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The Ashen Grimoire

39

The FootPaths had taken us into the heart of the Northlands Prison. It was assumed that prisoners were flown to the prison, and now it was clear that there was always another way. That there always had been. I wanted to believe that Aster hadn’t always known about the magical passages made in a time when the worlds coexisted. But Aster knew everything and rarely let me in. It was the canyon between us that couldn’t be crossed.

Kit and Torran handed us over to the Northlands guards dressed in long, blue fur cloaks as soon as we were through the gateway. Torran didn’t even look back, but Kit stayed. His dark eyes found mine, and his head dipped a little. He was sorry or ashamed… or perhaps it was regret. Whatever was about to happen to Aster and me, it was clearly out of his hands.

“Most of the cells are full. Put them together at the end,” Kit said to the nearest guard.

Just before Torran turned the corner, he caught Kit’s eye and shook his head. He didn’t approve of us being placed together, but it was a small act of kindness that I couldn’t help but appreciate.

From the moment we stepped out of the corridor, it was clear that what I understood the Northlands prison to be bore no resemblance to the actual place. It wasn’t like the one my uncle kept—cold, dark, and damp. The entire area was almost clinical. For a start, the rock covering every inch of the corridor was white, smooth and shiny like ice. It was almost the same as the walls of the workshop, and therefore it was probably built before the Old War. There were cells on either side of us, but I couldn’t see past the huge metal doors.

Aster was clutching his side, and his eye was swollen. I wanted to reach out and help him, but whenever our eyes met, he glowered at me. I could have said I was sorry for leaving him in the mountains—I could have lied. But we made a promise long ago that we wouldn’t lie to each other, back when we thought that it would solve things. All it did was encourage secrets and half-truths.

Fire burned in narrow sconces along the walls, casting strange shadows over the white stone corridors as if creating ghosts. No warmth came from the flames. Only magic.

If the cells were all full, there were no sounds from any of them. At the far end there was an open door, and the guards stood back as we approached.

“Never been a woman in here before,” one muttered to another. “Seems too good for one of her type.”

With a shove of my shoulder, I was inside. Aster was next to me, and the door slammed shut. The creak of the bolt came next. As soon as footsteps echoed down the hall, Aster straightened. The walls were white, but they didn’t feel fresh like snow; it was more lifeless and dead.

A small smile touched his lips, and I responded with a raised eyebrow. “Not injured?” He lifted his blood-soaked shirt. There was a long gash along his stomach, but as he ran a hand over it, his fingers didn’t dig into broken skin but glazed over it.

“Expensive!” I huffed and headed to the cot in the corner.

He shrugged and followed me to the cot and lay back on the bed, wincing as he stretched out. So not every injury was faked.

“You used the FootPaths to get to the Barren? Did you use the powder?”

He met my gaze, but wouldn’t tell me. Instead, he signed, “Did you find Red?” There was a slight tremor in his fingers as he signed. He was in pain.

“What happened?” I reached out and brushed my fingertips over his swollen cheek.

“Got caught in the King’s quarters. Luckily, Eddie was there, but he needed to make it look good.” His gaze trailed the corners of the room, scanning for listening runes. The Northlands had listening runes too.

I turned away and pushed off the bed to sit on the floor and watch the door.

“In all the Otherworld gods, why?” I whispered, the words catching in my throat. I wasn’t even sure if I was talking to him or to myself. Our careful plans over the last three years were never meant to end with Aster and me being in a cell together.

One of his eyes opened, and it glistened at me. “I couldn’t let you do this on your own.”

What ‘this’ did he mean?

He motioned me closer. So close that his breath brushed my ear. “Because they know.” I barely heard his voice above my thundering heart.

“What?” What did they know? Because there were so many secrets that I held. I met his one good eye, and the certainty there shuddered through me. I had never even told him, but he had guessed. “How did you…?” My throat was as dry as the Barren Lands. “Of all the otherworld gods, who did you tell? Torran? Kit?”

“Thorn.”

Thorn!

I glared at him. “When?”

And then I remembered what Thorn had told me to do before we left Craven City. She knew that if I got to the Ruckus, I would find Aster. She wanted me to break the curse.

“Thorn knew where you were? All this time.” Then, “She sent you there three years ago. Didn’t she?” To infiltrate the Ruckus. “You told her, and then she sent you?” I needed to know if that was the chain of events.