I have to. Caben needs me.
Lilly reaches over and takes my hand. She’s been silent our whole trip, her mind and body taxed from the many tortures she suffered in the Otherworld. It will take time for her to heal. It will take time for us all to heal.
Normally, I’d say a prayer to Alyah to help heal our bodies, safeguard our hearts and minds, but the anger over Caben being lost to Bale eats at my soul. I don’t know when I’ll be able to pray again without cursing the deities.
Maybe never.
Our craft rumbles up to the palace and sets down in the courtyard. Before any of the other contenders—people—are to be taken for evaluation, we are first saving my empress. I made sure of this.
I take Bax’s satchel and strap it over my shoulder. Then I’m the first to hop out of the Cury. The air is fresh. It’s humid and clings to my skin, warm, and with the scent of the ocean. Nothing like the dank, cool realm we just escaped from, or my dry home of Cavan.
Pines line the court, and flowers of every color decorate the walkway leading to the palace doors. The white stone of the outer walls rise up to meet a clear blue sky. It’s another world here completely.
Guards meet us halfway to the palace doors. “Is this the Otherworld convoy?” A blue-clad officer asks the commander of the Cury. The commander intercepted our war machine near the Laryn border. It’s a wonder they didn’t blast us into a million pieces. They’ve been waging a war with Otherworlders while we resided in the dark realm.
“Yes, sir,” the commander responds. “They have Empress Iana’s relic. We need to see her immediately.”
The guard nods his head and leads us toward the open doors. I walk up the steps hesitantly, my body depleted from our long journey and the battles I fought beneath the earth. Glancing behind me, I take in the ragged and weary ex-contenders filing out of their Cury. They’re moving just as sluggishly. I’m unsure of what to call them now. Friends doesn’t work; we’re an alliance brought together by a shared goal. But I suppose, after everything we’ve gone through, companions comes close.
“I’ll take that, commander,” a low, familiar voice says from the archway of the palace’s inner ward. I look up to see Councilor Herna marching toward us, her tan robe trailing the marble floor behind her.
“Well done, Protector Kaliope,” she says, her bright eyes fanning my disheveled form. “I knew the Nactue would not fail our empress.” She bows her head to me. Then she turns toward Lilly and Kai and lowers her head in a show of gratitude to them.
Reluctantly, I hand her the satchel. “Thank you, councilor.”
“Please,” she says, sweeping her hand through the air. “Recover from your trials, all of you.” She looks over the survivors of the Reckoning. “King Dallion has extended his home to the empress’s . . . loyalists.”
I note her stumble over what to address our crude cluster of mismatched companions. She must not have had time to prepare a speech.
Lena shifts her stance. “I’m ready to return to my home. To Taggar.”
Councilor Herna eyes her warily, but says nothing. Though we’re on good terms with Taggar now, I’m sure there is still suspicion between the nations. I don’t care about the politics. I still have a score to settle with Lena for killing one of my sisters. For now, she gets a pass. She kept her word and helped take down the Reckoning.
But one day, we’ll settle the bad blood between us.
Councilor Herna’s gaze rests on Bax. “As the commander told me of your heroics in helping our cause, you and your family are given a pardon by the empress.” She holds the satchel by the middle of the strap, far from her body, as if the Otherworlder bag will spew evil mist on her. “But you’re to be evaluated since this new development. We have to make sure of who we welcome into our company.”
I squint. “What new development?”
Her steely eyes land on me. “The possession of Prince Caben, of course,” she says. “We’re already discussing battle strategies to defeat—”
“I want to be taken to the Council,” I say, straightening my spine and ignoring her hard glare for interrupting her. “I have inside i
nformation, as does Bax”—I nod toward my Otherworlder companion—“on Bale and Prince Caben.”
A harsh smile crooks her lips. “In time, Protector Kaliope. First, you need to recover fully.”
Pinching my mouth into a hard line, I nod. They will not attack the Otherworld and try to eliminate the threat of Bale without me. I vowed to protect my charge. If there is even a slight chance that what Caben said in the Cage is truth, then I intend to try my hardest to keep that vow.
I run the pad of my thumb over the crest of his ring. I know that Bale will lead Caben to me. And when she does, I’ll be ready. To do what I couldn’t in the Cage, or to help bring the prince back to himself. Either way, it will be me who faces him. Someone who loves him.
The shard still lies in the pit of my stomach. I wince, thinking of the way I must retrieve it. But I can once again feel the empress, her relic—and now the shard. That will make my task slightly less difficult, if not less pleasant. And at least I know there is no threat of the Council locating it. I don’t trust them—I don’t trust Councilor Herna’s intensions. I still haven’t connected what Carina was trying to tell me before she died.
Until I figure out what the issue between her and the Council was, I don’t trust any of them.
I watch the councilor make her way toward the lift, the satchel holding the relic by her side, and wish I could be there to see Empress Iana’s eyes as they gleam when she recovers. I will seek out her council soon.
“I wish to remain here,” Kaide says, and my eyes snap to him.