Chapter 14
“Wait!” I shout, reaching my arm out.
It’s too late though, I’m already being pulled away against my will. This time when I land, it’s a lot less graceful. Mud coats my hands as I look up at the illuminated portal.
“Are you okay?” Ryder asks, offering me his hand.
“No! What the hell was all that?” I demand, standing up on my own. “I want to go back.”
He wraps his arm around my waist, stopping me from stepping through the portal again. “Sorry, Princess. It doesn’t work like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Step through that thing now and who knows where you’ll end up. If it wasn’t obvious enough, your ticket to the Oracle Express has expired.”
“So, what? I’m just supposed to accept what it told me? I have more questions now than I did before!” I back away from him not wanting to be touched.
Ryder lets out a sigh and hangs his head. “I know this isn’t what you expected, but you did get some answers.”
“It’s not good enough. And what did it even mean at the end? ‘Immortality is one hell of a loophole for death.’ Why would it have said that it’s interesting you brought me? What did you have to do with this?”
His head snaps up at my accusation.
“I know just as much as you do.” He takes a step closer to me. “Don’t you think I have questions of my own? You’re the one born from The Mother. Maybe it is I who should be questioning you.”
The two of us stare at one another in a silent standoff. After a long moment, a howl in the distance pulls our attention.
“Let’s get out of here before something else decides to try to kill us.”
Ryder walks over and cautiously wraps his arms around my waist. I keep my head down as the two of us are smothered by smoke.
It’s been two weeks since we’ve returned from seeing the Divinity Oracle, and neither of us has said a word to one another.
Whatever progress we had made in the past couple of months has been completely obliterated.
I can see in his eyes that he knows more than he’s letting on.
He’s hiding something, I just don’t know what.
More lies. More unanswered questions. Just when I start to feel in control of my life, I find out that I’m no more than a puppet being played with.
Who’s pulling the strings now, though? Ryder? The Mother?
I’ve never felt more lost. I’m nothing like the Elders. They ruled their territories with strength and power. I can barely take care of myself. I’m no leader. I’m no mystical force meant for something bigger. I’m just a girl. A girl whose only goal in life has been to survive.
“Change of plans,” Ryder starts as the rest of us gather around the table. We have less than a week until the attack, and everyone has been a little more on edge because of it.
“Regarding what?” Jace asks, twisting the tip of his knife into the wooden table.
Ryder turns to me, and I already don’t like the way he’s looking at me.
“You’re going to go free Kane and Slader as planned, but after you’re done with that, you’re going to go free the other prisoners in the east dungeons. I don’t want you anywhere near my father.”
My hands slam against the table as I shoot up from my chair. “No! You said I could join the fight in the Throne Room!”
“It’s too much of a risk,” he argues back.
Anger flares in my chest as I storm out the back door, letting it slam behind me.
“You’re too valuable,” Ryder says when he follows me.
I turn on my heel so fast that my braid whips me in the face. “You didn’t think that when you thought I was just some orphan witch! Now that you know I was born from The Mother, I’m too valuable?” The heat in my body rises with my voice.
“That’s not it, Reign. I should’ve never agreed to let you join in on the attack in the first place.”
“Let me? You’re just like him, you know.” I can tell by his pained expression my words cut deep, but I don’t care.
“Let her go,” I hear Artemus tell Ryder as I retreat into the forest.
My fists don’t unclench until I see the turquoise water. This time I don’t bother taking off my clothes. Instead, I leave only my boots behind before immersing myself in the milky lake.
I lean back, allowing myself to float weightlessly on the surface.
Slowly, the flame inside my heart begins to settle, and I welcome the peace.
I’ve come a long way since almost drowning in the bathtub.
Water used to scare me, but now it feels like a break from the chaos.
Something about being surrounded by it makes me feel renewed.
Like all of my problems wash away, if only for a moment. It’s the perfect escape.
My mind begins to drift from one thing to another before circling back to the reason I’m here. Ryder may think he controls what I do, but he doesn’t. I’m getting into that Throne Room whether he likes it or not, and there’s nothing that’s going to stop me.
“Everyone ready?”
The others nod to Ryder, but I can’t even bring myself to look at him. He must accept my silence as confirmation because a moment later he’s gone.
Once he gets back from taking Artemus to Strellesia, Roman and Jace are next.
“You two be safe now.” Tilly gives me a tight hug before kissing Ramus. His face lights up at her touch, but he doesn’t say anything.
Ryder reappears between us, and I can feel his eyes on me. Luckily, Cylas’ cloak completely conceals me.
“Don’t let her out of your sight.”
Ramus grunts in response before the three of us are encompassed in dark smoke. When we reappear in a dimly lit corridor under the palace mountain, Ryder’s grip on me tightens.
“In and out.” He hands me a vial that I recognize as the one with blue mist. “Use this once you’ve set the last prisoner free.”
I take the vial, and a moment later, it’s just me and Ramus.
“Let’s go.”
I hold my hands together in front of me, hiding them beneath the oversized sleeves just as Cylas would. Between the uniform and his enormous size, Ramus is the perfect picture of a Royal Guard. As we move about, making our way to the dungeons, no one pays us any mind.
There’s a guard stationed just outside of the west corridor. Before he even has a chance to say anything to us, Ramus knocks him unconscious. I quickly retrieve the ring of keys from his hip and open the door to the pathway of cells.
“Let’s put him in here.” I motion to one of the empty cells, and Ramus tosses the unconscious guard in, making sure to cuff his wrists to one of the bars.
The only prisoners that stay in the west dungeons are the king’s Collectables, so I quicken my pace down the dimly lit corridor doing my best to ignore the unease crawling up my body. I stop in front of the two occupied cells and remove my hood. Immediately, both men jump to their feet.
“You’re alive!”
“What are you doing here?”
Their words run together as they work through their shock.
“There’s a lot to fill you in on, but right now we need to get you guys out of here,” I tell them as I work to find the key that unlocks Kane’s cell. “This is Ramus. He’s going to remove your power dampeners.”
“Why would you come back?” Kane asks as I open his door.
“Us Collectables have to stick together,” is all I say before walking over to Slader’s cell. This is not the time to get sentimental. I have a job to do.
“Are you alone?” Slader asks, watching me sift through the ring of keys.
“No. There are others already here.”
“The anniversary,” Kane mutters. “They’re here to attack.”
“Yes.” I turn to him just as the key unlocks Slader’s cell. “We’ve been planning for months. It’s happening in the Throne Room during the celebration.”
“About damn time,” Slader adds as Ramus unlatches his power dampener.
“You two need to get out of here now before anyone notices you’re gone.”
“The hell we do,” Kane growls. “I’m not leaving without getting in on the action.”
“Yeah, I thought you might say that.” I turn to Ramus and Slader. “I’m sorry about this.”
I throw the vial onto the ground in front of them before putting up my fiery shield to block out the mist. Kane and I watch behind the glowing orange and red wall as the two men disappear. Once the last of the navy mist has vanished, I release the hold on my shield.
“That’s new,” Kane quips.
“I’ve been busy since you last saw me.” A slight grin curves at the corner of my mouth for only a second.
“What’s wrong?” Kane asks, noticing my change in expression.
“Nothing. Let’s go,” I say dismissively.
The truth is, I feel bad for taking away Slader’s right to fight back.
It’s not what I had planned, but we need him to get into Ryder’s head in order to find out more about the lost island.
If I had let him go with us, who knows what could’ve happened?
I may not like it, but it’s what needed to be done.
Was that Ryder’s thinking when it came to me being in the Throne Room? Am I just as bad as he is?
I decide whatever guilt I feel creeping up will have to wait.
“Alright.” I turn to Kane. “Before we head for the Throne Room, we have to get to the east dungeons. There are prisoners there who need rescuing.”
Kane nods with understanding as I hand him a pair of shackles. I hate even having to use them, but we need to be believable if we don’t want to get caught. When we reach the door at the end of the corridor, I pull the red hood back up, concealing my identity once more.
Again, no one bats an eye as we move through the lower parts of the mountain. The two Royal Guards just outside the east dungeons don’t stand a chance. They’re already slumped on the ground before they are able to unsheathe their swords.
Just as before, we put the two men in the empty cells before moving on.
Unlike the west dungeons, the east dungeons are almost completely full of prisoners.
They begin to stir once we start unlocking each cell, and Kane quickly tells them to stay quiet.
I notice that none of them wear power dampeners, but still, they look starved and tortured.
Kane starts explaining the situation to them, and they listen closely as if he is their leader.
He’s agreed to escort them out of the mountain before joining me in the Throne Room.
His sacrifice is one I don’t take lightly.
He has even more of a reason to want to be there than I do.
It just shows what kind of person he is that he is willing to help these prisoners make it out safely before joining the attack.
Once all of the cells have been unlocked, Kane turns to me. “I won’t stand here and tell you what you already know. Just please be careful.” He wraps me in a tight hug, and I push down the emotions threatening their way to the surface.
He lets go and pulls my hood back up before commanding the attention of the scared prisoners. As I walk back down the corridor listening to Kane take charge, I can’t help but wonder why he wasn’t the one born from The Mother.
I’m extra cautious when I reach the main floor of the palace.
Most of the hallways are empty, but there are a few Strellesians still wandering about.
I’m much smaller than Cylas, so I’m hoping the red cloak deters them from looking too closely.
Either way, I do my best to walk in a way that exudes power and prestige.
Just as I’m nearing the Throne Room, a pair of strong hands pull me into an empty room. I instantly direct my heat to my hands and grab hold of their wrists, letting my heat radiate.
“You’re alive.”
I’m thrown up against the door I was just pulled through, and my hood falls back. As the heat flares from my hands, I see why it has done nothing to release the tight grip still holding onto me. I pull back my power, knowing it’s useless against the man I once loved.
“You can’t be here,” his low, husky voice warns. “You need to leave.”
“No.” I push Damien away from me, and he retreats a small step.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but you should’ve never come back here.” His voice is strained like he’s trying not to say the words.
“Don’t act like you care.”
I think he’s about to say something else, but he drops to his knees in pain.
His hands clutch his head, and I can tell he’s holding back his screams. Everything in me is telling me to help him, but I remind myself he isn’t the Damien I fell for.
Instead, I lift my hood back up and slip out the door.
With each step, my mind and heart battle against one another.
What if the Damien I loved is still in there? What if he was trying to protect me? Or what if he’s a decoy? What if the king knows I’m here and sent him to find me, hoping I’d let my guard down with him?
Each thought feels valid, but I block them all out. This isn’t about me anymore. This is about what is good for the Great Six Realms. Nothing else matters.
Music and chatter come from the Throne Room.
When I turn the corner, the large golden doors are wide open with crowds of people pouring out of the packed room.
I keep my head down and hands folded in front of me as I pass through.
Thankfully, everyone is so distracted with their own conversations that they don’t even bother to look in my direction.
I’m not even sure they’re aware of the extra room they make as I pass by them.
It must be an automatic response to the Circle members and I’m grateful for it.
I’ve just reached the middle of the Throne Room when the wide double doors slam shut. The sound has everyone but me whirling around.
It’s time.