Page 155 of By the Flames of Her Fury

A seed of hope took root inside me. “Okay, well, do you know how they forged it?”

She blinked, and her excitement slowly morphed into something else. Something I couldn’t read. “Not exactly.” She looked away. “But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. First, we need to figure out where I’m even supposed to do this. Something else Sloane said made me think. She said the catacombs were once a sacred temple where the originals talked to the Fates. She called it the heart of the kingdom.”

“The heart of the eternal flame,” I said. Firelight flared brighter around us. “Do you think that’s it? The catacombs?”

“I don’t know where else it could be. It’s where the Elders perform their ritual, so it’s obviously a place of great power. I have to go back and try.”

Her words settled over me. It felt like we were teetering on the edge of a precipice. Maybe Vera would succeed, and the kingdom would rise. Maybe the Elders would fall. And maybe I wouldn’t be around to see any of it.

“Everett…” She dropped her hand and swallowed. “I’m scared.”

“I am, too.” I lifted her chin so she faced me again. “But we can’t let our fear make us unable to fight.”

“This time is different.” Her eyes searched mine. “I have more to lose than just myself.”

I wrapped my arms around her, and she rested her head on my chest. Just as it had in the cells, her fear made me want to say whatever I could to make things right. “You’re not going to lose anything, sweetheart,” I murmured into her hair.

But we both knew that was a promise neither of us could keep.

76

Vera

Nobody spoke as we prepared to leave the underground bunker. My stomach had been in knots ever since my revelation about the final amulet. Not because I was nervous, but because mere hours after finally promising to be with Everett, I was already keeping things from him.

“What did the original demithes give?”

“Everything.”

The Elders said the originals sacrificed the deepest parts of their soul to forge the amulets, and it destroyed them. All the warnings I’d received over the last couple of days made sense. The cost, the sacrifice, the surrender. It was because the guardians and the Fates knew I’d have to follow in the footsteps of the originals.

There was no way Everett would let me do this if he knew the full story. But if I didn’t get that final amulet, we had no hope of raising the kingdom. No hope of breaking the infection that now held Odessa and Everett in its clutches. No hope of going home.

I didn’t know what the forging would require of me, but I had to make sure the rest of the plan would work, even if I wasn’t there to do it.

“Tessa,” I hissed across the bunk room. Everett was in the makeshift weapons room gearing up, and it was the first moment Tessa and I had alone. “We need to talk.”

She paused strapping her twin daggers to her thighs and raised an eyebrow. “Everything okay?”

I quickly peered around the curtain to make sure he wasn’t coming back yet, then turned to her. “I need you to listen to what I’m about to say without arguing, alright?”

She opened her mouth, but the look on my face must’ve stopped her. Her brows pinched together. “Okay, I’m listening.”

I took a deep breath. “It’s about forging the amulet. I know I told you and Everett that I didn’t know what to expect, but that wasn’t entirely true. The Elders showed me a final record written by the originals, one that talked about the Lightbringer’s mission. It also mentioned how they forged the first two. It required a…sacrifice.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I do not like where this is going. Vera, you can’t⁠—”

“No arguing, remember?” I interjected. She shut her mouth and gritted her teeth with a glare. “The Elders said it took what was most vital to them, and it ended up killing them. And no,” I rushed on, seeing that she was about to cut me off. “You’re not going to talk me out of this, so don’t even bother. I’m only telling you because I need you, Tessa. If I don’t make it, I need you to finish this once we have the final amulet.”

She kneaded her forehead with her knuckles. “That’s a big ask, Vera. How am I supposed to just go along with this? With you sacrificing yourself?”

“I know. I know it’s a lot. But you’re the only one I can trust.” I put my hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at me. “Please, Tessa. I have to go into this knowing everyone will be okay if I’m not there. The record technically only said the Lightbringer was needed to deliver the Sacred Three. Once I forge it, my job is done. All three will exist. I’m hoping anyone will be able to unite them after that. You just have to get the other two from the Elders.”

Tessa was already shaking her head. “This is crazy. We’re not doing this without you. We’ll find another⁠—”

“There is no other way!” I exclaimed. “Everett and Odessa’s time is almost up. We have to act now.” I squeezed her shoulders. “I need you to understand. And most importantly, I need you to make sure Everett doesn’t try and stop me.”

She closed her eyes. “Vera,” she whispered. “Don’t ask me to do this.”