Chapter 36
To replace a Champion, you must have more ruthless determination than the summoned.
— WHAT MAKES A CHAMPION OF ORDER
HART
Iwanted to get Ember out of the city before something, or someone, inspired another raid on the tavern. Once Nicholas agreed to the plan, though, he wouldn’t shut up about it. He wanted to speak almost non-stop about next steps and coordination.
Tension had dispersed almost as quickly as it had built.
They came around eventually, if a little less enthusiastically than I cared for.
At their core, the Feared wanted to stop Rodric’s abuse of the humans in the kingdom.
We helped them to realize that the story of the Cursed King was the story of a Champion controlled by Themis—the same goddess the Blessed worshiped and who their actions served.
The plans discussed weren’t bad. Combining our resources to launch a two-pronged attack on the Blessed was our best chance. I would feel better if I knew what choice Ember and I had to make when the time came. I’d feel even better if there was a way to keep Ember away from the actual fighting.
Unfortunately, as one of only two who could wield nightmares, that wasn’t an option.
She spoke to a woman near the back of the room.
I’d had my doubts about the Feared’s ability to accept her, but I shouldn’t have.
Her determination had won me over—it was part of why I had fallen for her.
Many Feared approached her after the meeting.
Most, if not all, of the conversations appeared to share stories like hers—humans who had been pushed too far.
I kept an eye on them all, ensuring no one was a threat while Nicholas plotted. Ava returned to the tavern, presumably to run it, but I noticed she lingered at Ember’s side when I couldn’t. Her support, in this case, meant more than mine.
Alysa nodded at something Nicholas said, then stepped away to speak with Reid. They leaned in close to each other in the corner, and Reid’s mouth moved furiously.
That couldn’t be good.
Nicholas said something about logistics and getting the messages out to the rest of the Feared tonight.
I appreciated his tenacity. This had all gone better than I expected, but if the Feared had questions once the message spread, we wouldn’t have many opportunities to finalize the plans.
Once we left tonight, I doubted we’d return to the city before the attack.
“I’m staying,” Reid said as he strode to my side.
I chanced a glance at Alysa, who followed him, her arms crossed. The heated conversation now made sense. “Are you now?”
Reid nodded. “We need to communicate to organize over the next few days. We can’t keep sneaking in. Harrow can deliver messages between Alysa and me. I know you’ll never ask, but we both know it would help to have someone here with the Feared to reinforce this alliance.”
“You’re right, I wouldn’t ask.” My gaze lingered on Ember before returning to Reid. “I wouldn’t ask something I wasn’t willing to do myself. It’s no small feat to stay in Kavios. Days could quickly turn into weeks with this level of coordination. You sure you’re up for it?”
Alysa snorted. “Apparently, he’s been planning to offer since we decided to steal the gems.”
Reid winced.
“If you two are fine with it, I won’t stop you.
It will help. You can stay in my rooms, and Ava will get you anything you need.
” I clapped him on the shoulder, giving him what reassurance I could while silently wondering how many ways this could go wrong.
I wouldn’t offer to do the same, because I couldn’t stand the thought of being away from Ember.
I wouldn’t let the next time I saw her be when we were headed into a battle I wasn’t sure we could win.
“Say your goodbyes, Alysa. We should head back.”
She grunted in acknowledgement as I walked toward Ember. She was speaking with one of the Feared. I only caught the end of their conversation as I approached.
“They’ll forever see you as his tool,” the woman said, her eyes darting nervously toward me. She straightened upon noticing my proximity. “Thank you for speaking with me.”
Ember barely had a chance to say goodbye before the woman retreated. I recognized her. Nissa, I thought her name was. She had been one of the women Alaric had recruited. She’d had a bad run-in with the Blessed, but she refused to leave the city, so Alaric had brought her here.
I watched her go and turned to Ember. “I know you can take care of yourself, but … she should know better than to call you the king’s tool. Especially after the agreement from everyone here tonight.”
Ember’s laugh was almost musical. She pushed her long blond hair over her shoulder. “She meant they’d forever see me as your tool, Hart. Not his. I seemed to have cleansed myself of Rodric’s brand. Yours, however, is harder to fight.”
I worked my jaw in frustration, unsure how to respond.
She rested her gloved hand on my arm. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. I assume you’re ready to leave?”
She barely waited for my nod before turning to see Alysa waiting at the door. We moved through the crowd toward her.
“Ready? Where’s Reid?”
Alysa’s anger seemed to get the better of her as she chewed on her lip. “He’s staying.”
Ember didn’t press. “Alright, let’s go.”
The streets were too empty for my liking as we returned to the steep paths to the castle. Though Harrow would stay to deliver messages from Reid, his first task was to escort us out of the city. That bird gave me the creeps, but I couldn’t deny his usefulness.
We crossed the exposed hillside and ducked into the hedge-lined paths of the garden.
We hadn’t walked far when the bird’s warning caw sounded, and voices reached us from the path ahead.
We tucked into the orchard. The rows of trees had given Ember and me cover on our first escape.
I pressed Ember into the trunk now, my body a shield covering her.
Alysa hid behind a tree in the next row.
The echo of the bird’s cry faded, and a familiar voice broke through. “The report was credible. He’ll be here.”
What was Elias doing in the gardens at this hour?
My conversation with him at Forest’s Edge had left me with nothing but regret.
I had no clear picture of what he thought of this mess.
He proved unable to fully betray our father, although talking to me at all would be considered treason to Rodric.
Hundreds of years of striving for acceptance couldn’t be overcome in one conversation.
I’d left Elias here. I’d let Rodric shape him.
As with everything from the time of my summons, if I had thought of anyone besides myself, things might have been different.
Ember’s hand gripped my arm. I glanced down at her, and she pulled my forehead to hers so we shared breaths. She must have sensed my frustration, my guilt, my … I wasn’t actually sure which emotion would linger on her senses now. Either way, she soothed me with the calming effect of only her touch.
I couldn’t change my past actions. I could make new choices—choices that represented the man I wanted to be, not the man I had been.
“He’s here,” Elias continued. “He got in somehow. You know what my father will do to you if they’re seen again and disappear.”
The guard’s throat bobbed at the obvious threat. Alysa, Ember, and I held our breaths as the pair passed. I didn’t think I imagined the way Elias’s eyes scanned the rows of trees in which we sheltered.
Before he passed, my least favorite person met him on the path.
“Anything?” Vaddon asked.
The slimy bastard had always thought too highly of himself.
It was evident in the way he demanded information from Elias.
My father had promoted him because he was competent and willing to get his hands dirty.
Over time, his usefulness to Rodric went unchanged.
If anything, he seemed more secure in his position.
Ember silently gripped my wrist, urging me to calm as if she could feel my anger boiling. I guessed she probably could.
“We cannot fail this time,” Vaddon said. He ran a hand through his slicked-back hair as he addressed my brother with little deference.
Elias shook his head. “Perhaps if you’d let me handle it, we wouldn’t have shown up in force and scared him off.”
Vaddon snorted. “You mean as you did with the raid on Forest’s Edge? Don’t think I don’t know what that was really about.”
The advisor’s words turned venomous, and I could only wonder at the battle of wills between the two.
Vaddon stepped forward, leaning in close to make his point. “You wanted to deliver the book I’d spent weeks searching for. You wanted to appear as a hero to your father. Trust me, Prince, he’ll never see you as such. Especially with your mythical brother pulling strings throughout the city.”
I couldn’t see well enough in the low light, but I was sure Elias’s cheeks reddened.
He’d always hated being compared to me. I wondered if Vaddon’s accusation was true.
Elias seemed to have stolen the book from under his nose during the raid.
It would have been Elias who presented the key to Father changing his fate.
I could only imagine that earned him favor.
Yet he also hadn’t done much to stop me from perusing the book myself—to learn what Father sought to do.
“Check yourself, Vaddon. Perhaps I only involved myself at Forest’s Edge because Father was sick of your failures. Maybe he no longer trusts you with such a critical task.”
Vaddon’s spine straightened, and his eyes narrowed. Like his words to Elias, these, too, seemed to strike at something deep in the advisor.
“Let’s not waste more time,” Elias continued, gesturing the guard forward. “We’ll find him.”
I should be more worried that they searched for me. The only people who had seen me in the tavern tonight should have been the Feared. Nicholas might not have his people as much in hand as he’d like to think.
We didn’t have time to determine how they knew we were here. I needed only to get Ember out before they found us. Alysa could send a note to Reid as soon as we were in the Oldwood.
As Elias headed toward the wall, Vaddon stalked off in the opposite direction, toward Cross Street.
When both were far enough down the path, we made our move.
Harrow guided us to the trapdoor without further incident.
For Elias’s assurances that I had an escape route here, it seemed he was unaware of Mother’s tunnel.
The patrols in this particular section of the grounds seemed even lighter than they had been near the top of the hill.
Tucked into the hedge, I kneeled and lifted the latch. My palms sweated as I sent Alysa and Ember down the ladder.
A throat cleared behind me, and I let the trapdoor close over Ember’s protests.
“Sebastien, you really do continue to make a mockery of our guard staff.”
I emerged from the hedge to find Elias alone. His tone was light, almost teasing, as if he had orchestrated this precise meeting point. I couldn’t believe he knew of Mother’s altar and left it unchecked. It just didn’t make sense.
“Yet I see you haven’t brought any of them with you.”
Elias shook his head. “No, this is a family matter.”
I didn’t want to be intrigued by the comment, but I was.
Rodric no longer considered me family. I’d known that to be true before he tried to have me killed in the throne room.
Until our meeting a few days ago, I was sure that Elias had chosen his side.
Even then, he’d said there were certain things he couldn’t share.
Hope remained because he had let me leave far too easily while also allowing me to glean the information I needed from the book.
“What is this, Elias?”
He rubbed his temples, and suddenly, he looked much younger than he was.
He appeared to be the twenty-year-old I had left behind when Themis summoned me.
“Someone reported seeing you in Forest’s Edge.
The guards knew you disappeared on the castle grounds last time, so this is where they now patrol. ”
That begged the question of where they were. Did he want to speak to me again as he had at the raid of Forest’s Edge? He’d asked his questions, and I’d asked mine. We seemed to be on opposite sides of this divide.
“Why are none with you?”
He sighed. “Is it so hard to believe I wanted to speak with you?”
I didn’t want to press him, but I didn’t believe it was that simple. The animosity between him and Vaddon appeared high, but did that mean anything? They could both vie for Father’s favor. Was this some twisted game to capture me himself? To prove his usefulness to Father over the advisor’s?
It wasn’t possible for Elias to overpower me. His persuasion wouldn’t work either, not that I felt him trying. Still, the longer I stood here, the more chance someone else would take notice. “Elias, I have to go. If you’re not here to stop me, tell me what you need.”
He appeared at war with himself. The pinched brow, the words muttered under his breath. I had no idea what I was dealing with here. My only reassurance was that no footsteps sounded. Harrow still circled overhead, and his warning cry was noticeably absent.
I had a moment to see what Elias wanted to say.
When I’d asked him about the path Father pursued—a path to finally become Themis’s Champion—Elias hadn’t shared any details. He said he couldn’t. Had that changed?
“Do you want to tell me something?” I asked.
He ground his teeth. “The two hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of your summons is in two days, brother. I don’t think it’s an event you should miss.”
With little more than a nod, he turned on his heel and walked away.
I didn’t know if he knew or cared about the trapdoor.
His warning was clear enough. Whatever Father would attempt, it would happen in two days.
That meant there was no room for error in our plans.
Our timelines had to move up, but if Elias spoke true, we had little choice.
If Rodric made himself Themis’s Champion, he would take the throne uncontested.