I look down at the emblem on my hand. It’s the same as always. Sabrina’s, though? It stopped glowing the moment we arrived. I have so many questions and no one to answer them.
Did Atticus know about Ulysede? About this place where there is no blood curse, no risk of poison? Did he know this as he was executing all those mortals?
I’m not sure what to think of this new life we’ve found ourselves in so suddenly. When Eden showed us to this grand room high up within the castle, I balked, insisting she’d been given the wrong directions, that there must be a servants’ quarter for us. She smiled and then left us here and told us she’d check on us after she had all of Cirilea’s children settled.
Since then, we’ve been permitted to walk freely about this picturesque castle, no guards to bark at us, no lords and ladies to send us scurrying. And yet no answers to the many questions Corrin and Dagny and I have. I have not even seen Her Highness since she transported us here and vanished into that stone. I heard whispers that she lost someone dear to her in Cirilea, a caster she could not save. I imagine she is mourning her loss in private.
I wish I could talk to her, though. I wish I could ask her about all the things Atticus has told me, so I can truly understand what is truth, and what is fear and anger.
Atticus …
My chest tightens with thoughts of him. What will he say when he returns to Cirilea and finds us gone? Will he be furious? Surely, he will feel betrayed by me. He will think I had been plotting with Romeria against him all along when that is as far from the truth as possible.
I hope I have the chance to explain, but I doubt it will matter.
I mourn the loss of his touch, staring listlessly at Hudem’s moon when it seems to swell, its silver glow intensifying until I have to squint against it. I’ve never seen it do this before, but I’ve also never been in a secret city within a mountain.
A cracking sound cuts into the silent night. It’s followed by countless more. The noise is coming from everywhere—above and below. With trepidation, I venture to the edge of the balcony to get a closer look.
The stone statues … they’re all breaking apart, revealing curled forms within.
My jaw drops as they unfurl, their expansive wings stretching out around them.
With a chorus of unearthly shrieks that paralyzes me, the beings launch into the sky.