Chapter 20
Careful not to disturb Eden, I slid out from under the blankets. Praying that it wouldn’t make much noise, I slipped through the doorway and into Guardian’s Glade. One of the double doors across the room shut with a soft click.
My bare feet made no sound as I jogged over, wrenching it open, hoping to catch the lurker. To my disappointment, no one waited outside, but the light of a lantern bent around the right corridor of trees.
I followed, unsure of what to do when I caught up to whomever I followed. I wanted answers, though. Answers I couldn’t find by going back to sleep.
The light bent further, following the path I had walked in my dreams.
The ruins.
My mother’s garden.
With a quick pace, I followed the light, my prey rustling ten steps ahead of me.
Who would be outside my door at this hour? And why are they headed to the ruins? Could they see my dreams? Has my father reached out after all?
While my footsteps fell to the rhythm of my heartbeat, I thought of my dream.
It can’t possibly be true.
But then again, how could I have imagined those runes with markings that I’d never recalled?
I pressed onward, noticing how close we were to the heart of Arcadia. I strained my ears, searching for the other person’s heartbeat. But the pounding of my own drowned it out.
I rounded the corner, thinking of the gazebo from my dream, but was met with the sight of the ruins as I had always known them, my mother’s flowers circling the old stones. A tall, violet-clad figure stood at the center of the platform of the dilapidated gazebo. The figure held a lantern low in front of its body, casting shadows on his face.
“What is this?” I asked.
“Poetic justice,” the oily Seer voice spoke.
Ransom.
“What exactly is being justified?”
“Arcadia.” The Seer lifted his lantern, casting its light over the faded runes. “What do you make of it, my king?”
“You know I never did well with runes, Ransom.” I stepped closer, wary of this strange man. “Why have you led me here?”
“Something must be done about our Enemy.” He didn’t turn to me, but I could tell that he paid close attention to my words, heart rate, and body language.
It was currency to him.
“You knew… about Lycaon and Nyx, that they were brothers. This whole time, you knew?” My eyebrows pinched together.
“Knowing,” Ransom mused, running his free hand over the eroded stone. “Such a funny little word. I am a Seer, my king. Not a knower.”
“Semantics.”
The Seer continued without acknowledging my comment. “I can see what has passed, what is passing even now, and what might come to pass if one’s intentions succeed to fruition.”
“Speak to me plainly, Ransom. I am your king, but I am first and foremost a peer, one who grew alongside you as a pup.”
He met my eyes now. They were a piercing shade of gray, like a hawk. He stayed silent for a long moment before stepping down the cracked steps of the gazebo, an arm’s length away from me.
“There.” He pointed at the pocket in my robe. “That is your answer.”
Sticking my hand in my pocket, I pulled out the piece of cedar that he gave me at the Festival of Kings. “I still don’t understand. What does this answer?”
“When burned, cedar purifies, leaving protection and positivity in its wake.” He repeated the same words he had spoken during the Festival of Kings. “It would mean pain, but it would also mean immortality, my king.”
That same sense of foreboding doom settled over me. “You mean, I’m supposed to–I have to…”
I couldn’t say the words out loud. It would feel like it was set in stone, like the faded runes on this memorial stone. And maybe I, too, would fade from the world, only a broken ruin in a forest of memories.
I would repeat history. I would face Nyx alone. And I would burn.
“There have been rumors.” Ransom licked his lips, like this whole business enticed him. “History is often bound to repeat itself.”
My lips parted to form another question.
But I already knew the answer.
I’d already seen the parallel between me and Lycaon. And this could be a hint that Nash could be more than he appeared to be. Maybe Nyx and Nash had more in common than I thought. And maybe somewhere lurked a hidden history.
But he was my brother. My blood.
Could he really be capable of treason?
Even if Nash was innocent, I knew I would have to face Nyx. I was King, after all. Death was my duty.
“Silas.” Ransom’s eyes softened and he offered a tight smile. The use of my name pulled at the edges of my heart. “Our life is for Arcadia. And this is your destiny.”
My head swam, shadows clouding my vision. “What if I fail?”
The Seer took a long, deep breath. “Then we’ll pick up the pieces and continue living. Though, if it encourages you, I will tell you this: You will always succeed when you follow the path laid out before you. Obedience is the first step.”
“And if I succeed?”
Ransom chuckled. “Then Arcadia moves on, honoring the second coming king who stepped down to bring the rest of us life. There will be monuments and songs and feasts in your honor.”
“And Eden?” My voice cracked.
Ransom went to speak, but no words fell out of his mouth. He stood there, mouth open like he had been frozen. He bowed his head. “I cannot say, my king. The future is… uncertain.”
“Will she live?”
I had to know.
That same tongue-tied expression took over his face. “I cannot say.”
I ran my hand through my hair, gripping my roots in a tight fist. My chest ached.
“Je kunan, ja doleo.” His words in the ancient tongue pulled my gaze back to his.
My king, I’m sorry.
“Why now?”
He only smiled. “I have to get back. I hope you will come to understand, my king. But I know you will do what is right for Arcadia, for your people.”
He bowed and left, violet robes swishing against the Solomon’s Seal and the lantern light dancing between the trees until it disappeared.
I was alone. Alone with my thoughts, darker than the night sky.