Chapter Twenty-Four
You are a treasure beyond measure.
The royals armed up and loaded onto a bus much fancier than the others. It possessed a clear roof and body, offering a full view of the outside world. No doubt the glass, or whatever it was, was maddened proof. Plush seats offered a comfortable place to rest.
Giselle occupied the vehicle already, seated up front, directly behind the driver. If she wore the key necklace, I couldn’t tell. She smiled and waved at Cyrus and Felix, as happy as could be.
Confusion speared me. The emperor adored this woman. Why take her to a battlefield teeming with feeders and glowers, his greatest enemy? Especially while she was pregnant with their child.
Cyrus chose a spot in the middle, but I kept going, opting to stand in the back to observe everyone at once.
A festering, silent Lolli took the seat in front of Cyrus. A bold decision. The bruised Felix and a sullen Summit picked the seats directly across from them. The air popped with malice even I could feel. Everyone buckled in.
Mr. Vyle and the emperor entered behind an armed, blank-eyed Winslet, and I cringed.
Not the same girl. She took the spot next to Giselle, who immediately launched into a conversation about the baby, bubbling over with excitement.
Mr. Vyle sat directly behind them while the emperor remained standing, facing the royals.
“Welcome, everyone.” He pressed his fingers together, creating a steeple.
He wore a tunic and trousers, and other than the shadows clinging to him, he looked so average.
If I’d met him on the streets, I never would have guessed his title.
“This marks an important occasion for us all.
Our gods are soon to make their final selection, and what happens today will play a vital role in their decisions.
“You’ll need your goggles,” the emperor added, motioning to the driver before claiming the seat across from Giselle and Winslet.
As everyone donned and activated their lenses, the vehicle started forward. We exited the garage and sailed along a paved road, an electrified fence on both sides of us, shutting out the world beyond. As soon as we cleared it, the road became littered with bones, articles of clothing, and shoes.
Wide-open plains stretched on one side, and mountains loomed on the other. Though there’d been a handful of zombielike maddened on the day of my arrival, none were present this morning.
Lolli repositioned, leaning against the glass to face everyone on the bus. “Briar Rose has chosen me. I’ve been assured.”
I didn’t miss the note of smugness in her voice.
Disgust twisted Felix’s features, and there was no masking it.
I wondered how I’d ever missed his utter contempt for CURED.
He was a rogue Soalian focused only on vengeance, willing to destroy anyone who got in his way.
“You can’t even tempt Cyrus to forget a lowborn lady for a single hour, Lollipop.
What makes you think a goddess wants to spend an eternity with you? ”
Temper flashed over Lolli’s features, but when she next spoke, she sounded as confident and carefree as before. “When I take the throne, you’ll be my first casualty.”
“Your threats are as fake as your orgasms,” he clapped back.
Summit said nothing, just stared straight ahead, his expression set in stone, his mind elsewhere.
Cyrus remained silent as well, his emotions on lockdown. Knowing him, he’d begun to prepare for whatever trial awaited him.
The bus approached the statue of Astan, and I did a double take, my heart pumping with a sudden burst of adrenaline. The horns had risen. They were almost fully erect now, with tips a mere inch from pointing to the sky.
Urgency swept me into a whirlwind. I was running out of time, but—I—refused—to—panic. Even if Cyrus accepted Astan for whatever reason, even if we became enemies, even if I stabbed him, we could prevail. The horn blast wasn’t the end, merely the beginning of the end.
“Glowers incoming,” Summit shouted. “An entire horde.”
All eyes followed the line of the high prince’s pointing finger. A large shimmering blur preceded a loud boom!
The vehicle lurched to its side and rolled.
Initial impact caused no cracks in the glass, but momentum tossed the occupants about.
Only I remained unaffected, the vehicle spinning around me.
I watched as Giselle clutched her stomach, terrified, unaware a muted bubble of light encased her, acting as a sort of cushion.
As Cyrus bounced and jerked in his seat, buckled in. As the others were thrown about.
Even before the vehicle skidded to a halt, glowers glommed on to it, slamming their fists into the glass. No, not with their fists. Each wielded a vibrating hammer. Cracks formed and grew until the glass shattered, spraying in every direction.
Cyrus unfastened the belt and sprang to his feet, a dagger in each hand.
The other royals, Winslet, and Mr. Vyle did the same as they recovered, choosing different weapons.
Together, the group scrambled from the remains of the vehicle to defend the emperor and a frightened Giselle from glowers doing everything in their power to reach them.
Gunshots boomed, the vibrations scattering an abundance of clouds that had cloaked two suns.
I ghosted from the wreckage, slipping into the morning light as Cyrus threw himself into the cluster of Soalians nearest Giselle, knocking several down. The fallen came up swinging swords of fire. Brutal combat ensued all around.
We were so close to the force field, to seeing the key in action. Why do this?
Once Cyrus and the others maneuvered Giselle and the emperor to solid ground, they worked to form a hedge of protection around them. The battled raged on. Emperor Piven clutched his chest, muttering, “This wasn’t in the book, this wasn’t in the book.”
I might not understand what was going on, but I trusted Domino, Ember, and yes, Soal.
They helped innocents; they didn’t harm them.
Cyrus knew this too. But as a double agent, he had a part to play.
He couldn’t give away his true allegiance, and yet, he fought back with utter savagery, ferocious with every blow, never pulling his strikes.
As he swung his daggers, they elongated, slashing more than his immediate challengers. To his credit, however, he never delivered a death blow.
I spotted Domino among the attackers. A master swordsman with expert-level skill most people couldn’t wield after three lifetimes of training, and I marveled. He fought his way through the circle, reaching Giselle. She resisted as he liberated her from the emperor’s clinch.
“Let me help you,” he pleaded, attempting to flee with her. “You don’t have to die today.”
“He’ll help you,” I shouted, but no one heard.
“Piven! Piven!” Her struggles grew more pronounced until Domino released her. She raced back to the emperor, swallowed up in the circle of protection.
Domino ducked, avoiding Summit’s swinging sword, and met my gaze, able to see my spirit despite being in his physical body. He radiated resignation and sadness.
Oops. Cyrus tripped over Mr. Vyle, who had stumbled over debris in the road. He went down, but he did it with grace, swiftly rolling to his feet and coming face-to-face with Domino.
They didn’t hesitate to attack the other without a shred of mercy.
“This is your last chance,” Domino snarled at him. A sudden burst of desperation arced across the connection between us. “What you’re considering doing won’t end well for you. Or her!”
“You seek only my misery,” Cyrus shouted, deflecting a strike.
“That is a lie fed to you from the spoon of Astan.”
What did Cyrus consider doing? Accepting the god?
“Leave,” my fiancé commanded. “You and your kind aren’t wanted here.”
Just as suddenly as the battle started, it ended. The glowers leaped into the air and whizzed across the sky, disappearing.
The royals didn’t relax but tightened the circle around the emperor and a sobbing Giselle, all panting, bleeding, and on alert.
“You were awfully chummy with that glower, Cy,” Lolli said, ready to stab anyone who approached.
“He’s being courted,” Felix growled. “Same as the rest of us.”
No one denied it.
“None of this matters right now,” the emperor snarled, and the royals went quiet.
Rather than stick around, I whooshed to the force field. The shimmery dome pulsed with electrical power. Dead glowers and feeders circled the perimeter, in various stages of decomposition.
The sight turned my stomach, and I was glad I couldn’t smell their stench. What would happen if I attempted to bypass the wall of energy without a key?
Let’s find out. I reached out, stretching out my arm . . .
“Do not!” Domino’s voice rang out, an intractable command.
I glanced over my shoulder, finding him mere inches away, no longer in bodily form but spirit. My chest tightened with relief. “You work fast.”
“Those who come into contact with the wall die without exception, even as spirits.”
Cringing, I drew my arm away. “Why did you go after Giselle? She’s an innocent.”
“We wished to save her from what’s to come.” Anguish contorted his features. “I warned her. Thrice, I warned her. She made her choice.”
So many questions, no time to ask. The emperor marched his entourage our way. Everyone exuded anger, including Cyrus.
“This,” the emperor said with an unmistakable growl brewing inside the word, waving to the dome, “is a defense like no other. There is only one key to enter. For Soalians, and for us.” He raised his chin and squared his shoulders, then held out his hand. “This key creates a ten-minute doorway.”
Winslet slapped the hilt of a dagger in his palm. With a crook of a finger, he motioned Giselle over.
She obeyed, hesitant, wiping her tears along the way. Tremors rocked her on her feet. “I . . . I know I said I wished to do this. I know it’s an honor. I just . . . maybe we shouldn’t. . .”
“Shh, shh, my darling.” Emperor Piven gently stroked the side of her cheek. “It will be okay.”
My stomach turned again. “What’s he going to do?”
Domino said nothing, but then, his increasing anguish spoke for him.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You can’t let him.”
“Sir,” Cyrus said, taking a single step forward.
“Not another word,” the emperor snapped, silencing him.
Everyone stiffened, including Giselle. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Behold, the key.” The emperor struck, driving the dagger deep into her carotid. “The sacrifice of someone you dearly love.”
Giselle’s blood spurted, arcs of crimson spraying.
“As you are aware,” he continued, his tone educational even as a tear slid down his cheek, “feeders experience no love, and Soalians are bound by their rules.” He let the body of his pregnant lover collapse to the ground, where she writhed, gasping for breath she couldn’t catch, pressing her hands against her open throat.
“There’s no better defense for our Rock.
No guards for the enemy to recruit or buy off. ”
Winslet grabbed the dying Giselle by the hair and dragged her to the dome.
Righteous fury brought a new wave of strength, helping me shuck off my shock and rush over. Though I did everything in my power to free the innocent woman, I failed.
Helpless, I could only observe as Winslet flung her into the dome. Upon contact, Giselle jolted, hit by volts of electricity. She shook for several seconds before sliding into the dirt, leaving a crimson trail smeared on the dome.
Each of the royals had blanked their faces, revealing nothing of their emotions. But I knew Cyrus, and I sensed the shock, disgust, and wrath churning inside him.
Smoke curled from the smears, and in that small area, the shimmer faded.
“Each of you is allowed to bring a single dagger inside. Discard everything else.” The emperor walked through the opening, head high as he stepped over his lover’s fresh corpse.
Everyone shed their guns, swords, whips, and bows. Lolli followed the emperor first, with Summit directly behind her. A pallid Cyrus and Felix remained behind for several beats, peering at each other before striding forward.
I entered, too, certain hot tears poured over my cheeks. I felt their sear, even in my spirit. Domino remained at my side.
“This,” the emperor said, stretching out his arms with pride, “will be the new king’s legacy.”
My jaw went slack. The berries had begun their transformation.
They’d grown together and darkened, creating a twelve-inch barrier, eight feet long.
The insides still pulsed with radiant colors.
More astonishing, John Victors perched at one end, tending the soil and muttering, “The end is here, the end is here.”
No one else but Domino noticed him, and I realized Victors was a spirit, like us.
“Victors,” I called, but he never glanced up.
“Isn’t it lovely?” the emperor asked, beaming as though he’d grown it himself.
Lolli twittered with delight, drumming her fingers together evil villain–style.
“One day, I will burn the library to the ground,” Summit swore.
“And you, Cyrus?” The emperor faced the group. “What will you do to the library?”
One of my hands fluttered to my throat as silence stretched.
Finally, he said, “I will formulate a plan after I’ve gathered every bit of information available, not spout the first whim that pops into my head.
” This earned scowls from all his peers but Felix, who had reverted to a blank expression.
“Those books can be used against Soal and all of his followers.”
My fiancé wasn’t a liar. He didn’t lie to anyone, ever, for any reason. Lies had teeth, and when you freed them, they came back to bite you, always. But he did know how to misdirect. This was a misdirection, only a misdirection.
The emperor smiled. “The time has come for Astan to make his final decision. War is soon to erupt in both worlds. We must be ready.” He sashayed toward the opening, Winslet and Mr. Vyle behind him.
When the royals attempted to follow, he held up his hand, telling them without words to remain where they were.
“The gods wish to learn the truth of your mettle. Who is strongest. Who is wisest and the most resilient. Who is willing to do whatever it takes to complete a job. Today, we will find out.”
“If you want to open the door and leave,” Mr. Vyle announced, “you know what you must do.”
The dome closed behind the threesome, sealing the royals inside.
As they darted their gazes at each other, readying their daggers, a piercing blast of a horn cut through the daylight.