He pulled the quiver open and carefully pulled out the Arrows. Even through all the latent magic in the air, Florian could feel something thrum and pulse in the warm metal when he held them in his hands. He held one toward Koji, tilting it until the inscription became clear.
“We have six. Five of them have that inscription—I pierce the heart of summer. And one says something else.I pierce the heart of sacrifice. I bet six arrows, once we have the last, will open the gate. And the different one…”
Six to reach Soleil, and one to kill her. It seemed obvious to him now.
Kade’s expression pinched with worry; Rune folded her arms across her chest with a frown; even Koji seemed to tense at the suggestion.
But what else could it mean? Maybe more would become clear once they were inside, but for now, he couldn’t imagine any other purpose for the final Arrow and its ominous inscription.
“Let’s at least try the six we have,” Kade said after a moment. “Just to make sure.”
Florian hesitated. The last time someone had attempted to end the Blight, they did something wrong and made it all worse. No one knew what, exactly, they did—but it was bad enough to spread the Blight all over the Veil, not just around the Summer Court. What if they had the same level-headed approach of trying this just to be certain, and that was what had caused all this in the first place? Florian couldn’t explain why he felt so sure, but the thought of trying to place the single different Arrow in the seal felt entirely wrong.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Florian finally replied. “I don’t want to mess this up. We don’t know what might make things worse, you know? I feel like we need to be as sure as we can—of everything—before we do anything.”
Rune nodded in agreement. Koji seemed unsure, glancing between Florian and Kade. The wolf shifter’s expression remained mostly the same, but Florian could tell he was frustrated and worried.
“I know you don’t like how up in the air this is,” Florian added, reaching for Kade’s hand. “But... I just have a gut feeling about all this. Do you trust me?”
Kade’s eyes softened at that, but only a bit.
“I trust you,” he replied, then sighed, gesturing toward the seal. “It’s all this I don’t trust.”
Florian chuckled, chagrined.
“Florian’s the one tied to all this,” Koji said. “I think we should do whatever he thinks is best.”
“Agreed,” Rune said. After a moment, Kade nodded.
“Of course,” he said.
It was a lot of pressure, but it was a relief too. He could rely on his memories from Thaddeus, and whatever connection he had to the Summer Court, to help guide him; and he wouldn’t have to worry about convincing the others if they already thought his intuition was best.
“So our plan is still to find the last Arrow,” Florian said decisively, turning away from the seal to look at his friends. “Although... I think we should find a good place to set up base. All we really know is that it’s somewhere around the Summer Court, so it might take a while to track down. Having a safe place to go back to will help, and maybe we should take it easy today so I can heal up Koji some more.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Koji interjected.
“Having a base of operationsisa good idea, though,” Kade said. “Let’s head down into the city and see if we can find a good place to set up camp in a more central location. We’ll focus on that for today to get it out of the way, and tomorrow start on finding the Arrow.”
Florian smiled. He couldn’t begrudge Kade wanting to make a plan for everything—having a checklist of things theycouldplan on was a comfort.
“Sounds good to me,” Rune chirped, turning to face the huge staircase that led away from the gate and down toward the remains of the city. “Let’s get the hell out of here. This thing is creeping me out.”
Florian looked back at the seal, lingering there for a moment as the others made their way down the stairs. The image of it burned into his eyes, leaving behind a brand in his vision when he blinked. When he focused on it, he could almost hear the immense amount of magic that held it together, buzzing faintly in the air and tingling against his skin. It was the only sign of life that they had encountered at all, despite so much of the castle being a perfect replica of a time before the Blight.
His eyes flickered down as he blinked hard to try to clear out the image of it stinging his eyes, when he noticed scuff marks along the ground right in front of the seal. He had been so preoccupied with the huge glowing circle in the air that he hadn’t really taken a good look at the surrounding environment.
Frowning, he looked closer at the scuff marks. They weren’t very deep, but were noticeable scrapes in the stone ground clustered around the seal. More marks were visible a bit further away, toward the courtyard on the opposite side of the castle that they hadn’t yet seen. It almost looked like the seal had exploded something away from it—or something had been forcefully launching itself toward the seal.
Had something tried to break out, or in? The notion made his stomach churn. His eyes flickered around rapidly, but there were no more signs of living creatures than there had been just a moment ago. Whatever had done this was long gone, maybe centuries ago. Still, he thought, it might be somewhere in the city. They would have to be careful, but Kade was always alert. If therewassomething dangerous in the ruins, Kade would spot it.
“Coming?” Kade’s voice came from behind him. Florian turned to see the wolf shifter standing at the edge of the stairs and watching him curiously. Koji and Rune had already started to go down, so it was only Kade’s tall figure that cut through the bright pale sky beyond, a sturdy pillar of strength silhouetted against the light.
He was so in love. Florian nodded, smiling back up at Kade, feeling his lips tremble and hoping the other man didn’t notice.
“Yeah,” he said, starting after him. “I saw some weird marks on the ground, that’s all.”
Kade frowned, craning his neck to peer past him. “What kind of marks?”
“Old ones,” Florian said, shrugging. “Might be a sign of monsters in the city or around the castle, but I’m not sure.”
“I’ll keep an eye out,” Kade murmured, placing a hand on the small of Florian’s back as they descended the stairs. Florian grinned back up at him.
“You always do.”
