He tilted his head in thought. “Whatever it was, it was in a leather bag. I … left it somewhere.” He glanced at Charon.
Charon eyed Hart suspiciously, but I didn’t let them bicker yet.
“‘Shared emotion they wield, emotion they can no longer hide, only emotion shared will change the tides,’”I repeated the words Alaric wrote. They read like the riddles I now knew mother had written inChampions of Kavios.
Hart held my gaze but didn’t speak. I knew where his thoughts had gone—the one place I didn’t want to acknowledge. I wondered if my anger at the situation or my sadness at finding another task Alaric had left me unprepared for were more prevalent to Hart’s senses.
“What do you think that means?” He tried and failed to hide the tip of his lip.
I shook my head and turned the paper toward Hart. He’d moved close enough to see the sketch. “This is the pendant Alaric says we need.” It was elaborate, even for him. The design made it appear to be mainly gold—a pendant shaped like a throne with a dragon wrapped around it. Within the shape of the throne, six gems were tucked away, and the dragon’s eye held a seventh. I had no doubt the gems were adamas.
“Seven, not six?” Hart asked.
I nodded, still unsure myself what that meant. “He calls it the Trials of the Cursed.”
Hart ran his fingers through his hair slowly, considering. “And does it say how these trials are to be completed?”
“Not much more than I read.” I handed him the papers. “He warns that it will go against every instinct I have. But it’s the only path to freedom.”
“Well, then…” Hart skimmed the pages, then his glance shifted uncomfortably to Charon. “Did you and Scarlett meet?”
Smoke rose from Charon’s nostrils, and he showed his teeth. “Do not say what I think you’re going to say.”
“Alaric instructed me to leave the leather bag in Scarlett’s hoard.”
Charon reluctantly flew toward the mountain range north of the city. The summits were high; the tips appeared to reach for the clouds. Sharp ridges only increased the treacherous terrain, and this close to the sea, less greenery littered the landscape. It looked so different from home, even though it was part of the same mountain range that circled Kavios.
There was no question that Charon knew where to go, taking us deeper into the peaks. The mention of Scarlett’s hoard had been enough.
“Have you flown this way while we’ve been in the library?” I asked.
“Did you tell the Cursed the true conditions for receiving the trial instructions?”Charon responded.
My cheeks pinked, and not from the wind whipping around us as we flew. I didn’t know how to respond. Even if the question was asked only to me, my answer would give information I didn’t want to share with Hart. “Why does it matter?”
Charon banked left, and when I rolled backward to steady myself, I bumped into the hard body behind me.
“Careful,” Hart growled as his hands caught my hips to hold me in place.
My cheeks heated for a different reason. I had done everything in my power to forget how often this had happened on our trip to Linia. Staying in the city, in the same rooms, may not have granted me the physical distance I had hoped for, butit at least meant we weren’t astride a dragon together every day.
“If Alaric passed on the requirements to the Queen of Linia, they must be important,”Charon grumbled.
I flinched at the mention of all Alaric had done. It almost made me glad Hart held me steady, as momentarily I wanted to fold in on myself. I still wasn’t sure if I should be angry or happy that Alaric had more schemes. Amidst everything else, I hadn’t expected Charon to press on this. “Low blow.”
“Don’t mind him,” Hart said. “He’s just nervous. He doesn’t remember how to talk to others.”
Charon’s teeth snapped.“Excuse me if my social skills crumbled while I was held hostage in a mine for hundreds of years. Thanks for that, by the way.”
It felt like a wild animal burrowed beneath my skin as I realized Hart responded to what I had believed to be a private conversation. Annoyed with Charon, I went on the offensive. “Do either of you know Scarlett?”
“I don’t,” Hart said. “I only dropped the leather bag at the entrance to her hoard and hid to ensure she collected it.”
Charon made a grunting sound. “A wise choice for a Champion of Themis.”
Before Charon shared anything else, we landed on a long outcropping in the middle of the range. Dark gray stone surrounded us both above and below. This particular piece of the mountain jutted out far enough to hold a dragon.
“Scarlett’s hoard, I presume?”
