“You feel her magic less?”
His head dipped, the early-morning sunlight glinting offhis dark scales, giving the movement an intimidating glow.“I’m surprised you two can’t feel it.”
“We’re not exactly flush with the goddess’s magic at the moment,” Hart said.
He was right. We’d been very disconnected from it since we completed the emotional trials. “What about tasting each other’s emotions? That hasn’t changed.”
Charon huffed, looking as if he rolled his eyes at us. “That is your own, but that’s not the point right now. The scales tip in Themis’s favor.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Hart balled his hands into fists at his sides. “I’m sure it’s my father’s doing. I wish I’d had more time with that stupid book.”
It was another boon from Elias that Hart had even had moments to skim it. My time with the prince had led me to believe he knew how to put on a show. He conducted the city’s ceremonies. He celebrated their good fortunes and took their sadness, but the conversations Hart reported hinted at desperation.
“What do we know?” I ran through my thoughts aloud. “They found a way to make your father Themis’s Champion. They think they can replace you.”
“They must be taking steps, the same way you complete your trials with the pendant.”
I nodded. “It doesn’t matter what they’re doing, just that we have to take the throne ourselves before they complete their tasks.”
“What about freeing the Cursed from Themis?”
I glanced at Hart. “I’ve been thinking. So long as we prevent Rodric from having uncontested control of the throne when he completes his scheme, I’m not sure it’s a bad thing. Ifhe makes himself Themis’s Champion, Hart would no longer be.”
Charon huffed smoke. Hart grunted. “That’s a fine line to dance.”
“Isn’t all of this?”
Hart grunted again, though it seemed to be in agreement this time.
“What about the final trial? What about choice?”
“I haven’t dismissed that. But we won’t be able to try anything until we’re in the throne room. Which is what we came to discuss. Elias told us that Rodric would attempt to become Themis’s Champion tomorrow.”
We’d since learned that it was a celebration for the Blessed. One of Rodric’s regular gatherings for his favored at the castle. It wasn’t ideal to attack Glanmore Castle while it was filled with those who could wield adamas, but again, we had little choice.
“So tomorrow is when we move?”
As much as I wanted Charon to have his revenge, as much as I wanted his help shifting the balance of power in Kavios, I wished that this uncertainty when it came to all we had to do in the throne room didn’t fill me with trepidation. I swallowed my fear and nodded.“Yes, we’re attacking tomorrow, the Storm and the Feared in two contingents. We came to ask if you would join us.”
Charon’s growl was low. “Had you any doubt that I would? I’ll do what is necessary to remove Rodric from power. And you seem to have forgotten that you need me in the throne room to finish these trials of yours.”
Dread sloshed in my stomach as much as warmth flooded through me with his words. I needed Charon there, just as Scarlett had indicated. The choice we had to make required both a dragon and the throne, and we only had one dragon.
38
Create a perfect storm of chaos, then challenge what is known.
— ALARIC SARE’S PAPERS FOR EMBERLINE ARKOVA
The plan was simple. The wait, on the other hand … the anticipation might kill me.
The next day and a half was occupied with Harrow’s messages, responses, and filling as many of the adamas gems as possible. Hart and I knew our value. We asked those who took and gave on our behalf for fear and little else. A dash of lust in each of our stones ensured that if we were wounded, we could heal, but almost everything else could be solved expediently by dropping our enemies into their nightmares.
“You have to use it, no matter who elseis around,” Alysa said as we readied the next evening. She’d spent the days training with her volunteers. My knowledge of Alysa’s history was only that which she’d told me and a little bit of legend from Alaric’s old books, but how a Blessed daughter, a young woman of elite society, had learned to fight with such ruthless determination, well, that was a story I needed to hear later.
I studied her as she lectured me. Knives were strapped to both of her hips, and a quiver and bow were slung across her back. Harrow had just flown away with a final message for Reid.
