Emmery groaned as she dove into her hands like she could hide from her choices. “It’s for the prophecy. To retrieve my memories and find the man from my dreams. The one I told you about with green eyes.” She peeked over the protective shield of her fingers. “It was an easy choice.”
“Easy choice? You’re kidding. He’s not only dangerous, but unpredictable, too, and did you forget that he forced Ves into his service for a century? He killed his deranged father to take over this kingdom only to run it into the ground and the guy has serious daddy issues along with his other mental issues.”
Emmery shook her head to dislodge her doubts. “I—I know what he did to Iz and Vesper. How his kingdom is fairing and the things he’s allowed.” She exhaled a long breath. “But I need to get to the bottom of this prophecy to stop this fever. And I need to get my memories back. My memories are the only way to learnwhat happened and I’m tired of hearing thingsI’veexperienced from other people’s mouths.” Aera stirred at Fionn’s feet at Emmery’s rising pitch. “I need to knowwhyI did the things I did. Why things unfolded like that.”
“Why you blew up the Merikhs’ kingdom?”
Emmery’s face fell.
Briar only shrugged. “What? You did.”
“You could have put it gently.”
She pinched her bottom lip between two fingers before she released it with a pop. “This world is too bloodthirsty for niceties or soft truths. It’s a courtesy most of us aren’t shown.” As if on cue, the sunlight illuminated her scars, each patch of skin a reminder of her suffering. Her heart wrenching childhood aside.
As if counting down, Emmery spun her ring on her finger, and on the fourth turn, she said, “I’m really sorry about what happened to you. And I wish I could take it back. I wish I could undo it.”
Briar’s brows creased. “I’m not angry with you if that’s what you think. But I won’t lie, sometimes I wish it hadn’t happened, because the months following all this—” She gestured to the side of her body. “They were rough. Agony, really. But now I have all these badass scars and a badass story to go with them.”
A winded sigh of relief left Emmery. “I’m not sure you ever told me.”
“I was saving a pup from the fire. The owners left the dog locked in the house. Just abandoned it like a bunch of ingrates.”
This brought a curl to Emmery’s lips, but the smile died as doubt stole it. “I like to think I would have done the same, but I’m not sure I would.”
“She’s proof you would.” Bri gestured to the sleeping Aera, then examined her red polished nails that matched her jumpsuit.
Emmery stared down at her own blunt nails bitten down to the quick. She flipped over her palm to study the rose wrapped in thorns which sang a mocking tune of her mistakes. And above it, on her wrist, the tiny white spark reminded her of another decision she’d made. But the bargain with the ancient dragon Arborious was the least of her worries. The humming magic in Emmery’s veins that rattled her bones in moments when she let her guard down, when she forgot who and what she was, reminded her to keep her power tightly leashed. And that she could inflict irreparable destruction in the blink of an eye.
“I killed all those people,” she whispered. The confession in her broken voice numbed her. It didn’t feel real, but it had happened, and she needed to atone for what she’d done.
“I know,” Briar said, not accusingly, but in acknowledgment. “You’re also our only hope to abolish this cursed fever.”
Emmery picked at her nail until a bead of blood rose and she sucked her finger into her mouth. She fell back into the memory of the day she’d relit thekhaosflame and tried to save them all—how Melantha’s shadows had coiled around her like chains, not to hurt her, but like she wished to steal her away. And the former Queen’s voice rang through her mind:Kahlia of the Eternal Sky. She will wake now you have called upon her.
Emmery shuddered
She would tackle one problem at a time, and for now learning to swim and finding answers about this book from Fionn took priority. She prayed for him to finally open his damn eyes and answer all her endless questions.
The fate of their world depended on it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
VESPER
Vesper’s visit with Zyphira may have been slightly impulsive. In fact, he spent nearly an hour hollering the Oracle’s name in that creepy ass place between dreams and waking before she appeared. And by that time, his voice grew hoarse and his throat ached, not just with his demand, but with hope he’d receive answers.
The Sacred Lands erupted out of the inky darkness hidden beneath that black water. Gargantuan dandelions sprouted from charcoaled soil, obsidian trees twisted into his path, and a lavender haze clouded the air, thick enough to send him into acoughing fit. Zyphira’s injection of purple smog gave the heavy magic a grittier texture.
As Vesper glanced around, his heart throbbed with memories so vivid he could practically taste them. He could see him and Izzy darting through the winding shroud of plants, Iz’s hands moving at lightning speed whining about Vesper’s cheating. What she never knew was hehadto change the rules to even gain the slightest upper hand. She’d always been leagues smarter. Also a fuck ton more likely to bend the game in her favour.
But that was the past, and now, Vesper gazed toward his future.
A few paces in, Zyphira sat on a shallow toadstool, her shriveled legs crossed. From her creased brows, flushed blue skinned cheeks, and her purple eyes that harboured the sear of a hot poker, she appeared angry enough to raise the tide and drown Ellynne merely for spite.
Oh, fuck.
Zyphira shoved her spectacles up the bridge of her nose. The Oracle scar stamped into her forehead hummed with the ancient magic of the Hollow. “I assume you had good reason for screaming my name across the Divide like some lunatic?” she said, her tone less than amused.