The crowd’s jubilation was a crescendo in my heart. I drifted down among a cacophony of noise, and though the wordsDuskland Dauphinewere repeated more than once, I couldn’t tell whether the intonation was favorable or murderous.
I hoped I had time to find out. Already the shadow illusion was breaking apart at the edges—Haze and Shade had agreed they wouldn’t be able to make something so big last for more than a few minutes. I had to hope it was enough.
I alit at the base of the podium. I pushed the radius of my moonlight wider, until it encompassed the coronation dais, Gavin and his men, and the first few rows of spectators. In the light of my illusion, Gavin looked wan and bewildered. It was Arsenault who frightened me—his face was pinched almost to breaking, his eyes flaring with unnatural light. I swallowed, and looked away from them both toward the crowd.
“For those of you who have not yet recognized me, I introduce myself!” I called out, pitching my voice and carrying it to those beyond the radius of my light. “You know me as theDuskland Dauphine, but I have many names. Some of those names are ugly:assassin, usurper, kinslayer.When I joined the court of Coeur d’Or they named me Mirage, but though it is a name I have carried for months now, it no longer describes me. I am no faint illusion bound to disappear, but a desire you did not know you held, a promise of something better, and a dream of a world that might just be impossible. I am Sylvie Sabourin, daughter of Sylvain, sister of Severine, and true Sun Heir!”
The cacophony of sound was a jumble of cheers and boos and confusion.
“The Ordeals of the Sun Heir are not yet finished!” I threw my hands up to silence the crowd. My illusion of the Soul Relic glittered. “Many of you watched the Ordeals. You watched me lose one, then win another. But you must have wondered when I disappeared. Perhaps you thought I quietly ceded the throne to the so-called true Sun Heir, my distant cousin Gavin d’Ars. Perhaps you thought I grew afraid of losing, and fled. Perhaps you thought I succumbed to the third Ordeal, and died without witness in the Oubliettes. But none of those things are what truly happened. The truth is much more dire.”
I turned on my heel and pointed a glittering, trembling finger at Gavin. “I accuse your so-called Sun Heir of treachery most foul! Not only did he cheat in the most holy Ordeals with a nefarious legacy he kept hidden from the world, but he sent an assassin to dispatch me while I lingered in the third Ordeal. An assassin masked in red and armed with a blasphemous sword—Sainte Sauvage himself! These Red Masks who for a span have terrorized your city, destroyed your homes and businesses, radicalized your youth, and pressured your conversions? They are in league with this pretender, this usurper—this treacherous Gavin d’Ars of Aifir.”
Gavin mouthed something to a furious Arsenault, but I couldn’t hear him over the sound of the crowd beginning to jostle against the line of Husterri at the base of the rostrum. He ran a thumb over the crown Relic looped onto his belt, then his hand went to the hilt of the sword Relic. My ambric Relic pulsed over his heart, but he didn’t touch it. He crossed the stage and grabbed my arm, roughly. I dug my heels in and yanked, but he had the advantage of height and strength.
“Scion’s teeth, Mirage, what are you playing at?”
“This is no game.” I pulsed my illusory moonlight as bright as I could. It clashed against his kembric armor and blinded us both. His hand slackened—I flung myself away from him, silver paint flaking away from my skin.
“But the Ordeals aren’t over,” I cried, loud enough for the crowd to hear. “There is still one Relic left to be won—Meridian’s lost Soul Relic!”
Again Gavin’s hand lingered at the sword Relic, but my words made him falter. “You lost the Ordeals—youdisappeared—”
“I was afraid for my life!” I screamed. “But I tell you now—I will run no longer. Just as the mythic Moon grew weary of her perilous flight from the wicked Sun, so too will I turn and face you in the dim.” I threw my arms back, exposing the expanse of my bare, glittering chest. Scraps of darkness drifted around me, kissing my arms and teasing my hair. “This is the only way to claim your misbegotten place as Sun Heir. Do not hide behind masked assassins and shadowed hallways. Bear the burden of your crown and follow the impulse of your soul.Earnthe last Relic, so you may rule in glory.”
Fury and confusion tangled on my cousin’s face. He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. I shuddered with his indecision. If he refused my challenge to return to the Ordeals, he’d lose his legitimate claim—he’d lose thepeople.But if he agreed to return to the Oubliettes for the final Ordeal … well, then I’d have to admit I didn’t really have the diamond Relic. And I’d be finished.
“Kill her.” Arsenault’s voice croaked over Gavin’s shoulder. “And be done with this upstart bastard for good.”
I heard theshinkof metal leaving its sheath. An inch of red dristic showed above leather. Gavin’s hand trembled. He took a shuddering breath, then loosed it. His shoulder slumped. He half turned toward Arsenault, a look of desperation blundering across his face.
“I can’t do it,” he whispered, almost plaintive.
Arsenault’s expression turned livid. He made a sudden sweeping motion with his hands, as though he was gathering moonlight and shadows into his arms. The air twisted in a sudden stranglehold. For a frantic moment, I couldn’t breathe.
When I shot a panicked glance out into the crowd, I almost wished I couldn’t.
I saw upturned faces frozen in a multitude of expressions: bewilderment, anger, excitement, fear. Limbs caught in impossible angles: gripping fists and lofted hands and stomping feet. Scraps of fading moonlight danced with broken spears of sunlight. And silence.
Silence like death. Silence like emptiness.
Silence like time itself had stopped.
“How—?” I jerked my hands in front of my face just to prove I could. I slashed my eyes to Gavin, who gazed at the crowd with a mixture of terror and awe. We both turned to Arsenault at the same time, and the older man stood taller beneath our regard.
“You?”I breathed.
“Godfather?” Gavin said at the same time.
Arsenault stalked forward, batted Gavin’s boneless hand away from his belt, and jerked the dristic Relic out of its scabbard. Arsenault smiled, brittle and piercing. The blade sang, inscribing a shining arc of red in the air. I stepped away a moment too late—the point came to rest at the base of my throat. Its kiss was sharp.
“Félix!” Gavin shouted, outrage heating his voice. “What are you doing?”
He launched himself at his godfather, grappling at his arms and trying to wrench the blade from his grip. Arsenault barely blinked as he incapacitated Gavin—two sharp blows to his throat, a well-aimed kick to his stomach, a foot hooked around his ankle. Gavin went sprawling to the floor, clutching at his neck and gagging. The sword barely wavered from my neck.
“You idiot,” Arsenault said to me, grim. “You couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could you?”
“It was you.” Bile burst hot in my chest and climbed my working throat. He had alegacy—he had the power tostop time.“Scion, it was you who made me lose the first Ordeal. It was you who tried to kill me in the Oubliettes. Are you Sainte Sauvage too?”
