Eira’s ears were ringing. She’d been right, the Pillars were doing things on their own time. But not in the way she’d expected. “No, no, that’s not…”
“Wait, you…you’re the one who can hear the echoes.” Yonlin stared up at her. His lip quivered. “Wynry said she’d gifted you a message.”
Eira staggered back. She leaned against the wall for support. Her heart and her breaths were picking up.
No.
No,no.
The Pillars had known she could listen to echoes. She’d shown them how her magic worked. They’d given her the stonehopingshe would listen. Hoping she would tell Deneya and throw them off their real plans.
“And I sent knights and shadows away. I contributed to the chaos.” The image of the riders leaving town was seared on her eyes. It was all she could see. There had to still be knights here, but they were likely now stretched thin—focused on the royals alone, not prowling the arena for a threat they didn’t think was there.
“Yonlin, are you sure?” Olivin grabbed his brother.
“It was all she talked about the last time she came to me! They’re hiding the flash beads in the pillars underneath the box. Little by little, so no one would notice.”
Eira thought of the construction she’d seen. Of Ducot saying that workers were constantly going in and out at night and patching every crack. The fact that, in all their searching, they couldn’t find a large cache of flash beads anywhere. All the fresh mortar with runes to strengthen…not the coliseum, but the explosion. All the clues were there, dismissed or misunderstood.
Olivin looked to Eira, panic across his face. “We have to warn them.”
She pushed away from the wall. She couldn’t let fear freeze her. This was her fault. Just like Yonlin had been. She had to fix this. She had to do something right.
“I’ll go to the royals’ box,” Fritz volunteered.
“Uncle, no.”
“I’m faster than I look, Eira.”
“But—”
“You would do it for Alyss,” he cut her off. “Vhalla Solaris is my Alyss.”
“The empress is here? Now?” Eira whispered. She’d hoped their absence meant they hadn’t made it.
“Allthe royals are,” he said gravely. “The treaty was supposed to be signed tomorrow. But if they’re signing it now…”
“Then all the royals will be there already,” she finished with horror. Ulvarth had maneuvered Vi into rushing everyone to the arena, ensuring things happened too quickly for them to take any precautions. He was making a fool of them, showing their weaknesses to all those gathered right before he dealt the final blow.
“Go.” Olivin stood. “I’ll get to Deneya. Yonlin, you get out of here.”
“And go where?”
“Anywhere hidden and safe by the main road, near the Risen side of Warich.” It was the furthest place from the coliseum.
“I want to stay and—”
“Do it, Yonlin,” Eira encouraged. “I wish I listened to my older brother more while I could.”
Yonlin stood with Olivin.
“Eira, go warn the competitors,” Olivin instructed. She nodded. He was out the door in a blur. Yonlin was behind, but much slower.
Eira was fighting to keep down the contents of her stomach. “Uncle, my parents…”
“We’re going to keep them safe—everyone safe.” Fritz gave her a squeeze and was gone.
Eira stumbled forward, leaning against the doorframe. Trumpets blared and she let out a scream of frustration in tandem. Her eyes burned worse than her legs as she began to run. Sprinting through the halls. Every crack, patched with lumpy mortar…globs the size of flash beads.
