Chapter Fourteen
I declare, “You are a chosen vessel.”
Cyrus eased back and scrubbed a hand over his face. “The librarian is here, I take it.”
“Yes,” I rasped, looking between the two men. Both projected a mix of irritation, resolve, and determination.
My boyfriend popped his jaw. “You could have waited, Dom.”
“No, I couldn’t.” The librarian jutted his chin. “I’ve been here the entire time.”
Yet not even I had sensed him. Could he hide himself from me, or had he created a block?
Cyrus noticed my reaction and pursed his lips. “How’s Ember?”
“Awake and recovering,” Domino and I replied in unison. “She sends a message,” he added, focused on me. “Use your second life well.”
“I will,” I whispered, ducking my head.
The high prince steadied himself while my friend pinned me in place with the heaviness of his gaze. “We’re bound together now,” he reminded me, “our roots connected.”
“I know,” I responded. But. Um. “What does that mean, exactly?” Clearly he was trying to convey something I hadn’t yet comprehended. “That you can never leave my side?”
“In a way. While I can leave your side physically, our lives are tied. We’ll never not be aware of each other. Or affected by the other’s actions. If you die, I die, and vice versa.”
I opened my mouth. Closed it. Opened. Closed. Strode into the living room. The boys trailed me. I stopped at the coffee table. Relocated to the velvet-covered settee before the unlit hearth. Then the couch. None of the switches assisted the processing of what I’d just heard.
A growl rumbled from Cyrus. “What did he say?”
I couldn’t tell him. Not until I understood the mechanics of it all. “I need more information first.” Sinking on the edge of the couch, I gazed at the librarian and demanded, “Start talking. Explain how this is possible.”
The librarian anchored his arms behind his back, adopting a prebattle stance. “Ask Cyrus about the seed he gave you. The one that grew the piece of the Rock you ate.”
I gulped and swung my gaze to the high prince. “Tell me about the seed you gave me when I awoke from Shiloh’s attack.”
Cyrus pursed his lips. “I removed it from a berry I’d found weeks before CURED sent me to retrieve the one I ate. It’s the same kind of seed CURED now protects.”
Jolt. “My seed matured into the Rock. Are you saying the berries growing in a Theirland field will also mature into the Rock?”
“Yes.”
“That is the third requirement for the rise of the gods,” Domino stated. “The Rock will reach full maturity in Theirland. It is at that time the chosen man will agree to serve as Astan’s host.”
My mind whirled at the implications, and I covered my mouth with trembling hands. The final two conditions were being fulfilled in tandem. How long did I have to pluck Cyrus from the god’s claws?
“Why would CURED protect a section of the Rock?” It made no sense. They despised the Rock and sought only to destroy and discredit it. Him.
“There’s a point in the growth that allows us to craft a deeper bond with Tsuri,” Domino explained. “We become a doorway into the library.”
The same way Domino had become a librarian.
Cyrus paled as I relayed the information, and I probably reacted similarly. If someone infected with Madness became a door to the library, the entire CURED army could march in, burn books, attack residents, and invade the utopia beyond it, bringing the infection with them. The perfect revenge.
“Let’s backtrack a sec,” I told Domino. Inhale, exhale. “I ate a fragment of the Rock to become Soalian, but I wasn’t”—I waved an arm between us in lieu of speaking the word bonded—“to anyone else.”
“You were.” His unease flowed into me. I felt it. “The first time, you were planted in Tsuri, who is planted in Soal, who is bound to all who partake. This develops stronger, longer roots in him . . . and in me. When I cloaked you, our roots twined.”
Dang. That made all kinds of crazy sense. It was the equivalent of grafting plants. “This isn’t ideal.” The understatement of the century.
“Believe me, I’m aware.” Both his expression and his stance softened the slightest bit. “I’ve seen a snapshot of my future, and you are included in it. I wanted, want, to get there.”
That, I understood as well. Look at everything I’d done to prevent a certain future. “Tell me what you saw.”
“No.”
Before I could press, Cyrus spoke up. “You two hammer out the details of whatever this is and let me know where you end up.” He pivoted on his heel and stalked toward the kitchen. “I’ll make dinner.”
I almost ran after him. I longed to. But I remained in the living room, attempting to ground myself in my environment.
Pritis stones dangled from a glass ceiling, the lights appearing to fall from the night sky.
Polished walls displayed paintings of past gentry and their families.
Crystals covered every corner, the uneven edges flecked with gold.
Stunning, luxurious, and familiar, but not at all comforting.
“He may not forgive me for this,” I whispered, my voice as ragged as my emotions. “Consuming the Rock was supposed to set me on a different path, not barreling toward the one I read about.”
“It did both. Before, staying away from Cyrus was temporary.”
And now it was permanent? No. Surely not. He must be wrong. “What you’re implying . . . You’re wrong. Very wrong.”
“Rarely. And not about this.”
“Victors predicted my marriage to Cyrus.” I would never agree to wed someone hosting Astan.
“Are you certain?” Domino slanted his head. “What did he say, exactly?”
I clung to the memory as if it were a lifeline. “He said, and I quote, ‘Who wouldn’t want to speak with the much-desired wife of the high prince? Though I suppose you are merely his future much-desired wife at this point.’ End quote.”
The librarian’s expression turned pitying. “A much-desired wife doesn’t promise marriage but longing, Arden.”
Oh. Oooh. Talk about a dagger to the gut! “You should have explained better,” I snapped.
“You should have trusted me.” The gentle rebuke defused the worst of my anger.
He wasn’t wrong. “You told me I was still learning you. That you would earn my trust.”
“Exactly what I attempted to do.” He paused. “Do you wish you’d made a different decision?”
Yes. No. Maybe. Tears singed my eyes and blurred my vision. My chin trembled. “What can I do?” Because I wouldn’t abandon Cyrus.
“Exactly what I must do. We will learn from our mistakes and start fresh.” He stepped closer. “It’s not all bad, Arden.” Extending his arm, he said, “Come. Let me show you a benefit.”
I hesitated only a moment before pressing my solid hand against his misty one. Somehow, he clasped my fingers and tugged me to a stand. I stood but left my body behind. No longer did I smell the base, feel the brush of air, or contend with the whirl of anxiety. There was only peace and Domino.
“I’m a spirit like you,” I stated, awed.
“Yes.” He maintained his hold on my hand and led me through the foyer.
I cast a glance toward the kitchen, where Cyrus puttered about, before I followed the librarian, curious.
Domino ghosted through the door, and though I stutter-stepped, I slipped through it too, right on his heels.
A little laugh escaped me as we traversed the hallway, leaving behind the two men guarding my door.
“Where are we going?” I whispered, and yes, okay, I really dug this perk. No denying it.
“You’ll see.” Domino offered me a fleeting smile that lit his entire face, the sight momentarily blipping my brain. “Ready?”
We floated down, down, through the floor and into a bedroom.
Spotting Lolli cuddled up next to a contented Roman, who glistened with sweat as he shifted strands of her hair between his fingers, I wheezed a breath.
What! First, only, like, ten minutes had passed since I’d seen her.
Which meant she’d come straight here after Cyrus and I passed her upon our return to the palace, and Roman had been waiting.
Second, mere hours ago, this woman had attempted to murder me. She would have succeeded, too, if not for my fellow Soalians. Now she enjoyed herself with my friend?
“—find so fascinating?” she was saying, petting his ripped abs. “I get that she’s understated and pretty, but pretty doesn’t usually inspire such intense devotion.”
“According to the guy who dated her before the high prince, it’s her eyes. When she looked at him, he saw deep wounds and wanted only to heal and protect her. I don’t see it, personally. She’s a handful, that’s for sure.”
“They’re discussing me,” I cried, then slapped a hand over my mouth. Oops.
“They can’t hear you in this form.”
Right. Relief flowed into tense muscles, and I lowered my arm. As she questioned him about my fighting style, I muttered, “I’d really like to leave.”
“Very well.” Domino led me through a wall and into High Prince Summit’s room.
The prince reclined naked in a chair, grinning and sipping whiskey as two trainees kissed different parts of his body. “Good little war bunnies,” he praised, petting one’s hair.
Thankfully, we didn’t stick around here, either.
We slipped through another wall, entering Felix’s suite.
He was alone, standing at attention near the foot of his bed, all brawn and burden with his arms anchored behind his back and his feet braced apart.
His eyes were closed, as if he were lost in thought.
We went through a series of walls and floors. Honestly, it was one of the weirdest things I’d ever experienced. The journey ended inside a gym where twenty or so young men and women exercised, pumped iron, and stretched. They wore determination like a second skin.
“These are the hosts already chosen by the gods,” Domino said.
Sympathy roused a determination of my own. If these people learned the truth, their acceptance would become refusals. Surely.