Chapter 34 The Summit
THE SUMMIT
Somehow, I made it to the courtyard.
Pain wrapped around my ribs like fiery ropes. I stumbled through the halls, my feet sliding as I forced myself forward. I pressed a palm to the wall, dragging myself to a staircase.
I clutched the railing and followed it down.
Every step sent a fresh shock of misery up my spine.
I limped into the cavernous chamber where light flickered from sconces along the walls.
Etched into the sandstone floor was a massive rune.
It spanned the entire room. A binding rune, the same one Kairos had bled over.
Vaeris waited for me, his arms crossed.
I moved toward him in jerky steps until the pain disappeared like a snuffed flame. The agony of seconds ago…vanished.
Vaeris didn’t even look at me. “You took your sweet time.”
I panted. “What did you do to me?”
“You were supposed to come to me.” He faced me, frowning. “You remember the terms, don’t you? ‘If you survive, you’ll come to me. And you’ll break a rune.’”
A stone dropped into my gut. “Coming to you is part of it?”
“Of course it is. The deal requires your physical presence.”
Oh, you bastard.
Come to me. I’d thought that meant I’d reach out eventually. On my terms, not his.
He frowned. “I thought you knew.”
“No! I had no idea! I agreed to break a rune, not to—not to be at your beck and call.” I fumed, hating him. “I’ve been sick for days! I had no clue what was going on.”
“You were dying,” he said, almost gently. “But you should be fine now.”
I gripped the fabric of my dress and dragged it up. The charred edges, the black veins spidering across my skin—gone. The rune sat on my abdomen, completely healed.
I swayed on my feet.
“Good,” Vaeris murmured.
“No, it’s not.” My head snapped up. “You never mentioned that the deal would kill me if I didn’t go to you!”
His lips flattened. “That was…an oversight.”
I laughed once. “I’m so glad my life means so little to you.”
“Aelie, I don’t want to fight,” he said tightly. “I’ve missed you.”
Vaeris drew me into his embrace before I could stop him. His arms locked around me like a cage, and then he pressed his lips to the top of my head.
I cringed, my insides screaming to shove him off. Even his scent pitted my stomach with nausea. Wrong. Everything about this was wrong.
I tried to pull back, but he held firm. “Vaeris.”
“I was terrified,” he whispered. “When I heard he’d taken you, I thought he’d kill you.”
My hands pushed against his chest. “He hasn’t hurt me. You did.”
His grip loosened. “That’s not fair.”
“You left me for dead. You didn’t show up to my execution. You made a deal that was killing me and never warned me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“How? By leaving me to die?”
“I didn’t,” Vaeris snapped. “Why do you think I put that savage in the same dungeon as you?”
I gaped at him. “What did you just say?”
His eyes gleamed. “Come on, Aelie. You’re smarter than this.”
My heart started pounding. “What did you do?”
“He was an enemy of the Crown, imprisoned for decades with a rune only you could break. I knew you’d try to run, that you’d notice his rune.” He stepped closer. “And I knew what chaos he’d unleash.”
No.
“You actually expect me to believe…you planned my escape?”
“I ordered the guards to lock you in that cell. Made sure you were desperate enough to take the risk. That’s why I couldn’t be there.”
“You didn’t come because—”
“He would’ve killed me. Had to maintain plausible deniability. The grieving son, powerless to stop the massacre.”
I didn’t even recognize him anymore.
“You let all those people die?”
He shrugged. “I needed them gone. My father, the queen, the entire court. Kairos was perfect. A hundred years of rage, waiting to be unshackled.” His smile widened. “And you were the key to setting him free.”
The ground swallowed me whole.
“So everything between us was a lie.”
All the moments I’d treasured—the whispered promises, the stolen nights, when he’d called me brave—had been part of a plan. He’d positioned me like a chess piece. Trained me to shatter runes. All of it building toward this.
“No,” he croaked. “I meant every word in that letter.”
Always the same old lies.
“You heard what I said at the summit. Humans shouldn’t have to suffer like this. The Rite, the servant marks, how they treat our race like cattle—it has to end.”
“So you murdered everyone.”
“I removed my obstacles.”
“And you used me to do it.”
“I gave you purpose.” His eyes blazed. “You freed the realm. You tore down a system that’s oppressed humans for centuries. You should be proud.”
Proud.
“I need time to consolidate power,” he said quickly. “To rebuild the court. Then I can change everything. And you helped make that possible.”
My insides chilled. Once, that face would have undone me. Those blue eyes brimming with sincerity, the anguish, the way his voice broke would have shattered my resolve completely.
He was doing it again, weaving that same spell he’d used to make me feel like we were destined to be together. Except this time, I was part of some righteous mission instead of a weapon he’d aimed at anyone between him and the throne.
“Have you found my sister?”
He nodded. Then he reached into his tunic and drew out a small, tarnished mirror. The silver frame was dulled with age. Rheya’s mirror. The one she had taken from the jewelry box.
I lunged for it, grabbing the handle. “She’s alive?”
“Very much so.”
My knees nearly buckled. Rheya was alive. After weeks of imagining her dead, she was alive.
My heart thudded so hard it hurt. “Was she hurt?”
“She’s fine,” he said smoothly.
“Where is she?”
His expression shifted. “She’s safe.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Vaeris studied me for a long moment. “She’s in Skalgard.”
Relief crashed through me. “I want to see her.”
“Of course. I’ll take you to her. We can leave now.”
I looked at him. “No.”
His smile faltered. “No?”
“I’m not leaving Kairos.”
The words surprised me as much as they did Vaeris, but I felt them in my bones. Kairos had never lied to me. He’d protected me, even when it made him look like a monster. I trusted him. That terrified me less than trusting Vaeris.
Vaeris stilled. “What?”
“I’m staying in Sanguir. I like it there.”
A shadow crossed his face. “You’re joking.”
“I’m not.”
“Aelie,” he said sharply. “He’s spent a century butchering innocent people.”
“You chose to let him kill your enemies. So what does that make you?”
Vaeris’s jaw clenched. “That’s different. I had a purpose. He kills because he enjoys it.”
“That proves you don’t know him at all.”
“Aelie, listen to me.” He stepped forward, his brow furrowing. “You’re traumatized. You’ve been through hell and you’re not thinking clearly. But I can bring you home, put you in a nice room in the castle, reunite you with your sister, give you a life where—”
“Where I’m useful to you.”
“Where you’re safe.”
“I’m safe with Kairos.”
“Kairos,” he snarled. “The fucking executioner.”
“Yes.”
Vaeris darkened. “You don’t realize the danger you’re in.”
“You got what you wanted. Your court is gone. You have your throne. I’m just asking for my sister. You have your realm to rebuild. Let us go.”
“Let you go.” He echoed it softly. “To stay with him.”
“To live somewhere that’s better for me.”
His head tilted slightly, eyes narrowing like he was working through a puzzle that didn’t fit together. The furrow between his brows deepened. Probably searching for the weakness he could exploit, but whatever he expected wasn’t there.
“You’re serious,” he mused. “You actually believe you’re safer in Sanguir.”
“Why do you care? You don’t need me anymore.”
A dark smile carved into his cheek. “That’s where you’re mistaken.”
What the hell was he doing?
“I’ve discovered your sister’s gift. It’s not as catastrophic as yours…but useful. Deadly, even, when directed properly.”
My grip whitened on the mirror’s handle. “What does that have to do with anything? You swore to find her for me!”
“I did.” His smile turned apologetic. “But nowhere in our bargain did I promise to bring her to you. Next time, sweetling, be more careful with your wording.”
I backed away. “I’m not going with you.”
“Then you’ll never see your sister again.”
Mist spilled across the floor, thickening until it bled into a broad-shouldered male with silver hair.