentries; Tavin argued with a Veyran scout he had once trained; Rhyse sat apart, cleaning a blade he had not used. Elara approached him because the silence between them had become another enemy.