And there it was, Aveline’s simmering resentment laid bare between them. Raised as Ava Stone far from the palace while her mothers fought for independence, unknowingly orphaned in a single dragon attack, and brought to the throne by a twelve-year-old Faron on a mission from the gods. And once the war was over, she became the teen queen of San Irie, fumbling around on an international stage, while the Childe Empyrean retired home to Deadegg to rest.
Faron had always known precisely why Aveline hated her so much, but it still stung to have it thrown in her face right now.
“Yourmothersbrought you into this when they had you. Don’t blame me for what’s always been in your blood,” she snapped. “And the gods are the ones who handed you a queendom for you to build. If you’re unhappy with how you’ve built it, that’s your own problem. Tellthemyou’d rather have lived on your stupid farm until itwent up in flames.”
“I guess we’re both masters at dodging responsibility for our actions,” said Aveline in an acidic tone. “Or were you not the one who prayed to the gods for their help in the first place?”
Loads of people prayed to the gods during the war, Faron wanted to shout.It’s not my fault they decided to answerme.They’d admitted that hers was the first prayer they’d heard, but she had been a twelve-year-old girl. A twelve-year-old brat, if she were being honest. They should have waited for another prayer. Elara would have been the better choice, or maybe even Aveline herself.
But it was Faron’s prayer that had been answered, and now they were all trapped.
“Maybe I did pray to them,” she said. “But you’re not the only one who didn’t know what they were signing up for back then. I just wanted the fighting to stop.”
Something softened in Aveline’s expression—not much, but enough for the tension to bleed out of the room.
“So do I, Empyrean. So do I.” Aveline set the book atop her desk with gentle hands. She crossed the room to her vanity mirror and began rubbing oil into her tangled curls. “Let’s hope my trip proves successful. I’ll see you when I return.”
Recognizing a dismissal when she heard one, Faron stepped toward the door. She felt as if there were more that she should say, but her mind was empty. Maybe they would never truly get along. Maybe they would never stop resenting each other for how their lives had turned out. Maybe the only thing they would ever have in common was wanting the fighting to end. But if this was the last time she saw Queen Aveline Renard Castell, she was at least glad it was on these terms.
A temporary cease-fire. An unbroken trust.
As she slipped into the hallway, Faron knew the latter was something she barely deserved. There was always a chance that Aveline’s trip would prove successful and they would avoid a second war, but it was just as likely that they wouldn’t. And Elara was still bound to a dragon in the enemy country, just as trapped as Aveline and Faron were. Months had passed since Faron had promised to save her, but time had officially run out. It was now or never.
And after all those months, Faron had only uncovered one surefire way to keep her promise.
Reeve was standing outside of her room when she returned toit, his puzzled expression melting into relief when he caught sight of her. “Hey. I was wondering where you went. We all thought you were dead.”
“Hey,” she replied. “I need you to be both a researcher and a liar.”
“Am I going to like this?”
“Not even a little bit.”
Reeve studied her in silence for a moment, searching for answers that she knew he wouldn’t find. There was nothing left inside her but determined resignation, the intense focus that only came when you knew that your options were limited and there was only a very small window for victory. She could do this without Reeve Warwick. But after everything they’d been through, after everything he’d witnessed, she wanted him by her side for this.
“All right,” Reeve finally said. “Tell me what you need me to do.”
PART IV
SACRIFICE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
FARON
AS SOON ASFARON STEPPED OUT OF HER ROOM, THE NUMBER OFQueenshield who looked her way made it obvious that Aveline had warned her private guards to be on the alert for any of her shenanigans. Thankfully, they didn’t follow her around as she planned exactly that, thoughshenanigansseemed like too light a word for what she wanted to do. Aveline would not support her leaving Pearl Bay Palace, let alone releasing a trapped god for at least long enough to save Elara. But Reeve hadn’t tried to talk her out of it, and, even if he was blinded by his own love for Elara, how bad an idea could it be if a notorious killjoy was willing to lend a hand?
In Nobility’s absence, drakes Valor and Liberty had taken up residence in the airfield. Reeve looked them both up in the library to help with her scheme. Liberty, emerald green and the first drake ever built, had all four pilots replaced a few years ago, their names listed in the royal records. Valor, butter yellow and the last drake ever built, had just gained its pilots in the last few months, after the library book had been printed.
“I have a better chance with Valor,” Faron told Reeve when hebrought this to her. “They’re new, which means they’re young, which means they’re stupid, eager to please, and probably won’t recognize you.”
Reeve’s eyebrows lowered judgmentally. “I think they’ll still recognize me.”
“I guess you’ll have to bereallycommanding, then.”
A fluffy curtain of clouds had covered the sun when they set off down the hill to the landing strip, inviting the breeze from the nearby ocean to cool their skin. Faron couldn’t bear to strap herself back into the Empyrean chain-mail dress from the Summit, so she’d selected a salt-white day dress that billowed around her legs as they approached the sole pilot by the drake. It was a girl who couldn’t have been more than two years older than Faron, her thick hair in two large braids on either side of her head. She appeared to be setting up a game of dominoes on an overturned wooden chicken crate.
Reeve strode with confidence across the airfield. The girl caught sight of him immediately, but she made no move to get up.
