Balthasar throws a hand behind him and the doors slam shut. I bend over, gasping for air. Spots cloud my vision as I work to slow my rapid heart rate.
There are dragons and giants on the other side of that door. And who knows what creatures roam the decks of all those ships?
I count to four, still bending over my knees. Black-and-white marble floor shines in the glittering light above us. A giant chandelier, like a branch of a tree, has thousands of tiny droplets of light dripping from it. It rattles as a thunderous crash slams against the castle, sending the light bouncing around chaotically.
Fear seizes my chest, tightening each space between my ribs.
A dozen locks click into place and a large steel bar is lowered, securing the door behind us. I scan the group, ensuring we all made it inside and my shoulders slightly lower with relief. Balthasar and Eira whisper tersely to each other, discussing where Julius might be.
But I know.
I know exactly where here is.
Striding up the sweeping staircase and past the lifelike statues of my father’s family, I make my way to the throne room. Lachlan keeps pace easily with me as I stomp up the stairs.
“Do ye ken where you’re going?” He asks, monitoring the halls in front of us.
My chin lowers in one swift motion.
Marching sounds around us, bouncing off the marble floors before being swallowed up by the soaring ceiling.
They’re all following me. My stomach pitches.
Lachlan, Mina, Mathilda, Tane, Luna, Evander, Freya, Odr, Piominko, and Harald. With me, that makes eleven. But with Eira and Balthasar, it’s now thirteen.
The Chosen of thirteen, her heart will deem,
If the night will grieve, then the land will bleed…
A long crimson rug lays out before me, leading the way to a carved oak door.
Eira clears her throat from on my other side. The lines around her mouth are taught as she grimaces. “I don’t think he’ll look the same as he did when he was in your realm.” I glance sidelong at her. “Prepare yourself.”
But nothing could have prepared me for the sight before me as Lachlan and Balthasar heave the doors open.
My father. Lounging on the throne.
A fist clenches my heart, snatching the air from my lungs.
“Well, now this is a surprise,” he purrs.
I’m relieved that the voice is not my father’s. But still, I avert my eyes anywhere else, other than at his face. The face of the man I loved so much. The man who gave up his life to keep me safe, who left his world and his people so that he could raise me in the hope I would one day save it all. To make it better.
I scan the throne room. Its grand stone arches are gothic, much like the exterior. The throne he lounges on is entirely silver stone, carved with sea creatures. The head of a sea dragon rises behind him as if peering at whoever stands in front of the dais. The chair itself is enormous and could undoubtedly seat at least five men.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” Eira grinds out, walking beside me.
Julius’ familiar sneer is replaced with a forced pout. “I didn’texpect you back so soon, dear. But now that you are here. Let’s have a little family reunion while I tell you the plan.”
The hair on the back of my neck rises. Feeling for all the world that we’ve walked into a carefully laid trap.
Fury has my hands trembling and I clench them into fists.
But my voice is surprisingly steady as I ask, “Reunion?”
Julius sneers down at me from my father’s face. A glimmer of thin sunlight shines through the stained glass window and has his turquoise eyes glowing. Not his—my father’s. He snaps his fingers and a small company of guards march in from hidden doors beside the throne.
“Stop!” Eira orders, but they don’t listen. “What is the meaning of this?”
