Chapter 77
I can’t cast the Eight of Wands fast enough. I run without looking back, without a thought to where I’m going. The clanking of the Stellis’s armor is loud behind me, all around me. I gulp air and push my feet faster.
No matter what I do. No matter how far I’ve come. At the end, I’m still just that same little girl running from the enforcers through the streets and alleys, knowing that if I stop, even for a second, I’m dead.
But fuck it. Fuck them. This is my city. I know every nook and cranny. They are not going to best me on my own turf.
I cut down a narrow walkway, fingers skimming the damp stone of the wall as I grab it to make another sharp turn. Stellis burst from a side street.
Following the sound of bawdy drinking songs, I swerve behind a tavern and yank aside a stack of crates I knew would be there from taking this route once as a girl. The crates crash right in front of the Stellis before they can catch up with me.
But more are ahead.
“We have you!” one snarls.
“She’s here!” another shouts.
I grab a banner and start climbing up to a balcony.
They’re too slow in their heavy plate to catch me.
But one of them is an Arcanist and their cards make up for it.
The banner is sliced in two by an Ace of Swords.
I respond with a Three of Coins, mending it, but not fast enough to fashion a complete seam.
Hanging by a thread, I swing up onto the balcony just as a burst of flame erupts right where I was moments ago, singeing the banner.
Thrown daggers clatter off the side of the building.
Slamming open the doors of the balcony, I race through some unsuspecting lovers’ room to the other side of the house, then climb to the roof up the moldings from another balcony.
I swing up just in time that I think I’ve lost them.
There are more Stellis and enforcers than I’ve ever seen.
It’s like Halazar collapsed and all the guards who survived its destruction turned into enforcers.
I could take them on individually. But all at once?
The entire city has become infested with them, like plague-born rats.
They’re going to run me down. Alor—no, Ravin, he’s the one pulling the strings, will send wave after wave of them against me, not caring how many will die if it means I’ll be worn out to my last.
“There!” one shouts and points up at me.
I barely make it to the edge of the roof before cards and arrows fly. The other roof I’m jumping to slants at the last second due to a Stellis’s card work. Too steep. I try to find purchase and slip on the slate tiles. I fall but manage to catch a windowsill and pull myself inside.
The man within lobs a book at me that I barely dodge in time. Is this whole city against me?
“Don’t throw books!” I shout and dash through his house and into another. Then down an alley.
I run and keep running—heading toward the one place where I know they’ll never find me. The one place where I know the men and women won’t help the Stellis or enforcers: Rot Hollow.
Crossing the main street nearly gets me caught.
I’m tackled and thrown. I roll, barely avoiding an Eight of Swords.
I cast my last Ten of Swords to thwart another.
More enforcers and more cards. So many I can barely keep up as the battle thickens.
I must get away, and soon. My deck is thinning—I didn’t exactly prepare to do battle with half the city.
Finally, I find my opening and dash down an alley. Through the back roads at the far edge of Silver Street. I know every nook and cranny to duck into while they pass. Every little safe passage through the rubble of long-collapsed buildings.
Finally, I slow and strain my ears. There is no sound.
Finally, I stop.
I sag against a wall, catching my breath. Bruises and scratches dot my body; my heart is still racing. But I don’t see or hear anyone.
What do I do now?
That question rings between my ears. Eclipse City is no longer somewhere I can turn to. The tunnels can’t be trusted. The Stone Citadel has fallen. They know my fake identity now, so I can’t go back to the academy as Sophie Veillgar.
There’s only one place left in this world that I feel safe. The one place that stands against the chaos and has yet to crumble. The one place that has been there for me from the first moment I was allowed inside of it. Pressing my eyes closed, I suck in a shuddering breath.
Home.
“Kaelis, please,” I whisper into the cool night air, not even knowing what I’m asking of him. My prince. My destiny.
Something in me knows, above all else, that if I make it to his apartments, they’ll be as safe as I’ve always known them.
So I push forward, staying along narrow alleyways and the paths underneath rocky overhangs.
The enforcers are still searching; I can hear them in the distance.
But the few that dare draw near are impeded by those who reside here.
Buckets of refuse are “accidentally” dumped on heads with meager apologies.
Men amble in the streets, slowing them down.
It doesn’t matter who I am or what I did, no one in Rot Hollow would help an enforcer.
Eventually, the stone pathways give way to barren rock and dead winter grasses. I’m nearly to the mausoleum of the old graveyard that houses the secret entry to the academy.
I weigh my options as I approach. Even this passage is compromised. I either go across the top of the bridge for all to see or risk the tunnel. Before I can make a decision, a hooded figure emerges from the shadows of the mausoleum I was just heading toward.
I slowly approach, hand on my deck, hoping it’s Kaelis. But I know it’s not even before he lifts his chin and the shadows no longer collect on his face.
“Ravin.”
“Relax your magic and leave your cards where they are. We both know that neither of us will be besting the other without tearing down half this city.”
“Well then, if that’s the case, why don’t you put your cards down as well, and we’ll both go on our way.” I don’t move a muscle. Neither does he. “I thought so.”
“Surrender. You’ve lost. I have the vessel. I have the golden cards.” The second he says it, I imagine Kaelis’s room ransacked. Did he find their hiding place? Does he actually have them?
“You’re lying,” I counter, trying to feel him out.
“You wish I am.” He remains still.
“You’re a desperate man trying to cling to the one thing that could make you real.”
Ravin snarls. But he recovers his composure.
There’s something almost feral to him tonight.
Wild desperation makes his movements jerky, unnatural, like a puppet with too few strings.
I can use this to my advantage if I’m thoughtful.
But at no point does he reach for any of his pockets.
If he has the golden cards, he’s not trying to protect them.
“Let me make the wish, and I’ll let you live. If you want to fuck a prince so badly, I will gladly offer my cock. If you want a crown, I can give you one in my new world. I am the crown prince, after all, and fortunately for you, I’m recently widowed.”
“I would rather die horribly in every world before I even so much as think about your cock.”
“Reconsider this; my brother is the literal spawn of evil. His perversion runs so deep that his very blood is cursed. My father attempted to stymie the impact on our world with his wish. But he could only accomplish so much.” His eyes shine, and the way he speaks tells me that he believes what he says to be the absolute truth.
“If you give Kaelis the World, evil will be unleashed in a way we cannot comprehend.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“Because you know it to be true! You have seen him. You know there is something not right about him.” Ravin takes a step forward.
“The only one who’s ‘not right’ is you.” I watch his every movement.
“Why do you think he is void-born? Why do you think he can wield cards in reverse?”
I don’t know. But I don’t need to. I know the man Kaelis is with every part of me. I know him in my soul.
“So give your power and your loyalty to me instead.” Ravin outstretches a hand. “Work with me.” His desperation tells me he definitely does not have the real golden cards. I wonder if he got what King Naethor had and is returning from testing them at the font of the World.
“I would rather die.”
A noise of disgust. “Then die.”
I barely have time to react before cards fly through the air, shooting past Ravin’s open palm.
Magic explodes in a violent swirl of wind and flame.
I throw myself to the side, but another spike of magic swells overhead in the form of a fiery club.
It crashes down, and I narrowly avoid it.
The Ace of Swords, Ace of Wands, and then Ten of Wands in quick succession tells me two things.
The first is that Ravin isn’t holding anything back.
Not that I thought he would. The second is that his deck has many more cards than mine.
At this point, both me and my deck are running empty.
And it wasn’t like I prepared myself tonight to fight Ravin of all people.
This must’ve been his plan all along—use the Stellis and enforcers to wear me down in the city and wait for me in the one place he knew I’d run to.
With the Five of Swords in my hand, I go on the defensive. Our swords cry out against each other, and sparks fly. My arms tremble with the force of every blow—he’s stronger than he looks. More desperate. He’s not going to let me go alive this time.
I feint, trying to gain some distance. I see the Knight of Swords rise, and I barely have time to cast the Seven of Wands. It deflects seven of the blows, but seven more hit. I reel backward, Ravin lunging. I barely have the strength to hold my sword and parry as blood pours down my left arm.
“You honestly think I’m going to let you use the World? The one thing that could be my undoing?” His pupils are blown wide, swallowing the dark brown of his eyes, making them look nearly like Kaelis’s.
“You think so highly of yourself that you think the only thing that could bring you down is a wish on the World?” I grit my teeth, disengaging; he ripostes, and I parry again. “I don’t need a legendary power to destroy you.”
Ravin leans in, our swords warring. “How much of this world will you end up destroying to save what remains? Who are you to decide what is real—what is worthy? All I want is to know I will continue to exist; does that make me wrong? Am I lesser than you if that is my sole desire?”
The ground beneath me shifts. Another Ace of Coins.
I use my own to firm it up, scrambling away as I fight for my balance, jabbing at him wildly and barely getting in a nick before he pushes me.
I hit the ground hard, the back of my head cracking against one of the gravestones.
I blink, the world spins, and I nearly vomit.
My grip relaxes on my sword, and it vanishes with a flash of pain and a whisper of wind.
All the while, he approaches as I frantically feel out my deck.
Only a few cards left. None of them useful.
“You’ve lost.” Ravin towers over me, eyes gleaming with triumph.
I grit my teeth and try to get up, but his boot presses into my chest. “You thought you were so strong. But all you had was a parlor trick and a prince to hide behind. You think Kaelis will help you? He’s a monster, and you’re playing right into his hand.
He’s never loved you. He loves the idea of what you represent—loves finally having all the cards under his control.
And above all, he loves feeling like he has control of fate. ”
“Fuck you,” I spit, trying to twist from under his boot. He holds fast, pressing so hard I wheeze.
“I’ll give you one last chance.” He lowers his voice, leaning closer. I can hear the shouting of Stellis in the distance in concert with the clamor of their plate. The guise drops. “Tell me where he hid those fucking cards, and I’ll spare you.”
“Never.” I thrash as he raises his blade.
If this is it…I won’t go down without being able to say I fought until my last. I cast the Queen of Wands—perhaps making myself incredibly alluring might stall him.
It does nothing. I cast my final Ace of Swords, but no blade of air will ease his grip on his sword.
I use the last card—a Seven of Cups—to try to shift my appearance to be more like Leigh’s. But the man does not even flinch.
Footsteps pound in the distance. The Stellis are closer. But all I see is Ravin.
Arina.
Kaelis.
Everyone…
I’m sorry.
Ravin’s blade rises and comes whistling down.
Then the night splits apart. A shock wave of purple-black flames races over us.
My right arm feels like it’s about to rip off as tendrils of ghostly white light vein over me.
Ravin is sent flying. He crashes against a monument and falls hard.
I roll onto my stomach, gasping for air.
Every rib feels as if it’s popped from my breastbone.
My eyes land on a lone figure standing at the graveyard’s edge, positioned between the city, the Stellis, Ravin, and me.
Never have I seen Kaelis look so utterly murderous, and I can’t stop the smile that breaks across my face at the sight of my future husband.
Magic writhes around him, rising from the ground around his feet, flaring from his shoulders like wings of night and purple flame. His coat billows in the wind, and his eyes, void of any emotion but loathing, lock on Ravin.
When Kaelis speaks, it’s with an ominous growl in the back of his throat. “Never touch my wife.”