And suddenly I understand. “That medallion had nothing to do with the binding enchantment.”
“Clever, as always, Alyce. And correct. The Etherians thought it entertaining to imprison us here together.” He taps the medallion. “This contains her spirit.” He takes a breath. Releases it and closes his eyes. “Mortania.”
Each syllable spears down my spine like a lightning rod, setting every nerve aflame. My Vila magic shivers, that strange connection between us thrumming.
“I nearly forgot the taste of her name. Like dark wine and rich blood.” Kal licks his lips. “I waited centuries for just the right vessel.” Gently, he places the necklace on the floor. “I was close once. But I am glad she did not suffice. You—so perfect. A Shifter as well as Vila.” He looks at me like a starving man regards a feast. “Perhaps I might even see her face again.”
“I was close once.” There’s only one other Vila I know of who had ever entered this tower—my mother. Kal claimed that Lynnore had been almost strong enough to free him, but not quite. That she was thrown into the sea on the day they were meant to escape Briar together—with me. He let me believe that her killers were the same people who trapped him here. That he couldn’t tell me who they were because of the enchantment. But the horrible truth spreads through me like winter frost crackling over a windowpane.
“You murdered her.” The words scrape against my throat. “You tossed her out of this tower and let her drown.”
“Lynnore was weak.” Kal looms over me. The walls groan against the anger of the storm. “She did not appreciate the power I laid at her disposal. Once it became clear that she would not be able to break my bonds, she decided to leave without me. It was not safe in Briar for her child.” His jaw sets. “I did what needed to be done. You were Vila and Shifter. A powerful mix. And that mix needed to stay here, where I could mold and shape you. True, it was a gamble as to whether the people of Briar would execute you. Whether you would ever find me. But I won in the end. And Lynnore would never have trained you the way I could.”
The sea hurls itself against the rock.
“We’ll never know,” I fire back. My magic is too weakened by the shadow chains to be of use, but it wants to go. It practically broils beneath my skin, aching to wrap itself around Kal’s neck. “I could have had a mother. My entire life could have been different. You took that from me.”
“You are just as shortsighted as she was. I give you the greatest power in centuries—”
“It’s my power!” I shout, thrashing harder.
Kal throws his head back and laughs. “No, pet. Not the feeble abilities I coaxed out of you these past months. Like pulling pig’s teeth, I might add. Those are nothing compared to what is to come.”
A fresh lash of shame scores my heart. Kal was never proud of me, then. Never believed my gift was something of value. He’d only used me. Found those sore spots on my soul and exploited them. And I let him.
“So long I waited. Hoped. Dreamed. And today it happens.” His hungry look returns.
My mouth goes dry, heart skidding to a stop as everything Kal has told me clicks into place. The Etherians imprisoned him here with the Vila, her spirit locked inside the medallion. He’s been waiting for another of her kind. Someone strong enough to—
“Kal, don’t—”
But it’s too late. With a manic grin, Kal picks up his boot and brings it down hard on the gem. There is the sound of glass crunching. An unholy wail. And then everything goes dark.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
I don’t know how long I’m unconscious. Everything hurts, my muscles throbbing in time to the pounding in my head. There’s a high, tinny ringing in my ears, and a low, rumbling noise like a growl. A hazy shape floats over me. I manage to blink once, twice. But even that small movement is rusty and stiff.
“Mortania.” A voice croons. A soft touch brushes my forehead. My cheeks. “My love. Is that you?”
Mortania. The name is familiar. Is it mine? Heat surges behind my sternum and webs outward. I squeeze my eyes shut. Open them again. The hazy shape sharpens into focus.
Kal.
I am not Mortania. I am Alyce. The growl I heard when I woke is the storm breaking land. Sleet and hail ping against the stones of the chamber. Shards of the medallion’s strange glass remain on the floor, tendrils of hemlock smoke curling between them.
Kal frowns. “Mortania?”
Once again, a charge shoots through me. And I think I hear the echo of a voice, the same one that I’d heard in my Lair when Aurora and I had attempted to summon the Vila. It is screaming, but I can’t make out the words.
Kal rises abruptly, angrily from his place beside me.
“This is impossible.” He grinds his teeth, pacing. “I saw the magic enter your body. She should be here. She should be you.”
So I’d been right. He wanted to release the Vila’s soul into my body in order to resurrect her. I smile, the corners of my dry lips cracking. “I’m sorry to disappoint you. She’s not here.”
It’s a lie. Something is changed inside me. I can feel it in the humming of my bones. In the thickness of my blood and the molten, foreign current rushing like a second heartbeat through my limbs. But I take great satisfaction in the way Kal tenses, nostrils flaring. Centuries of plotting and waiting come to nothing.
His anger pours out of him. He picks up a cobweb-covered stool and hurls it across the room. It connects with the wall and bursts into pieces. A scrap of jagged wood lands dangerously close to my face. He does the same to a chair. Smashes a table as well.
“Alyce?”
Every fiber
