Page 157 of Tale of the Heart Queen

I dig into the trunk and pass the books between us as we settle into our respective corners. Herric was thorough about his life, starting from an early age, but it’s not until the jewels start to fade and the northern lights disappear that things start to get interesting.

Herric recounts his discovery of virulence and the detailed ways in which he manipulated Zerra. How he offered himself to her for years, trying to figure out how to take her down.

A sliver of sympathy swells in my chest for the queen forced to become a god. She could have lived out her days in Aphelion as a High Fae queen, perhaps not a very good one, but at least she would have been home. And then Herric betrayed her. Based on his accounts, their relationship was only about sex, but clearly, she felt differently about all of it.

Circumstance twisted her into the thing she is now too.

I continue reading and then find a passage that makes my blood run cold.

“He figured out how to manipulate the Torch,” I say. “Look at this.”

Amya and Nadir crowd around me, reading about how Herric made the Torch bend to his will.

“This is . . .” Amya shakes her head.

“Grandfather was right. If people knew this is possible, it would upset the entire order of things,” Nadir says.

“I mean, would that be so bad?” I ask. “Isn’t it a bit weird that we let some random objects tell us who is supposed to be in charge? They made a terrible choice with your father, and I’m sure that’s not the only time. They have sentience, but it’s obvious their sight is also very limited. Look what happened with Atlas.”

“That was supposed to be Zerra’s job,” Nadir says as he takes the book from me and flips to the next page. “He forced our grandfather to descend, and when that still wasn’t enough, he sought more power. That’s what he wants from the mines and why he’s gone so deep. It was never about jewels or protecting our trade exports.”

“He wanted the power of the stone,” Amya says.

“So your grandfather descended, and Rion got his crown,” I say. “What does he need the ark of Heart for?”

Nadir stands up and starts pacing as he continues reading.

“The ark of Heart is incredibly powerful, as your mother said,” he answers. “Only someone with the magic of Heart can use it, which is why he needs you.”

He stops and looks at me.

“So the ark must be the key to something else,” Amya says. “Something Father wants.”

“Cloris mentioned that he wanted to conquer Heart the first time,” I say. “But that doesn’t feel like what this is.”

Nadir nods. “I agree. Something changed.”

We all fall silent, stewing in our thoughts.

“Keep searching,” he says. “There has to be something else here.”

We abandon the journals and start digging through Rion’s things, all of us silent as we scan through papers, opening drawers and cabinets. Rion seems to have kept everything he’s ever signed. Probably some kind of paranoid evil villain thing.

I see a crumpled ball of paper on the floor and reach for it. I pull it open and am smoothing it out when Nadir cries out, “Here!”

He’s holding another piece of paper. It looks like an official document, but scrawled in the corner is a block of handwriting. “Look at this.” He shows us the scribbled ramblings. The writing is shaky, like he’d been drinking when he wrote it, further evidenced by the dried wet marks on one corner.

Herric. Herric . . . Has her. Has her. Has . . .

The lines are written over and over, tipping at an angle like a descent into madness, becoming more and more illegible.

And then something clicks.

“What if Herric still wants to become a god?” I ask.

The words send a shiver over my skin as our gazes meet.

“Can we be sure he’s still alive?” Amya asks.