The Mirror Cardโs chill no longer lingered on Ravynโs skin. He was back at Stone, but he was not warm. The cold of the dungeon clawed its way up dark, icy stairs, seeking purchase in his chest.
He held two skeleton keys in his hand. When he paused at the top of the stairs, peering down, his grip on the keys tightened. He didnโt hear his sister approach. But what kind of Destrier would she be if he had?
โRavyn.โ
He turned, hiding his startle behind a scowl. โJes.โ
Jespyr leaned against the corridor wall, blended well enough into shadow to almost render a Mirror Card unnecessary. Her gaze lowered to the skeleton keys in Ravynโs clutch. โYouโll need another pair of hands to open that door.โ
โI was going to find a guard.โ
Something shifted in her brown eyes. โIโm capable enough.โ
There was an accusation somewhere in the firm notes of Jespyrโs voice. Ravyn ignored it. โThe King wants to see Elsโโ He flinched. โHe wants to know about the Twin Alders Card. In private.โ
Jespyr folded her hands in a net. โIs that wise?โ โProbably not.โ
The sound of the gong echoed through the castle. Its toll announced early afternoon. Midday, midnightโthe hour meant little to Ravyn. All he knew of time was that he always seemed to be running out of it.
Jespyr dragged her boot over a wrinkle in the corridor rug. โAre you
well enough to do this? Youโve hardly spoken about what happened. About Elspeth.โ
The muscles along Ravynโs jaw tightened. โIโm fine.โ
She shook her head. โI can always tell when youโre lying. Your eyes get this vacant look.โ
โMaybe thatโs because theyย areย vacant.โ
โYouโd like everyone to think that, wouldnโt you?โ Jespyr approachedโ pulled the second key from his grip. โYou can talk to me, you know. Iโm always here, Ravyn.โ The corner of her lips quirked. โIโm always right behind you.โ
They made it to the bottom of the stairs without slipping on ice. In the antechamber, the dungeon door waited. It was twice as wide as Ravynโs wingspan. Forged of wood from rowan trees and fortified with iron, it took both skeleton keys to unlock.
Facing their respective locks on opposite sides of the door, Ravyn and Jespyr slid their keys into place. Ravyn made sure to turn his back, lest his sister see his trembling fingers.
The mechanisms embedded in the stone wall released the latches. Ravyn pressed his fingers in the holds and pushed the door open just wide enough to slip through, the weight of the ancient wood great.
โLeave it open,โ he said, taking both keys. โDestriers will be here soon enough to collect Erik Spindle and Tyrn Hawthorn for their inquest.โ He stepped through the door.
โDo you want me to come with you?โ
โNo. Get a Chalice Card from the armory. Meet me at the Kingโs chamber.โ
โAre you sure youโre all right to do this?โ Jespyr asked again.
Ravyn had been a liar always out of necessity, never a fondness for the craft. It was one of the many masks he wore. And heโd worn it so long that, even when he should take it off, he didnโt always know how.
He stole into darkness. โIโm fine.โ
The air grew thinner the farther north he trod. The dungeon walk sloped,
falling deeper into the earth. Ravyn wrapped his arms in his cloak and kept his eyes forward, afraid if he looked too closely at the empty cells, the ghosts of all the infected children who had died there might emerge from shadow and claim him.
The walk was littered with blackened torches, this part of the dungeon rarely patrolled. Ravyn continued until he was at the endโthe last cell.
The monster waited.
Flat on the floor, eyes on the ceilingโas if stargazingโwhat had once been Elspeth Spindleโs body lay still. Air plumed out of herโnow the Shepherd Kingโsโmouth like dragon smoke. When Ravynโs footsteps stilled at the foot of the cell, the Shepherd King did not turn to look, the sound of his teeth clicking together the only greeting he tendered.
A knot in Ravynโs throat swelled. Before he could stop himself, his eyes traveled the length of Elspethโs body.
What had once been Elspethโs body. โAre you awake?โ
There was no answer.
Ravyn stepped forward, the cellโs iron bars like icicles beneath his hands. โI know you can hear me.โ
Laughter echoed in the dark. The figure in the cell sat up slowly and turned. It took all of Ravyn not to wince. Elspethโs black eyes were gone. In their place, catlike irises, vivid and yellow, lit by a man five hundred years dead.
The Shepherd King did not move but for his eyes. โYouโre alone, Captain,โ he said. It was still Elspethโs voice. Only now, it sounded slick, oily.ย Wrong.ย โIs that wise?โ
Ravyn stiffened. โWould you hurt me?โ
His answer was a twisted, jagged smile. โIโd be a liar if I said I hadnโt played with the idea.โ
There was no one there to overhear them. Still, Ravyn pulled his Nightmare Card from his pocket and tapped it three times.
Salt burned up his throat, into his nose. Closing his eyes, Ravyn let the salt swallow him, then pushed it outward, entering the Shepherd Kingโs mind. He combed through darkness, searching for any hint of Elspeth.
He did not find her.
When Ravyn opened his eyes, the Shepherd King was watching him. A
voice, masculine, slipperyโpoisonousโspoke into his mind.ย What do you want, Ravyn Yew?
Ravyn ran the back of his hand over his mouth, hiding his flinch. He was still looking at Elspethโs body. It wasย herย skinโlipsโhands. Her tangled hair, long and black, that spilled over her shoulder. Her chest that rose with the swell of her lungs.
But just like her voice, there was something undeniablyย wrongย about Elspethโs body. Her fingers were rigid, curled like talons, and her posture was twistedโher shoulders too high, her back too curved.
โThe King wishes to see you,โ Ravyn said. โBut before I bring you to him, I want two things.โ
The Shepherd King unfolded himself from the ground and stood in the center of the cell. Thenโtoo fastโhe crept to the front of the cell. โIโm listening.โ
Ravynโs grip on the bars tightened. โI want the truth. No riddles, no games. Are you truly the Shepherd King?โ
Yellow eyes roved over his handsโhis broken fingernails, dirt still embedded in the dry cracks of Ravynโs skin. Elspethโs body bent, vulturelike. โThey called me that name, once.โ
โWhat didย sheย call you?โ
For a moment, there was nothing. No movement. Not even air turned to steam from the Shepherd Kingโs nostrils. Then, when he seemed to have frosted over entirely, his pale fingers began to trill, as if plucking the strings of an invisible harp. โShe saw me for what I truly am.โ He drew the word out, whispering it into Ravynโs mind.ย Nightmare.
โAnd you know where the Twin Alders Card is, Nightmare?โ โI do.โ
โWill you take me to it?โ
His voice was near and far. โI will.โ โHow far is the journey?โ
The Nightmare lowered his head and smiled. โNot far. Yet it is farther than youโve ever gone before.โ
Ravyn slammed his hand on the bars. โI said no goddamn games.โ
โYou asked for the truth. Truth bends, Ravyn Yew. We must all bend along with it. If we do not, wellโฆโ His yellow eyes flared. โThen we will break.โ
He spoke with his own voice into Ravynโs mind once more.ย Before your lifetime, he said,ย before the story of the girl, the King, and the monster, I told an older tale. One of magic, mist, and Providence Cards. Of infection and degeneration.ย His smile fell away.ย Of barters made.
โIโm familiar withย The Old Book of Alders.โ โGood. For youโre about to step into it.โ
Ravyn drew in a breath, the ice in the air nesting in his lungs.
โThe Twin Alders is the only Card of its kind,โ the Nightmare continued. โIt gives its user the power to speak to our deity, the Spirit of the Wood. And it isย sheย who guards it. She will have a price for the last Card of the Deck. Nothing comes free.โ
โIโm prepared to pay whatever price she asks.โ Ravyn pressed against the bars, his voice lowering. โAnd when I do pay, Nightmare, the Twin Alders Card will be mine. Not the Kingโs, not yours.ย Mine.โ
Something shifted in those yellow eyes. โWhat is the second thing you wish of me, Ravyn Yew?โ the Nightmare murmured.
Even with frost all around them, Ravyn could smell blood on Elspethโs clothes. He took a step back, but it was too late. A light tremor had begun in his left hand. He knotted it into a fist. โWhen I bring you to the Kingโs chamber, you are not to harm him. You are not to do anything that might jeopardize me taking you out of Stone in search of the Twin Alders Card.โ
โRowan has agreed to my offer, then? To trade my life for young Emoryโs?โ
โNot fully. Which is why you need to be on your best behavior.โ
The Nightmare laughed. The sound shifted through the dungeon, as if carried on dark wings. โMy best behavior.โ His fingers curled at his side. โBy all means. Take me to your Rowan King.โ
Along the dungeon wall were hooks with varying weapons and restraints. Ravyn retrieved a pair of iron cuffs fixed to a chain and opened the cell door. The Nightmare held out his wrists.
Pale, bruised skin peeked out from beneath tattered sleeves.
Ravyn bit down. โPull your sleeves so the iron doesnโt sit directly on
your wrists. I donโt want to give Elspeth any more bruises.โ โShe canโt feel them now.โ
Muscles bunching in his jaw, Ravyn took care not to touch the Nightmareโs skin when he locked the cuffs in place. โLetโs go.โ
Even with chains, the Nightmareโs movements were eerily quiet. It took all of Ravynโs control not to look over his shoulder. The only reason he was certain the monster was behind him at all was because he couldย feelย him there, wraithlike, as the two of them crept out of Stoneโs frozen underbelly.
They climbed the stairs. Ravyn shook his hands, the dungeonโs icy numbness shifting into prickles along his fingertips. He was still wielding the Nightmare Cardโhe used it to call for Elm. His cousin did not answer.
But another voice did.
Sheโs dead, you fool, came a familiar, derisive tone from the depths of his mind.ย Why cling to hope? Even if you unite the Deck and lift the mist and cure the infection, she will not come back. She died in her room at Spindle House four nights ago.ย A low, rumbling laugh.ย All because you were ten minutes late back from your patrol.
Ravyn ripped the burgundy Card out of his pocket and tapped it three times, quelling the magic. His pulse roared in his ears. It hadnโt been the Nightmareโs voice, but anotherโone that mocked him, uttering his worst fears every time he used the Nightmare Card too long.
His own.
The clicking sound of teeth ricocheted off stone walls. โThere was no need for your Nightmare Card, Ravyn Yew. I am the only one for a hundred cells.โ He paused. โUnless you were hoping to hear another voice when you reached into my mind.โ
Ravyn stopped in his tracks. โWere you there,โ he said, keeping his eyes forward, forcing ice into his thinning voice, โwhen Elspeth and I were alone together?โ
โWhatโs the matter, highwayman? All your rosy memories beginning to rot?โ
Ravyn turnedโpushed the Nightmare against the wall, his hand closing around the monsterโs pale throat.
But it felt too much like her throat. Itย wasย her throat.
He ripped his hand back. โEverything was a lie.โ He hadnโt let himself think it until now. And now that he was thinking itโ
Heโd taken knife wounds that hurt less. โEvery look. Every word. You lived eleven years in Elspethโs mind. Thereโs no knowing where she ended and you began.โ
A smile snaked across the Nightmareโs mouth. โNo knowing at all.โ Ravyn was going to be sick.
โIf it is any consolation, her admiration for you was entirely one-sided. I find your stony facade excruciatingly tedious.โ
Eyes closed, Ravyn turned away. โAnd yet you were there. When we were together.โ
There was a long pause. Then, quieter than before, the Nightmare spoke. โThere is a place in the darkness she and I share. Think of it as a secluded shore along dark waters. A place I forged to hide things Iโd rather forget. I went there from time to time in our eleven years together. To give Elspeth reprieve. And, most recently,โ he added, tapping his fingernails on the wall, โto spare myself the particulars of her rather incomprehensible attachment to you.โ
Ravyn opened his eyes. โThis place exists in your mind?โ
Silence. Then, โFor five hundred years, I fractured in the dark. A man, slowly twisting into something terrible. I saw no sun, no moon. All I could do was remember the terrible things that had happened. So I forged a place to put away the King who once livedโall his painโall his memories. A place of rest.โ
Ravyn turned. When his eyes caught the Nightmareโs yellow gaze, he knew. โThatโs where she is. Itโs why I canโt hear her with the Nightmare Card. You have Elspeth hidden away.โ His throat burned. โAlone, in the dark.โ
The Nightmare cocked his head. โI am not a dragon hording gold. The moment Elspeth touched that Nightmare Card and I slipped into her mind, her days were marked.ย Iย was her degeneration.โ
No. Ravyn wouldnโt accept it. โTell me how to reach her.โ โWhy would I when it is such a delight, watching you unravel?โ
Ravynโs hand fell to his belt and the ivory hilt upon it. โYou will. When we leave this wretched castle, you will tell me how to reach Elspeth.โ
The Nightmareโs smile was a thinly veiled threat. โI know what I know.
My secrets are deep. But long have I kept them. And long will they keep.โ
King Rowan was not in his chamber.
Ravyn swore under his breath. โWait here,โ he told the Nightmare. He left the monster, shackled and bloodstained, standing in the center of the Kingโs pelted rugs, and headed down the royal corridor to Hauthโs room. When he stepped inside, it took all his restraintโand sheer luck for the meagerness of his lunchโthat he didnโt vomit for the smell.
The High Princeโs room was overwarm, amplifying the putrid odors of blood and sickly body odor. Filick Willow stood in a line of three other Physicians at Hauthโs bedside. The King was there, too, standing next to Jespyr near the hearth. He was drunk. Heโdย beenย drunk at Hauthโs bedside for three days now, tapping and untapping his own Nightmare Card, trying to reach his sonโs mind.
But wherever Hauth lingered, if he lingered at all, the King could not reach him. Nor could a Scythe command life into his unseeing green eyes. The skin that peeked out from bandages and blankets was cut and scabbed. And beneath the bandagesโ
Hauth had been destroyed. In a way Ravyn had not seen in twenty-six years of life. Not even wolves tore their meat like that. Animals rarely killed for sport. And thisโwhat had been done to Hauth, ripping and breaking and sloughingโwent beyond sport.
It suddenly felt a terrible idea, bringing the King to face the monster who had broken his son.
Jespyr caught Ravynโs gaze. Her jaw tensed, and she spoke into their uncleโs ear. It took the King a moment to focus. When his eyes finally honed in on Ravyn, they were dark under a furrowed brow.
โWell?โ he barked when they were in the corridor. โIs she here?โ Ravyn drew in a breath of fresh air. โIn your chamber, sire.โ
The Kingโs crude fist curled around the glass neck of a decanter. โA Chalice?โ
โI have one here,โ Jespyr said, a sea-green Providence Card in her hand. โLetโs see the bitch try to lie about the Twin Alders now.โ
When the King wrenched his chamber door open, the Nightmare was perched like a gargoyle in an ornate high-back chair. They stared at one
another, two Kings with murder behind their eyes. Rowan green, Nightmare yellowโand five hundred years of imbalance between them.
The Nightmare opened his clawlike hand in greeting. In the other, he held a silver goblet already filled with wine. โWell, then,โ he said. โLet the inquest begin.โ
Jespyr eyed the shackles around his wrist skeptically. She exhaled, then tapped the Chalice Card three times.
King Rowan kept the distance between him and the Nightmareโs chair wide enough a carriage could drive through. He might have been drunk, but he wasnโt stupid. Heโd seen in horrid detail exactly what this monster was capable of doing when provoked. โTell me, Elspeth Spindle, how is it you know where the Twin Alders Card is hidden?โ
The Nightmare twisted a finger in the ends of Elspethโs black hair. Ravyn watched, scorched by memory. Heโd had his own hands in that hair. Run his fingers through itโsighed into it.
He jerked his eyes to the wall.
โSimple,โ the Nightmare murmured. โI was there when the Card disappeared.โ
The Kingโs gaze ripped to the Chalice in Jespyrโs hands, then back to the Nightmare, as if he could not decide whichโhis eyes or his earsโto distrust more. โThatโs impossible.โ
The Nightmare merely grinned. โIs it? Magic is a strange, fickle thing.โ โSo it is magic that gives you thisโthisโโ The Kingโs tongue tripped
over his words. โOld knowledge of the Twin Alders?โ
The corners of the Nightmareโs mouth tipped. โYou could say that.โ
โWhere exactly is the Card hidden?โ Jespyr cut in, shoulders bunching.
The Nightmare gave her an indifferent glance. โDeep within a wood. A wood with no road. But to those who smell the saltโโ A flash of teeth. โIt beckons.โ
The King regained himself with a deep, unsteady breath. His gaze flickered to Ravyn. โWas my nephew aware of your infection?โ
Ravyn went cold, a thousand alarm bells ringing in his ears.
The Nightmareโs oily timbre cut through them. โYour Captain is not the all-seeing bird you imagine him to be. He knew nothing of my magic until it was too late.โ
It was the truthโonly slightly twisted.
A furrow broke the stone mask of Ravynโs expression. The Nightmare noticed it and smiled, as if he knew what Ravyn had only just realized.
Providence Cards did not affect the Shepherd King. It was written inย The Old Book of Alders.
For our price it was final, our bartering done. I created twelve Cardsโฆ but I cannot use one.
But they did affect Elspeth. Hauth had used a Chalice against her. Ravyn had spoken into her mind with the Nightmare Card.
And the monster in front of him was both Elspethย andย the Shepherd King. The Nightmare could succumb to the Cardsโand also void their magic.
It was not so different from Ravynโs own magic. He, who could use only the Mirror, the Nightmare, and presumably the Twin Alders Providence Cards. The other nine Cards, he could not useโbut neither could they be used against him. He could deny the Scytheโs compulsion, lie against the Chalice.
Just as the Nightmare was doing now.
โWho knew of your infection?โ the King snapped when the silence drew out too long.
โMy magic was always a secret.โ โEven from your father?โ
The Nightmare rolled his jaw. โThat is a question for him. I do not own anything that Erik Spindle, with his callous indifference, has ever done.โ
โCan you truly see Providence Cards with your magic?โ โI can.โ
โAnd you will use it to find the final Card for me?โ
The Nightmareโs expression remained unreadable. โI will. So long as you honor your side of our bargain, Rowan. Have you released Emory Yew to his parents?โ
The Kingโs hands knotted at his sides. โTell me where the Twin Alders is, and I will release him tonight.โ
The Nightmare perked a brow. โVery well.โ He drew air into his nose. โListen closely. The journey to the twelfth Card will three barters take. The first comes at waterโa dark, mirrored lake. The second begins at the neck of a wood, where you cannot turn back, though truly, you should.โ
The Nightmareโs gaze shifted to Ravyn. His words came out sharp, as if
to draw blood. โThe last barter waits in a place with no time. A place of great sorrow and bloodshed and crime. No sword there can save you, no mask hide your face. Youโll return with the Twin Aldersโฆ
โBut youโll never leave that place.โ