Is that why we ended up in this city?
I suddenly feel like a player in a divine performance, thrust into the spotlight, and I don’t know whether to try and make my way through the show or to simply burn down the whole stage.
“Do you think…” Briar begins, her voice barely above a whisper, “…that whatever dark rituals are, or were, being committed here…do you think the current royal family has practiced them, too? Is that where the king’s magic and control of dragons comes from?”
My heart clenches as I picture Reave’s face.
Sorrow.
That’s what burns most brightly in his soul, Sesca said.
But is he grieving because of the crimes his bloodline has committed, or because whatever they did is no longer working, no longer granting him the power his ancestors once held?
Briar is watching me nervously, still waiting for my reply.
And I have spent most of my life believing I already knew the answer to her question—thatof coursesomething dark and rotten festers in the heart of Mouren’s king. He’s an insufferable, monstrous bastard. One who would rip off the heads of most of the people in this empire and feed them to the closest dragon, if given the chance.
But now, standing here among these blood-stained altars, I have a sudden, jarring realization…
I don’t want him to be a monster.
I want him to be different.
I want this entire godsdamn world to be different, and I want to scream because itisn’t,because I’m surrounded by yet more terrible, suffocating proof that it’s broken and bleeding in ways I’m not sure I can fix, that it’s drenched in shadows—in a darkness so thick I’m having a hard time seeing anything worth saving in it at all.
“Owyn?”
I take several deep breaths.
Still here,I remind myself—that old, stubborn greeting of my home.
“I…I’ll figure out how he’s connected to it all,” I promise Briar.
As long as I’m still here, somehow, I have to figure things out.
“I’ve seen enough of this place for now.” I place a hand over my heavy, thudding heart. “And Sesca is panicking over not being able to reach me, I’m sure; I need to get back to her before she does something drastic.”
Briar nods slowly, moving in a daze toward the entrance to the tunnel.
I return to the black stones I ignited, watching the purple-tinted flames dance for a moment as I try to finish collecting my courage, steeling my resolve. They give off no warmth as I hold my hand out and reclaim my fire.
Darkness falls back around us like a closing fist, but I hold fast to the flame in my palm and force my feet to keep moving through it.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ican't sleep.
I'm not sure why I even bothered to try.
After we returned from that hellish underground lair, Briar and I spent hours talking in her room, trying to figure out our next steps, before deciding we'd be better off getting rest and making any decisions in the morning.
Well,shedecided on that, at least.
She can sleep through anything, I swear. And I envy this ability more and more as the hours tick by with me staring at the ceiling, trying to settle my racing heart.
Finally, I give up. I crawl out of bed and get dressed again, making my way out into the palace in search of…what, exactly? I don't know.
I want to talk to Reave.
