Wringing her hands as she approached them, Zephyr’s forest-green gaze flicked from Elyria to Cedric to the door behind them, which closed with an audible finality as soon as the knight stepped through it. Her eyes widened as they landed on the crown. “Is that?—”
“Yes,” Elyria said, vanishing her wings with a small sweep of magic. “The Crown of Concord, at your service. Well, half of it, anyway.”
“Half?” Zephyr asked, her voice shaky. “It’s only half?”
Elyria frowned. “Unfortunately, yes. The other half is out there somewhere and must be retrieved before the crown’s power will be complete. But the good news is that this”—she shook the crown in the air—“is supposedly enough to get us out of here.”
“Is it really?” Kit’s typically boisterous voice was somewhat subdued as she stretched in her seat to get a better look, but to hear it at all was a song in Elyria’s ears.
“So said the Arbiter. SaidAurelia.” Elyria strode over and placed a gentle hand on Kit’s shoulder. Her eyes burned as she breathed, “Welcome back.”
“Never left,” Kit said, running her eyes over her friend. Relief flashed across her face as she took in Elyria’s lack of visible injuries. Then her expression settled into one of melancholy. She knew.
Of course, she knew. What had Elyria expected, that they wouldn’t tell Kit what happened to her? What had happened to her brother? What Elyria had done?
Like she could read Elyria’s mind, Kit’s voice was soft when she said, “Thank you, Ellie.”
Elyria let her hand drop. “Don’t thank me.”
“You saved my life. Saved us all.”
“I killed him.” The truth of that was a sharp blade, cutting the breath from Elyria’s lungs. Evander may have become a monster, but he was still Kit’s brother. If Kit had been awake to witness it, would she truly be so willing to forgive?
Kit sucked in a deep breath. “He was already lost. You told me as much, back in the camp. I didn’t want to hear you.” She looked up, a tear glistening at the edge of her green eye. “I didn’t want to see it. Didn’t want to see the truth of him.”
“None of us saw what he did coming,” Thraigg said, leaning over the table to pat Kit’s other hand. “There’s no blame to be dealt here, lass.”
Elyria shook her head.Oh, there was someone to blame, she thought.Just not anybody here.Rage scalded her throat as she held back the curses she wanted to hurl at Varyth Malchior. He was behind so much of what had gone wrong. Because of him, Evander had cost Leona and, indirectly, Belien, their lives. He’d nearly killed Kit, nearly killed them all. Infact, without his dark magic twisting Evander in the first place, Elyria and Kit would surely never have received those visions of him. Would not have attempted the Crucible at all. Would still be?—
Would still be drowning her sorrows under Artie’s judgmental eye. Would still be filling her days with songs and her nights with strangers. Would still be estranged from Kit, would never have this closure, would never have met...
Her gaze found Cedric lingering by the closed door they’d come through. Zephyr shifted anxiously on her feet, looking him over, checking him for injuries, her eyes lingering on the hole in his tunic where the dagger had gone in. A strange mix of guilt and relief kept flickering across Zephyr’s face, and Elyria couldn’t quite figure out why. Perhaps despite her distinct encouragement to do so, the sylvan felt bad that Cedric and Elyria had been forced to take on the final trial alone. Perhaps this was just her strange way of showing she cared.
To his credit, Cedric hardly seemed to notice Zephyr’s fussing. Over her head, his gold-ringed eyes met Elyria’s, and the intensity of his stare had her breath catching in her throat. It was like he could see the emotions battling in her mind—relief and rage and rapture and restlessness all overlapping, all fighting for dominance.
Kit took Elyria’s hand, drawing her attention back. A pang of guilt rang through her as she realized Kit had started speaking again and Elyria hadn’t been listening.
“But I hear you now”—Kit hooked their little fingers together, just like they often used to—“and I’m so grateful. You gave him the peace I sought for him, in the end.” She took a deep breath. “I never thanked you properly for coming in here with me in the first place, and I almost didn’t get the chance to. So, let me say it now.Thank you.You are the reason we all survived this long.” She inclined her head at the crown. “And you’re the reason we’re going to get out of here.”
Elyria swallowed hard, resisting the urge to look at Cedric again. He was the one who’d made the necessary choice, had paid the price to grant them their freedom from this place. But she didn’t know how to begin explaining that. So, she said nothing, simply nodded and gave Kit a tight-lipped smile.
“So...the Trial of Concord,” Kit said after a few moments ofawkward silence, disentangling their little fingers. “What happened? How did you end up with half a crown? What did the final trial entail?” She extended a long brown finger to poke one of the crown’s sharp golden spires.
Elyria watched with rapt curiosity, wondering if she would feel a spark of that tremendous power that had seized Elyria when she first touched it. But Kit had barely any reaction. The corners of her lips turned down slightly, perhaps, but that was all. Elyria noted that the crown still held that feeling of being, well, not powerless, not exactly. But dormant. Whatever awe-inspiring celestial power had flooded into Cedric to bring him back had indeed been expended. It was just a pretty piece of royal jewelry for now.
“That is a rather long story, best left for another time, I think,” Cedric said, giving Zephyr an affectionate squeeze on the shoulder before stepping around her. “I think we are all more than ready to leave this place. I pray you will not take this the wrong way, but you still look like you could use a trip to the healer, posthaste.”
Kit snorted—a half-indignant, half-amused sound—but didn’t protest. She did still look pale, weak. Like just having this conversation required a great deal of effort. The thought made Elyria antsy. What were they waiting for? They needed toleave.
“Speaking of which,” Nox’s voice came from a shadow to Elyria’s left, dulcet and calm, though the unexpectedness of it still made her jump. In her rush to get back, the relief of seeing Kit, she hadn’t even realized the nocterrian wasn’t present. “Did Aurelia happen to say anything abouthowwe would be able to leave this place?”
“Oh, yes.” Elyria placed a hand on her hip. “She wrote down instructions, in fact. Numbered them. She was absolutely, one-hundred-percent crystal-clear and not cryptic or ambiguous at all.”
Nox did not appear amused. “How do you know we are truly done here, then?” they asked. “I might have expected a bit more fanfare to accompany the Arcane Crucible finally being conquered. Part of a crown and your reports that ‘we won’ hardly inspires much confidence.”
Elyria held up the crown in her hand. “What shedidsay was clear enough. She told us we earned our freedom from the Sanctum, and it was time to return home.”
She felt a sudden warmth seep into her side as Cedric came up beside her, his hand brushing hers for the briefest of moments.
