Nightfire | The Whispering Wall #1 - Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Nova could feel Grace's eyes on her across the room. She had felt them on her a lot recently, and she was sure that most of the time she was imagining it. Once already she had caught herself pretending to sleep to avoid a conversation, only to realise that Grace wasn't in the room at all.
of her felt bad about it; another part argued that it was the safest thing to do. If Faellian ever found out that she and Grace were friends, let alone...whatever else it was that they had, she couldn't guess what he'd do. At the least he would separate them permanently; send Grace to work on the other side of the castle, maybe, or stop Nova from visiting the kitchens. At worst they would be punished severely, and Grace would get fired for it. Though she had been trying not to get too close, the prospect of Grace leaving was bordering on painful.
It terrified her.
Over the years she had had to build armour out of what she had left to her; reminders and lessons she had learnt the hard way, a distance from company that kept her and everyone else safe. She usually didn't have to work too hard for that, but every now and again somebody would come over all charitable and tried to make friends with her anyway, only to realise that nobody had been joking about what a bad idea it was.
Grace, though – Grace was different. And persistent.
"Anara," Faellian snapped. He clicked his fingers in front of her face and she returned to the present, sitting up straight on her stool and trying to look like she hadn't been elsewhere. "We could do without the imbecilic staring, thank you."
"Sorry, my Lord," she whispered. Her eyes flicked over to the corner, where three maids waited with trays, hands folded in front of them. Grace was closest to the table, and she was staring with intent straight at Nova, as if she didn't think it was obvious. Faellian had his back to her, which was one small blessing, but the Lady Kerrin, who was taking tea in the study with him, had a full view. If she had noticed, she hadn't said anything, but it was a risk all the same. Kerrin and Faellian got on well despite differing values, and Nova had never been quite sure what to make of Kiel's head of house. It was always hard to tell what she would or wouldn't support.
The lady had insisted that Faellian allow Nova to eat, however, so she supposed she could put those concerns aside for now.
"Have the other heads of house been made aware of Nerahardt's presence?" Kerrin was saying, delicately stirring herb tea with her spoon. She sat rod straight, the billowing sleeves of her yellow robe folded back to her elbows. She smiled graciously at Nova, who remembered to take a bite of the sugar cake she had been given. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten sugar cake, and whenever it was, she had probably stolen it and been punished. She should have been savouring it, but Grace's staring and the mention of Nerahardt had ruined her appetite.
"As far as I'm aware, everyone knows except the head of Varthi," Faellian replied, "and that's only because nobody can find him. Her. Whoever it is now. Kiel's teeth, it's hard to keep track. It would be much easier if they bothered to come to court more than once a year."
"I daresay it would not affect them overmuch even if they did," Kerrin said. She took a sip of tea. "They never did involve themselves fully in the Annexe War. It's hard to say if they would bother at all with a second one."
Faellian scowled, and Nova fell still. There was something uniquely uncomfortable about sitting in on a discussion about a war one's own people had started. Atrocities had been committed on both sides, but it was the Caelumese who had scuppered all chances of a friendly alliance. Not that she had had anything to do with the fighting; she had trained to fight, but the war had ended before she finished her studies. It wasn't long after that that she had found Jeorge.
"What exactly is the nature of Nerahardt's political involvement?" Kerrin continued. "I'm not entirely clear."
Faellian looked at Nova.
"I don't know his current political status," Nova said. "He used to lead the Broken Bottle movement in Caelum before it was discovered."
"What was the Broken Bottle movement?"
"Political dissent," Nova said. "The principles of the group were founded on the prevention of war. It was against Lucifer's regime, because they believed war would always be a risk with him on the throne."
"Did they plan a coup, then?"
Nova paused, and then said, "Yes."
"But evidently didn't succeed. I see."
The sugar cake couldn't have looked less appetising by this point. Nova stared resolutely at the wall, avoiding all the eyes she felt on her. All the memories of the night she had been cast out bubbled under the surface, waiting for her control to break. The weeks following had been a living horror, things she had pushed to the back of her mind and locked away long ago, but the ongoing searches for the Unspoken's murderer, the arrival of Jeorge, and Grace's persistence had all brought it dangerously close to the surface.
She scratched absently at the raw skin around her slave collar, and to her horror was overwhelmed with the urge to cry. She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried, and she certainly wasn't going to give the lord the pleasure now; it was like swallowing a large rock, but she got herself under control.
"Kiel's house temple has finished stockpiling for the dark season," Kerrin said, after a short silence. Conversation drifted towards safer shores and Nova wasn't called upon again, which she was endlessly grateful for.
Kerrin left soon afterwards. Nova had always envied her elegance, found it fascinating to observe her, but this time she couldn't wait for her to leave. Faellian left to deliver Kerrin's stock registry to his accounts offices, and the three maids set to clearing away the plates and leftovers in his absence. Grace, of course, lingered.
"You can't be this obvious," Nova said, before the girl could get a word in edgeways. "If Kerrin had noticed you staring we could have been in real trouble."
"I can't get your attention unless I'm obvious," Grace said in a low tone, glancing at the door to make sure the lord and the other maids were still gone. "You've been avoiding me."
"I'm chained to a chair most of the time," Nova said, even as she fidgeted with discomfort, "How could I possibly be avoiding you?"
"Is it because I'm a girl?" Grace continued as if she hadn't spoken. "Does it bother you, is that why?"
"No," Nova said. "It's because it's dangerous."
"It can't be just that," Grace snapped, "I do hear things, you know. You defy the lord all the time even when you know you'll get punished."
"That's different."
"How?"
"Because it's only me who gets in trouble," Nova said, her own temper rising. She hated that Grace could do this to her; she had perfected the art of control over the years with Faellian. She never lost her temper. That this otherworld human had dismantled all that work in just a handful of weeks was galling.
"And who are you to make my decisions for me?" Grace retorted. "If I know the risks and decide to take them anyway, the only problem left is you and your... your prudishness."
At this, Nova snorted. "Prudishness? Demonshit. You have no idea of the risks. You haven't even been outside this castle since you arrived. I've lived with Faellian for over a decade and if I say the risks are too big, the risks are too big."
"So that's it, then?" Grace said. "You're throwing it away."
"That's not what I..."
Another maid rushed into the room and she fell abruptly silent.
"What is it, Helta?" Grace asked, looking as pleased about being interrupted as Nova felt. Helta looked between them for a moment, uncertain, but seemed to dismiss it.
"I was told to come and get you," the maid said to Nova. "His lordship wants you downstairs. Yddris and his apprentice have gone missing."
"What?" Grace breathed, as something icy dropped into Nova's stomach. "What do you mean, missing?"
"I don't know. Yddris's old apprentice just arrived, said they were supposed to be back the day before yesterday."
"But that could be...that could be anything, they could just be..." Grace stammered, face milk-white.
"Everyone's really jumpy about it because of the murder," Helta said darkly, oblivious to Grace's distress. She wasn't to know that Yddris's apprentice was Grace's brother, but Nova still wanted to throw a plate at her.
"I'm going," Nova said. She got up.
Helta nodded, uncertain again at the coldness in Nova's tone, and vanished out the door.
"Oh my god." Grace sank into a chair. "Oh my god, Nova, what if something's happened to him? And we argued last time I saw him. I can't believe we argued last time I saw him."
Nova paused. Grace hadn't mentioned this. She hadn't said anything much about the visit.
"What about?"
Grace flushed. "You."
Nova opened her mouth to ask, and then decided not to; she didn't want to know. She walked to the door and then turned. "You coming?"
The foyer was near-deserted at first glance. Lord Harkenn and Nika stood in the middle of the room, conversing in hushed tones, but Nova sensed household staff lingering, hovering around doorways and in corridors in the hope of some gossip. They weren't going to get much since the two men were talking so quietly, but they were trying anyway. As they descended the stairs, Nova looked over the banister, below which she sensed two people hiding, and made sure her chain made enough noise for them to notice. Two maids looked up at her in alarm, squeaked, and ran off down the servants' passage under the stairs.
Faellian turned around. His next words were for the entire room. "If you are not explicitly authorised to be here, return to your duties immediately, please."
From all around the foyer, in its hidden corners and exits, was the quiet susurration of cloth and whispering as the staff scattered. The lord looked hard at Grace for a long moment, but when she didn't move he turned away. Nova felt the girl's sigh of relief ruffle her hair from behind.
"Well met," Nika said as they approached. He sounded calm, but his gloved hands were clasped tightly in front of him, and he was almost imperceptibly shaking. His aura was a riot of fear and worry.
"It isn't uncommon for Yddris to disappear for several days," Faellian said. "But in the light of recent events and the fact that his apprentice is also suspiciously absent, I'll gather a search party for them straight away."
"He wouldn't leave for so long without telling me, my lord," Nika said. "Certainly not with Jordan. The boy isn't well enough to stay away for days at a time."
"What do you mean?" Grace interrupted. "That he's not well enough? Is he ill? He didn't tell me he was ill."
Nova shot her a warning glance, but either Faellian was feeling lenient or he was too distracted to care about her speaking out of turn. A moment later he strode away in the direction of the barracks.
Nika was clearly picking his words out carefully, his aura coloured by caution. "He isn't ill in the sense that you are probably thinking. He has...struggled to adjust. Which is perfectly understandable, of course, but he's prone to nightmares and I suspect he sleeps infrequently. He worries. Some days he seems...hollow."
"Oh." Grace looked horrified. "He didn't tell me any of this."
"I'm sure he just didn't want you to worry about him."
"He should have told me. He should have explained. I thought...I knew.... I knew he was struggling, but he seemed to be...coping, I don't understand why he wouldn't..."
Nika didn't respond. Grace drew in a shuddering breath.
"I'm such an arsehole. I'm a terrible sister. And now he's fucking missing, oh my god..."
"Stop it." Nova pulled Grace's hands away from her face, forgetting for a moment that Nika was standing there and that the lord could return at any minute. "Stop it."
Grace's fingers curled around hers and squeezed, and she took a deep breath as her forehead came down to rest on Nova's collarbone. Nova froze. She was so warm and...damp? She glanced down at Grace's head and then looked up at the ceiling, waiting for the floor to swallow her. It didn't oblige.
"Thank you," Grace said, straightening and letting go of her hands. Though her face was still pink, she looked in control of herself. Nova had expected to feel relief, but all she felt was a strange kind of regret. She cursed it all. Her emotions didn't feel like they were hers anymore.
She darted a glance at the Unspoken, whose aura had lost its caution and was now tinted with something warm she didn't see often. Not often enough to have ever put a name to it. She frowned. Nothing about him suggested that they had done something he disapproved of – that he had even noticed anything. She didn't know him well enough to know what that meant, or if he could be trusted not to tell Faellian.
"I saw nothing," he said softly, and it was evident in his voice that he was smiling.
She narrowed her eyes and cleared her throat. "Good."
Nika only chuckled.
She stepped back from Grace as Faellian reappeared, walking at the head of a small squad of guards.
"You alert the stables," he said to one, and the man clicked his heels and peeled away from the group, down the corridor towards the courtyard entrance. "Go and mount up, we're leaving immediately."
The rest of the guards left as a unit, marching in rhythm in the same direction. Faellian turned to the three of them. Nova searched his aura fleetingly for any sign that he'd noticed anything between her and Grace, but the lord's emotions were too jumbled to tell. He scanned each of them, gaze searching, before he said, "I suppose you should all come."
"You're going too, my Lord?" Nika asked, surprised.
"Who else is going to lead it?" Faellian replied. "Anyone who lays hands on Unspoken is an immediate suspect in the case, as well. And if either of them have a single scratch I want to see heads roll. Come."
He strode off after the guards, leaving them to catch up. Nova looked down at the shift she was wearing and the fact that she wasn't trussed up like livestock. She'd never left the castle in the same state Faellian usually kept her in, and it was hard to believe he'd stopped caring now.
She hadn't minded, either, particularly; the shift didn't leave a huge amount to the imagination.
"You can have one of my dresses," Grace said. She had stopped after a few steps, turning back when Nova didn't move. "I'll go and get you one. Don't leave without me."
She hurried off towards the kitchens.
"She's very like her brother," Nika said, beginning to walk away and gesturing for Nova to walk beside him. Despite the chaos in his aura, his voice was calm and measured. His hands hadn't stopped shaking. "Albeit more.... The word escapes me."
"Stubborn?" Nova suggested dully.
"Forward, I think is the word," Nika said. Amusement flickered through his aura briefly, before the worry chased it out again. "Trust me, Jordan puts up some stiff competition when it comes to stubbornness." He drew in a shaking breath. "Night take me, I hope they're alright."
They walked the rest of the way to the stables in silence, Nova unsure what to say. She was used to Yddris, but had never had all that much to do with Nika before he took the black cloak. She was almost startled by how serene and warm he was, considering how strange and cold his aura was. It wasn't like anything she had seen before.
Nova dragged her feet when they reached the stables, which were in chaos. The lord was berating a stable hand nearby, and she was quite eager to stay out of the way of his bad mood as far as possible. She turned when someone came up behind her, and Grace pushed a bundle of clothing into her hands. "Want me to help you get it on?"
Nova scowled, and Grace turned bright pink. "Not like that, Christ. Come on."
She took Nova by the hand and dragged her around the corner of the stable block. Her cheeks were oddly shiny, as if she'd been crying again, but Nova pretended she hadn't seen it.
"You know this will get people talking," she muttered, turning around so Grace could tie the straps of the frock behind her neck.
"You know I don't care."
"You should." She turned around, but the rest of her words scrambled themselves together in her head when she found Grace closer than expected. "R-rumours are dangerous."
Grace only smiled and disappeared back inside the stables, leaving Nova to put herself back together. Grace's dress was too big for her in every respect except length; the hem of the skirt rubbed around her calves as she walked, but it was better than turning out in little more than a scrap of cloth with holes in. The stable hand had escaped Faellian's wrath and the lord was scanning the crowd from on top of his horse. As she came into view, his gaze found her and his nostrils flared.
"Where did that dress come from?" he snapped, pulling her onto the horse behind him with a force that almost dislocated her arm. "Actually, never mind, I don't care."
He kicked his horse into a trot, leading the guards out into the courtyard and through the gatehouse. Nika drew up beside them, a few steps behind out of respect, looking perfectly comfortable riding a horse. Nova had only seen Yddris ride a horse once, and ever since that time the Unspoken had walked with the lord's procession.
There had been a lot of swearing that day.
People dived out of the way as the group barrelled down the main street towards the merchant's quarter. It was easier to keep her balance when her hands weren't tied, but the horse's speed soon had her holding onto the cantle to stay in the saddle. She glanced behind her. Grace was on the back of a soldier's horse a few feet behind, and it was obvious she'd never ridden before. If the situation hadn't been so dire, Nova might have laughed.
"Halt!" Faellian cried. The horse stumbled to a stop. They had reached the market square, which was now filled with ringing silence, a circle in the crowd forming around the figures in the centre.
"Jordan!" Grace shrieked, and a moment later she ran past and threw herself at the figure in brown, who staggered under her weight.
"Thank goodness," Nika murmured, also dismounting. "Yddris."
"Didn't need to roll out the cavalry for us, Nika," Yddris muttered as he approached. "Well met, my lord."
Faellian sat stiff in the saddle. "Are you injured?"
"Only minor wounds, my lord. The boy needs looking at."
Faellian got down from the horse. Slowly, he extended a hand, and after a pause he and Yddris gripped elbows. The lord cleared his throat. "Where were you?"
"I never left the inn we were visiting at the time of the incident, but I found Jordan in a dockside warehouse on the far side of the river."
"Near the East Way?"
"Yes, sir."
"Search it," Faellian barked, turning to the soldiers still mounted behind them. "Search the whole area."
The soldiers all saluted, then wheeled and left. With a glance at Faellian's back, Nova twisted in the saddle and quietly slipped off the horse. In the past, she would have taken this opportunity to run for it, but she'd long since learned that someone would always bring her back. Instead, she approached Grace and Jordan. Jordan's aura was strange; his magic was more erratic than ever, only held in check by Yddris's control, but his emotions had gone flat. Shock, she guessed. And he was in pain; more pain than he was admitting to.
Caution coloured the flatness as she approached. His eyes followed her from the gloom of his cowl. "Hello."
Grace turned, wiping tears off her face with the heels of her palms, and then she blushed, looking between Nova and her brother.
"You should really get that looked at," Nova said in a neutral tone. Jordan's eyes widened, hand flying to the side of his head.
"How did you....Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I will. I think it was a brick."
"Think what was a brick?" Grace shrieked, reaching up to try and tug his hood down.
"Grace, come on, stop...I'm going, I'm going...."
Before he allowed Grace to drag him over to Nika, however, Jordan glanced around and shuddered. Nova followed his gaze, just as a shadow on a nearby roof ducked out of sight.