Chapter 61
I guide him back through the tunnel in the bridge toward the academy.
He’s curious at first, and even more so as we head deep into the foundations and then go deeper.
It isn’t until we’ve descended far enough and walked long enough that it’s undeniable we’re past the academy that Kaelis finally speaks.
“You mean to tell me that, all this time, the passage was right under the academy…” he mutters to himself, fading off with a noise of disgust.
“Think of how many times you walked over it, or past it.” I glance over my shoulder.
I hold a lantern that the Worldkeepers leave at the connection with the last stairwell.
It was warm when I picked it up, probably freshly used when they came down here for preparations.
I can barely see damp footprints ahead of us, and I just hope they’re gone now, so they don’t see me and Kaelis.
“And here I thought I knew everything about this place.” His eyes scan the walls. They’re rough, part natural, part man-made.
“To be fair, it was designed to be a secret.”
“The academy is my home—my ancestral home.” He shakes his head. “I’ve tried to learn everything about it, all its secrets.”
“Maybe now you have,” I say gently.
Kaelis falls silent and stays that way until the tunnel begins to slope up. Eventually it opens to a now-familiar narrow stair cut into the rock.
When we reach the top of the stairs, he stops as he takes in the Stone Citadel for the first time.
His breath catches. “This is…” He can’t even finish his sentence.
“Stunning, isn’t it?” I extinguish and set down the lantern by the top step so it’s ready to be carried back by the next person.
“I admit, meeting the Worldkeepers as little more than a sparsely outfitted rebel force hiding in the forgotten foundations of Eclipse City was less than inspiring. But this”—my gaze sweeps across the empty buildings—“this shows me there’s so much more to them. ”
I begin to walk, and he remains at my side.
I’m not in any hurry. We’re early yet. I imagine Vaduin and the rest will be here in about an hour or two, with the dawn.
The sky is just now beginning to lighten.
The induction will happen with enough time for us to return for All Coins Day, everyone none the wiser.
Arina will attempt to ink her card after—though I’m not confident she will be ready.
Then I will give her the choice to be inducted, or not.
That’s not a decision I can make for her.
But if all goes according to plan, today is the last day of this world.
“A whole history, a way of life, lost,” he murmurs as we pass through the empty buildings. “So much knowledge, lost. To think what we might have known if my father had not hunted them.”
“In the new world, what would you do with the Worldkeepers?”
His fingers graze the cracked stone and splitting wood of a building we pass. “I would honor them.”
“Really?”
“You seem so surprised.” He drops his hand to his side with a slight smile. “Did you think I’d hunt them like my father? In what ways have I ever aspired to be like my father?”
“Fair point,” I readily admit.
He laughs softly. “I have reason to believe my mother worked with them, honored them.”
“You do?” Suddenly I’m imagining our mothers working together. Maybe they were even friends.
“What limited accounts I could cobble together suggested Revisan and the Worldkeepers have strong ties. But the fact that their stronghold is connected to her palace only seems to be further proof.”
The sharp lines of his face I’m so familiar with soften. My hand slips into his, and the two voids of his eyes turn my way. We slow to a stop, and a small ache blooms in my chest.
“You would’ve made her proud.”
“That’s not why I said it.” He panics at the mere idea of parental praise.
I squeeze his hand tighter. “It’s still true.” I don’t force him to sit in that discomfort. I continue our leisurely walk, weaving around to the hidden passage by the waterfall. Our fingers stay laced, even as we descend the stairs and emerge into the alcove where the altar of the vessel is.
Kaelis’s study of the space misses nothing. He releases me to stride to each statue. He inspects the water at their bases, no doubt arriving at the same conclusion I did: that it is without doubt the same as in the font of the World.
“I think you can hide here.” I point to a narrow space between one of the statues and the wall. It’s a bit precarious, as the open air is at his side. But I’m confident he won’t slip.
Kaelis must reach the same conclusion, since he nods. Then he turns to face me a final time. We spent our time taking the long way through the citadel. Dawn is breaking, casting him in a golden glow. “And you’re sure you want me here?”
I nod. “I want you to be a part of this.”
He takes both of my hands and leans in. Our foreheads touch lightly. Kaelis inhales a slow breath.
“Tell me this isn’t a dream,” he whispers.
“It’s not.”
An exhale that sounds like disbelief. “I feel like I’ve waited a dozen lifetimes for you. I’d wait a dozen more…but, by the Twenty, let this now be our time.”
“I won’t make you wait any longer.” I squeeze his hands. “The world is ours.”
Footsteps echo from the far passage. Kaelis pulls away, and our eyes lock once more. As he wedges himself into his hiding place, I step toward the entry.
Vaduin arrives alone. I scan the tunnel behind him, waiting for more to emerge, but none do. His expression is unreadable as he approaches me, and, for a second, nerves have me tensing. He holds out his hand, and in it is a blank, diamond-shaped card.
“You will take your oath alone,” he says.
“What?” My hand freezes as I reach for the card.
He nods. “This rite is between you and our forefathers. The card has been inked once with water, to signify passing our knowledge to you.”
I take the card. It’s heavier than I expected. It almost feels like metal—like one of the golden Majors inked at the font of the World. Its edges are sharp, and upon it is the faint echo of magic.
“You have come here a page, a supplicant of our knowledge, and you will leave a fully-fledged member of our order, if you hear our call.” He inclines his head and then withdraws; his steps fade down the tunnel.
I stand and stare at the card, more nerves than I thought I’d feel rattling within me.
A set of footsteps breaks the silence, approaching from behind. I don’t move, not even as Kaelis’s arms slide around me. I’m enveloped, tucked in, a place that is as second nature to me as breathing. His lips find my shoulder in a kiss that’s both intimate and grounding.
“One last time, you’re certain you want me here?” he whispers over the skin of my neck.
“I am,” I say without hesitation. “Are you bothered that I’ll become one of them?”
His arms tighten, just slightly. “I thought you well knew by now that there is no way I wouldn’t want you.”
The way he says it, the certainty in his voice, steals my breath.
I close my eyes for just a moment, allowing myself to be held, allowing myself to believe in the world we are trying to carve out of the ruins of the one we knew. Everything we’ve lost. The costs we’ve paid to be here.
Finally, I straighten. “Are you sure you don’t want to take it?” The notion of him losing his memories still weighs heavy on me. “I will remember because I’m the one who’ll make the wish, after all.”
He nods, closing my fingers gently around the card.
“I won’t forget everything, not necessarily,” he says gently, clearly knowing what worries me.
“The World might adjust some things, but my love will remain. You, however, must remember it all. If something goes awry and you are not the one to make the wish, I need you to know the truth.”
I swallow hard and nod. He’s made his choice; I must respect it. “Then I’m going to begin.”
I step forward, card in hand, the altar waiting. The instructions Gregor passed on to me for how to conduct the rite rattling in my head. I do this now, then it’s his turn, then Sorza’s, and after that I won’t have to worry about the Worldkeepers’ suspicious glances around me and my friends again.
The liquid that surrounds the statues is unnaturally still, its pale blue glow seeming to vibrate with magic. I reach forward and dip my index finger into the liquid. It’s ice-cold at first, sending a shiver up my arm that’s nearly painful. But the sensation quickly fades into pins and needles.
A single droplet lingers on my finger as I lift it, sparkling like a thousand stars. I bring it to the surface of the blank diamond-shaped card resting in my other palm. The moment the droplet touches the paper, it flows along the invisible lines that Vaduin inked. Power hums, the card glowing.
The air grows heavy, dense, even. It presses on me from all sides, as if to crush me in an invisible grip. Still, I move with confidence, holding up my right forearm.
This is my solemn vow. To defend this world, and all those spun from it. To uphold its secrets and truths.
With a steady hand, I press the card onto the skin of my forearm, and the instant I do, pain explodes through me.
A flash of white roses sears across my vision, too bright, too sudden.
A gasp tears from my throat as ghostly vines coil around my wrist and spiral up my arm.
The thorns dig into my flesh—breaking the skin without blood, as though penetrating my soul.
Magic pulses violently within me, as though rejecting the final part of the ritual.
The card that was to be my initiation collapses into dust, fading like starlight. Somewhere, beyond the agony, I hear distant laughter. Mocking.
Come to me.
My body jerks, pulled by invisible strings. My vision flickers, and reality seems to spin wildly between nineteen different iterations of the world. I’m thrown backward, away from the altar.
“Clara!” Kaelis’s shout is at a vast distance.
Then, echoing closer, Clara.
Footsteps draw near. I force my eyes open, everything oscillating in and out of focus. But it’s not Kaelis who appears at my side.
Gregor.
He was going to go after me, then Sorza. Did I take that long? Or is he just early?
My friend places an arm under me, helping me to sit. But he looks past me, eyes locked on Kaelis, untamed anger burning in his gaze.
“What have you done to her?” he snarls.