Chapter 17
“I’m sorry, you want me to do what?”
I wasn’t sure what would be expected to free Rhydian, especially seeing the magical flower on the pedestal in front of me, but it definitely wasn’t the words that had come out of his mouth.
“Go to the top of Mount Kharos, find the hidden relic, and bring it back to the castle.”
I blinked several times. Climb a mountain? I glanced down at the too-big boots Nico had found for me when I arrived. With the way they slipped and slid around my feet, I might as well try to climb a mountain in flip-flops.
That’s going to be a problem.
When I asked for tasks to do to break the curse, I hadn’t quite expected something so…physical or laborious.
I had some muscle from doing chores around the farm, and I wasn’t out of shape, but I also wasn’t…in it either.
What happened to solving clever riddles, or helping orphans or something? Climbing a mountain seemed a tad excessive. And in this brutal winter tundra?
I glanced out the balcony doors behind him.
The light from the two moons was bright, casting a glow into the room.
“What is so special about Mount Kharos?” Maybe if I was lucky, it wouldn’t be a mountain at all but a small hill or something.
Or maybe it was just a city I needed to travel to. I could do that, right?
Rhydian stood up straighter. “It’s the largest volcano in Eroth.”
My ears rang, a wave of dizziness washing over me. “You want me to climb a volcano?” My voice rose with each word. He ignored me.
“Named after the beast who once dwelled in these lands.”
My brows lifted, momentarily forgetting the volcano part. “Beast?”
Rhydian paused, glancing out the window at the mountains surrounding the castle. “There are four kingdoms in Avalea. Two in which the Dark Fae inhabit, and two that home the Pure Fae. For millennia, the lands of the Dark Fae were overseen by two beasts. Kharos in Eroth, and Ixos in Nefaroth.”
My first instinct was to laugh at his face. There was no way a world with monsters and beasts and Fae existed. Those things happened in fairytales—dark fairytales—but not in real life. Not in my life.
And yet Rhydian’s face was dead serious. I’d been begging Rhydian for answers, but I hadn’t expected to struggle so much with them once he finally deigned to share. If all of this was true, how would I ever survive here? Getting home suddenly felt even more impossible than it had before.
I was beginning to understand why he claimed that humans never left here alive.
“What about the Pure Fae lands?” I asked. “They didn’t have monsters?”
Rhydian shook his head. “No, Siris and Aeros each had a creature—deities, I suppose you’d call them—whom they claimed watched over their lands. Ylena and Thala.”
“Claimed? You don’t believe in them?”
Rhydian stiffened, his features darkening. “They’re very much real. I’ve had the great displeasure of encountering them before.”
Surprise flickered through me. “Avalea has deities and you’ve…met them?” I asked, incredulous.
He crossed his arms. “They’re nothing special, believe me.”
“I’m having a hard time doing that,” I replied, sinking down and taking a seat on the cold floor.
Maybe Rhydian had had the right idea by only giving me small bits of information at a time.
It felt like my brain was stuffed to the brim.
How did I even begin to make sense of all this?
I never imagined this strange place Rhydian brought me to would be a place of beasts and deities and magic.
How could such a place exist? And weren’t deities supposed to keep to themselves and keep out of the affairs of mortals?
Why would Rhydian have encountered them?
“If you’re stuck in Eroth, how did you meet them?”
Unsurprisingly, Rhydian shut me down. “That’s a question for another time.”
He’d given me a lot of answers. I should have assumed he’d cut me off at some point. But why was this where he ended things? What was he hiding?
“I’ve told you your first task. You still want to try to break the curse?” His lips curled ever so slightly, as if he expected me to change my mind.
I gestured to my clothes that were not meant for a journey through a winter tundra.
“How exactly am I supposed to climb a volcano, never mind survive the ridiculous cold?” As if talking about it made it even colder, a shiver went through me.
I rubbed at my arms, tempted to find a blanket to wrap around me.
Rhydian waved a hand. “I’ll have Nico scrounge up proper attire for you if you’re actually serious about this.”
I considered it for a moment. “And how, exactly, will climbing a volcano, risking my life, and finding this relic break a curse? Why aren’t you the one doing this? It’s your curse after all.”
He shook his head. “The Fae who trapped me in this curse gave these tasks separately because they were required to offer a way for me to be freed. Nico is the only soul in my kingdom I’ve ever told about them.
Part of the requirements is that I cannot fulfill them—only a human can.
That was their way of ensuring I couldn’t free myself.
Only the final task requires me to play a part. ”
I chewed on his words, thinking it through. “This seems too simple,” I said.
His lips pursed. “Finding a human willing to risk her life for someone like me? Not so simple.”
“Another Fae couldn’t do it?” I asked.
“Only a human.” He let out a tired sigh. “I made the Fae of Eroth assume there was nothing to be done, and that it was better for them to leave than to risk the devastation that awaited them here.”
I looked at him for a long moment, seeing the invisible weight that sat on his shoulders that he tried to keep hidden. How lonely it must have been carrying such a thing by himself all these years.
“That’s a heavy burden to bear.”
“And it is my job as the last heir to bear it.”
“So why tell me then?”
“Other than the fact that you’ve been insufferable, demanding answers, and wanted to know how to break the curse?” He gave me a knowing look.
“Fair point,” I admitted. “What are the other two tasks then?”
“Ah ah,” Rhydian tsked, coming back to the pedestal that held the Magmara, running a single finger down the glass dome before his hand curled into a fist, as though he wanted to smash it. “One at a time. You must complete the current one to find out what’s next.”
I tried to keep my gulp silent. “Why?”
“If you hear it all up front, you’ll run away scared. But if you wait until you’ve gone through the trouble of completing the task, then you’ll be less likely to give up.”
“That sounds like a bunch of crap.”
He shrugged, the movement telling me he couldn’t care less what I thought.
“And…will you be helping me with these tasks, Rhydian? Since you’re the one who’s cursed after all?”
A funny look crossed his face, but I had no idea what it meant.
“If you’re already going to die, what’s the harm in helping me not die?” I added.
“You think I’ll protect you?” He took a step closer to me, hands in his pockets.
I swallowed, surprised that I didn’t feel the need to back away from him. “You’ve already done so.”
“I only make mistakes once.” His low voice had a strange tone to it, like he didn’t entirely mean the words coming out of his mouth.
Rhydian took another step closer, and a strange squeezing sensation filled my stomach.
It was completely different from the fearful version that usually happened when I faced my father.
This was almost…pleasant.
No, it’s not. Cut it out, Maren.
I pushed the feeling away, determined to ignore whatever it was. Rhydian stood so close now that I had to lift my chin to meet his gold-ringed gaze. “I’ve offered to help you. Does that really make saving me a mistake?”
A crease formed between his brows as he thought about it for a few seconds. “I’ll let you know.”
And just like that, whatever foreign feeling had been invading my body disappeared as if a vat of ice water had splashed it away.
I was going to risk my life for someone who didn’t even appreciate it.
The reminder was enough to strengthen my resolve.
I had to get back to Mom and Lila and Joey.
They needed me. For them I would climb a volcano.
I would face whatever waited after that.
I was going to set Rhydian, Nico, and Eroth free.
And then I was going to go home.