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Lord Tor inclined his head. “It’s Tamil you should be thanking,” he said gruffly. Despite his age, his ice-blue eyes were sharp, missing nothing as they flicked between the members of our group. “It was her idea to defy Lady Axlya and bring you here, and one we spent many a night arguing about. But she believed in you, Adara, enough to give her life for you.” His eyes flashed, knuckles turning white as he gripped the arms of his chair. “You must tell me now exactly what that sacrifice was for, and whether it was in vain.”
I swallowed hard, glancing at Quye. “How much did Tamil tell you?” I ventured.
Lord Tor snorted. “She told me you are the girl in the prophecy that King Aolis had been blathering about for the last decade,” he said. “The one who is supposed to cure our lands of the shadow magic infection. Yet we were forced to burn nearly half of our fallen this week because their bodies were riddled with shadow corruption. So tell me, was my daughter right about you?”
“Of course she was,” Quye interrupted, stepping forward. All eyes in the room snapped to her, and maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but Quye seemed to glow a little brighter than everyone else, as if she’d been touched by the Radiants themselves.
Which I suppose, being the Oracle, she was.
“I prophesied her birth myself,” Quye went on, waving an airy hand as Lord Tor’s gaze narrowed on her, “So I think I know what I’m talking about. Adara is the only one who can drive shadow magic from our lands, but although she killed King Aolis, she failed to kill the Shadow corrupting him. That demon has since found another fae to use as a host, one far easier for her to manipulate, and she’s been subtly influencing the other Houses, riling them up against each other to start a civil war. Her ultimate goal is to create enough chaos energy to rip a portal open to the shadow realm, and if she succeeds, the shadow infection we’ve been dealing with for the last twenty years will seem like a lover’s caress. Shadow demons will devour our entire world, and there will be nothing left for the Houses to fight.”
“A portal to the shadow realm?” Lord Tor protested. “That’s insanity. Such a thing has never happened in our history!”
“Of course it hasn’t.” Quye rolled her eyes. “That’s why we’re all still here. In the past, the Champions have always kept the balance in our world, keeping the chaos energies in Ediria low so as to not open us up to a Shadow invasion. But since King Aolis allied himself with the Shadows, we are now close to that reality actually coming to pass. Adara is the only one who can stop it, but she can’t drive Nox from our realm until she comes into her own powers. Lady Axlya refused to help her, which is why Tamil brought her here.”
I stared at Quye, a little taken aback. Kiryan had never quite explained the situation like this—that it was through stirring conflict that Nox hoped to gain the power necessary to take over our world. I’d thought her shadow magic would be enough, but of course it wasn’t—if that was the case, she would have accomplished her plan years ago. My stomach sank as I realized how close she had already come to succeeding—the three Houses had practically declared war on each other already, the day I’d fled Usciete.
“Well, I don’t see how we can help her now,” Lord Tor snapped. “My head priestess is dead, along with all her acolytes! It will take decades before we can train a new one, which also means that my daughters will have to wait decades before they can come into their powers!” He shook his head, disgusted. “Damn Axlya and her selfish ways for putting us into this situation! I would demand restitution from her, except that we don’t currently have a king to enforce it.”
He glared at me, as though that was my fault—which, of course, it was. But it wasn’t as though King Aolis would have actually helped him if he’d still been alive.
“General Slaugh cannot be allowed to get away with killing my daughter,” Tor continued, his voice a low growl. “The Bala Oighr will have our vengeance against him and his allies! We will mobilize our forces to fight—”
“No!” I interrupted, fear pumping through my veins. Lord Tor scowled, displeased at my outburst, but I charged on, undeterred. “Lord Tor, if you engage in the fighting, you will be feeding into the chaos energies, which is exactly what Nox wants. The only way to keep her at bay is to refuse to engage.”
“Until what?” Lord Tor asked. “Until you convince Lady Axlya to help you? Because I can tell you right now how unlikely that is. I’ve known that female for centuries, and once she makes up her mind about someone, not even the Radiants themselves can convince her to change her mind. She’ll never help you now that you’ve defied her.”
“We don’t need her help,” Einar said. “There’s still one more option for us, one more way Adara can complete the ritual. But until that time, we need the citizens of Ediria to resist Nox with everything they have. And that starts with you, Lord Tor.”
“Harrumph.” Lord Tor looked Einar up and down. “Never thought I’d be having a civilized conversation with a dragon, never mind the general responsible for killing so many of us fae.” He shook his head, lips thinning with displeasure. “Still, I am a warrior at heart, dragon. I cannot sit by and let an act of war against my people go unanswered.
“My Lord,” I said, gentling my voice. “I know what I am asking of you goes against your very nature. But we can’t fight fire with fire, not in this battle. If you can’t do this for me, do it for your daughter. Tamil believed in me, believed in the cause I am fighting for, enough to risk everything, including her own life. You said you wanted to know if her sacrifice was in vain. It wasn't, not yet, but it will be if you take up arms now. Don't throw away our only chance to win this for the sake of pride and vengeance. Please."
The ice lord’s eyes flared with white hot anger, and for a second, I feared he’d taken offense to my words. But then his shoulders sagged, and he let out a great sigh.
“This goes against my better judgment,” he said, meeting my gaze, “but I will do as you ask. The Bala Oighr will seal its walls against the outside world, and we will not take up arms to fight General Slaugh or any of the other fae. But you must do your part, Adara, and quickly. My people can only hold out so long, and my own days are numbered. You cannot fail.”
2
Einar
After we finished meeting with Lord Tor, the five of us returned to camp, in desperate need of a meal. Thankfully, the ice fae had set aside some food for us, and we dug into the cold but welcome meal before retreating to our tent to discuss next steps.
“Quye,” Mavlyn began as we settled into our furs. Snow flurries swirled in the air just beyond the confines of the tent—Quye, Mavlyn, and Adara were sharing this one, while Leap and I shared a smaller one—and I was glad for the insulation and the coverings. Adara and the ice fae might be immune, but Mavlyn and I weren’t used to such temperatures. Even Leap and Quye, who as air fae, were used to the colder temperatures that came with flying at high altitudes, seemed relieved to be bundled up. “You told us that Adara needs to seek out the dragons for help with the ritual, but you still haven’t explained exactly what that means.”
“What it means,” Quye said, pointing at me with a blue-tipped fingernail, “is that Einar here needs to open up the portal he and Kiryan used to help the dragons escape Ediria, so that Adara can go to the dragon’s new home and ask their priestess to help her complete the ritual. Lord Tor was right when he said that Lady Axlya would rather eat her own arse—”
“I don’t think that’s exactly what he said,” Leap pointed out, a smirk curling at the corners of his lips.
“—than help Adara, and there’s no ice fae priestess who can help us. Adara doesn’t have a drop of earth or air fae blood in her, so she can’t ask the other Houses for help. The dragon priestess is the only one left.”
Mavlyn stared at me. “Did I know this about you?” she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. “That you and Kiryan opened a portal together to save the dragons, and that you’re the keeper?”
“Yes,” I said archly. “Kiryan explained the whole thing to you after we escaped Kaipei Castle, before Adara and I were taken captive by Prentis’s soldiers.”
“Well, that explains why I never heard about this.” Leap scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. “So, let me get this straight. You’ve been able to open a portal to the dragon realm this entire time, and you didn’t think to try that first? How come?”
“Because,” I said, striving to keep my tone patient, “I can’t go through the portal myself. I would have to send Adara through without me, and I have no idea what lies on the other side, or if my people would help her without me there to convince them. Plus, I can only open the portal from inside Mount Furian, and it’s too dangerous to travel there.”
