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Raine doesn’t seem convinced, but he keeps his silence.
We remain quiet as the night darkens. Cries and screams pick up again after a few hours.
I fall asleep and dream of class in Alkrose. How normal and sane it all felt until Edgar took his friends to Noctili. When my eyes open, Raine’s shaking me by the shoulders, his gray eyes burning with terror.
“Run and don’t look back.”
51
Edgar
Acavern surrounds me, walls dripping with moisture. The roof of the cave is at least one hundred feet up and the rocks that form it are an odd dark blue hue. This place is damp and depressing.
I step forward and glance down at a substantial puddle. Drops from above ripple through it, making my reflection nothing more than a blurry ghost. But even that’s enough for me to shiver at what I’ve become.
Arthur walks past me, his steps echoing throughout the cave. “This is the cave where all my comrades and I made oaths to one another,” he murmurs nostalgically. I lift my head and watch him as he bends down, picking up a flat rock that fits in the palm of his hand. “We all had to make decisions, Edgar. Ones that brought us where we are today.” He slowly looks over at me, gray eyes somber and knowing.
I stand beside him, gazing down at the flat stone in his hand. “Is this part of my exam?” I ask harshly.
He grunts out a low laugh. “Always eager to get straight to the gist of things, aren’t you? I wanted to stop here first to show you the promises that we couldn’t keep. That it wasn’t our fault what we ended up doing. Sometimes one must consume the lesser poison, but it is poison all the same.”
My brows pinch together. What is he trying to get at? “I’m sorry about your comrades, professor. It’s easy to forget that you’ve gone through the same things I did.”
Arthur smiles wearily. “Your heart is good, Edgar. Whatever comes to pass out there, don’t forget that.” I stare at him with confusion pulling on my expression. “To pass this exam, you must retrieve crowns from two of the groups. The headmaster has required you achieve this task alone since you went to Noctili, and you will need two instead of one like the rest of the groups.”
My heart clenches tightly. “And how do I retrieve a crown?”
Arthur’s smile fades. His skin looks almost gray in this dark, gloomy cavern. “You must behead the person who wears it.”
My shoulders feel so fucking heavy. I just want to sleep. “I have to cut two heads off?” I mutter distantly, thinking of the ease I feel about doing so and how disturbing that thought is.
“Yes. I’m sorry, Edgar, but if you don’t get the two crowns, Headmaster Emerai will have you and your friends euthanized for disloyalty to Fernestia. If you cannot be controlled, you’re no good to them.” Arthur’s voice is pained. He takes no pleasure in any of this.
But I still hate him.
My fingers curl, the bones of my fleshless hand cracking as I fist them tightly. Aervin and Lucina are all I have left—I won’t lose them too.
Arthur frowns grimly at me and places the flat stone in my palm before walking toward the portal. “Good luck, Edgar,” he says grimly as he vanishes. The door goes with him.
I look down at the plain stone and flip it over. There are words carved onto the surface. I grit my teeth at them.
A hollow laugh sounds from my skeletal mouth—giving in to my demons. Sully sinks deep into my chest and the last two casts shatter like they were nothing but glass. Undiluted power burrows into my bones, and when I open my eyes, I feel so much fucking better.
“All right, Sully. Let’s ruin the world.”
I drop the rock to the floor of the cave, the words facing up. I walk away from the promise they couldn’t keep.
We will be the last of the Blood Crowns. We’ll stop Fernestia and save the world.
52
Terra
The five of us bolt through the decaying forest. Screams of terror fill the night air and my lungs burn viciously with each step I take.
“What’s happening?!” I shout over my shoulder as I dare to look back. The trees are draining of their color, as if the dirt sucks the life away from the roots. They shrivel before falling and breaking the earth with their hollowed trunks.
Finn’s hand is clasped tightly over mine, fear blazing through his eyes. Raine, a few steps ahead of me, yells above the crashing trees, “Someone is getting rid of the forest, so we’re all out in the open. Stay on high alert!” A tree falls in our path as he says the latter and more screams bellow in the distance.
