Page 164 of Fate of the Sun King

“You did it,” he whispers over and over as I shake.

“You did it,” he says. “What did it give you?”

“The ark,” I say. “It was the ark.”

I realize I’m no longer holding it. It must have flown from my grip.

Then the unbearable clink of stone against marble echoes in the quiet room, drawing our attention.

We both spin around.

The ark of Heart lies on its side near the doorway next to the toe of a polished black boot.

A boot that belongs to the Aurora King.

CHAPTER FIFTY

I hear every thump of my heart vibrating in the silence of the room.

My mouth opens in horrified stasis as Rion smirks and then bends down, picking up the ark and testing the weight in his hand with the casualness of an apple at a fruit stand. I want to lurch for it, but I know it would be futile.

“Nadir,” Rion drawls. “Thank you so much for telling me where I’d find her.”

Those words ping in my brain as I take a moment to process them.

I look at Nadir, whose face has gone ashen.

I shake my head and take a step back, one hand stretched out in front of me. My magic hums in my veins, traces of lightning circling my arms and sparking from my fingertips. The door is open, and I finally have my full strength, but is it enough to go against the Aurora King?

Rion tosses the ark in his hand and catches it, a slow smile spreading over his mouth. He knows what it is and has been searching for it all along. Was this what he wanted from me?

That’s when I exchange another glance with Nadir.

“Lor. Run,” he says, and then we both spin and bolt for the door on the opposite end of the room.

I don’t have the presence of mind to fully sort through what Rion just said to Nadir as I fling out a blast of magic behind me, hoping to inflict damage. I must have misheard or misunderstood. He wouldn’t… He couldn’t…

My magic collides with the king’s, sinking into it like it’s clay, soft and malleable, expanding and contracting. It’s different from Nadir’s. While his magic feels like silk, this reminds me more of quicksand.

We run, crashing through the door on the far side, where we’re met with a spiraling staircase that winds down and down to a bottom that disappears into darkness. We both leap onto the railing, and Nadir pulls me against him, wrapping an arm around my waist before we plummet as my stomach claws up my throat.

Just before we hit the floor, he uses a translucent cloud of blue and green to slow our descent, floating us harmlessly to the ground. Another door deposits us into a quiet hallway somewhere in the lower levels of the palace. We’ve mapped out this route thanks to Willow’s drawings, but every plan we made has been shoved out of my head.

Thank you so much for telling me where I’d find her.

“This way,” Nadir says, and I follow him through the twisting maze of corridors.

“Which way?” I ask. “Are we lost?”

I try to imagine the drawing we studied before we left. I’m sure this isn’t the way we were supposed to go.

Thank you so much for telling me where I’d find her.

“No,” Nadir says with conviction.

In the next breath, a blast of colorful light shoots between us, hitting the end of the hall and sending shards of rock and marble arrowing towards us. I duck, covering my head, peering over my shoulder to find the Aurora King with the ark of Heart clutched in his hand.

“This way!” Nadir calls, grabbing my wrist and yanking me down another corridor. Rion chases us. More of his magic ricochets off walls and the ceiling, and falling debris and stone strike me on the back and shoulders. I’m not sure if his plan is to kill me or simply capture me, but whatever it is, I can’t take either chance.