Chapter 27
It is no easy feat to replace a Champion, but it can be done.
— WHAT MAKES A CHAMPION OF ORDER
HART
Ikicked the guard in front of me over the railing. The scream as he fell brought me a sick amount of amusement. Did they have to lead a raid on Forest’s Edge right now?
Their timing was fucking terrible.
This also left me little doubt that it was intended to cut off another one of our safe havens. While I understood Ember’s worry based on what I’d told her of the mudslide, I had no fear that Themis could influence me now.
All I could think about was getting back to Ember.
Three times the magic between us had shifted today. It seemed to get more potent, more physical, the closer we came to the end.
The end. Where we’d break free. Where Ember hoped we might break free from more than our curse.
I sighed as my blade met another guard’s on the stairs. From the high ground on the platform, I kicked him, too. He careened backward into another guard racing up the stairs behind him. The two knocked into a third as they fell.
I took a moment to ensure Ember jumped from the corner of my eye. The seconds she soared across the gap, my heart might have stopped. Her landing sounded hard, but she was firmly on top of the wall. She’d completed the hardest part.
Knowing she’d make it to the Storm, I charged down the steps.
All I had to do now was meet her there. I pressed my advantage while the collapsed guards worked to right themselves.
I stabbed one and kicked the next as he reached for the railing.
The last one stayed down. He must have hit his head on the fall.
The alley was a mess. Patrons fled. Guards chased. In a few instances, groups tussled on the ground. Those were likely the Feared.
Hoisting myself over the bottom of the railing, I braced for another attack. Instead, a too-soft hand wrapped around mine and yanked me backward, into the side entrance of the tavern.
I followed the tug, deciding I wasn’t in danger. The grip was too soft to be Ava. Unfortunately, there was only one person who’d know me well enough on sight to grab me without fear of retribution.
Turning, I faced my brother in the empty gambling room.
“What are you doing, Elias?” I pinched the bridge of my nose. He didn’t even have his sword unsheathed. A leather bag was slung across his body, blocking the ease of access to his weapon.
He followed my gaze and crossed his arms over his chest defensively.
“The royal guards are here. It’s not like I led the charge into this seedy place.
” Considering the way he looked around with unfamiliarity and disgust, I at least had no worries that they’d finally figured out that I owned this establishment.
“What do you want?” If Elias was here, he must have had good information that Ember and I were, too.
“I knew Father would find you eventually. I’ve been waiting for a credible sighting. Vaddon’s source tonight provided.”
With the trials, with Ember, with thoughts of our future, I’d all but forgotten the conversations we’d overheard between Vaddon and his sources.
“What is Vaddon doing?”
I liked to think that my summons had never sat right with Elias.
Father had thought I was going through a rebellious stage.
He was obviously more than happy to keep ruling while I sulked.
Elias couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t want to be Themis’s Champion, but he didn’t believe it should be forced upon me.
I assumed his opinions had changed with Mother’s death.
Elias shook his head. “Vaddon is obsessed with the goddesses’ game. He has been since he learned Emberline could source adamas.”
Themis had used Vaddon, that was clear, but what drove him? Faithfulness? Zealotry? That wasn’t really Camm’s style. He only acted when there was something in it for him.
I remembered when Father first understood what the adamas gem could do.
When I wouldn’t imagine ways to exploit the magic with him, he’d called Vaddon.
Vaddon had seen the potential immediately.
He’d offered to create a plan for distribution to the worthy but negotiated then and there that he’d be first to receive the stone.
He didn’t have the devotion to be a believer. He was wholly devoted to himself.
“What’s in it for him, Elias?”
He ran his hand through his shoulder-length brown hair.
Father had always joked that Elias was a less potent version of me.
His hair was shades lighter, his green eyes just a little less piercing in their intensity.
We both had symmetrical features, but where his captivated most, rendering them unable to look away, the sharpness of mine meant most gazes didn’t linger.
Although Ember had never seemed to mind. She studied my face whenever she thought I wasn’t looking. I always knew, and her gaze held a weight I never wanted to ease.
Elias pulled me from my thoughts. “I’m not sure.” He rubbed his manicured hands together, wringing them as he considered his next words. He knew something. The hesitation meant it had to do with Father, the one person he wouldn’t betray.
I’d ruined my chance to influence Elias’s choices when I got our mother killed and then fled.
I’d left Elias too long in Father’s clutches.
Rodric never gave him his due, though. He’d trained Elias to seek his approval at every turn.
Regret churned in my stomach, but I couldn’t think about how I could have done better, made different choices.
I had to deal with the reality of my relationship with my brother.
“This is important, Elias. Father’s plans are irrelevant in the goddesses’ game.”
Elias sucked his lip between his teeth, and my blood ran cold. That one action confirmed the fear I’d been suppressing since overhearing Vaddon’s conversation.
What if Father’s plans weren’t irrelevant? What if Themis truly had a way to replace me as her Champion?
They had checked Mother’s books. Her collection rivaled Alaric’s. In fact, I’d stolen many tomes from her collection to give to Alaric in the early days of our friendship. But those texts wouldn’t have focused on Themis.
Vaddon’s source would have been through the teashop in Woodside. Had he found what they were looking for? My gaze drifted to the bag at Elias’s hip.
He straightened his spine like he’d made a decision. “I can’t tell you, Sebastien.”
“Fucking Chaos,” I cursed under my breath.
“That’s precisely why,” he said, sounding vindicated. “I have no idea where your loyalties lie.”
Anger flooded me, and I was glad I had no access to magic. I surged forward and pressed Elias against the wall, my forearm holding him in place. “Let me make it clear. My loyalty belongs to Ember.”
“Sebastien, she’s Chaos’s Ch—”
“I don’t care,” I hissed, and pressed my arm down harder against him. My leg knocked against the bag he carried. The rectangular shape was precisely what I was hoping for. If it held the information Vaddon had claimed to have, it was a prize great enough to coax Elias from the castle.
Elias winced and held up his hands. “Fine. Whatever. I’ve never understood your position on this anyway. Why not take the throne? Why not fulfill your summons? Who even thinks to ignore a goddess?” His voice rose in pitch as he continued.
I leaned in close. I wanted to tell him that Father’s days were numbered, that the way they treated the humans of Kavios had gone unchallenged for too long, but as harmless as Elias sometimes seemed, I feared he’d scurry right back to Father with that information.
The beauty of confronting a king like Rodric was that his hubris was such that he didn’t believe anyone would challenge him.
I needed him to feel that way until the moment it was too late.
Instead of raging at Elias, I reached into the leather bag and pulled out the book. Anticipation shot up my spine as I read the title, What Makes a Champion of Order.
Fucking Chaos, I couldn’t believe this existed.
Why had Themis waited over two hundred years to put this into Father’s hands?
“Father wanted the job more than I did,” I said with no small amount of disgust, releasing my brother and taking a step back.
Elias choked at the release and reached for the book from my grasp. “Sebastien…”
I flipped it open, barely skimming the pages as I held Elias at arm’s length.
And just like that, my fears were confirmed.
Ember and I had been desperately pursuing a chaotic way to break free.
Trials born of an unprecedented connection between Champions.
A path so clearly one of chaos that I had no doubt Eris was its architect.
Of course her sister would have a more orderly path to change. My defection must have set off another possible chain of events. These pages detailed what that path could look like. That Themis could replace me should the worst happen.
For Themis, the worst outcome had always been a Champion who put anyone and anything above her.
She was a goddess wielding both the carrot and the stick.
She’d do everything she could to beat me down, to grind me into submission, because she didn’t believe in a human who could refuse her.
On the other hand, she’d also lure someone into position.
Lure someone like Vaddon? No, if Elias had the book, then it was for our father.
So, he wanted to make it official, crown himself Themis’s Champion as he’d always wanted.
My grip on the book went slack, and Elias grabbed it back. He tucked it safely away in the bag. “You don’t want it anyway.”
I nodded, a little dumbstruck. We were truly out of time.
I wanted to take the book back. It’d be so easy to overpower Elias and retrieve it, but if I did that, Father would know.
Worse, Themis would know that I was on to her.
She already hounded us with each emotion we tackled.
I couldn’t imagine she’d stick to the sidelines if I thwarted her effort to replace me.
With a deep breath, I straightened my spine. I had to let him leave with the book.
“You’re right,” I said, suddenly exhausted. What would it be like to have a night alone with Ember where the kingdom wasn’t trying to destroy us? “I have to get out of here, Elias. Are you going to let me? Or do I have to knock you out?”
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I only wanted to see you, Sebastien. I know you think me weak for standing by as Father’s done…”
That was interesting. I didn’t know Elias cared. To me, it hadn’t only been that he stood by as Father stole from his people; he’d seemed wholly invested in the system.
Was that not the case?
A guard entered the doorway from the alley and shouted at my nearness to Elias. “Get away from him!”
His sword was drawn, and he sprinted toward us with a velocity that had to be enhanced with the magic of anger. I barely lifted my own sword to meet his attack.
Elias didn’t say a word as I kicked the guard’s legs out from under him and drove my sword into his chest. I turned with a final glance over my shoulder.
“Good to see you, brother,” he said before turning to walk into the tavern’s main room.
I couldn’t worry about Elias. He’d be fine. His guards would protect him. I needed to worry about myself—about getting out of the city. Then I had to find Ember and tell her that it was true. Themis could replace me.
As much as I didn’t want to pressure her on the trials we needed to complete, we were out of time.