52. Chapter 48

Chapter 48

They will build their city around me. Even after I have been forgotten, I will wait.

~Calyr the Gold, A History of Magic and Dragons

The eight males move faster than I do. There's no chance for me to escape as they latch onto me. Each one of them gets at least one hand on me. And inside me, as has happened so many times in my life, there's that anger buzzing like lightning in a bottle. The only difference is that this time, there's no stopper in the bottle, and somehow, I know that.

For the first time, I am furious, and there is absolutely nothing stopping the rage inside me from consuming me. I'd lost control a little with Hazel, and she almost died because of it. This is nothing like that. I'm not even really human.

That lightning in a bottle flows through me, filling me with power and a need to destroy. A need to cause pain. I'm no better than a wounded animal.

I swing my arms, and it's like children are trying to hold me down, a barely noticeable weight. Four men fly against the marble wall so hard that a thin crack propagates across the otherwise pristine crimson marble. None of them move. I don't know whether they're dead or just unconscious, but they won't be getting up for a while.

The other four guards let go and try to put some distance between us, but I don't let them. Flames flicker to life around some of them as they move, but I'm faster than them. Like a boar running through the brush, I don't move gracefully. I just run into them, that angry lightning inside me buzzing louder than ever before.

Everything I've done. Everything I've worked for. It all came down to that meeting with Calyr, and he rejected my offer.

I grab one man by the collar of his gambeson, and with a single arm, I lift him into the air and toss him against the others. It's like throwing a stone rather than a full-grown man that weighs twice as much as me. He bowls the other three over, and I'm on them in an instant, that rage inside me desperate for release.

I've done so many things, risked myself and others to get here. I walked away from my family and traveled hard roads. I indebted myself to a legend and learned to use magic. All to save my cousin, and now I can't even do that?

I grab one of the males by the back of his hair and smash his face against the marble as hard as I can. A sickening crunch fills the air, and he doesn't move again. I move to the next one who turns toward me, brown eyes filled with fear. I can smell it. Like the smell of rot, and I want it to go away. Permanently. I pick him up, one hand on the back of his neck and the other on his pants. I heave him at the opposite wall, and he hits it hands first, but they collapse with the force, his head hitting second, and he crumples after the sound of snapping bones fills the air.

The other two males are on their feet and trying to get away, but I'm on them just as fast. There's so much anger inside me because of Calyr, and it feels like that anger is going to burn me up from the inside if I don't let it out.

When I wrap my fingers around this guard's head, a voice stops me. "Maeve," a low voice says. Like water over river stones. The Shade.

Someone else who I'm even more angry at. Someone I'd love to see broken against a wall for what he did to Cole. For the debt that nearly killed the man I love.

But when I turn, my fingers still pressing against the guard's head hard enough that he doesn't dare move, I don't see the Shade. Cole is standing with Darian and Lee, all of them wearing their armor. "Maeve," he repeats in the Shade's voice, "let him go. It's time to leave."

I let go of the guard, turning my attention to him. The rage is a storm that only grows inside me, but when I see Cole, I can't help the shadows that fall to the ground and race toward him. He's the source of so much of my desire that he seems to call those shadows to him.

Lee and Darian simultaneously begin to glow, and my shadows can't reach Cole. They don't say anything, but Cole does. "Maeve, I know how to help your cousin, but we need to leave now." The words that come from his mouth are his own now. Not the Shade's.

I look down at his arm and see that it's still wrapped in bandages. He's not the same as he normally is. There's a weariness to him, and his breathing is labored still. But he's standing. He's speaking.

The rage fades as the memory of how I'd left him fills my mind. I'd been so terrified for him. I'd been worried he was going to die, but he didn't. He's still hurt, though.

"Why are you here?" I ask slowly, the rage inside me dying down even more as I focus on my words.

Cole's breathing is even more labored as he stands up tall. "Because today's not just the Midsummer Ceremony. Today's…"

A rush of pain burns through my head like I've never felt before. The entire world fades in and out of existence, and I fall to the floor. My hands clutch my head as something shifts inside me. Something fills me up with so much power that I'm not sure that I'll be able to contain it. I feel like my body and mind are going to be shredded from the overwhelming amount of it.

It's too much, and I scream in pain, but no sound comes out. My human body isn't strong enough to hold this much power. It's going to kill me. I know it, and there's nothing I can do about it. I just lie on the ground, my hands gripping my head. I don't know how long I lay like that on the cold marble floor as the power rips through me. Time doesn't have any meaning. Minutes pass that feel like years.

My body is a contorted mass of pain. The lightning that I've felt so many times in the past is everywhere. My skin crawls with it. My stomach is full of it. It's as if when I opened my mouth, lightning would stream from it.

Yet, on the outside, nothing is happening. No light or sounds. Just me writhing in pain as my body is reformed to fit the energy that I now hold inside me.

When I feel a hand press against my arm, I'm almost shocked. The pain is gone, and I'm different. I'm…more alive? When I look at Cole, he looks less Immortal than he had before. Almost like he had become less bright. My eyes aren't forcibly drawn to him or Darian or Lee.

"Maeve," he whispers. "You're…"

He doesn't say anything else, merely getting down on one knee and bowing his head. I don't understand what's happening, but when I turn to look at Darian and Lee, they're both moving to do the same thing.

"What are you doing?" I whisper, my voice sounding unusual. Not like my own. I run my finger over my throat, and my hand moves faster than I'd expected. I slowly push myself to my feet and look around me. Everything is different and yet, it's absolutely the same.

Then I see something I've only witnessed one time before. As Cole moves to help me up, the single tally mark on his wrist disappears, fading away and leaving bare skin behind. So similar to the way it'd looked when mine had done the same.

I can see everything so much more clearly. Like someone had opened a dirty window I was looking out of, and now I can see it the way it should be seen. The gold flecks in the marble are discernible, each one very distinct. I can hear the guards in the pile breathing. The two men I chased down are dead without a doubt; their blood runs to the nearest low-spot in the marble and pools, but their scents are gone.

Darian and Lee move nervously, their bodies shifting in tiny ways that my eyes wouldn't have ever noticed before. Even Cole is shaking a little, but it's not nervousness. It's pain.

"You're the Queen, Maeve," Cole says. "You wear the Painted Crown."

I shake my head. No. I hadn't asked for this. I hadn't wanted this. I look down at Cole and Darian and Lee. All still kneeling. That's when it hits me. They did this on purpose. "That's why you had to be here," I whisper. "This isn't just a Midsummer ceremony. It's the passing of the Crown."

I turn around and look at the dead guards. "I'm not of the House of Shadows, though," I say softly. "Calyr wouldn't make a mistake with that. How can I wear the Painted Crown if I'm not from the House of Shadows?"

"Because you're from the House of Earth." The voice is not Cole's. Or Darian's. Or Lee's. I whirl around to see Vesta materialize in front of me. "When the Shattering occurred, your mother did not go into hiding. She went in search of any hidden House of Earth bloodlines. Queen Brenna was a great warrior, but her ability to ferret out the secrets of the world was even more impressive, and she found the sole surviving House of Earth bloodline. Two men were living with the faintest trace of it. Sandor and Trevor Arden."

I stare at Vesta in shock. My parent's marriage was no different from any other Immortal's marriage. Two bloodlines combining to work together.

"Queen Brenna meant to become pregnant with you to further the House of Earth and House of Shadows bloodlines and give some hope of righting the destruction of the Shattering, but she fell in love with your father. She stayed too long and refused to put either of you in danger, so she left. I was told to stay with you until you came of age to make sure that you were prepared to take the throne."

Thoughts of my father fill my mind, and something snaps inside me. I remember a day when I was young. A day when my father had said things that made an eight-year-old girl disgusted with him. A day when my father had been covered with shadows and never seen again.

Why had I forgotten that day completely? I look at Vesta with eyes wide open. "I killed him, and you made me forget."

"I had a single goal. Protect and teach you. I did not have the power to save your father."

I stare at her, not wanting to believe her. Then at Cole. His oath was to make sure I was here when the passing of the Painted Crown occurred. Darian and Lee would follow him anywhere, but even they pushed me to come here. They all knew that I didn't want to take a throne.

My mother had wanted me to do this. She'd set this whole thing up. She'd orchestrated the greatest lie I could have ever imagined.

All of this had started with her. To save the world.

I'd killed my father. I can't get away from that thought. Even with everything else.

I'm interrupted as the clang of steel resonates through the hallways. In an instant, Cole, Darian, and Lee all stand up. Their hands go to their weapons, and they move in front of me. "We need to go, Maeve. This place isn't safe anymore."

Rhion and a troop of Steel soldiers step into the hallway. There's a wide smile on Rhion's face as he looks at us. "The Wyrdling has the Painted Crown?" he asks in amazement. There's no bowing from him, though. "How does a Wyrdling hold the Painted Crown? This is why you bound yourself to her, old friend? And Earth? Who would have thought? We were thorough when we destroyed the Keep of Earth."

"Not thorough enough," Cole says as he holds his sword out. "Turn around, Rhion. You call me old friend, but you threaten my betrothed and my Queen. Take your soldiers and tell your father that we already left."

Rhion shakes his head. "You know I can't do that. My father will know. Somehow, he'll know. At least this will be a good fight. It's been centuries since we sparred together. And centuries since I had a fight that made me sweat."

"Not today," Cole says. "Maybe another day, but not now." He intones in a voice that I'd know anywhere. The sound of water over river rocks. "Rhion, I am calling in your debt. You will take your soldiers back to your father, and you will kill any that attempt to attack me, my betrothed, or my friends."

In an instant, Rhion grimaces and glances down at the tally mark on his wrist, which is glowing so brightly I can see it from here. "You son of a whore. You're the Shade? All this time? You've built yourself an army over the last thirty years for this exact moment, haven't you? An army of debtors."

Cole doesn't say a word, but Rhion's grimace grows until he says, "Well, you heard him. We're headed back to King Gethin."

The tally mark stops burning, and Rhion grins at Cole. "You're a clever son of a whore, Prince. But one day, you and I will stand across from each other on the battlefield and I'll finally get a chance to beat you once and for all."

Then he turns and walks down the hallway.

Immediately, Cole grabs my arm and stares me in the eye. "It's time that we leave, Maeve. We need to get out of here before Rhion sends someone around to catch us. If we get trapped in these hallways, we're dead."

There are so many questions. So many emotions swirling in my head that I don't fight back when he pulls me in the opposite direction that Rhion went. Darian and Lee follow Cole, and Vesta's disappeared.

But I stop. My feet refuse to move, and anger builds again. Cole is the Shade? I've trusted him this entire time, and he's lied to me every step of the way. Cole, Darian, and Lee stop. Cole tries to pull me forward, but he can't. No, any other day, he'd probably have been able to drag me along behind him regardless of what I'd wanted. His powerful body would have been able to force me to do anything.

Not today.

The lightning that had raged inside me when Calyr had refused me had been terrible. All-consuming rage that made me want to hurt everyone. That had been unfocused. That had been anger unleashed.

This is strength with plenty of control. Vesta would be proud.

"Stop," I growl. Cole, Darian, and Lee turn to look at me. How long have they all been planning this? Ever since my mother found my father. "I'm how you're supposed to atone for the Shattering," I say. "Me wearing the Painted Crown is supposed to fix all the damage you did?"

Cole looks at me, and I know he can't lie to me. That lightning roars through me loud and clear. I was never part of the House of Shadows. I know what I can do. The magic speaks to me just as clearly as the Shade ever did. "Everything you have done as Prince Cole or as the Shade has been to put this crown on my head, hasn't it? You've lied and twisted everything to look like you were trustworthy until now. Until you could put this crown on my head."

"I never lied," he says. "I tried to make you leave last night. I tried. I swore to you that if it came to protecting you and protecting myself, I would protect you first. I tried…"

He tried? After all these months, that was him trying? By refusing to follow through with his debt? I blink. It couldn't have been a debt to the Shade since you can't owe a debt to yourself. Who else could it be?

My mother.

I grit my teeth. The pieces slowly come together. "My whole life. Everything. Vesta teaching me. My bloodlines." Then it clicks. "You were in Blackgrove. You made the ring fall off my finger, didn't you?"

He bows his head. "I didn't know you, Queen Maeve. You were the only way to keep the world from dying. I did what I had to do. I told you I wasn't the hero. Let me help you escape this place, and you can do what you want with me. I've atoned for my mistakes."

That thick black hair is all I see as he stares at the floor, waiting for my answer. "I don't need you to help me escape, Cole," I whisper.

Shadows pour from my fingertips to the ground, coating every bit of red marble around us in it. "You taught me well, Shade."

I'm so focused on Cole that I barely notice Darian and Lee staring in fear at us. The shadows change, and suddenly we're all falling through the world.