AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Avaline didn’t respond.
Celine was the next to move in. “Look at me.” Tidecaller waited until the woman lifted her gaze. “Bonekeeper began the darkening. Why would we want him to be on the throne?”
“Father says—”
“Shut up, girl,” Joron seethed.
I struck his lip again, his blood on my knuckles. “Speak, Avaline.”
She let out a rough breath. “Father says we do not have a choice. Yes, we heard the darkening was his doing, but he . . . well, he wants to restore the Ever to what it was, not what—forgive me, My King—not what you are creating.”
“I see.” Livia stepped forward, her gaze focused nowhere but on Joron. “So it all leads back to a queen.”
“Songbird,” I warned when she knelt, but I pulled my hand away. Instinct to shield her, to keep her from more harm burned like lamplight in my chest. Yet, she was queen. She was a voice of the Ever.
Livia leveled with Joron, sneering into his bloodied face. “You hate that Erik placed me on the throne, don’t you? You would rather crown the bastard who is killing your lands, your people, all so a queen does not sit above you.”
“It is deeper than that.”
“Perhaps,” she said. “But that is a great part of it. You think he is your answer? Hmm, I wonder why he had to take me, then? Let me tell you something.” Livia leaned closer, lip curled. “It will not be a traitor who saves your lands. It will be your queen.”
She said nothing else and took hold of the splattered bits of fruit at her feet. Cupped in her palms, she closed her eyes. Even without touching her as we’d done, a hum of fury burned in the stone tiles. It spread through the courtyard. I went to her side, touching her shoulder, and nearly buckled from the burst of heat radiating off her skin.
Gasps, even cries of praise, rolled from the far side of Joron’s manor.
“Good hells, Liv.” Jonas stood around the corner. “Keep going. Valen, look.”
The earth bender followed. He did not wear a look of stun. He grinned with a searing pride. “It’s pulling back from those fields.”
“She’s not even touching it this time,” Tait whispered.
“No.” I held tightly to Livia’s shoulder, convinced bond or not, there was a power that flowed through us, an unmistakable strength. “But do not underestimate the rage of the Ever Queen. Hold him, will you?”
Mira and Sander went without pause to Joron’s side. Mira wrapped the tide lord in a dazed illusion of darkness. His whimpers were sweet as the dawn after a wretched night.
“Come.” I helped Livia to her feet. “These people will not doubt who you are by the time we end this.”
Since reuniting, we’d had little time to seek out the blight and poison across the Ever. The risk of facing Larsson unprepared was too fierce, and in truth, I wasn’t certain if Livia was ready.
She proved me wrong.
Without a pause, Livia hurried to the back fields. The thrum of magic, hot and palpable, burned between us. Fate joined us as children, and it was felt now with every step through Joron’s fields.
Crops, stalks of grass, of wildflowers, of mangled fruit trees, they returned, lush and full and ripe. Livia was unrelenting. Tension pulsed in her jaw, but if she was fatiguing, she never let it show, merely urged us to continue across the flatlands.
I studied her, holding her palm, while she worked on a scorched, deadened wild oak.
You are the queen, love. She would not hear me, but her gaze caught mine, as though something in her heart stirred. With a wicked smirk, she nodded toward the deeper fields and pressed on.
Two fields.Three meadows. An entire orchard of fire plums that would feed most of the township for a month. Livia pulled back thepoisoned earth with more strength than I anticipated. Truth be told, she did so with more strength than me. By the time she slumped into my chest, spent, I was damn close to pleading we return.
We were able to stumble back to the side of Joron’s manor where a small army of people awaited, slack-jawed, in awe.
“Bleeding hells.” Celine knelt in front of us, a ladle and bucket of fresh water in her hands. She forced the spoon against our lips, wetting our mouths. “Did you see how far you went?”
“No, Tidecaller.” I laid back on the grass, cradling Livia’s head to my heart. “We must’ve missed it, but please, do tell us how far?”
Celine clicked her tongue. “You won’t be able to stand for days.”
