Chapter Ten

Gladus watches me with her blue eyes, not moving an inch as I approach. I don't want to move fast; I don't know what this is. All I know is that the last time I saw this bitch, she ranted and raved about how she was going to kill me—and then she tried to do just that.

The woman wears the same armor she did before, though its black hue looks bluer with the gray magical flames floating around her. Her thick black hair is braided and pinned to her head to keep it out of her way, jewels lining that braid around the crown of her head. Though she looks to be around forty, now I know that isn't necessarily true.

Empresses live for a long time. I didn't know that before. Who knows how long Gladus lived before falling to Invictis's madness?

All that aside, she is a beautiful woman. Strong. The way she holds herself, even now, tells me just how confident she is in herself and her abilities. That, however, doesn't change the fact that she shouldn't be here.

"Gladus?" I speak her name once I'm within ten feet of her. I'm too nervous to get closer. Can't forget I have no way of defending myself if this woman decides to attack.

"Hello, child." Hearing her voice sends a chill down my spine—but not because she sounds like she wants to kill me. No. It's the opposite. She sounds… normal , like this is who she really is, how she should've been. This calmness was what Invictis stole from her. "I have been waiting for you."

I glance around us to see if this is some kind of trick, if I'm being surrounded by something while she talks. But there's nothing. It's just Gladus and me and the darkness that seems to stretch onward toward eternity.

Her voice seems to echo in the space between us as she says, "You have questions. Ask."

"How are you here?" I cough. This next part is not something I'm proud of, but it's the truth. "I killed you."

The smile she gives me is the saddest one I think I've ever seen. "Who I was was long gone by the time you stepped foot in Pylos. For what it's worth, I am sorry. If there's one thing you should take to heart, it is that you did what you had to. Death can be a mercy for those trapped inside darkness."

My mind is having the hardest time accepting the fact that this Gladus is what she should've always been and that the one I fought was too tainted by Invictis.

"And I am here, child, because as empresses, we never truly die." Gladus turns her head, calling to my attention the aether around us. "What we are is born from the aether, and when we die, we return to it. It is how we pass along our powers to our next of kin. It is also why we do not age like most people."

My brows crease. "I don't understand. So when I killed you, you didn't really die? You just… came here?"

Her blue gaze meets mine, and she steps forward, practically gliding on the stone platform as she closes the distance between us. "You are focusing on the wrong questions. I am here not to soothe your soul, but to show you truth. It is something you have wondered ever since you learned about Invictis."

Yeah, I guess the whole dead-but-not-all-dead thing doesn't mean much compared to that asshole.

"I thought you and the other empresses were supposed to be powerful," I say. "Like gods or something. How could you all fall to Invictis? How could you let him do this to Laconia? Why didn't you stop him?"

"Perhaps," Gladus whispers, "it would be easier to show you." As she speaks, something fizzles to life between us. A bright ball of energy, growing to the size of a softball, light pulsating out of it in a way that shouldn't be possible.

"What's…"

"A memory. Fight it as you wish, but you are connected to the aether, just as I am, therefore any memory of mine also belongs to you. All you have to do to unlock it is reach for it."

Never heard of memories being floating balls of light, but okay. I lift a hand, hesitant at first, but a part of me trusts the woman before me even though I have no reason to. This is the real Gladus, untainted by Invictis's madness, and she would never lead me to harm.

The moment my fingers touch the ball of light, the world around me changes. Gladus vanishes from my view and the undercroft fades away—but only for a few seconds. It's like I'm thrown back in time.

Everything around me refocuses, and I stand again the undercroft, only instead of Gladus facing me, she has her back to me. Before her, Empress Morimento and a woman I've never seen before hover over the aether just beyond the platform, nothing more than magical projections.

Gladus speaks to them, "There are whispers amongst the people, whispers I cannot ignore. The crops failing in Acadia, the animals growing tainted in Magnysia… even the skies above Pylos are not as they should be. Nature itself is wrong."

Empress Morimento nods, her long, flowing blond hair split between her shoulders evenly. "We are in agreement. Something must be done, but in order to fix what is wrong, we need to find out why."

The third woman starts to speak, "I must admit, I have a terrible feeling. Perhaps it is time to check the catacombs." This woman, the one I've never seen before, wears all red, a pretty dress that accentuates her full figure. Her brown hair is slightly curled, hanging free. Sharp angles make up her face, and yet, even though I'm confident I've never seen her before, there's something strangely familiar about her.

Gladus echoes faintly, "The catacombs? You don't think—they are hidden in the wilds. Not even our own people know."

It is Morimento who whispers, "We must be sure. Sister Krotas, perhaps Gladus and I can—"

The third woman is the third empress, just as I assumed, and she snaps at Morimento, "I am not incapable of travel. I will go." Her image fades first, which leaves Gladus and Morimento to share a long look, a look I don't quite understand.

The world fades around me, and just like that, I'm thrown back into reality, standing across from the remnant of Gladus.

"You see, at first, we did not know it was Invictis causing the woes upon our lands. When we traveled to the ancient prisons, we found them empty. The thing that all empresses before us feared most had been released, and we did not know where it was or how to reach it. We could only wait for it to show itself, so we devised a plan."

Another memory fragment appears between us, and when Gladus says nothing more, I reach out. A flash of bright white, and I'm transported to a different room in a different time, a bystander in a memory that doesn't belong to me.

It looks as though the three empresses are gathered—this time in person—in Pylos's library. They each wear the same clothes as they did in the other vision; must be their typical outfits. Gladus and Morimento stand together, nearest where I am, while Krotas is on the other side, looking stern.

"They do not appear impressive," Krotas remarks, her gaze on the table between them. "Are we certain something like this will hold it?"

Three similar, glowing gems sit on the table between them. I recognize them as the crystals that held Invictis inside, like the one I found in that alley near Frank's bar.

Morimento speaks calmly, "It is more than clear Laconia's enemies knew where to find it. If we manage to defeat it and disassemble it, we would do ourselves and our future sisters a great disservice by simply returning it to its prisons across the kingdom."

Nodding along in agreement, Gladus says, "No, we must keep it close, forever and always. These soul gems will fragment its power and keep it from completing its destruction of our kingdom. One will stay in each castle, protected by one of us."

An eerie silence permeates the space between the three powerful women, and even though I can't read their minds, I can guess what they're thinking easily enough.

What if Invictis is still too strong while separated? What if all of this effort is for nothing and they are only delaying the inevitable? What if nothing they do will be good enough? Women like them, with the kind of power they each have, I doubt before Invictis they ever had to ask themselves such tough questions.

It is Krotas who breaks the silence as she steps forward and grabs one of the crystals. Long like a tower of quartz, only with a point on either end. "We know Invictis wants us to suffer. The woes are, for now, focused on destroying the lands nearest our castles. We must make our last stand together." She holds the crystal against her flowy dress, and a dark shadow crosses over her face.

There is more to this she isn't saying. I can feel it. Maybe because this memory belongs to Gladus.

"I'm sorry," Morimento whispers. "If we could do this without you, without risking harm—"

Krotas interrupts her, "We will triumph. I've no doubt in my mind. Together, we are near invincible, and together, we will bring ruin to Invictis." Her statement almost sounds like a rallying cry, and I can practically feel Gladus's confidence as she nods along with her.

The last thing I see before the memory fades around me is Gladus and Morimento each taking their own soul gem.

In a flash, I'm standing before Gladus in the undercroft of Pylos's castle again. Her face has twisted into one of deep contemplation, the corners of her mouth tugging into a slight frown. "That was when we still had hope that we could defeat Invictis together. It did not last."

I already know what happened next. I say, "You got him in the crystals. You each took a piece of him home… and then you lost your goddamn minds." It's hard not to let the anger seep in as I say that last part, because it's damn near impossible to not think of all those people who died because of the empresses' hubris.

Maybe if they asked for help, if they actually told the entire kingdom what was going on… people could've prepared. Men like Fred could've gotten together and worked on countermeasures for the woes. By the time people finally realized their empresses had lost it, it was too late.

Krotas sent Fred and his family away, but way too late.

Sounds of people screaming fill the air around us, soul-crushing wailing and crying. People asking, " Why, Empress Gladus? Why are you doing this? Please. " Pleading. Citizens of Pylos that worshiped Gladus… who then met their end by her.

Needless to say, those sounds are the worst sounds I've ever heard in my life.

"Everyone in that colosseum," I whisper, "was that Invictis, or was it you?" The look Gladus gives me tells me enough, and I throw up my hands as I shake my head and take a step back. I thought…

Fuck. If it was a shadowstorm that got all those people, they would've turned into the afflicted, like the ones in Acadia. Somehow the truth makes it all worse. Their precious empress… their executioner.

"You do not understand. You cannot. It whispers to the darkest parts of you, makes those parts more appealing. It tugs them to the surface, regardless of how strong you think you are. The madness that came with even a shred of Invictis was enough to make me nothing more than a shadow of my former self. When I… committed those heinous acts, I wholeheartedly believed I was doing them a favor, releasing them from their mortal coil before the woes could."

"Sounds like an excuse for mass-murder."

Gladus sighs and turns her back to me. "You were not here. You do not know what it was like. My sisters and I… we were too weak. It was why Invictis was imprisoned so far away from itself and all Laconian cities. I kept my piece of it safe. I thought I was doing what I had to. And then—"

Flashes pop into my mind, searing memories that don't belong to me. Images of Gladus opening a locked, guarded chest. Her reaching inside and touching the soul gem. Her dropping it, and the chain reaction that followed. Invictis was released, and he bonded with her, the same tattoo on her wrist and outer hand as I had in the beginning. I didn't see it when I went to confront her because of her armor.

"The whispers grew too strong to ignore. It preyed on my thirst for power, and I was not strong enough to resist," Gladus speaks sadly, unhurried in facing me once more. "You must go to Acadia and continue your journey of discovery."

Yes, that's my plan, but I still have so many questions for this woman. So many things I want to ask her. "Wait," I start. "I need to know more."

Gladus gives me a morose smile, the smile of a powerful woman defeated. "And you will, but I have shown you all I can. Before you leave, however, there is one final thing you must accept."

I look around, half expecting something to pop up out of nowhere, but the undercroft is unchanged. "What?"

The woman before me says nothing as she offers me her hands, palms up. Gloved in metal gauntlets, they are the hands of a warrior, a fighter, someone who should not have fallen so easily to Invictis.

If she fell, what hope do I have?

Her eyes are expectant; she wants me to place my hands above hers, I guess, so that's what I do. Cautiously, I set my hands above hers and let her curl her gauntlet-covered fingers around them. The metal grazes my skin, and to my surprise, I can feel it. I can feel her. Though she's dead, here, Gladus feels utterly real.

"Your only hope is what lies inside," Gladus tells me. "Once you accept who you are, I think things will become much easier for you. You've denied it time and time again, but you must face the truth. Laconia has been waiting for you. My sisters and I have been waiting. You're so much more than an empress, Rey."

And here I am, beginning to think me accepting the fact that I'm an empress is what she's going to say. Silly me. There has to be more to it.

Of course, it's right after I have that thought that Gladus nearly knocks me off my feet with what she says next.

"You are the empress." The way Gladus emphasizes that word makes it sound final, and she speaks it with such conviction that I'm left at a loss for words.

"The empress?" I echo faintly. "What does that mean? I don't—" I want to refute her words, tell her she's wrong, but right then a peculiar sensation tingles my fingertips, and I angle my head down to see a grayish-blue magic coating them, engulfing both our hands.

"When Invictis told you the power did not belong to you, it lied. This is your power now. Use it to do what we could not and defeat it." Gladus pulls her hands away from mine, and the magical sparks linger on me.

I lift my hands, wiggle my fingers, and stare slack-jawed at the magic that dances across my skin. I picture a small bolt of lightning forming above my hands, and it assembles out of thin air, brought to life by nothing more than my will.

Holy shit.

When I look back at Gladus, I find her physical form began to fade while I stared at my hands. Her eyes mirror the reflection of the magic that used to belong to her, and the look she gives me is a mixture of sadness and acceptance.

"The door is now open for you. Go in power, sister." As Gladus speaks, she grows more and more translucent, no longer a tangible person in front of me. Within ten seconds, she fades into nothing as she becomes one with the air around us. A gentle breeze is all that remains.

The magic on my fingers has faded entirely now, and I turn around to see that the door I walked in before has reappeared, now wide-open to the library. With a quick pace, I hurry out of the undercroft, a renewed sense of agency in my bones.

Thena is gone, and after I'm out, the door to the undercroft seals itself shut, once more becoming nothing more than an etching in the stone on the wall.

Just to make sure I'm not losing my mind, I hold up a finger, testing out the magic again. A tiny bluish jolt jumps out of my finger and into the air, and when I see it, I can't help but grin ear to ear.

Fuck yeah, baby. I'm back.