His eyes found mine and I gave him my nod as he pressed the violet fire into the corpse.
“Kyartas,” he breathed.Burn.
The blaze erupted, a searing ray forcing me to shield my eyes, the heat clawing over every inch of skin until it felt as though it would peel me bare.
Callum didn’t flinch. He stared at the inferno like it was a mirror where a small, sharp smile ghosted his mouth.
He looked powerful.Feltpowerful.
From his stance to the look in his gilded eyes.
Even the shadows bent away.
Ash rose on the updraft, curling toward the midnight sky. I watched as a blur sifted through the smoke. White against black. A small, fluttering cloud, fleeting into the dusk.
An owl.
Callum turned, leveling his gaze on Rook and Ford. “We tell no one.” His tone left no room for air, no room for question.
We all nodded. A silent oath.
The body hissed into nothing, and together we turned, leaving this gods-forsaken endless endeavor.
A swift flash split the sky, painting the forest in brief silver fire.
I looked at Callum. “Did Duke and Gus say anything about the scripts? Any mention of the stones?”
He shook his head once. “Nothing.”
Ford tossed a few stones into the air, grinning as each stone caught mid-flight, suspended by a shimmer of magic snapping around them.
“Divinity stones,” he muttered, “must-have décor for tyrants everywhere.”
The forest was quiet again, even with blood still slicked to my fingers.
“Yeah, and Obrann only needs three more,” I reminded him. “That’s close enough to end us.”
I glared at Ford when he tossed too many rocks at a time, missing half of them to shield, multiple smacking me in the face. He only shrugged.
“Six relics for three kingdoms,” Callum sighed. “The gods do love their illusion of balance.”
Ford tripped over a twisted root, pinning Rook with his stare, as ifhismagic had left it there.
“Figures, doesn’t it?” Ford said. “Luamis is stuck with happiness and sunshine while the damn Dragon Kingdom was handed confidence and protection.”
“Light,” Rook corrected, stepping past him.
He shot him a lopsided grin. “Same thing.”
“Not even close.”
Ford lifted his hands. “Sunshine, light, whatever, still burns when you stare at it for too long.”
Callum’s voice rolled through, the crackle of residue flame still whispering between his fingers. “The two stones for each ruler were for stability based on how their realm prospered,” he said. “That’s how they made them. It wasn’t to give more power to any kingdom, but to keep what each valued most.”
I forced out a laugh. “Well, that belief certainly didn’t help us.”
Because when the kingdoms fractured, so did our world.
