Page 71 of Witch’s Ruin

“Aleks…Aleksander…” It was a warning. Even now, his father was trying to scold him, to warn him to behave.

“I’ll make sure you bleed out on the carpet—right here.”

“Aleksander…”

“There is only one person in this palace who can heal you now. Take me to her, and she will heal you. Refuse, and I’ll let you drop dead right here.”

“Aleksander…If I die…” the king managed, “you doom all of Raeria. They will…they will break through and decimate us.”

He froze. Chills spread over his skin. Battle scenes flashed through his mind—hordes of demons, thousands of them, facing off before the legions of the king’s armies, on a battlefield littered with bodies. “What did you say?”

“There’s a…a doorway,” his father continued. “A room…under…the library.”

“The mural room.” His throat went dry. He pressed his father harder against the wall, keeping him upright.

“You’ve…you’ve seen it then…” The king took a deep, ragged breath, then nodded to himself. “Yes. It has…has been guarded for centuries.”

“By whom?” Rixon demanded.

“Whom do you…think?” his father managed. Rixon’s blood turned to ice. “By…by me…my father…my father’s father. Generations of Kozmas. Our blood…it responds…to our blood. We…are the guardians. Together…the guardians…and the keepers…keep the way…shut. I…I tested your blood, as…as a child.”

His hand itched—the scar. The deep gash Mina had noticed not so long ago. He resisted the urge to itch it. His eyes darted downward, to his father’s gloved hands. Keeping him pressed against the wall, he reached out and removed the glove on his left hand. His eyes widened.

It was bandaged, white gauze already bleeding. “I tried…I tried the blood of my bastard children. It…did not work. Only yours…you are…my heir.”

“The blood on the archway—it’s yours?”

“I’m dying, Aleksander.”

“Then take me to Mina,” he demanded, “and she will heal—”

“No!” the king hissed. “I mean, I’m dying. Look at me. I’m…sick. The portal…it takes its toll…in time. I cannot…not for much longer.”

“That’s why you needed me back here? You fucking piece of shit. You orchestrated everything to bring me back, didn’t you?”

“Demons were already…slipping through. By ones and twos. Giving less blood…it made the portal…weaker. Allowed more to slip…through.”

“Take me to Mina,” Rixon growled.

The king’s eyes began losing clarity. “You have always been honorable, Aleksander. In that, at least, I admire you—even if your honor was, perhaps, misplaced. I…I cannot give you what you want, unless you give me what I need.”

A loud, furious growl rose in his chest. “And what is it, then, that you need?” His patience was wearing thin. If his father died here, before showing him the way, it might mean never finding Mina.

“I…will make a deal with you,” the king offered, his voice strengthening.

“What sort of deal?” he said, growing wary. But did it matter? His father was dying, bleeding out on the carpet, and there wasn’t time. Besides, he had a feeling he already knew exactly what his father would say.

With broken words, the king laid out everything he wanted.

Chapter 23

Mina

There was a battlefield, and demons, thousands…tens of thousands…spread before me. The air smelled like iron, thick and oppressive. Just like the armor shielding my body. Nebrine armor. It weighed me down like a burden, suppressing the thing inside me. Shackling me.

But I needed it, the protection. I needed it for what we were about to face. The blackness deep. It was here. We had failed, somehow. The darkness, it was free, seeping into the world, snuffing it out, strangling the heartbeat of the living.

The witches, the Citadel—we had failed to protect the people of this kingdom. There were too few of us. Too few to conquer the tidal wave sweeping through our kingdom. We had failed Raeria, and now, the price was the lives of our people. We could only face the darkness as a kingdom, and hope to come out alive.