Chapter 41
When dawn breaks, Caelus and I strap ourselves to the side of the cliff and to each other, swinging out, weightless.
He moves in reverent silence, with methodical precision from handhold to handhold, showing me where to put my feet.
We move in a natural rhythm as the dusty gold sunrise skims over the mountains.
The peak, where the antidotes are, is still a ways up.
But we take it slow. My movements grow more sluggish with every passing minute.
I have nothing left. But I keep imagining the sun is setting over a ship’s stern.
One day left. One more sunrise.
Get the antidote, get down the mountain, get on a ship.
I grip my ropes tighter, and the burn in my arms spreads through my shoulders like fire. I jam my boot toes into footholds that keep growing smaller, and the wind pushes at my back. I force myself upward, inch by inch.
Clang.
Metal hits rock, echoing off the cliff face. I freeze, instinctively clutching the rope as I twist to look down. Dorian and Mae are climbing close below us, roped together.
I exhale, hard. They’re alive.
“Guys!” The words rush from me like a long-held breath. Mae’s expression is too far away to make out. But she’s moving. She’s alive. They’re okay.
Do I invite them to come on the ship with me?
I can’t imagine what Ethyria will become once we steal the magic the Benevolent uses to keep himself in power.
But Dorian would never accept. He’s a loyal follower of the Benevolent and deeply rooted here.
He wouldn’t abandon that. He might even hate me and Caelus after we betray the country.
I clip my next line, swinging toward a narrow cleft in the mountain wall.
My boots scrape against the rock as I land, and my knees buckle slightly.
A breeze surges past, tugging at my harness and whispering across the ravine, and it feels like a warning.
Caelus and I pause long enough to catch our breath.
Dorian and Mae reach us moments later. His dark hair is soaked with sweat, and blood streaks both his arms like he’s been through hell. His wounds are bound haphazardly with strips of cloth. His breathing is ragged.
“Are you alright?” I call out over the wind.
Mae shakes her head without looking up. Her shoulders tremble. Then she bursts into sobs, curling into herself. I don’t think it’s the height. This is something else.
“They came for us,” she screeches. “They dug a blade in Dorian’s back. The blood—”
Dorian’s complexion is very pale.
They. Rhythe. Kade.
I ease toward her, one foot finding the edge of the ledge, but before I can reach her—
“Axira, eyes up,” Caelus says sharply. “The summit. We’re close.”
His voice snaps me back. Above, the cliff finally seems to end. Only blue sky stretches beyond it.
“Keep climbing,” Caelus says to Mae. “We’re almost there.”
With a burst of adrenaline, I put one stubborn foot in front of the other. Mae lugs herself up, tugging Dorian along, one grueling step after another. Caelus sets our pace. I look out for others, but there’s no sight of anyone else.
My fingers find the next hold.
Boots scrape.
Push.
Climb.
Don’t stop.
Wind howls past my ears.
The ropes bite into my palms.
Almost there.
Another ledge.
Another breath.
The summit’s just ahead—close enough to taste.
I lunge.
Grip.
Pull.
Up.
Up.
Up.
The sky opens above me.
An audience awaits us: the Benevolent, a few Mercyenforcers.
Kade and Talia. Rhythe is pulling himself up on the other side of the ledge with Ivy beside him.
Half a dozen strangers are lined up in front of the Mercyenforcers.
I recognize some of them from the dinner in the palace.
They stare with heavy-lidded eyes, woozy and a bit listless.
Then my heart stops, recognizing one of them.
Serafina, with her chest glowing.