“Where is it?” he seethes with growing frustration.
His searching becomes more frantic, and he pushes the slab fully off. It shatters on the ground and the sound echoes around the small room. His panic quickly turns into rage as he steps away, gripping his hair with both hands.
“It’s not here.” His voice is so low and intense that it’s almost scary.
“Are you sure?” I ask, reaching in to search for myself.
“I checked everywhere. My father must’ve gotten here first which means—”
“Wait,” I say, cutting him off. “There’s something under her hands.”
I slowly reach underneath her folded hands that are placed over her chest. When my fingers touch the top of the hidden object, something shoots out from the bottom of her hands, and I jump. My heart is still racing when I reach for the black handle wrapped in gold detailing that seems to have been ejected by my touch. The moment my hand fully grips it, red light bursts from the object still encased beneath her two hands. As I carefully pull it from her grasp, the light begins to dim.
I turn around to find Ryder’s eyes bouncing back and forth between me and the scepter. Neither of us can seem to form words as we look at the glowing red orb that was forged from demon magic. It’s smaller than I thought it would be. Between the scarlet sphere fixed at the top and the intricate handle extending from it, it’s only a foot long, maybe even less.
The burst of light from the orb has vanished, but there’s still a slight glow coming from the middle of it. I hold it a little closer and notice volts of magic writhing like lightning in the center of the small sphere. It feels wrong holding something that can wield such dark magic.
“Here. You should take it.” I hold it out to Ryder but when he reaches for it, a violent shock sends him flying backwards. His body hits the wall, leaving a massive indent behind. “Ryder! Are you okay?”
“I guess it doesn’t like me very much,” he attempts to joke as he stands back up in the middle of the rubble left from his impact.
“Looks like I’ll be holding onto it for now then.” I secure it in the harness that holds my daggers and do my best not to think about the amount of dangerous power it possesses. “We better get back before they send out a search team.”
Ryder grabs onto me, careful not to get too close to the scepter. Once we land back on the ship, Nio and Naomi are so lost in conversation that they don’t even notice us. Ryder clears his throat, and a second later their jaws drop when they see the scepter strapped to the front of me.
“You found it!” Nio sprints over to me, and Ryder blocks his arm.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. That thing apparently has favorites.”
Nio retracts his hand and shakes his head. “Of course, it would choose Reign.”
“Choose me?”
“Yeah,” he says with a shrug as if it was obvious. “Dark objects do that sometimes.”
“Does that mean the king wouldn’t be able to wield it?”
“Not necessarily. There are ways around it if you have the right means, or the right witch.”
“Lucky for us, that’s not something we’ll have to worry about,” I quip with a satisfied grin.
Ryder’s shoulders relax and for a moment it feels like the odds aren’t so against us.
Chapter 60
Ryder
Night has fallen and Naomi has taken over for Nio who should be at least two glasses of wine deep by now. Sending him back to Zentria early not only allows him to celebrate with his brother but also stops the others from setting off on a rescue mission. By now, they’ll know we’re on our way back and not empty-handed. Nio insisted we come along too, but it felt wrong leaving Naomi all alone out here when she’s the reason we were even able to find the island again. Besides, alone time with Reign in the middle of the Infinite Sea seemed like a much better way to spend the night.
When I join her at the nose of the ship, she seems entranced by the sight of the moonlight reflecting off of the dark surface that looks black this time of night.
“We won today,” she says as I rest my chin on the top of her head and wrap my arms around her, careful to avoid touching the scepter still strapped to her body.
“We sure did.”
She tilts her head to look back at me. “It feels like now we have a fighting chance. I know your father has other tricks up his sleeve that we aren’t aware of, but I believe in our people and the alliances we have made.”
I love hearing her call them “our people.” I never imagined I would have someone to rule by my side, but I could see it with her. Even more so, I want it with her. I want her to stand beside me and help me build a better future. The Great Six Realms need her just as much as I do.
