Energy flows through my body like a wind through barren trees. I think of Castletree, of uniting my magic with my brothers’as we poured it back into the home that shielded us. Magic ripples out of my body and into him.
George gasps, and I lean him away from me. He blinks, his blue eyes clear. “Keldarion?”
A delighted cackle sounds, and I look up to see Melinora holding up George’s thread. It shimmers with blue light, the black rot gone. “Such a strange little life!” Her button eyes turn to us. “Go on, go on, almost there now! Almost at the Golden Thread!”
George and I smile at each other. I help him to his feet, and he rubs his chest. “Anya.”
Then he takes off, sprinting as if he were a young man. I sigh, muscles sore from carrying him for hours, and follow suit. Round and round we run, the green spiral pathway getting tighter and tighter. Anticipation bubbles within me. With each breath, I feel the pulsing energy in the air, propelling me forward. I can’t even keep up with George.
We round another bend and …
The passageway opens up. An open-air chamber stands before us, punctured by four huge green crystals that emit a glow across the stone. Glowing, translucent green walls stand between all of the crystals, forming a box of phantasmal energy.
The world is silent. Neither George nor I breathe. Even my heart seems to slow.
There’s only one thing to do.
I fall to my knees in a bow.
Because trapped within the cage is Aurelia, Queen of the Enchanted Vale.
CHAPTER 83
Dayton
My mate, Wrenley hovers above me, waiting for me to pass my Blessing.
I must do it to protect Delphie.
I reach out my arm to touch Wrenley when something catches the light. Something bright, hovering just beside the sun.
The light burning my eyes isn’t the sun at all. It’s the Orb of Ancestors. What, does Kairyn not think this knight will be enough to end me? He has to bring out some of the ancients to finish me off as well?
The orb sparks, jagged lines of light shooting out at all angles.
“Dayton,” Wrenley says, her face flashing. “We have to do this now. The Bronze Knight won’t wait.”
“Hold on …” I rasp because there’s another voice trying to break through.
I stare at the orb as it circles and spins. No warriors of light emerge, but there is something else emanating from it.
Energy, magic, light—
Never in a million years did I think I’d see little Daytonales on his back in the arena.
That voice, I know that voice. It’s Damocles.
Don’t fear, he’s just lying in wait to surprise his enemy,Decimus says.
Wrenley and the Bronze Knight don’t react. They can’t hear my brothers. I must be closer to the afterlife than I thought.
This can’t be the kid who bested me.
I recognize that voice too. Lucretia the Swift, a fierce gladiator from the past with unmatched speed and agility. I beat her spiritwhen I was still but a child, becoming the youngest champion to prevail against a warrior of light.
“Dayton!” Wrenley shakes my shoulders frantically. “Don’t die before you pass your Blessing.”
There’s so much blood around me now. Blood like the ancestors shed. For thousands of years, the blood of the gladiators of Summer has soaked into the sand. They’ve given their bodies and spirits to this sacred space. In return, the crowd offers their excitement, their energy. It’s symbiotic in a way, like a High Ruler’s relationship with Castletree.
