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“How?”
“In my father’s dream, Ressi appeared and said that someone will come to speak her message.”
Annoyance hit me. “Then why give us such a hard time? Clearly Camille is this person. She came to you as one of the Returned with the symbols of the gods embedded in her skin.”
“You must understand that after my father had the dream, many came.”
“Who?”
“Humans fleeing from the Horned King. They were scared and worried that a war would begin right in Capitol City.”
It will.
Tru continued, “So when the Horned King arrived, we did not take his presence lightly. We considered him a possible threat.”
“I can understand that.”
“Camille is clearly one of the Returned, but I must also think of my people.”
I nodded.
“Regardless of Camille’s markings, we need to be careful and make sure her Horned King didn’t come to bring us harm too.” Tru glanced at Xander as he trailed behind Spenrik and Camille.
Xander’s gaze remained on Spenrik’s hand as it gripped Camille’s.
We need to get to their resting area soon before Xander fights Spenrik.
Ambi only knew why Xander ripped into his own arm earlier. It would’ve been better to just keep the few pebbles inside his flesh and take them out later when no one was looking.
I will have to teach Xander a lot about being a king.
“I have a question for you, Ian.” Tru looked at me.
“What is the question?”
“Do you think your queen has a message for us?”
“She told me that she died and saw Ambi and Ressi together—”
Tru snorted. “Ressi is a forgiving goddess, but not that forgiving.”
I shrugged. “There is writing in the ancient text all over Camille’s body. Are we going to ignore that too?”
A sigh escaped her lips. “But what does it say?”
“It is hard for me to read. I can make out a few words here or there.”
“It would not matter if you can understand the words. One of us must be able to translate it.”
They will not trust what a vampire translates.
She continued forward and put her view ahead of us. “My father may be able to read those words on her body, but I doubt it. And if he cannot, then no one can.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He is the oldest of us all.”
The grassy path between the trees shifted to shiny violet rocks.
Tru stopped us there.
I looked at the path, trying to understand why Tru would stop us here.
What is this place?
The path led between tons of trees, which were covered in purple leaves. The trunks of the trees were a light blue color and rusted at the top. Fuzzy moss grew like hair on their smooth bark.
Stone statues of faces outlined the path on both sides. Flames rested on top of the statue’s heads and lit their path.
It was then that I noticed Camille and Xander’s shoes were by the path next to others’ sandals.
Tru gestured to my boots. “Take off your boots.”
“I understand.”
She turned to the guards near me. “When we enter our sacred land, we do not wear shoes. We let the land touch our feet to decide if we’re worthy. . .and if you are worthy.”
“And if we are not worthy?” I scanned the ground and spotted thousands of shoes around trees.
“Then the path opens and the dirt swallows you whole.”
I widened my eyes.
“This is your last test.”
“I understand.”
These mage are more backward than I earlier believed. There is no way a ground can tell your intentions.
I took off my boots.
The order to take off shoes and sandals spread behind me.
All complied.
Let us see if we are worthy.
Smirking, I walked off with Tru.
The shiny rocked path pressed smooth and cool against my feet.
As we walked on, I was able to get a closer view of the stone statues.
Smoke and heat rose from the flames on the statues’ heads, but it didn’t have the same smell of fire I was used to. The scent seemed sweet, reminding me of bakery bread that had been toasted and covered in cinnamon. It made me want to lick the flames to taste how sugary they must be.
Suddenly, men screamed behind me.
What is wrong?
I quickly turned around to see several of my brother’s ex-vampire guards sink into the ground.
I counted three in all.
What?!
I tensed at the sight.
Like Tru had said, the ground swallowed them whole as they cried and shrieked.
No one helped them.
Everyone seemed shocked and unsure if it was okay to step close to their area.
As soon as the last royal guard’s head lowered, dirt and rocks rolled over his head and covered it. The smooth violet rocks returned.
Mage walked on the path as if nothing had happened.
“They were not worthy.” Tru gave me a sad smile. “But, it appears you are.”
I turned around.
Up ahead, Xander glanced over his shoulder and his gaze met mine.
They were my brother’s men. Surely, they had done too many things to be worthy anymore.
