47. Pallas

Istrode into the study, poignantly ignoring Abraxas. This wasn't about him. This was about Jun and by extension, Tori. I promised JunI would be brave and wouldn't let him get hurt again. The only way I could do that was by destroying Hadeon. He would never be satisfied until he controlled Jun's power or killed him.

Avlynhad joined Abraxas and gave me a shy smile. I would be brave; I would.

"What sort of information do you need to fight Hadeon?" I asked the commander.

"Perhaps…" Abraxas said, the arrogant bastard unwilling to be ignored. "…it is time you share what you know about the enchantment on my father's heart?"

Junand Tori each squeezed one of my hands. I looked across the room at the man I had considered an enemy for centuries. A man who had never actually hurt me, while I stood at the side of one who nearly broke me down into nothing but bones and ash. I couldn't look at Abraxas without seeing the rivers of blood he'd left behind for centuries. So, I didn't.

Ilocked eyes with Tori. Her deep slate-grey stare held me, and she was fierce. She was reckless and often quite an idiot, but she loved in a way I had forgotten how to. A way I realized I hoped I could again someday.

Theywere Jun's eyes as well. I looked at him, and he gave me the smallest smile. "You can do this, Pallas," he encouraged gently.

Ifelt Tori lean in and whisper in my ear, "Remember, you aren't his anymore." She was so quiet I was sure no one else had heard her. The creature inside me responded, rubbing up against my ribs and stretching out, no longer content to lay dormant.

"I'm going to need some paper."

Across the desk,Tori had rolled out a long scroll of paper, and Avlyn handed me a quill. I began drawing a map of Adimos. After a few moments of silence, I heard Tori whistle.

"Wow, I can't believe you drew all this from memory." She ran her fingers over the coastline I had just completed.

"I've always been able to remember things. My mother called it an eidetic memory. Everything sits in my mind like drawings in great detail. It's what she said would make me a great enchantress."

"So, you remember everything…" Her face tightened, her lips pursing into a thin line.

"Yes, everything." A moment passed between us, and her hand twitched before she laid it on top of mine. She gave my fingers the smallest squeeze in understanding. My chest grew tight, and I continued drawing to distract myself from it.

"Indeed, this is impressive," Abraxas admitted, walking around the table. "But what does it have to do with my father's heart?"

Outof the corner of my eye, I saw Tori shoot him a warning look, and the way he yielded to it with a small smile almost made me laugh. Almost. I continued to draw.

"The enchantment around the heart is likely the most complex ever woven. My mother's magnum opus. It not only links the heart irrevocably to Hadeon but protects it." I tapped the map before me, tracing straight lines across the continent.

"The ancient fae knew the power of the earth, if incompletely. They built their cities on these concentrated lines of power. Ley lines. Your castle is built on one, Abraxas. Your magical protections are tied directly into it." I grabbed a well of blue ink and drew a line straight south from Xyr towards Koron.

"There are many of these lines." I drew another between Metlin and the bay between Vath and Oeth. Another crossed AshenforgePeak, Koron, Manan, and Niata. "Some cross each other, and those are places of concentrated power. But there is nowhere where more of these lines meet than—"

"Koron." Jun uttered the word like a curse. I nodded." That is why the ancient Alderi fae moved the capital from Metlin to its current location in Koron. The palace was built with its keystone tied to the heart of all these ley lines. It makes the entire city nearly indestructible; that is how it has survived through countless ages."

"And the enchantment is tied directly to this power," Abraxas surmised.

Inodded. "Yes, you wouldn't be able to break it even with the strongest of counter enchantments. You would need to destroy the very castle itself to have any chance of undoing the enchantment, which is impossible. I don't know what you intended to do when you came a few weeks ago."

"We had the Diadem of Soraya or at least the most important part of it," Tori stated flatly.

Ibalked. "That was… what was in the necklace? That's how you freed Jun."

Shenodded. "Would it have worked?"

"I am… not sure. But if the gem was as powerful as was rumored… The outer shell of the enchantment is the protection, tied to the castle. If a hole could have been created in that, then a skilled enchanter with strong magic could have undone the heart."

Herface turned grim. "And now it's lost somewhere inside Koron, likely in Hadeon's control." She etched grooves into the table with her nails, and the sound had my nerves on edge. Jun's hand came to rest on his throat, as it often did when he thought I wasn't looking.

Islid my pinky into his. "It still proved its value." I said. Jun gave a hard swallow and Tori gave me a small nod.

"So, what can be done?" Tori asked, her face tight.

Itraced my fingers over the lines again. "I have a theory…" Everyone stared at me in silence, and I heard Hadeon's voice in my head, as I had so many times. No one wants to hear your foolish notions, Pallas.

Ilooked up into those four matching slate-grey eyes and saw nothing but encouragement.

"Along these ley lines are nodes. Concentrated points of power. Koron is built on one, but there are many. If these are destroyed, the flow of mana along the line is disrupted."

"If you could destroy the nodes around Koron, it will weaken the flow of mana to the palace, and then the enchantment may be able to be undone."

"And you will be the one creating this counter-spell?" Abraxas inquired; his voice filled with doubt.

"Do you have anyone else who can craft such a thing?" His lips tightened.

Toriinterrupted, "So which nodes shall we destroy? How many will be needed?"

"I believe three will be enough, and you have already destroyed one."

Herface twisted in confusion. But realization dawned on her as she followed one of the lines off the map into the Sea of Spirits. "The island?"

"Yes, the spring there was a place where the mana of the earth flowed to the surface. Now, no more."

"WorldBreaker, indeed." Abraxas gave Tori a long, affectionate glance before turning back to me. "But this is just a theory you have. No one has ever tested such a thing."

Idrew one more line on the map. It connected that lone island with Xyr and TenebraeForest.

"The island was also connected here to Xyr. Tori, have you felt any difference in the mana below the city?"

Abraxasand her locked gazes. I watched them have an entire conversation with no words when Tori turned back to me. "Yes. During the battle… there was less power to draw on. Much less than when I had tried before our journey."

Jungave a soft laugh. "I think that is as much proof as we can hope to get."

"What other effects will this have? On the earth?" Abraxas traced the lines on the map with his long fingers.

"Well, the prophecy speaks of the Breaking of the World. That doesn't sound reassuring."

"MorkaTempeli. For a new world to be born, the old must die. That is the way things have always been." Abraxas' face was blank.

"And your revenge on Hadeon is worth this, the end of all things?"

"I highly doubt the end of the world is fire and brimstone, as so many fear. It is not my intention to harm the innocent. Do you think humans care which ancient beings rules over them? No, they care where their next meal will come from and if their loved ones can live happy lives. Our struggles are more myth to them than reality."

"Until they are squashed under our armies when they get in the way." Jun's voice was harsh, but he spoke the truth.

"We will avoid casualties where we can, but it would be na?ve to think none would suffer," Tori reasoned. "But would you avoid this suffering to preserve the world we live in now?" Jun didn't answer.

"At the island, no one was hurt by the destruction there, well, almost no one." A smile flicked at the corner of her mouth, and a small part of my heart twinged. "So, our best options would be nodes away from populated areas."

Inodded. "Yes, and it would be best to break nodes along the same ley line, one on either side of the city. Our best option would be to target the node rumored to lie outside the city of Manan in the RiverKingdom. I believe you have an alliance with the queens there?"

Abraxasnodded. His face grew tight as he traced the line on the map in the opposite direction. His eyes widened in realization, and his face grew hard.

"No." It was a king's rejection with no room for argument.

"It is the best option. It lies within your own Kingdom and will have the greatest impact on—"

"I said no." The air in the room grew boiling hot, and Abraxas' eyes turned that horrible gold. His pupils turned to slits.

"Abraxas, calm down." Tori grabbed his shoulder, but he flinched away, breathing heavily. He held her gaze, and she did not back down. The moment stretched on before he pushed past her and out of the room without saying another word.

"Where is this node?" she asked. I pointed to the location on the map, at the edge of the ColdMountains, southwest of Xyr. She frowned. "What's there?"

"The place where the dragons made their last stand."