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“This is impossible,” I murmur as a roar echoes through the garden.
My father responds with another chuckle. “You should know by now that there is no such thing as impossible. Our only restraint is our imagination,” he says and guides me toward a cage so big I can’t even see its end. A pair of tigers roam through the forest that’s been molded for their comfort. “I haven’t even scraped the surface. Imagine what we could do if there were two of us.”
“Where…How…” a set of unfinished questions is the only thing that comes out of my mouth.
“Baspana captured a few surviving animals after The Cataclysm. They breed them for anything from food to furs. They thrive on the trade of large reserves of food they have, but they have no technology left. No factories. Kingdom of Poshia, to the south, has built farms in the alcoves of their cliffs,” my father says, anger trickling back into his voice.
I don’t dare to ask anything, as if the illusion might shatter. Instead, I gaze as the male tiger circles the female one who lies on her side, rubbing her head into the grass.
“I wonder if you can feel it,” my father says.
Ethera washing over me in waves is too strong for my senses, but I still can feel something is different about the caged beast. If only I could touch it.
Falling to my knees, I put my hand on the wet grass.
Evanae’s grace.
The energy is drowning me. My mind surfs through the garden, chasing one twinkle of light after another. Each pulse ripples through my thoughts, sending me all the way to the confines of the garden, where something older than the world resides.
“Concentrate,” Magnar lets a palm fall on my shoulder, pulling me out of my trance.
My brow knitted from effort, I start again. Tracing the heartbeat of ethera, I follow it to the tiger. Until a second, feeble one, echoes a moment later than the first one.
When my eyes fly open with a gasp, my father presses my shoulder. “You’re strong. So strong.”
“She’s with a cub.”
“The first one in the palace,” Magnar answers. He offers me his hand, and I take it. “Together we can rebuild this world, Neylan.”
I shake my head.
I stand in a marvel of my father’s creation. A place I had always dreamed to see, but it feels tainted now. All wrong. Built on the suffering of the people outside these walls.
“Nothing is impossible, but nothing is permanent, either.” My father’s eyes are sparkling with the green fire again. He won’t renounce what he’s built. Now that I’ve seen it, I’m not sure I’ll be able to either. “A war is coming, and I can’t have a rebellion on my hands,” he says, smoothing my hair back from my forehead. “I need another binder of ethera to help me every step of the way.”
“All this in exchange for what?” I murmur. “People are starving out there. We could help them.”
“I am helping them as much as they deserve it.” Magnar shakes his head. “You know what they’d do if they had access to one of these animals. You know they wouldn’t blink an eye before killing it to fill their stomachs for one day.”
Fresh tears brim in my eyes as I’m unable to find fault in his argument. My father is telling the truth. I’m just not willing to accept it.
“You know the stories, Neylan. Instead of protecting the remnants of ethera, they’ve slaughtered the Originals who only sought to bring solace. They’ve killed them because their power scared them.” My father brushes the tears away as soon as they fall down my cheeks. “You know this is the only way to restore this world.”
He wraps his hands around me to soothe me, and I let him.
I let him because I know he believes this version of the truth, no matter how harsh it is.
I let him because I’ve seen the world of old restored by his hand alone.
I let him because I no longer know what to believe.
The only thing I know is that there is no way out. Rebel Princess or Lost Jewel, I belong to the Empire of Usmad more than anyone else. Even if it means I’ll have to sacrifice myself, this is the path Evanae has marked for me.
To stay here and rebuild the world of old.
To save The King of Rebels from my father’s clutches.
To become yet again a prisoner of the palace.
