“The land?” I’m confused again.
“Do you remember when I explained to you how the door between worlds works?” Rhion asks. “How the magic between the regent and the Otherworld itself are deeply intertwined? It means the land must approve of the new ruler. Ferrinus may pierce Bram’s heart, but unless the land feels we have a worthy replacement, we will be left without a ruler and chaos will reign.”
“But that almost definitely won’t happen,” Emmett assures me.
“And we’re not going to stab him in the heart, Rhion,” Lydia scolds. “He’ll abdicate once we present him with his options.”
“A figure of speech!”
Lydia keeps scowling. I’m terrified to ask her what comes after. What if she plans to stay with him?
“None of this works if we don’t have the blade,” I say instead. “Send me to the caves.”
“It’s not possible,” Rhion says. “The caves are a full day’s journey, and Bram will be back any moment now—and not leave for several more weeks, months even. He’ll notice you’re gone.”
The idea hits me like lightning. I bite back a smile. “Then we’ll bring Bram with us.”
I catch Lydia’s eye from across the room and she nods almost imperceptibly, but we’re sisters, which means I can read her mind.
“Convince Bram to make it the second trial. Send us both in.”
It’s not quite dawn when I find Emmett at my door. Daylight is only a vague promise, a pencil-thin outline of orange along the mountains in the distance.
I’m bleary-eyed in a white nightdress, and Emmett looks like something from a dream. In the soft light, he looks so perfect I still find it difficult to believe he’s real.
“What are you doing?” My voice is gravelly with disuse.
“Looking at you,” Emmett says softly as he leans against my doorjamb. His hazel eyes are heavy-lidded with sleep, his mouth full, his tan neck exposed by the open collar of his shirt.
“Then come in and do it properly.”
If this were six months ago, he would have made a joke, said something likeOh, Lady Ivy, what about your reputation?OrAreyou that eager to be ravished by me?
But this new Emmett is as impossible to grasp on to as wisps of smoke. Something haunts him, and his easy jokes have evaporated on the wind.
Plus, he already had me, in the dark of his room in Kensington Palace, when we did something together we can’t ever take back.
My room is dim with only the flickering in the fireplace for light. The fires never seem to need extra fuel here; they just keep on burning.
I suppose it’s a little like how I feel for Emmett. He could give me nothing in return, but the desire I feel for him never lessens.
I crawl back into bed and motion for him to follow. The anxiety over what I might face today in the caves is like a physical weight around my neck, dragging me down.
It wasn’t difficult to convince Bram to make the caves the second trial. Rhion needed only to make Bram think it was his idea. It took a few days of mentioning the caves during dinners and revels before Bram announced his brilliant new idea to court. It took just two days to organize after that. We’ll leave this afternoon, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified, but I’ll be glad to have it over with.
Yesterday, Emmett pulled every book from the library, and still, the only information we could find wasWhat lies within the Isern Caves is pain. Pure, unadulterated pain.
It’s as if any additional details have been intentionally struck from the record.
I don’t relish the idea of feeling pain, but I know it will be temporary. I will take this gladly over another creature suffering on my behalf.
Emmett stands now at the edge of my bed. “Get in.” I pat the mattress.
He slides in without protest. The heat of him next to me is such a relief, my eyes prickle with tears. I’ve been trying to get him alone for days, but he insists spending too much time together at revels, or even walking around the grounds together, is too risky. He’s always glancing behind, like he’s terrified someone is watching him.
“I’m sick about today,” he starts quietly. “I want to run to Nan and Fennick’s and hide you in their attic, or wrench the door back to England open and take you as far from this place as possible.”
But he knows I wouldn’t let him. He knows, because he’s the same as me.
