Chapter 44

Karys

After several tense minutes, I managed to slip away from Andrel by claiming I needed to go to my private quarters, to retrieve my weapons and armor before I could join him on his march through the Hollowlands.

It was a believable lie—my sister's sword, Godcleaver , had once belonged to our father, and she rarely went into any important battle without it.

Of course, I had no idea where her quarters even were.

Nor did I have any intention of actually retrieving her sword.

The only weapon I needed was the dagger at my back.

At first, I'd worried Andrel wouldn't go without me. But soon enough, he got caught up in the swelling, rebellious energy all around us, swept away by the countless others heading off to join the battle at the edge of the elven territory.

The city was emptying of most of its soldiers, as we'd planned—the ones secretly most loyal to my sister leading the charge as we'd been quietly instructing them to do.

They would move quickly, catching up to the forces already mobilized. Then, when the moment was right, they would turn on them. Disarm them. Throw Andrel's strategies askew and help the gods stall the battle long enough to allow me to do what I needed to do.

Mairu's magic was beginning to fade. I was becoming myself once more, and my sister would take over as the sole version of her, joining the army marching outward. Triumphantly leading it after surviving the attack against her in Altis…

Everything was going according to plan.

I only had to focus on my next part of this plot: Finding the heart that Malaphar had mentioned.

In the back of my mind, horrible scenes of a battle were starting to form—images I feared were being inadvertently passed to me through our court's divine connection. But I pushed them down and worked on recalling the directions my sister had given me.

When I'd mentioned the heart of the elven rebellion to her, her reply had been almost immediate: In the very center of the city, there was a grass field filled with flowers, stretching away from a stone monument.

The same monument I'd encountered the last time I snuck into this city.

So at least I had no trouble finding it.

It was more than a memorial to the dead, apparently; it had existed long before Dravyn killed the poor souls whose names were etched into the stone's surface. Originally, that stone was placed as a shrine to the ones who had discovered the first anti-divine runes; a copy of those runes was inscribed on the back of it. I'd been too distracted by the names on the front to notice it last time, but perhaps that inscription was part of the reason the energy in this area felt so strange to me.

If there is a heart beating in Ederis, my sister had told me, it is likely buried near that white stone.

Behind the towering rock, I found a patch of ground that looked strange. Nothing grew upon it, and the dirt was an odd shade of blackish grey. As I drew closer, I noticed the same runes here as on the back of the monument.

I withdrew Antaeum.

With all the strength I could gather, I lifted the dagger high and slammed it into the cold earth.

It pierced easily and sank in deeply—up to my forearms. I kept a tight hold on the dagger as it hummed and warmed, briefly filling the air with the scent of scorched dirt.

But nothing else happened.

Hands shaking, I drew it out. Wiped the dirt from the blade. My touch caused the etchings to glow momentarily, which encouraged me to try again.

I willed more of my divine magic to accompany the strike this time.

Still nothing.

There was movement to my right.

A narrow road separated me from the rest of the city—but some passerby had seen me and hesitated at the sight.

Much of the city might have been moving out, but there were still a fair number staying behind. And Andrel likely was not far away yet.

I couldn't risk drawing too much attention to myself.

I clutched the divine dagger to my chest and crept farther from that narrow road, into the shadows of a small, locked outbuilding.

A feeling of impossibility threatened as I pressed against that building and out of sight, studying the weapon in my hands.

What now?

The longer I hid, the faster my mind raced—and the more vibrant the violent sights and sounds in my head became.

I was almost certain of it, now: These mental glimpses I kept receiving…they were not in my imagination. I was inadvertently getting updates on the battle my divine family was fighting far in the distance.

As soon as I admitted this to myself, a stronger surge of chaotic thoughts and feelings hit me, crescendoing in a terrible sensation of pain that shot through my back—like I'd just slammed into the ground, knocking the breath from my lungs.

Something was definitely wrong.

What was happening at the Hollows' edge?

I pushed away from the building, frantically pacing the small yard in front of it, trying to think.

Where else could I try to plant this stupid dagger?

Should I just abandon it and go aid the others?

Was this part of the trial? A trick of some kind? Maybe I wasn't supposed to be in this city at all. Maybe I'd made a mistake, keeping the dagger a secret. Maybe it had been a test to see if I would blindly follow orders, and I was meant to challenge said orders.

I didn't know, but I was sure of one thing : Whatever happened next, I had to get to the rest of my court.

I just hoped I wasn't already too late.

Sheathing Antaeum, I broke into a run.

I raced through the city at a wild, otherworldly pace. Each slap of my feet against the dirt was like the pound of a war drum beating faster, more frantic, with every second.

I could still feel Mairu's magic tingling in my skin—I was likely a mixture of my sister's appearance and my own at this point, but it didn't matter; I didn't slow down long enough for anyone to even try to identify me.

Once I was out of the city, I flew. My wings sprouted more effortlessly than ever before, carrying me up, up, up above the trees.

It wasn't hard to find the battle—the scent of blood and magic was impossible to miss.

I followed that scent trail for several minutes, until I heard shouting, thundering boots, clanging weapons growing louder and louder. Smoke filled the air, along with strange drifts of purple mist.

An acrid, nauseating scent soon stood out, even above the blood and smoke. From those purple clouds, I suspected. More poisonous weapons the elves had developed.

Another sharp sensation struck through my core, accompanied by a horrible sense that something was falling. Something was fading.

Another vision flickered through my mind. It was accompanied by the familiar feel of Dravyn's warmth, this time, and so it was easier to focus on it, to hold on to until I could make sense of it.

Until I could see what was happening through his eyes.

The image that formed was almost perfectly clear. An actual setting appeared: flat stone, surrounded by boulders and sparse trees—a dip in the top of a cliff, it looked like. A hiding place.

A still body lay in the middle of it.

Valas .

I froze in shock at the sight, forgetting for a moment that I was in the air. I plummeted several dozen feet before finally regaining my senses. I pulled up sharply. The world spun around me. My thoughts tumbled and roared until I made my lips move with a command for myself.

Find them .

I could track Dravyn through this chaos.

I'd made my way back to him through worse.

Within minutes, I managed to find the familiar threads of his power and weave mine through them, tying an invisible knot between us so I could pull myself toward him.

I made certain to swing wide and fly high—above clouds of concealing smoke and powder—so I wouldn't draw attention to where I was going.

Once I was confident of my destination, I descended as quickly and silently as I could.

Dravyn rose to catch me, breaking my recklessly fast landing and bringing me safely to a stop.

I ran my hands across his chest, his arms, up to the sides of his face, making sure he was truly solid and safe.

Then I immediately dropped to my knees beside the God of Winter.

"Don't touch his wounds," Dravyn warned, placing a hand on my shoulder and gently holding me back. "The poison might be contagious."

That poison had turned most of his body an unnatural shade of pale blue, yet his godly features still looked beautiful even in this sickening sheen. Like he'd been preserved by the cold glamour of his own magic.

His breaths were so shallow they hardly moved his chest at all.

Open your eyes , I silently begged, open your eyes and say something stupid. Make me smile, make me believe something foolish.

The silent pleas made no difference.

I shrugged out of my coat and draped it over his lifeless body. A useless gesture, maybe, but I didn't know what else to do.

He looked oddly small underneath the pile of canvas cloth. Oddly fragile for a god. It made everything else feel unbearably breakable and painfully impossible.

The sound of distant footsteps scrambling over the rocks grabbed our attention.

Dravyn darted toward the sound, bracing a hand against the nearest boulder tall enough to hide his massive frame. As he peered around it, I moved to his side as well, and we both searched the sloping cliffs for signs of an ambush, but…

Nothing there.

Tensely, we held our position and continued our watch.

After a minute, I couldn't help glancing back at Valas and whispering, "What happened to him?"

"The Velkyn's numbers were much higher than we anticipated."

"I know—I mean, I spoke with Andrel, and he said something along those lines." My breath stuttered in my chest. "I should have tried to warn you all. I'm sorry, I…"

"It would have made little difference," he replied, quietly, eyes still trained in the direction we'd heard footsteps echoing from. "We're here, and we were going to have to face things regardless of the numbers. Did you accomplish what you needed to in the meantime?"

Another crushing feeling of failure squeezed my heart.

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. His gaze caught on Antaeum; without my coat covering it, the sheath at my back was perfectly visible.

Before either of us could mention the weapon, a surge of new energy struck me—the divine marker Mairu had placed on my sister's skin was still intact, and it was drawing nearer.

Creeping closer to the cliff's edge, I scanned the battle far below.

I felt Savna well before I saw her. She was leading a small group of warriors into the fray, making as if to help another group that was trying to extinguish a wall of divine fire.

I looked at Valas, hesitating.

"I'll stay with him," Dravyn said. "Whatever you're planning to do, do it quickly ."

I met his gaze one last time. Nodded. Straightened to my full height despite the heaviness in my limbs, my heart, my lungs.

Then I was off again before I could dwell any longer on my failures, launching myself from the cliff and careening downward.

I landed silently and moved as stealthily as I could, keeping away from the largest crowds, making my way from smoke cloud to smoke cloud—and using magic to create more of that concealing smoke when necessary.

As soon as I was within easy sprinting distance of my sister, I forgot about all else. I leapt over a few dead bodies—two that were burned husks, three that were ice-glazed statues—and nearly collided with my sister as she spun toward the sound of my approach.

She heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of me.

I gave her a quick embrace. "You managed to gather as many as I did, I hope?"

She nodded, her confident smirk the exact remedy my doubts needed just then. "Did you think I'd let you outdo me?" Her bright eyes swept over the battlefield. "They're moving into position now, drawing near to the ones Andrel considers his leaders. We should have enough to disarm those leaders."

"Good."

"I'll just need a way to communicate the signal when we're ready for it." She lost herself in thought for an instant, still surveying the chaotic field around us, until her eyes widened and darted back to me. "But you're here. Why are you here? The heart you were searching for—"

"Wasn't where we thought it would be."

She frowned.

"I'm not out of ideas, yet, don't worry. Just keep things as controlled as you can in the meantime. Keep moving your loyalists into position."

She looked worried, but ultimately didn't try to stop me when I moved, racing away as if heading to the next part of my plan.

It had been a lie.

I was out of ideas.

But that had never stopped me before.

And as I always had in the past, I began to break down my surroundings in hopes of figuring out some sort of solution. To search for signs, for symbols…all these elves surrounding me…did one of them hold the key to the heart's location?

If not in Ederis, then where?

Somewhere in the Hollowlands?

Who could lead me where I needed to go?

I started to summon wings, intending to consider the problem from above. But before I could get airborne, a violent shudder went through me.

A quick search revealed a possible reason: A large barrier of fire Dravyn had put in place was breaking down; an entire section of it had just been dissolved—a target of the elvish weapons that were responsible for that acrid, foul-smelling purple smoke.

As I watched, another section suffered the same fate. This second bit of destruction rumbled through me hard enough to drop me to one knee.

The ground shook as dozens of elves raced toward the dissolving barrier. I braced my hand against the dirt as best I could, trying to keep my balance, as I looked over my shoulder and took in the sight of the fire wall falling completely away.

The elves roared through the new opening.

A flood of humans was there to greet them.

The two sides collided like a river striking rocks, bodies hitting and spilling to the ground, tumbling and stumbling over one another.

The waiting humans outnumbered the elves in this particular spot of the battle. They swung their swords without pause or mercy, the sounds of blades hitting armor and skin making me wince.

There were bits of scattered flame still lingering around from the destroyed barrier; bodies were tripping into them—or being thrown into them—and the scent of scorched flesh became the most powerful, horrible smell in a sea full of powerful, horrible smells.

The sudden cry of a dragon mercifully pulled my attention toward it.

Mairu .

She twisted into sight high above the battle a short distance away, talons and fangs flashing, golden scales shining in the dim, smoky daylight.

Savna balanced on her back—this was her way of catching the attention she needed, it seemed; hundreds had already stopped to stare, marveling at the sight of the beast with a mixture of horror and awe.

My sister was watching the same breaking point I'd been watching. More and more humans gathered to this point, weapons drawn, determined to stop the elves from advancing.

All over the battlefield, more and more of these clashes were beginning to happen.

We had no divine connection, but I could tell by Savna's stoic, resolved posture that we still shared the same thoughts—it was time to intervene. The tide needed shifting.

I heard her cry rising moments later, crystal clear and carrying all the way to where I knelt: "Lay down your weapons!"

It was the cue. The agreed-upon phrase to activate the next part of our scheme.

Savna's loyalists didn't lay down their weapons.

They turned them on Andrel's leaders, as planned.

All at once they struck, disarming in most cases, striking with more violence in some. Confusion reigned. Forward marches ceased.

Many of the humans slowed their charge as well, watching the strange scene unfolding before them.

And still—like I had so many times in the past—I kneeled in the middle of it, a witness to both sides, uncertain of where to go next.

Antaeum trembled against my back.

I gripped its hilt, trying to think.

If I could simply find out a way to wake its power, then all the soldiers here would be witnesses to whatever magic it contained— magic that would supposedly fix all of the madness surrounding us.

And maybe this was the answer I'd been looking for.

As I held the dagger more tightly, a thought occurred to me. Quiet at first, but growing rapidly in size as the seconds passed: The idea that just as the Moraki had left my scars for the world to see, maybe the heart was not as hidden as I'd believed it to be.

Maybe it was beating close.

Very close.

The idea was both terrifying and freeing.

Slowly, I rose to my feet, staring again at the madness rushing all around me. I felt oddly still and silent compared to it all. Smoke filled my lungs, like it had on the day I broke through the barriers surrounding my old home and found myself standing in a burning field. The same mixture of horror and possibility overtook me now as it had then. The same sense of pain and realization. Of strength in spite of weakness.

Move , I told myself now, same as I'd told myself then. You have things to finish.

I spotted a small plateau a short distance away and walked toward it, climbing the rocky outcropping that led to its highest point.

Mairu and my sister swooped overhead, close enough that I could see the concerned, questioning look in Savna's eyes.

I waved her away.

"Meddling again. Because of course you are."

I wasn't surprised to hear Andrel's voice.

After all the battles we'd endured against one another, it seemed fated that we should meet one last time.

"You never fucking learn , do you?" I turned to see him scrambling up the rocks, huffing for breath as he reached the same large, flat stretch of stone I stood on.

He didn't move with his usual grace.

Instead, he advanced on me with a wild, merciless gleam in his eyes, the sword in his hand already dripping with someone else's blood. He skipped his usual arrogant speech, too, and moved immediately to attack, aiming the sword toward my chest.

I ducked, sweeping around behind him.

He twisted and darted for me again.

The only weapon I carried was Antaeum, so instinctively I whipped it from its sheath, gripped it with both hands, and threw it up just in time to parry his blow.

He slammed into my smaller blade with enough force that it rattled my teeth and bones and made the muscles in my arms feel as if they were in danger of ripping apart.

I dug in my heels and pushed back.

Divine strength surged through me. Heat enveloped me. And the dagger in my hands began to hum, the symbols on the black blade gleaming more brightly than ever before.

Andrel's sword was suddenly, briefly overtaken by a crackling, silver-colored energy—Antaeum's power, undoing whatever runes he'd fortified the weapon with.

He stumbled back, nearly dropping that blade in shock.

I started to lower my dagger.

But he wasn't done.

The feral glimmer in his eyes returned, and he threw himself at me so quickly, I didn't have time to consider a counterattack.

I flung myself backward, trying to get out of his reach only to realize I had nowhere to go; the edge of the plateau was somehow right behind me, and this side was much steeper than the one I'd climbed up.

He took aim at my legs, preparing to cut my balance further away from me—

An arrow of pure flame struck his face first, knocking him backward and setting the collar of his shirt and part of his hair alight. He hit the ground and rolled to put the fire out.

I hadn't summoned that fire.

Dravyn landed a moment later, positioning himself between me and Andrel.

I reached for the ring he'd given me. My world again seemed to slow, the battles all around me growing silent, distant.

The idea that had struck me earlier grew bolder.

But all I saw for a moment was Dravyn.

The god who had carried me from my old life months ago, into one I never could have imagined. The god who had protected me. Challenged me. Chose me.

Fought for me until the very end.

I wished I had more time to tell him how much I loved him. How much I hoped what I was about to do would somehow heal him, too. How he was so convinced he couldn't be redeemed after the mistakes he'd made, yet he had saved me in more ways than I could possibly explain. He'd given me fire, and wings, and reminded me that I had strength enough to save myself—and to save others.

I had strength enough to do what I needed to do now.

But there was no time to tell him all of these things.

No time to do anything except put more space between myself and Andrel, racing to the other end of the high platform I'd chosen, putting myself in position, all while thinking words I hoped would reach Dravyn—

Trust me.

I felt his eyes on me.

He'd paused his pursuit of Andrel long enough to fix a stare in my direction. His expression was torn, his response frantic in my mind, What are you doing?

I turned away from him.

What came next would be easier if I didn't have to see his face while I did it.

As I balanced Antaeum in my hands, the God of the Shade's instructions overtook my thoughts once more. One sentence in particular kept playing over and over in my mind .

…I became certain you were the balance point our world needed.

Me.

Of course it was me—I was the key to waking up the power sleeping within this dagger, just as he said. But some parts of me had to finish dying off to allow for new growth. And this blade held the key to that death.

I exhaled slowly.

My final trial was over.

I knew the answer.

So I lifted the dagger high, gripping it with both hands—

And I plunged it into my heart.