Page 89 of Fate of the Sun King

“Why?”

“I wish I knew.”

Cedar’s mouth parts and he dips his chin. “Very well. I hope it offers you something useful.”

Then I look back at Nadir, who stands off to my left, his hands stuffed in his pockets, wearing that fierce determination he carries like a shield.

You can do this.

I blink. Did he just…?

Did you just speak to me?

This time his forehead folds into confusion.

Did you just speak to me, Lightning Bug?

The mate bond. A smile creeps to my face as one teases the corner of his mouth. Why does that make me so happy?

We’ll talk about this later.

He nods, and I turn back and reach for the Staff, picking it up and clutching it with both hands. The wood is warm and as smooth as it appears, the surface burnished with swollen knots and veins. Up close, I’m able to appreciate its gilded beauty, the grain of the wood, noting how it shimmers in the light.

With a deep breath, I close my eyes and then try to search for its presence.

“Hello?” I ask in my head. “Can you hear me?”

I wait, pleading for a response. When none comes, I ask again, worried it won’t answer. What if the Staff refuses to talk to me?

“Hello?” I try again, squeezing the wood so tightly my hands ache.

Is that who I think it is?

The voice pops into my head and relief collapses my lungs.

Again, just like with the Torch, I’m somewhere else, no longer in the Woodlands throne room, but in a place that seems lost between the earth and the sky. This time I’m surrounded by leaves creeping in every direction. It feels both like they’re right next to me, brushing my skin, and also like they’re miles away. The sensation throws me off-kilter, but I spread my feet, clinging to my balance.

“Hello!” I call again.

Heart Queen, the Staff replies. You’ve finally come to see me and brought the Primary, I see.

“You know about me too?”

Indeed. So close and yet so far for all those years. When I felt you leave the borders of The Woodlands, I thought you had been lost. But I felt him across the miles and hoped you would return someday.

“I’m here,” I say. “Can you help me?”

With what?

“Anything. Everything. I have so many questions. Do you know how to unlock my magic?”

I am not the keeper of Heart magic. You’ll need the Crown for that.

“That’s not working. I’ve tried.”

Perhaps the ark then.

“The what?”