Chapter 40
To replace a Champion, you must be cunning. You must put this goal above all others.
— WHAT MAKES A CHAMPION OF ORDER
HART
Icouldn’t even marvel at how long Father’s adamas worked. Yes, the gem was huge, but it hadn’t yet flickered out, even though his calming magic had held the majority of the room in a kind of stasis since we entered.
Then, everything happened at once, testing the gem’s hold even further.
Charon’s roar shook the room. The next slash of his claws felled another row of chairs, sending them clattering across the marble surface.
He overwhelmed the space with anger. The sheer size of him barely fit through the huge double doors.
His tail curled and flicked, sending another group of seats on the opposite side of the aisle slamming into the far wall.
I glanced down at our pendant. Charon was now in the room, with the throne, with Ember and me united. I squeezed her hand as if to prove the point.
Something should happen, shouldn’t it?
I choose not to be Themis’s Champion. I repeated the words in my head, even whispered them over and over, hoping something, anything, would happen.
While I suspected that it was Ember who would need to make a choice or begin this final trial for us, I wouldn’t let her down.
I’d be ready, doing my part as soon as allowed.
Nothing happened. The last piece of adamas in the pendant mocked me.
Then a shout drew my attention forward. Vaddon’s arm bled—a deep gash cut through the billowing sleeve of his tunic. The dark liquid mixed with the dark fabric. I couldn’t gauge its depth.
“You son of a bitch,” Vaddon hissed as he swallowed what could only be another dose of youngleaf. “All our plans wasted because you couldn’t sacrifice a useless heir?”
Elias, who had been slowly shifting from the throne as Father taunted me, seemed to release a breath. He must have known the conditions of Father’s ascent to Champion. They required a sacrifice. It seemed he hadn’t been so sure that our father would preserve his remaining heir.
The light of Father’s gemstone finally flickered out.
The change was immediate as the calming effects waned.
Before, the Storm hadn’t been able to keep up with my father’s magic.
They’d shoved youngleaf in their mouths and chewed, but as soon as the effects had worn off, the magic took hold again.
With Rodric’s calming influence finally dissuaded, both the guards and the Storm came to life.
Vaddon stalked from the dais, and I lost track of him as all hell broke loose.
It was as if the guards finally realized a dragon raged in their midst. Charon still caused a racket behind us, but he’d slowed his approach, likely discussing his next move with Ember.
She stood beside me, but as the guards shook themselves free of Rodric’s stupor and charged forward, I pulled the pendant free and shoved it in her hand.
“Chaos, nothing’s happening. Take this and get to Charon.”
She didn’t hesitate, sprinting toward the back of the room. As much as I hated for us to be separated, I believed in Charon’s ability to defend her. Being here on the front line with me would only risk her using her adamas. I suspected we would need it soon enough.
With her departure, the throne’s whispered promises returned.
This could all be yours, Champion.
Just take a seat, Champion.
Your father never deserved it. He was handed everything he had. He never worked for expansion or change as you did.
You changed the fate of Kavios.
I shook my head as if to shake the words away. They echoed in my head. I couldn’t think, couldn’t hear anything else.
You could protect her if you took it.
This battle would end. She would no longer be in danger. Your enemies would fall at your feet.
Unfortunately, its arguments evolved as I did. When its original offers no longer suited, the throne picked new ones. I didn’t know what magic gave it insights into what drove me—what I desired—but it knew.
And it was making some damn good arguments. My foot slid forward as if to take what was right in front of me.
My hand still flared with the heat of Ember’s touch. I flexed it into a fist as if trying to hold on to something, like I gripped a physical representation of our connection. Magic thickened in the air, and I wondered if I’d somehow conjured it.
I clenched my teeth and shook my head again. This wasn’t what I wanted. It wasn’t what we wanted.
We had other plans.
I focused on those plans—the future we wanted for Kavios—as the first guard to reach me swung hard.
The blade slammed into my own with an intensity I hadn’t expected.
I chanced a glance at the guard’s finger, and sure enough, his ring glowed red.
Another piercing roar echoed in the room.
Charon sounded like he was in pain, but I couldn’t spare a moment to check as the guard pressed forward with stolen anger.
I held my ground until the red glow of the adamas expired. As soon as it did, I plunged my sword into his chest. Though the Storm fought beside me, multiple guards engaged me as I attempted again to cut through their lines.
With a kick, I sent another guard back and stabbed my sword into the next. A third blade was headed for my arm. I winced in preparation for the strike, but it didn’t come.
A clash of steel rang on my left side. Alysa grumbled something about showy swordsmen before her ring glowed red and she stabbed the guard who had attacked me.
Alysa and a few others had rings. Members of the Storm reached for the guards’ rings each time one fell, but we were still outnumbered. One of the Storm fell with a scream on my left. Bodies from both sides littered the ground. Then another group of Blessed sprinted in through the side door.
Where had they come from?
I didn’t have time to think. They doubled the number of Blessed we faced, and my quick estimate made our number appear halved. Clasping my fist around the adamas gem in my pocket, I channeled the granted fear into nightmares.
The room fell around me—everyone but Charon and Ember, who were immune to the stone’s magic. Screams erupted, both from the guards and the Storm. They’d all known this was a risk, but one they’d been willing to take. Alysa twitched on the floor next to me, her screams haunting.
I didn’t waste what little time I had. I stabbed as many of the fallen guards as I could before the ring’s magic wore out.
Charon didn’t move to fight. He must have been more pained than I realized.
Frustrated, I knew Ember would use her healing magic on him.
Fucking Chaos, that dragon better defend her with his life.
With the gem clasped tightly in my fist, I didn’t see it flicker, but I felt the magic release the room.
Silence swept in where screams had previously echoed.
I’d killed the remaining dozen guards in front of me, but I knew we had to deal with the new group charging in.
They had clambered to their feet too quickly, as if packets of youngleaf fueled their sprint to face me and the few Storm who rose on unsteady legs.
Finally, Charon’s long neck stretched forward snatching one of the charging guards in his maw. The crunch of bone was more than I needed to hear, but it startled the others as much as it did me. I gritted my teeth and raised my sword to defend the Storm.
Red glowed on the approaching guard’s finger.
He slashed toward me, and I barely matched his strength to hold.
I was fucking exhausted. Alysa attacked the guard, dividing his focus.
Her ring glowed red as she summoned strength to hold him back.
She called more of her people forward as they emerged from their nightmares.
Strength met strength as the other members of the Storm with adamas entered the fray.
I spun and lunged and used every last bit of my training from the last two hundred years.
I wouldn’t escape this battle unscathed.
I groaned as a blade cut through my tunic, biting the skin.
I twisted away from a deeper cut, and a pinch at my neck pulled my attention.
I recognized Vaddon’s retreating figure as I swiped a hand over the spot to see how deeply I’d been cut. Little blood coated my hand, but something felt off. I shook off the close call and drove my sword into the next attacker.
Vaddon’s proximity without an attempt at a killing blow should have worried me.
He’d let my father off too easily. I hadn’t had time to focus on that betrayal, but if Father had needed a sacrifice, he must have played both sides.
No wonder Elias had been doing the same.
Father would have told Elias that he’d choose Vaddon and told Vaddon, of course, that he’d choose Elias.
The advisor had always considered Elias too weak to be useful, but with Father, his legacy had always been his downfall. Elias was his hope. His one chance to do better after I’d failed him so thoroughly.
Vaddon wouldn’t take Rodric’s action lightly. As his heavy steps picked back up the dais, I wasn’t sure he would accept the betrayal at all.
Father still hadn’t moved from his throne, and the more I considered that, the more it concerned me. I couldn’t do much as I disposed of the next guard in my path and my blade met another.
Elias made his move, pulling free his own blade. He sliced it across his hand, spilling his own blood. Then he pressed it against the headrest of the throne. As he did so, power thrummed through the room.
Fucking Elias. The blood of a Champion at the altar of a goddess would call her. It wasn’t much of a leap to say that throne of Kavios was an altar to Themis, and it appeared Elias had made some assumptions about the blood of a Champion—or the shared blood of relatives.
The magic pulsing through the room, unfortunately, indicated that it worked.
I kicked another guard out of my way and tried to push through. I’m not sure what I thought I could do. She’d clearly already been called. My heart raced in anticipation. With a final glance at Charon, who hid Ember with his body, I hoped they’d figure the final trial out soon.
A bright light filled the room, blinding as it entered. As it dulled and vision was once again restored, I cursed under my breath. Before my eyes, the worst-case scenario unfolded.
Themis landed on the dais in the flash of unavoidable light. Her lip curled into a snarl as she took in the scene before her.
Elias had always liked to put on a show, but did he have any idea how dangerous it was to invite the goddess here?
His smile faltered as he took in her expression.
He’d wanted her here to see something—his triumph?
I still wasn’t sure of his aims, but I suspected if he hadn’t trusted Father’s intentions, he must have made his own plan.
But as the glow surrounding Themis brightened like lightning about to strike, his brow pinched, and his adamas flashed purple as if he finally realized he might have made a mistake.
I grabbed Alysa’s wrist. She shouted, but I swung her behind me, praying to a goddess who wouldn’t answer that whatever Themis flung at us wouldn’t kill me.
With the flick of her wrist, another wave of Themis’s incandescent light crashed through the room.
It cascaded like a rainbow but decimated everything in its path.
The remaining Storm and Blessed guards fell.
A breath left my lungs, and to my utter relief, I still stood.
Alysa fell to her knees behind me. She was alive, though her screams echoed through the hall as she took in her fallen people.
“I tire of this, Champion. Take the throne. You’ve come this far.
” Themis’s voice was cold, detached, as if she no longer cared whether or not I did as she demanded.
I guessed she didn’t. If I understood the mechanics of what was happening on the dais, I’d say both Father and Elias were angling to replace me.
I just wished we knew what they needed to do so.
The taste of Ember’s anger and frustration filled my mouth, but they also thickened the air around me. At least she had survived Themis’s magic. I drew on the almost physical connection between us. It softened the throne’s whispers with Themis’s arrival.
Protect her. Save her. Remove Rodric.
Ember and Charon held still as if they knew not to draw attention to themselves. I planned to keep Themis’s focus strictly on me. Her patience seemed exhausted, and I was the cause.
Rodric finally stood, revealing more adamas tucked behind him, built into the seat itself. “He won’t.” His hand still rested on the throne, even though there was nearly no one left to influence with his calming magic. “It’s time to consider another.”
Earlier, Elias had rolled his eyes at our father. If anything, his sigh now re-emphasized the gesture. He met the goddess’s gaze and spoke. “I offer you this sacrifice—my father.”
Then he lifted the sword from his side and swung.
My eyes widened. I wouldn’t get there in time.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to prevent. Elias killing father? Elias becoming Champion? Elias taking the throne after he did so? Absolutely. He had no idea what it meant. He’d never understood. He might soon learn, because his blade swung straight for Father’s chest.
Steel clanged against Elias’s sword and held it in place inches from where Father stood.
Vaddon breathed heavily, holding his own sword against Elias’s.
Themis’s glare was violent and piercing. “I tire of this. Someone take the throne and be done with it. I’ve given you everything you needed.”
Father grinned at Vaddon even as his eyes narrowed at Elias. “You sniveling—”
“My patience wears thin.” Themis glared at the trio.
With her last word, something pricked like pins throughout my entire body. It felt like a thousand tiny needles all striking at once.
“You need no longer be patient, goddess,” Vaddon said.
Themis’s gaze was calculating. She didn’t seem bothered that this mere Blessed would speak to her so directly.
He’d been her tool in her attempts to destroy Ember.
He’d been Father’s tool in his attempts to make himself Champion.
But now, she tilted her head as if, finally, she saw him as something else.
“Themis, I offer you this sacrifice—my oldest friend.”
The echo of Elias’s words and my father’s words from minutes ago rang through the room. Father’s smile faltered as they registered. The ring on Vaddon’s sword hand glowed red as he held Elias’s attack in check. In his other hand, a dagger gleamed in Themis’s reflected light.
Vaddon pushed Elias’s attack off, then plunged the dagger into Rodric’s heart.