I’d spent a lot of time considering this last trial from all angles. Finally, it had occurred to me that this path we were on was Eris’s. It was chaos. I couldn’t expect the final piece of this puzzle to slot neatly into place. It would slam down with the ferocity of a lightning bolt, blinding us as it showed us the way. Choice would be the answer to embodying chaos. Our choices defined us, as did the emotions that fueledthem. For all it could be planned, life found a way to upend the most calculated of paths. Each choice was a fork in the road of our lives, a change in direction, no matter how slight.
How the choice would be presented remained unknown. I just hoped I understood it when I saw it.
The ladder on the opposite side of the tunnel returned me to the present. Hart listened momentarily for Harrow’s caws, then lifted the wooden covering and sprang free. Other fighters from the Storm joined him before I followed. The dagger Alaric gave me might have been strapped to my waist, but I didn’t imagine I could hold my own with a weapon against the Blessed guards. The adamas ring on my finger would be my best defense. I just didn’t want to waste it prematurely.
Another fierce roar from Charon echoed across the castle grounds. Screams erupted in the distance. He must have landed with the Feared at the front entrance. I tried my best not to worry, lest my anxiety pull Hart’s focus. As they’d both reminded me on multiple occasions, Charon was a dragon. He could take care of himself.
The group sprinted to the castle. I didn’t want to consider the toll the Feared paid at the front gates, but they served their purpose beautifully. Few guards remained in our path as we entered. We ran through nearly empty hallways.
The first Blessed we encountered had few moments to think before Hart charged him.
“You don’t want to do this,” the Blessed soothed, realizing he couldn’t fight us all. His adamas ring flashed green with persuasion.
One or two of the Storm beside Hart faltered in their approach, but Hart didn’t.
“I assure you, I do,” he said as he swung his sword.
The guard barely raised his weapon to defend before Hart twisted and stabbed him through the chest.
“Ember.” Hart reached for my hand as we neared the throne room. One of the Storm slipped the fallen guard’s adamas off his finger before half of the group split off behind us.
At least for every one of the Blessed we took down we could use their adamas against the rest. Every bit of magic helped, especially against the guards likely at the front gate. The footsteps of those headed to the main entrance grew softer as they departed. Alysa and her group followed closely at mine and Hart’s heels.
With the final turn, the grand double doors to the throne room were in sight. A dozen guards stood before them.
“Search for a way to challenge what is known,” I said. “Embody chaos when you make it.”
Hart nodded, but it wasn’t anything we hadn’t discussed a thousand times.
A chorus of green glowing gems lit up the guards we ran toward. Members of the Storm faltered on all sides as the magic of persuasion influenced them from their path. Rodric would have chosen his strongest wielders to guard the door.
“Youngleaf,” Alysa shouted. She chewed on something green. The herb Alaric used in Mother’s tonic. The herb Charon’s magic had created in an attempt to balance what Rodric had done. Still chewing, Alysa stopped in her tracks and pulled the bow from her shoulder. In moments, she’d fired a half dozen arrows, each piercing the heart of a guard before the door.
I clutched my hand into a fist as Hart sprinted forward. He’d take the rest on his own if necessary, but I didn’t want him to. I studied the ring on my finger. The adamas gem was filled with fear. I just had to channel it.
Alysa’s call had gotten through to some of her people. Her attack weakened the cloud of persuasion enough for them toact. Five more Storm members sprinted past me. They worked their jaws as they flew by, chewing on the antidote to the magic of the adamas stone. Steel clanged against steel as the guards met Hart first, and moments later, the Storm. Alysa’s steady shots hit another guard beyond the front line, one who still tried to persuade the Storm to stop fighting. She was out of arrows, but the remaining guards were felled in moments.
Hart didn’t wait to regroup, didn’t wait for the Storm to pick up the new pieces of adamas for our cause. His resolve was a palpable thing, and I loved him for it. We were out of time, and waiting now wouldn’t change anything. He met and held my gaze over his shoulder. I let myself feel the fear of what we were about to do, but also let him taste the joy that any time we had together brought.
It felt like a hundred conversations were had in that moment. He loved me. He believed we’d figure it out. I tasted that effervescent flavor of his joy, the sweet berry flavor of his love. Determination sang through me. We would challenge what was known.
With a final nod, Hart pushed down the latches, throwing open the throne room’s gilded double doors.
39
The beauty of doing the unexpected is that no one will believe it, even when the truth of it is right before their eyes.
— ALARIC SARE’S PAPERS FOR EMBERLINE ARKOVA
“It seems your guards proved once again useless, gentlemen,” Rodric drawled from his seat on the throne with an annoyed glance to Vaddon and Elias.
Unfortunately, even with the disparagement of his people, he looked no more disturbed by the entrance of twenty rebels than he would if a light breeze had blown a wisp of his gray-streaked hair into his face. The scene immediately called to mind the last time I had been in this room. From where we stood before the double doors, the white marble floor spread between us and the dais on which the king sat. The room wasset for a party that appeared to have been hastily deserted. Messy rows of chairs filled the space between us and the raised platform. Another twenty guards stood at its base. Elias stood on Rodric’s left, while Vaddon was a few steps down on his right.
“It wasn’t their fault,” Hart said, taking slow, measured steps into the room. He walked the aisle between the two groups of chairs. “They seem to have split priorities.” Hart gestured with a tilt of his head toward the front of the castle. Though the throne room was deep in the center of the first floor, the clangs of swords, the shouts of direction, and screams of pain drifted to us.
Rodric clapped slowly. “You finally harnessed your Feared. You have us right where you want us. What will you do next?”
I wished Charon would hurry up. The sounds of battle raged in the distance. I knew it wouldn’t be easy for him to get through the lines of the Blessed guards. He’d ensure the Feared had a path to success before he did so, but I didn’t like the way this was going.
