There was something, though…something Vale could have read that he didn’t want us to know. But she was only an apprentice. How powerful could her communication with the stars be to provide any pertinent information that could spin the tide of Titus’s agenda?
Spirits, my head was pounding. None of it added up, but it hit me with the familiar sting of betrayal.
Two things were true—we couldn’t trust Titus, and we certainly couldn’t trust Vale.
“Why not conduct the sessions and lie?” Cyph finally asked. His eyes narrowed, and I wished I could communicate with him without her hearing, figure this out together.
“I didn’t want to see something tragic and have to hide it.” She shook her head, eyes wide and pleading.
“What tragedy could you have seen that Titus wouldn’t have?” The venom in my voice was palpable, the atmosphere icy.
Vale sucked in a breath, eyes flicking between us. After a moment of contemplation, she exhaled. Beyond the market, the city shuddered through another blast. Voices rose, swords clashed, and these new lies wrapped around me like my former chains, using their iron will to pull me back. To drown me once again.
“We don’t have time for explanations now,” Vale snapped. She shoved past us, pulling a Mystique short sword from her side and marching toward the door. “Get me to the temple and I’ll ask the celestial powers for a way your people can survive this battle.”
Chapter Forty-Nine
Ophelia
Darkness leftme as it had come—first in spots that grew into columns of moonlight piercing the clouds. Then as pricks of feeling returning to my limbs. And finally, a sharp burst of air down my lungs.
I fumbled upright, gasping the crisp night down greedily. But something closed around my throat, quickly forcing me down again.
Kakias’s power pressed my wrists to the cold floor beside my head.
The truth of what she’d done—the deal, the magic she abused—came rushing back to me.
“This is—against all natural—balances—in the world,” I panted, still regaining breath, and kept my eyes on the queen.
“Some things are worth upsetting the precious balance.” Her back was to me, her form blurred, but her voice was high and clear. “If you’d been more coldhearted like I’d advised, you’d have learned that.”
“What’s worth this?” I asked. “What could have been worth the sacrifice that turned you into a heartless monster?”
She froze. “If I am a monster because I sought internal peace and revenge, then you are, too.”
“No,” I spat. She went to lengths I would never consider. Killed thousands, enslaved her armies to whatever cursed magic she wrought from those pools, and laid her vengeance upon the land. I’d never fall to those twisted levels. “There are lines that I’d never dare to cross.”
“Everything in this life costs something, Ophelia,” the queen mused. “Sacrifice is unavoidable.”
“Just because you’re desperate, doesn’t mean your actions are necessary.” I tugged against her hold, but my hands were locked beside my head. The statue of Damien lay in pieces at my side. “You can choose what you’re willing to sacrifice.”
“And I did.” Her voice carried around the chamber as she walked toward me, bouncing off the marble and into the blood-soaked night as she prowled toward me. “I chose what I was willing to lose in order to hang on to what I wasn’t.”
The manic flare in her eyes deepened, her chest rising and falling with the memory of her pain. Dark curls flowed around her shoulders, rising in time with her breaths as she exhaled a phantom power.
“What did you feed it?” I whispered.
“I traded my soul.”
My heart clenched behind my ribs. I didn’t know it was possible to bargain a soul, but it was time I stopped underestimating dark magic. When combined with a ruined heart, corrupted power was the most deadly of poisons. My own weathered soul knew the lengths it would go to in order to obtain its greatest desires. In that, Kakias and I were not that different.
“The thing that ripped me to shreds after I lost what mattered most,” the queen continued. “In exchange, I won secrets to ward off my greatest enemy.”
Fear trickled down my spine. “Who is your enemy?”
“Death.” Her tone went cold with the word—the entire night chilled. The bonds on my wrists tightened. “When I was younger than you are now, I had a child. I was practically still one myself, only eighteen, but it was with a man Itrulyloved. I thought he truly loved me in return—but I was wrong. To him, I was nothing but a means to an end. He knew the power in my heritage; he wanted to use it.”
“He wanted your crown?” It was not uncommon for suitors to appear around heirs, thirsty for a taste of rule. I didn’t see how that ended with us here.
