Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200096 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1000(@200wpm)___ 800(@250wpm)___ 667(@300wpm)
“What kind of relief?”
“The kind your people will need,” she answers vaguely, and I sense that’s the only answer I’ll get.
“Thank you,” I mumble, meeting the gargoyle—the golle—elder’s eyes.
“There is one more. Perhaps the most valuable to you.” Lucretia collects a set of thin gold bracelets that suddenly appear in the wisp elder’s grasp. She hands them to me. They’re similar in design to the ones Zander put on me when I first came to Islor, though far more delicate. “She who wears these shall never be separated from her affinities.”
“Never be …” My voice fades as I grasp her meaning. “Even against powerful caster wards?”
Lucretia dips her head.
A smile stretches across my face as I gingerly slip them on and squeeze the open ends together until they seal shut, fitting snuggly around my wrists. The seams vanish. I dip my head toward the wisp elder. “Thank you.”
“My masters have granted the Queen of All what she desired most and what she needed most.” Lucretia’s eyes meet the elders, each in turn. She bows deeply, and it’s a long moment before she rises again. “Their obligation is now fulfilled.”
I frown. “What do you mean by oblig—ation.” My voice falters as I take in the sudden change in surroundings. I’m back in the dark, dank circular crypt. At my feet are chunks of stone where the statues broke apart. The pedestals sit empty.
“Where did they go?” I say.
“Their duty is fulfilled,” Lucretia answers.
I search but can’t find her. It’s not the first time she’s hidden in the shadows. “But what if I need them again? I thought I was their queen.”
“And they have bestowed the greatest offerings to you as such. The gift of obscurity from the kaeli, of time from the Cindrae, of relief from the golle, and resistance from the wisps. A kingdom for asylum, filled with the knowledge you seek. You have everything you need from them. Now it is time to fight your war.” Lucretia finally emerges. She’s changed out of her white coat, replacing it with an outfit that is a replica of mine, right down to the soft brown leather boots. Even her auburn hair is braided in an intricate weave that matches Corrin’s work.
“What is this?” I drag a finger through the air from head to toe.
She looks down at her outfit. “Is this not what we wear to war?”
“It’s what I’m wearing. Why are you wearing it?”
“My masters have released me from service. I am free to choose my path, and I choose to serve Her Highness.”
“So, you’ll admit you weren’t actually serving me before.”
“Have I not been helpful?”
I sigh. As frustrated as I’ve been with Lucretia, as many games as she seems to play, she is still the best source of information we have. My focus lands on the engravings that make up the carved stone doors. At least they’ve returned. “Which one leads to Nyos?”
She gestures to a rectangle on my left.
“And it works now?”
“There is only one way to know.”
I close the distance. Adrenaline pumps through my veins as I drag my fingertip over the scripture …
Familiar childlike laughter touches my ear, and I sink against the stone with relief.
“My masters have healed it,” Lucretia says, before quickly correcting, “my old masters.”
Excitement explodes in me. “I have to get Jarek. With these cuffs, I can go in, get the scribes, and bring them back—”
“You cannot,” she interrupts me.
“What do you mean? Why not?”
“There are powerful wards against entering the casters’ realm, uninvited, just as there are powerful wards against entering this realm, uninvited. It will not allow you to pass.”
“It has to.” Even though I know about these wards from Solange and Agatha.
“If you doubt me, try.”
Jarek and Zander will argue over who gets to kill me first if Lucretia is wrong and I end up in Nyos without them. But I have to know. Drawing on my key caster threads, I direct the bound cord toward it, bracing myself for either disappointment or new scenery.
The moment the cord touches, it fizzles as if burned, and my momentary excitement deflates.
“You still mistrust me, Your Highness?”
“What about from the other side? Can I bring scribes here?”
“The Queen of All may always return to her realm.”
Well, that’s something, at least. “What about the one in Argon?”
She gestures to another door carved into the wall.
“Where does it lead?”
“To the jeweled palace, but beyond that, I cannot tell you for I do not—”
I don’t test the engravings this time, channeling into it …
And find myself in utter darkness.
Fear grips me instantly. I wrap an air shield around myself, hoping I didn’t just do something stupid, and ignite a light orb. As it swells, chests of jewels and gold and gilded busts appear around me. I recognize the room for what it is—Argon’s royal vault. My royal vault. It’s not quite as large as the one in Ulysede, but it is undoubtedly impressive.