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Chapter 118: The Isles in Ruins

Maeve

Keaton was standing with his arms crossed, peering up at the ceiling of the sprawling foyer of the castle of Poldesse. The ceiling was gone, however, having crumbled away long ago. Vines had taken over the entire area, and the walls were covered in graffiti. I thought it rather artistic, especially the more colorful graffiti with even more colorful language.

Troy, however, was deeply stressed.

“Your dad did this on purpose. He’s testing us-” he huffed, kicking pieces of fallen sheetrock as we walked through the remains of the castle.

“What? Was he the one who ripped this place apart?” I said as I ran my fingers along the banister of the wide marble staircase as we started up the stairs.

“No, but he knew how much work was needed when he sent us here-”

“It was a hurricane, roughly fifteen years ago now. Tore the roof right off the castle, just like that,” Keaton interjected, snapping his fingers.

“Good Goddess, a hurricane did this?” | gasped, looking around at the destruction.

“It wasn’t nearly that bad. Negligence is the cause of this,” Troy said curtly, grabbing me by the elbow as he led me over a mass of vines that snaked down a wide, shadowed hallway.

“This is insane,” I breathed as the three of us continued our inspection of the castle. It was a huge building, at least twice the size of the castle Drogomor, but in such a state I thought it unlikely we’d be able to live in it any time soon, if at all. Some rooms were definitely livable and had been used in at least the last year or so, but I wasn’t sure I wanted the boys there when part of it was in this state of disrepair.

“Did Damian live here?” | asked as we walked through a huge bedroom with glass still in the windows and the wood floors still intact.

“Yeah, he did. Once he left the house Soren used to live in when he was in charge here, apparently, or so I’m told. The northern wing of the castle is in good shape, from what I can tell. But there’s no running water or electricity=” Troy began, testing a light switch along the wall. Keaton pursed his lips, his arms still crossed over his chest as he looked out the window to the sea below.

“I say raze the place and start over. It’s falling into the sea.”

| “I think it’s our only option,” Troy agreed, but I could tell it wasn’t what he wanted to do. He was troubled by the notion

of tearing the castle down, but it went further than us needing a place to live.

“What if we didn’t? What if we mended it?” | asked, looking from Keaton to Troy.

Keaton laughed, but Troy looked at me, his eyes boring into mine.

“It could take us years-”

“This castle has been here for hundreds of years. It’s a landmark, surely. We can’t just tear it down and build some thing new. I know that’s not what you want.”

Troy’s mouth twitched at the corner, fighting back a smile.

was one problem, however. A problem

paused, clearing his throat. “Well, I have money, but

t-”

down on the edge of the bed. A puff of dust came up off the bare mat tress when he sat. “Romero hid his money somewhere. It’s not in the bank of Avondale. It’s

sat covered in dust, their contents having gone ran cid long ago. I wondered who this room had belonged to,

had his own sources of income. That’s gone too, likely plundered away by his cronies in his absence. I don’t think he had much, anyway, based

made such an awful mess of things. If he had taken a moment to inspect the content of those vases, like you said, he would’ve found enough gold to repair the whole of the Isles-” | tapered off as the energy in the room shifted, and turned very slowly from the vanity, catching the silent exchange that

against the wall near the windows. “We know the way, I have that haunted

| cried, turning my attention to Troy, who only shrugged. “I-I have an inheritance, I’m sure. We

dad”

for money, Maeve. This might be part of his territory, but Damian is the one who ficked it up,” Troy said sternly, shaking his head. “This is the only way, and plus, the riches in

going with you, obviously,” I started, my cheeks color ing

be Luna. And be with the boys. Keaton and I can handle

at him, then turned to Keaton, who arched

idea, princess,”

“It wasn’t an idea-”

for the rest

hands on my hips, “is who is going

simple,” Keaton replied, a broad grin on his face.

“Tempest? The High Priestess?”

added, a similar smile touching his mouth. “The Church wanted the artifacts to begin with, that’s how Tasia and Carl got Grace to betray your father. Tempest will buy them from us, and we won’t undersell,

them, shaking my head, but I couldn’t deny the look

I was ready for

is the

dusty, dank air of the decrepit castle, and

bit out, glaring

somewhere for you ladies and the young princes to live while we’re gone.”

where exactly is that going to be? I asked, following Troy and Keaton out of the room. Troy looked over his shoul der at me, a smile touching

explain everything over lunch,” he said, and we

nothing I had ever seen before. Large mansions made of pure marble rose from the palm trees atop a large

down, the gardens overgrown and the drive, which hadn’t seen a car driven up the wide, sand colored street in ages, was cracked and split from rich green grasses growing between the splinters in the pavement. It was,

in the mansions despite

inhabitants of the neighborhood were the once wealthy elite of the Isles, many of whom had pledged loyalty to Romero at one point in time. But those who were loyal to Romero were very old now, judging by the

fashion.

him up. A man roughly my father’s age came bounding out of their house, waving at me apologetically as he leaned to whisper harshly in the ear of the man I assumed

Tin

his son said didn’t seem to persuade the old man to move on, however. He opened the gate to their garden and started forward, swatting at his