“Planning?” Tiana snaps. “Planning? Poor choice of words, Finnian.”
“Noted.” I sigh. “Amarantha has made too many plays. We just need to outsmart her.”
“How, how the fuck do we outsmart her?” Tiana challenges.
Every person in the room stops breathing at the same time. No one wants to be the first to start again.
Amarantha didn’t just lose control. She burned her own court to the ground. And a woman who burns her own home down isn’t following a plan anymore. She’s just burning.
Which means whatever we thought we had time for? We don’t.
“We have the Treasures.” I turn to Dagda. “Don’t we?”
His burly body gives a soft little shake I’m deeming as laughter. He reaches under the bar and grabs the Cauldron. “Come here, little guardian.”
“Ain’t nothing little about me.” Orion gruffs, flexing his hands, then holds one up. He swings around dramatically to point at Morrigan. “How’s this work? You know the Stone, the Treasures.”
“The Stone?” Morrigan steps toward Kieran with her hand outstretched.
He holds the Stone a beat too long before his fingers open.
“The theory,” I say, something hot climbing the back of my throat as the Crown pulses forth on my head. No hiding it now. “Is we surround Ash. Call upon the Treasures. And she steps on it.”
“And what the fuck kind of fairy tale bullshit is that?” Pepper crosses her arms, magic literally dripping off of her. “Step on a stone.” She makes a whooshing noise. “Magical fairy saving on a stone.”
Ash lets out a small garbled laugh.
“The Stone is the last Treasure.” I laugh at her cousin. “When she steps on it, barefoot, her body absorbs the Stone. Just as we absorbed the Treasures.”
“That’s even weirder.” Sabina points at me with an arrow.
That one is a little unhinged.
Fuck it. They’re all unhinged.
“Let’s do it.” Ash, already barefoot, grabs the stone and tosses it on the floor. “Dagda.”
“We’re doing this now?” Kestra asks, standing too fast and causing her chair to clatter behind her. “Do you know what will happen?”
“Not sure anyone does.” I frown turning to Dagda. “This is your creation.”
“Everything is mine.” He grins, all cocky. Then he rolls his eyes. “I wasn’t trying to make things complicated. Just trying to make them true. Royalty proof.”
“Well, it’s been a gods damn wild goose chase,” Orion mutters.
“Potato. Potato.” Dagda waves him off.
“You said that the exact same way,” I point out.
“In theory.” Dagda ignores me. “When you step on the Stone, you announce who you are. Your true name. And your title. The Stone accepts it or it doesn’t, along with the magic of the other Treasures. If accepted it will sink beneath your skin. And you are the true holder of the Stone. For now.”
“What does that mean?” Ash frowns.
“You are but one court, Ashlynne,” Dagda points out. “Kestra and Tiana must also prove their title.”
“So we break the stone in three,” Ash states, picking it up and holding it in her hand.
“Whoa!” Dagda leaps over the bar. “What are you doing?”
