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Weapons, four
To rise once more
Rule the night
Forevermore
“WE’RE ALL AGREED THAT‘wake the sleepers’ refers to the gobbelins, right?” Kas said, breaking the silence first.
I nodded. “And since Rush isn’t one of the weapons, maybe you were the first. You’ve been with me from the beginning of the Trials.”
“What about Nic and Cade? You even knew Luca before me,” he pointed out.
“But you were my first weapon in all of this. You protected me when none of them were there.” I smiled when he flushed a little, and I was happy enough to stroke his... ego... a little.
“The gauntlet line reminds me of Luca,” Rush said slowly, thinking out loud. “Either because Merden coerced him into that foul blood contract, or because the vampires looked down on the half breeds and the ice wolves refused to help the vampires all these years, until Vento intervened. All of those could be seen as metaphorically throwing down the gauntlet.”
“And Vento was a friend of Luca’s father,” I added, nodding. It was as strong a connection as anything.
“That would make Nic and Cade three and four, or vice versa. But that’s as much as I could figure out,” Kas said, peering through the doorway to the couch where Cade lay limply.
“’Rise once more’ could be either of them, really. Rising from the coma-like state of being a blood slave or rising from the mist.” I didn’t add which one I was hoping for. If Nicolas could return from the mist the way I had during the third Trial... my heart ached just thinking about it.
“’Rule the night’ sounds like the return of the Ancient Magic and the vampires’ true power,” Kas said, sounding hopeful.
“But what do all of you have in common, besides me?” I wondered, feeling self-conscious.
“Aren’t you enough, love?” Rush asked as he sank back into the pillows. He still looked pale and drained, despite his eagerness to solve the prophecies. I rose to grab the tray of food, needing to move to get my thoughts going.
There had to be something I was missing. Prophecies were never so simple as “get help from the ones you love.” That was a fortune cookie in a restaurant on Earth. Haret was a place of magic, and magic worked with symbolism and layered meaning.
Kas got up as well and poured two cups of blood, handing me one. “You need to drink, especially if you plan to give Cade blood.”
“Why him?” I asked suddenly, pausing with the cup to my lips. “Why would Merden keep Cade alive and not Nicolas, when she obviously preferred pure blood vampires for her slaves?”
Cade shifted in his sleep, his eyes still closed.
“You’re right. It doesn’t make sense. Turned-humans are even lower than half breeds in her eyes.” Rush gave me a thoughtful look. “If you want to assume Nicolas is the fourth weapon and will rise again, then Cade must be ‘the key.’”
Kas turned back and grabbed the paper with the riddles, staring at it intently. “So, if someone - the vampires or the wolves - was ‘proud’ in the third prophecy and ‘on bended knee’ in the last...”
“A reckoning,” I agreed. But whose? “It has to be about the vampires and the Ancient Magic. We have to let go of our pride and accept something - get on our knees in order to rise again with the magic.”
“All of the groups Merden has refused to accept and even persecuted,” Rush said softly, and Kas cursed, beginning to pace while he worked it out.
“Of course. I’m a pure blood, but I’m a commoner. Luca thought he was a half breed, and he’s actually an ice wolf. Cade is a turned-human.”
“And Nicolas?” I asked, frowning. “He’s pure blood and noble.”
“But he’s one of the ancestors now,” Kas pointed out, true excitement flashing in his black eyes. “And Merden doesn’t listen to them, either.”
I sat heavily on the edge of the bed. It felt right, like the pieces were clicking together.
My four weapons - four men I loved - were each like a part of my queendom that Merden had systematically rejected and even hunted since she’d stolen the throne.
“And Rush! You’re a fae, and that was something I rejected!” I stumbled over my words, explaining my thought process, and Rush and Kassian both began nodding, smiling wider.
A rush of ice magic flooded my veins, and I felt Khione giving her approval as well.
