Chapter 35 #2
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “If you freely admit your love for him, then I can only assume he’s finally something other than the broody bastard he’s been for years. You make the difference. If you don’t find a way to finish your trials, he’ll make different choices—for you.”
I opened my mouth to respond just as the door beside us cracked and Reid stuck his head into the alley. “You might want to get in here.”
Apparently, they hadn’t given Hart a moment to signal us. The tavern’s back room was filled with men and women. Most stood; many leaned against the walls and high tables, creating space in the center for people to step forward and speak.
The tone in the room skewed toward anger, even though I hadn’t picked up the discussion topic yet. Drinks sloshed in glasses as speakers gestured wildly. The man who stood directly before Hart in the center of the room was red in the face.
His final words hit me like a slap, as did the heat of Hart’s anger on my tongue. “What are you thinking? No lay could be that good.”
Hart’s hand was around the man’s throat before I could object.
I sprinted to the center of the room, timing be damned, and grabbed Hart, working to loosen his grip around the older man. “This isn’t exactly the plan we discussed,” I hissed.
“He needs to learn some goddess-damned respect. We can return to the plan after.”
I sighed. “Hart.”
He held my gaze as he mumbled, “As you wish.”
The move not only accomplished my ask but also showed everyone that he only released the man’s throat because of me.
The man fell to the ground in a heap. Hart had lifted him clear off his feet.
I wasn’t sure whether Hart’s silent declaration proved the older man’s point or showed Hart’s faith in me.
Either way, I wouldn’t take this statement from Hart, especially since I could feel his anger turn to bubbles of amusement as he took in the looks on the Feared’s faces.
“As I attempted to say, we came to plan what the Feared have always wanted—taking the throne from Rodric. But it will not be me who takes it.” He glanced meaningfully at me again.
“If you believe the rumors that I am the Cursed King, I’ll assume you’ve considered what that means for the kingdom should I lead it.
” He received blank stares. With a slow shake of his head, he explained.
“Themis’s Champion is more tied to the goddess than any king could be.
What we experience with Rodric would be child’s play compared to Themis’s Champion sitting on the throne. ”
“That is why you want to give it to her?” someone asked.
Hart’s gaze narrowed as if searching for another throat to choke. I placed my hand on his forearm, a brief reminder to calm himself.
He nodded and continued. “If you have heard the rumors that I am the Cursed King, you’ve undoubtedly also heard that Chaos’s Champion has been found. Emberline Arkova is goddess blessed to challenge what is known in Kavios. It’s in our best interest to follow her lead.”
A hush swept over the crowd at the mention of the sister goddesses. These men and women were here for rebellion against the king, but apparently, mentioning that there were two goddesses was still a bridge too far for them.
The man Hart had threatened had risen to his feet undeterred. “She is their tool. She cannot lead us.”
My spine straightened as the words registered. The man was at my back as they did. I’ll forever wonder what look crossed my face. Whatever it was, Hart’s lip curled into a smile that said he’s all yours.
“Their tool?” I asked, eyes narrowing as I turned to face the man. Many were crowded behind him, arms folded, in silent agreement with his position.
“You serve the Blessed,” he spat.
I stretched my neck to the side in frustration. “What’s your name?”
“Nicholas.”
This was the man Hart had spoken with last time we were here.
He said Nicholas had risen as a presumed leader with Soren’s death and Hart’s absence.
No matter how tempting it was to unleash any remaining nightmare magic in my adamas ring upon him, I knew that would be a mistake.
I needed to win him over for this to work.
“Nicholas, can I assume you have people you care about in Kavios?”
If the argument that I was chosen by a goddess to lead them held no sway, I’d have to find another. He had to do this for someone. Maybe he just wanted better for humans. I could work with any answer.
“I’m not sure why it’s—”
A woman behind him spoke. “We all care about someone. It’s why we want change.”
I suppressed the smile that wanted to curve my lips.
“Like all of you, I did what was demanded of me to survive. To protect those I love.” I gestured to the crowd.
“I didn’t ask for my gift. I didn’t want it.
Honestly, I didn’t even know what it meant.
But once the Glanmores found me, I was at their mercy, as any human in this goddess-forsaken city would be. ”
I held the stares of as many in the room as I could. Recognition flickered in each before I moved to the next. They all knew what it meant to feel powerless against the Blessed. It was why they were here.
“How many adamas gems have been mined since I left?”
Silence followed, and a few uncomfortable coughs and careful shifts of weight told me they’d begun to understand. My value wasn’t only in being the goddess’s Champion, it was in how I’d changed the kingdom thus far with my choices.
“I should have been at their mercy. But I wasn’t,” I said. “How many of you witnessed the dragon take to the skies over Kavios? Hart and I freed him—the Glanmores’ captive in the mines. They have no source. They have no one to select the gems. All of that was me.”
Hart’s chest puffed when I spoke of myself as he did.
My constant refrain had been that I could do hard things.
I could survive in a city not made for me.
I could find my missing uncle. I could pick up the pieces of my broken heart and forge a new future for myself.
I’d reframed it. Now, I spoke of myself not as one who could do hard things but one who’d achieved the impossible.
I’d made more of a difference than anyone in this room to disrupt the king’s power, yet they condemned me.
“It’s true, the Blessed are scared,” a man called from the crowd.
“They have no way to replace stolen adamas.” This must have been Alek.
Hart had mentioned he was the Feared’s new thief and that he’d been spreading word of Blessed keeping tighter hold on their adamas gems than usual. His word would carry weight.
More whispers spread through the crowd, acknowledgments of what Alek had been sharing for weeks. They were listening now.
“I fled Rodric’s service at great cost to myself and my family,” I said.
“Alysa and her people in the Storm sheltered my parents in the Oldwood. Hart and I searched Linia for a way through this mess—a way to set Kavios on the path it should have been set on hundreds of years ago, before the goddesses interfered. If the Feared will join us, we’re ready now. ”
Alysa pulled her necklace with the adamas stone from beneath her tunic and spoke.
“We have four dozen men and women willing to fight with you. We have five pieces of adamas among us. And our power is yours. Our only demand is that Emberline take the throne. She can do so with the Cursed King should he free himself from Themis’s grasp. ”
Hart rolled his eyes, but he stayed silent while those around us deliberated.
“The Cursed King leads us. She can’t take his place.”
“She’s not one of us.”
A face I recognized moved into the center of the room.
The crowd quieted as Ava spoke. “She can do what we have been unable to, unite the rebel groups within the kingdom under a single banner. Her power can combat Rodric’s calming magic.
” Ava paused for dramatic effect now. “And she did free a dragon.”
It was clear that within this room, Ava wielded an influence that might rival Hart’s.
She’d been his go-between for years. A trusted representative.
When she spoke, the Feared listened. The grumbles lessened, and the tide of those surrounding us turned in my favor.
Begrudging, maybe, but we asked for very little that they hadn’t asked for themselves.
They would follow Hart in this rebellion, but they wouldn’t want him on the throne if he were subject to Themis’s influence.
Alysa stood next to me. Nicholas addressed us both cautiously. “We need to prepare. Each person in this room represents a network of about a dozen. We will get the word out to everyone tonight. The target will be to attack in five days.”
It seemed I had my answer on timing. There were at least thirty in the room, which meant we would have about four hundred total with Alysa’s numbers included.
It was not that many more than there were Blessed, but Hart and I had seen the way the Blessed fought—or didn’t—in the Oldwood weeks ago.
They depended on their magic. They used so much and stored so little, so most wouldn’t be prepared when someone finally decided to strike back.
If Hart and I could leverage fear strategically. It could be enough to tip the odds in our favor.
Hart surveyed the group, satisfied with their tone and stance. He nodded slowly. “Good. If we finally have that settled, let’s finish planning.”