A Breeding Darkness (Complete)

(44)

Lucy bit her lip as she joined the ranks of merrymakers, weaving through bodies and around temporary stalls, keeping her head down in case anyone was still looking for her under Koshmar's orders. Their joy bubbled over, like a cheery soup in a pot, and Lucy hoped that there would still be room for her own joy. She couldn't imagine the city could hold much more happiness, and she didn't want hers to be the one that didn't fit and was forced to spill over into the fire.

Her boots thudded with each step, spelling out what she worried was her doom, as after an hour of walking she ended up at the bottom of the King's Brow. She looked up at the palace, just barely visible in the low light that managed to pass through the stormy clouds. Only a few lights were on indoors, but otherwise there was no sign of life. No guards spilled out to tell the city their prince had returned. No delegates rode off to tell the other countries they would have to think twice about invasion now that the royalty was back on the throne. It was all still and silent. 

From the bottom of the hill, Lucy could tell that no guards were at the gate to the palace, but she still approached it with caution. She wasn't sure if Koshmar was still in charge of the palace, and no doubt he would be on the look out for her if he was. This might be a trap, and she was walking straight into the front doors of it.

As she rapped at the frame of the palace doors, Lucy thought for a moment about how this was a terrible idea. But she didn't have the worry, because no one answered her knocking. After glancing around, she grabbed the door and pulled it open to reveal the dark main room beyond. The moonlight spilled through the shutters, revealing Joon's empty throne at the other end of the room. Its painted wooden back glowed in canary yellow and the cushions sat fluffed and undisturbed. They'd been this way for weeks, ever since Joon disappeared. But soon they would be filled again, and the men of the court would crowd this room as Joon held office once again.

Lucy bit her lip at this vision of the future. It didn't include her, but she hoped it would include a prosperous Strana as the darkness lifted.

Inching forward into the room and closing the door behind her, she wondered where everyone was. She wouldn't be able to find Joon on her own in the warren of rooms, but no servants seemed at hand.

"Heartsore One."

"Mechta," Lucy breathed, the hairs on her arms rising. She spotted the hazy white eyes in the corner by the throne, staring at her from the last of the deep shadows.

"You must come with me," it whispered. Its voice was faint and blurred, and as Lucy took a step forward she realized that the glowing white eyes were dulled and fading.

"Are you all right?" she asked, but the creature didn't answer her question.

"Hurry," it croaked, its white eyes floated down the dim hallways. Lucy followed.

Despite the streets flowing with life and bodies once again, the palace was the opposite. Like a corpse cooling in the night air, its veins and arteries no longer pulsed with life or dreams or hope. It lay empty and stagnant. Lucy and the creature were the only souls visible as they walked through a hallway to a back room where an old chest of drawers sat against the wall. Lucy looked around, expecting to see Joon or Koshmar, but saw nothing.

"Push the drawers away. Hurry. Time is running out."

Panic rose into Lucy's cheeks. "I thought once Joon was back everything would go back to normal. The poison would stop."

The white eyes waved back and forth as the creature shook its head. "It is not that. It is the anger of a hurting heart that threatens him now. Hurry."

Lucy rushed forward and put her hands on one side of the chest. With all her might, she shoved on it until the chest slid across the matted floor and revealed a wooden door set into the floor. Lucy's eyebrows raised as she kneeled down and lifted the door open to reveal a ladder leading down into the depths of darkness.

"Go," the creature said, hovering over her shoulder.

Lucy climbed down the ladder, her lantern swinging on the belt loops of her borrowed trousers. When she reached the rock floor, she struck a match and spread an orange glow across a cave that stretched out in a tunnel that slanted downward. Water dripped from the roof and pooled on the ground, and as Lucy descended into the earth she splashed through water until it filled her boots and chilled her toes.

The glowing white eyes trailed behind her at a distance, fading even more the further they went. Lucy wanted to stop, let it catch up, but her mind filled with images of Joon in trouble and she couldn't force herself to even slow down.

After an amount of time, she finally saw another source of light coming from the end of the tunnel. She snuffed her own lantern and ran the rest of the way, spilling out of her tunnel into the round room that she and Saul and Alisdair had discovered before. The slab of stone still sat in the center, and Joon still lay on it. 

The room burst with magic. It crackled in long lines of light that exploded around the cave walls, fizzling into white sparks that sprinkled across the black water that came up to Lucy's ankles. Red flames danced along the walls, but they were not contained in anything. They burned in the midair, fueled by nothing and never dying down. They carved out shadows across the room, which melted into shapes and figures that were not possible. Demon dogs, Denizens, and other creatures appeared out of the shadows, but it was as if they were not entirely there. They were vague and ill-defined, and though they circled Lucy they could not harm her when they dared to launch at her. It didn't stop Lucy from cringing back.

After she gathered the courage to ignore the shadow creatures, she looked to Joon. He lay on the slab, looking much the same as she remembered from the last time she'd seen him there, but now she saw that his palm was coated in crimson that was drying down to a deeper shade. His wound from the dream knife! She splashed forward through the water, grabbing his hand.

"Lucy."

Her eyes whipped to his face, seeing that he was watching her with eyes that gleamed and danced with the light of the red flames. It was Joon, but it was also the giant bird that had lived to destroy and eat. It was Joon but it was not. It was Prince Joon, the ruler of Strana and the one who did what he had to.

"What happened?" she whispered. "I thought you'd announce your return. The whole country is still in shambles. They need a leader."

"You have to leave, Lucy," he said, and as he spoke she noticed for the first time the tension around his mouth and the way his jaw was tightly set. He was in pain. Intense pain.

Confusion fizzled through Lucy as she tried to identify what would cause him pain. Beyond the slice on his palm, he had no visible wounds. The black veins had retreated from his face, and his black and green clothes looked impeccable. Nothing should be causing the glaze in his eyes or the tensed muscles in his arms.

"Come on," she said, worry burning through her. She grabbed his shoulder, trying to lift him. "Let's get to the palace and they'll make sure you're comfortable. Then we can tell everyone you're back. The city will be so relieved, and the invasions can be staved off."

She yanked on his shoulder but he stayed firmly laying down. In fact, it almost felt as if she couldn't budge him no matter what. It was almost as if he was rooted to the spot. Joon's eyes followed her as she tried shoving his legs off the slab, but they didn't move either. Not even an inch.

"What's going on?" she asked, coming back to stand by his head.

"It's how I'm making up for what I did—"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence. For at that moment, melting from the shadows, Koshmar appeared in the room with an explosion of white sparks that crackled and snapped in the air. Lucy's hair whipped out of her hair tie and floated around her face, as if she was underwater. The air surged around her, clutching at her clothes and groaning like a creature alive.