Chapter Forty-Nine
As the realization of what we’re all witnessing sinks in, everyone loses their minds.
Atlas has been lying to everyone.
Nadir and I are shoved left and right, and I stumble against a large body. Pushing myself away, I try not to trample anyone, but we’re surrounded by chaos like we’ve been dropped into the middle of a churning, roiling ocean teeming with hungry sharks.
“Now’s our chance,” Nadir growls in my ear, his arm still banded around me. “Let’s go.”
We elbow through the crowd hand in hand, jostled from every side. People surge towards the center of the plaza, where Gabriel stands with Tyr, as the Sun King’s guards attempt to hold them back. I catch sight of Tristan and Mael moving in with their weapons poised.
The energy around us paces into a feverish swell of emotion.
People are angry and shocked and confused. But most of all I taste it, because it’s a flavor I know so well—the sour bite of betrayal from a king with bright blue eyes and a honeyed smile who was lying to their faces the whole fucking time.
It seems to take forever to make it through the press of bodies, but finally, we squeeze through, emerging at a less densely crowded spot.
I scan our surroundings, noticing the guards lining the palace have all moved in to help quell the uprising.
As we continue to muscle our way to the gate, I worry about Gabriel—he was clearly about to collapse from the weight of revealing Atlas’s lies. This is the price he’s been forced to pay all these years.
Tyr is alive, and Atlas was never the true king of Aphelion. All of the warders must have known. All of them forced to be complicit in this crime. No wonder Gabriel is always such a dick. Now I understand why he didn’t run to Atlas the moment he spotted me. How long has he been working against his false king?
“Lor!” Nadir calls. “This way.”
My chest expands with relief when I spy Halo and Marici beckoning us towards them. Gabriel came through for us. In spite of everything, he delivered what he promised.
I fling off my cloak as we approach, revealing the gold palace livery beneath, as well as the bag strapped to my chest containing the Heart Crown. Willow managed to sneak us two sets of clothing to help us blend in, but Nadir absolutely refused to wear it, opting for his usual black and arguing that he could easily conceal himself with magic if needed.
I didn’t press the issue too hard this morning when we were dressing, but I did call him a drama queen before he started tickling me, and we both ended up wearing nothing as I rode him on the floor of my bedroom. Our bedroom. It wasn’t something we discussed when we decided we’d be sleeping next to one another every night, but it’s been that way since we returned from The Woodlands.
With our hands clasped and heads down, Halo and Marici flank us as we walk-run towards the palace. No one acknowledges us, too consumed by Tyr’s appearance to pay us any mind.
Inside, we come face-to-face with Hylene, who’s dressed like a proper Sun Palace courtier in gold from head to toe.
“Is it empty?” Nadir asks, and she nods.
“There are a handful of guards outside, but everyone ran to see what’s going on. What exactly is going on?”
“I’ll fill you in as we walk. Lead the way.”
Hylene nods, and the five of us skulk through the palace. We pass the occasional servant, who barely glances at us as they head for the eye of the storm.
“This way.” Halo gestures as we slink around corners, checking for guards. We pass a few lying asleep against walls where they’ve fallen. Good job, Willow, I think to myself.
The rest have abandoned their posts, and I’m sure Mael was right about their training, but I don’t think anyone anticipated news of this caliber coming in to sweep away all of their preconceived notions.
We turn a few more corners, and I’m reminded of those first days after I woke up in Aphelion and didn’t understand what I was doing there. Everything was so beautiful and luxurious, and it felt like I was living a dream. Until it started to become a nightmare.
Finally, we come upon a familiar hallway and slow to a stop.
Nadir peers around the corner while I huddle with the other three women behind him.
“Two guards at the doors. I can easily handle them,” he says.
I nod as he turns to Halo and Marici. “You two should return to the courtyard. If anyone notices you’re missing, it’ll arouse suspicion. Atlas might punish you if he discovers you’ve been helping Lor.”
I can tell they want to do what he’s asking. They probably have a thousand questions about the return of Tyr as well. This is their home, and Atlas was lying to them, too.
“Thank you,” I say, wrapping them both in a hug. “For everything.”
“Good luck,” Halo says. “I hope you find what you need here.” She glances at Nadir and then back to me, and I see the softening in her eyes. “And I hope we see you again, but whatever happens, know that we want the best for you and you’ll always have friends here.”
We study each other for a long moment, and I get the sense Halo understands something big is about to happen. I know she wants to ask. I see the questions on her face, but I can’t offer her the explanation she seeks. Maybe someday we’ll have that chance.
“I hope so too,” I say, and after another hug, they both scurry off, disappearing around a corner.
“Hylene, keep an eye out,” Nadir says. “If anyone comes this way, distract them.”
Hylene tips her chin. “Of course.”
Then Nadir takes my hand.
“Are you ready for this?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
He nods and then uses his magic, sending several tendrils of light towards the guards. The assault is nearly on them before they notice, but it’s already too late.
His ribbons of light cinch tightly around their chests, forcing them to drop their weapons, while more tendrils snake around their throats until they follow their swords, collapsing to the marble floors. He uses another sweep of magic to pull open a door and drag them inside the room, lest anyone passing notice two unconscious guards.
When Nadir is finished, he takes my hand, and we enter the room, being sure to close the door behind us.
The Mirror stands at the far end of the room, covered by a thick velvet sheet.
When I stood in this place last time, everything was so different. Now I’ve returned, and nothing will ever be the same.
My steps echo in the cavernous space as I approach.
Nadir waits next to me as we stare up at it. It seems bigger than I remember.
“What do I do?” I ask.
“You’re the one who’s been here before,” he says. “What did you do last time?”
“I just had to stand in front of it.”
We exchange a glance.
“Then start there.”
I nod and take a step towards it, overcome by the magnitude of this moment. I’ve been running towards this place for weeks, and now that I’m here, I’m not ready.
A bang at the door has us both spinning around.
“They’re in here!” comes a muffled voice.
It seems I have no choice. It’s now or never.
“Nadir,” I say.
“Go. I’ll handle them.”
The doors burst open, and I catch the flash of his magic before I turn to face the Mirror. Soldiers are pouring into the room, and Nadir fends them off as best he can, but they stream in, dozens of them. How did they find us so quickly? What happened to Hylene?
A guard wearing black fights his way towards me, snatching me in his arms.
“Gotcha,” he sneers in my ear, but a moment later, he’s gone, lying on the ground choking on the noose of green light slicing off his air.
“Lor! Go!” Nadir calls as his magic bounces around the room.
I waste no more time and run for the Mirror, skidding to a stop as my hands slam into the surface. I tug on the heavy velvet cover with all of my strength, and it slides over the top, pooling at my feet like a funeral shroud.
“I’m here!” I scream. “I found it. I have the Crown!”
I pull the bag with the Crown over my head and hold it up like an offering. It remains still and silent. I bang my fist against the glass as flashes of colorful light gleam in its surface. I see Nadir in the reflection as more guards stream in.
“Hello! Can you hear me?”
I lean against it, pounding again, willing it to notice me.
“I’m here! I have it!” I shout over and over.
Then something clicks.
Heart Queen.
The disembodied words enter my head, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I sag against the Mirror.
“Yes! I’m here.”
You’ve come back to me. You have the Crown?
“Yes. It’s here in my bag. Do you need it?”
Oh no. I don’t need it. That was for you.
“You said you’d have something for me when I found it.”
The Mirror falls silent, and I stare at it, dimly aware of the fighting going on behind me.
“Hello?” I call.
I place my hand against it, my fingertips pressing into the cool, smooth surface. I lean my forehead against it and breathe out and in. I’m here. I did what it asked. Was this not enough?
The sounds of fighting have tapered off, and I look back to find Nadir finishing off with the last of the guards, at least for now.
“Please,” I say, pressing my forehead to the Mirror. “Please.”
I have something,it finally replies. I have something for you, Heart Queen.
“What is it?” I look up.
It laughs then. The sound is low and dark.
When your grandmother broke the world, we held on to this for safekeeping.
We? The Artefacts. It’s then I know. I’m sure. There can be only one thing it has for me.
Back up, Heart Queen. It is time for you to go home.
The surface of the Mirror begins to glow with silvery light, and I do as it asks, jogging in reverse, peering over my shoulder at Nadir, who waits in the middle of the room.
He takes my hand and squeezes it as we watch the Mirror glow brighter and brighter.
The surface liquefies into a molten whirlpool before an object comes hurtling towards me.
Everything slows down, the world holding its breath as the object flips end over end, curving through the air.
“Nadir,” I say as my magic lurches under my skin with the force of a tidal wave. “Get down.”
Sparks dance along my fingertips. My arms, my torso. I feel them crackle in my head.
He needs to get out of the way.
“Get down!” I scream as my bag tumbles from my grip, and my hands reach for the object, the cool dark stone imprinting my fingertips with the caress of magic.
It’s the ark—an oblong cameo with a woman wearing the Heart Crown carved into its surface, just like Nerissa said.
My fingers curl around it, feeling the ridges and grooves sculpted into that black sparkling rock that I suddenly realize I know so well. That glitter-flecked black stone I stared upon from my hole in the Hollow when I vowed to tear the Aurora King and his Keep apart bit by bit.
I have only a moment to register the incongruity of that fact.
And then I explode.
Red lightning erupts from my hands as the sealed door in my chest finally slams open, releasing waves and waves of power through my blood and my limbs, stirring in my cells and my nerves. It spears out of me in long, jagged streaks, spreading out like I’m a magnificent tree unfurling its branches.
Hundreds of flashes twirl in my gaze. Thousands upon thousands of them as the room spins and turns. We’re standing inside a beating heart—pulsing rivers of crimson feed my organs, expanding in my lungs, allowing me to finally breathe.
I feel Nadir clinging to my waist, keeping me in place while I shake, as magic, so much fucking magic, ripples through me until the glass-domed ceiling blasts apart, detonating in a spray of sparkling shards. The sound roars against my raw scream as my power flows and flows, finally unleashed.
For every day it was locked up, for every moment I was forced to hide it away, it flows out of me in angry, righteous waves.
This is who I am.
This is who they tried to cage.
And this is who they will now fear.
My arms spread wide, and my head tips up.
Today, I am the fucking Heart Queen.
Finally, it stops, and the room falls silent. Rain cascades over us, and it takes me a moment to realize I’m drenched. The promised thunderstorm flashes overhead, white lightning streaking across the sky as if calling to the ruby sparks circling my arms and legs.
Nadir climbs up my body and cups my face in his hands, kissing my cheeks and my lips and my forehead.
“You did it,” he whispers over and over as I shake.
“You did it,” he says. “What did it give you?”
“The ark,” I say. “It was the ark.”
I realize I’m no longer holding it. It must have flown from my grip.
Then the unbearable clink of stone against marble echoes in the quiet room, drawing our attention.
We both spin around.
The ark of Heart lies on its side near the doorway next to the toe of a polished black boot.
A boot that belongs to the Aurora King.