Chapter 39

"What about killing the king?" Zorander's stormy gaze met mine. "The longer we leave Serpens alive, the more he fortifies his position. We give him too much time and we'll be meeting him on the battlefield. Good men will die."

"Then it's in our best interest to get this done quickly." I turned to Zephryn and Simon, both of them far older and wiser than any of us.

"Have you ever heard of Ashbane?" I asked. "It would be somewhere on the Dearth, close to the cliffs." My gaze stayed firmly on Zephryn. "How far away is that?"

"The Dearth is uninhabited and forbidden to the Darkhold dragons." Zephryn eyed me warily as Simon handed him the handwritten page. "But when I was young, I flew over those lands. Once."

"What is the terrain like? As far as I know, the Fae seldom travel that far north," Zorander asked, his entire demeanor changing as he smoothly fell back into his role of commander.

"Near the ocean the land is mountainous, much like Darkhold, but flattens into an open plain the further west you go. On the very western edge of that plain lies the Hammer. As for how far it is…" Zephryn calculated. "I could fly to the cliffs in three hours if the weather was clear. The way Zorander and Raziel move, they could cover that much ground in half the time."

Raziel and I shared a long, pointed look.

"What am I looking at?" Zephryn asked, smoothing out the paper to scan the markings. "What do these mean?"

"We each carry one of these markings on our bodies." I pointed to the circle within a circle symbol. "This is the mark every witch in the coven carries, ever since the day the Oracle came and forged her alliance with Vireena. These symbols are also carved into the cave floor beneath the Hammer where Corvus dwells."

Zephryn and Simon went perfectly still when I mentioned we were marked, or maybe because I oh-so-casually said I'd seen the floor of Corvus's cave with my own eyes, but I plowed ahead.

"But no one in the coven speaks this language. We need someone who does," I said quietly. "We need Cosimo to interpret the notes beneath the symbols. They could tell us how to kill the Old Gods, because the Shadow King…well, we all know Serpens isn't our real target, he's just in the way."

Gods, a few months ago I was a slave with no options. Now I was talking about the most powerful king in the world as an impediment to our plans.

"If anyone saves our friend, it will be us," Zephryn said with equal quiet. "Especially since I'm the reason he's spent an eternity trapped around that creature's neck."

"It was Zeph's plan to save Torin," Simon explained. "Solok and the Oracle…they had to be distracted while we escaped from Tempeste. So we set a trap. Cosimo was the bait."

Zeph growled something foul, his eyes narrowed to slits as he tried to decipher the pages.

"It was Coz's decision; he knew the risks," Simon murmured. "But this could be our chance to free him, if the Oracle isn't there." He met my gaze, his body tensing. "That's the big question, isn't it? Where she is right now? Because none of us can fight her and win."

"You're not wrong about that."

The Oracle could be anywhere right now, but most likely she was searching for us at this very moment.

She'd expect us to go for Serpens next—free the Solarians and the magic, drop the wall, and unite both realms. If she was searching for us, she was looking this direction.

"What are you thinking?" Raz murmured, his gaze glittering.

"I'm thinking either of these two options could be a trap. We could be playing straight into the Oracle's hands without meaning to. I'm thinking that we, at this very moment, could be damning ourselves." I drew a shaky breath, unsure, for the first time, I was making the right call.

"And even so, we must choose."

"We cannot remain here, Anaria." Raz brushed his hand over mine and that soft touch had me straightening.

"Perhaps the real question is…where is the Oracle right now?" I asked softly. "She has to know we're going for Serpens next, and she's always ten steps ahead of us. Is she in Tempeste because it's centrally located…or the Dearth, or is she already in Solarys?"

"All those Reapers circling over the Citadelle." Zorander's face was grim. "What if they're not leftover from…before? What if those creatures are her guards?"

"That makes sense. But we have to decide. Go north and find that pendant or south to free an entire realm?" I couldn't keep the edge from my voice. "We don't have long to make up our minds."

"I vote for Solarys and the king," Zorander said. "That's a sure bet with a guaranteed outcome. Like Anaria suggested, this Ashbane could be a trap at worst, or a waste of our time at best."

"Let's say we manage to locate Ashbane and find the pendant." I looked at Zephryn. "How do you plan to free your friend? Is there a spell or ritual to get him out?"

"Torin would know."

"And where is Torin?" I asked. "She should be here; we need her input."

"Conferring with the witches on a matter that does not concern you," Zephryn muttered baldly.

I couldn't help but be offended. "Oh, I see. She's still keeping secrets while we lay everything out because we thought you were our allies. Good to see nothing's changed."

"Anaria…just…leave it," Simon said, gently enough I blew out a breath. "This doesn't affect you or your plans. She's dealing with something…personal and that's all I can say."

"So even if we find the pendant, you're not sure you can get Cosimo out?" I shook my head. "That changes things." And makes those pages I spent the entire night copying pretty much worthless. I snatched the page back and tucked it away.

Zeph's dark eyes slid over me, and I shivered as he folded his powerful arms over his chest. "I vote for Ashbane. Once we have the pendant, we will free Cosimo and you will have your answers."

His gaze turned distant. "As a dragon flies, those cliffs are closer than Blackcastle from here. But it will take time to narrow down which hole or crevasse the Oracle chose to skulk inside."

"When I was in Corvus's cave, she had nothing but disgust for living rough," I pointed out. "At the Citadelle, I would guess her apartments were every bit as fine as the king's. Something tells me we're looking for a building. Would that narrow down the search?"

"Considerably." Zephryn threw his cloak over his shoulders then crouched down and drew a rudimentary map in the dirty snow, poking his finger in to make a deep hole. "Here we are." Then he pointed to the map. "This is the Dearth, bordered by the Northern Crown, a ring of peaks that form the northernmost border of this territory, and the Ironheart Mountains to the south. These are the bluffs that overlook the Foundering Sea."

Zeph stayed like that, quietly calculating before he drew a small circle at the far right-hand edge of the Dearth, on the bluffs where land met ocean. "Ashbane would be here."

Right by the ocean where the gulls would flock. I pointed to the deep gash he'd drawn down the center of his map. "What is that?"

He didn't spare it a glance. "Frost Lake. Runs due north–south. Frozen in the winter months, but when it thaws, one more reason nothing would ever reach those cliffs. The lake's filled with foul creatures even bigger than my dragon."

"Now that we've chosen the area, how long to get there and back?"

"The trip could be done in a day if the weather doesn't turn on us."

"And the weather always turns," Dane muttered beneath his breath. "Always."

"You're such a ray of sunshine, Dane," I teased, grinning at his bared teeth.

We spent an hour studying that crude, hand drawn map, all of us asking ourselves the same question. Was this another one of the Oracle's traps, or our chance at finally gaining an advantage over her? Finally, Zephryn shoved to his feet.

"I choose who goes." From the look on the dragon shifter's face, I already knew he wasn't picking me. Now I knew how Adele felt.

"Fine, you can choose your team. But I am making an executive decision. You can call it a suggestion, if you wish, doesn't much matter to me."

I practically smelled the testosterone flooding the air around us. "And what suggestion is that?" Tavion asked, bristling.

"We split up. Zephryn, Torin, and Simon take Tristan and head north, the rest of us head south like we'd planned. She's waiting for our next move." I smiled faintly. "Let's not disappoint. And let's keep her looking any direction except north."

My eyes cut to Zephryn. "Once you have the pendant and Cosimo is freed, we meet in Solarys, and from there you will help us take the kingdom."

"Agreed." He angled his head. "Where should we meet?"

"Nightcairn is too obvious," Tavion cut in, his throat bobbing. "I have no wish to bring my father into this, given the danger."

"There is no one at my estate," Tristan said casually, and my eyebrows went up. It was easy to forget Tristan was a High Lord of Solarys, that he had a title, and lands, and apparently…an estate.

"You'd be safe enough there since I keep to myself and nobody even remembers I exist. Tavion knows how to find Wingcrest and it's not far from Blackcastle." His eyes skated over us, as if he was counting. "Big enough for everyone."

"Then it's settled," I said quietly. "We split up then regroup. A week?"

"Two days," Zorander said firmly. "Raz and I will carry you and Tavion. Horses are too easily tracked; we'd be spotted reentering Solarys. If word gets back to the king, we'd end up in the dungeons before we get anywhere close to the Keep."

I watched Dane's glower deepen. "Well, that won't make Dane very happy, since he went to so much trouble to get us ready."

"Dane…go to Nightcairn. Stay with Lucius," Tavion suggested softly. "I'd worry less if you two were together. Come, let's talk." His uncle put on a show of being inconvenienced, but secretly, Dane looked relieved.

I stared after Tavion, cape flapping in the wind, wondering if I'd ever loved him more than I loved him right now. Then my eyes swung back to Stormfall. "I have to speak to Torin before we leave. There is something I have to ask her."

Zephryn bristled. "Whatever you have to say to Torin, you can say to Simon and I."

I smiled brightly as I headed into Stormfall. "Oh, I know, but this really doesn't concern you."