Page 79 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

I sometimes felt like the only player in an enormous game of chess, carefully planning out every decision to marshal my knights across the board toward the queen. My plans had been decades in the making, and now I was so close, I felt as if someone would knock my game board to the floor at the last possible second.

If anyone were capable of that, it would be the woman beside me.

“Because Scion, like me, believes in enacting the greater good for the largest number of people at the cost of anything else. If he knew everything I know, and was able to weigh that on the whole, Penvalle was a better choice than Belvedere, he would probably agree with my decision.”

She gave me a skeptical sideways glance. “But…that would be good, right? If he agrees with you.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. It was a good question, and one I’d certainly wrestled with. “No, it wouldn’t. Him forgiving me would have far reaching consequences that might derail everything I’ve spent thirty years lining up.”

“Lining up to break your curse,” she said.

It wasn’t a question, more of a loose statement, but I answered anyway. “Yes.”

“Because you’ve spent those thirty years searching for a worthy wearer of the crown,” she said. “You’ll be the villain who burns cities to the ground until you can pull a single worthy hero from the ashes.”

I blinked at her.What?

It was such an odd statement, and so out of character for her, that it took me a moment to realize she was quotingme.Repeating what I’d said to her the day we destroyed the obsidian palace.

In retrospect, I might have said something a bit less dramatic…too late.

I shook my head, realizing I hadn’t yet answered her. “Yes.”

She looked me in the eye, and though it was dark, I could see every line of her face perfectly. “So…everything you’re doing is to break the curse?”

I nodded again. “Yes.”

“I want to help. I don’t know why I landed where I am, if it was fated or if I was maneuvered into place just like you’ve done with everyone else, but I’m done pretending it doesn’t matter.”

I furrowed my brow. Despite having an army at my disposal, I’d never had anyone help me who truly knew the purpose behind everything we did.

Would she turn away as soon as she realized that my every decision was morally gray, at best? What would happen when she was forced to decide between her own life, my family’s lives, and the lives of thousands of strangers?

I’d spent years searching, only to finally realize that there wasn’t any one person alive able to break our curse, so eventually I’d realized I would have to create one. Originally, I’d intended Scion to be the worthy one—the last Everlast king.

Now, I was more convinced than ever that it was Lonnie who ended our long suffering—one way, or another.

“It’s not a simple mission,” I told her. “You could easily die.”

“I would rather die a mortal death in battle than spend a thousand years in hiding.”

I let out a long breath. Fuck, she was amazing.

Without thinking about it, or planning why I did it, I put out a slow, tentative hand. To my relief, Lonnie did not pull away and I gently ran my fingers through her long curls.

I tilted my head, slowly closing the distance between us until our lips were almost touching. Her eyes darted down to my mouth and her lips parted. She didn’t flinch away, and I inched even closer, my breath mingling with hers.

As my mind went blank, a bright flash of colors and images flooded my vision, blocking out everything else. The walls of the room blurred, and my surroundings disappeared as I was pulled into someone else’s mind.

Huddled in the dim, musty dungeon beneath the castle, I could feel the cold stones closing in on me, draining any glimmer of hope for escape. The only source of light was a small grate high above, casting eerie shadows that seemed to dance across the floor. The clanking of chains echoed throughout the cramped space, and I shifted uncomfortably on the rough floor. My back burned, as if I’d been whipped, and every movement was agony.

I blinked rapidly, and Lonnie came back into focus. Her face was a breath away, but she stared at me, bewildered and unsure. “What’s wrong?”

I released my hold on her. There were more pressing matters that demanded my attention, now. As much as it pained me, she would have to wait.

“I’ve just had a vision. There’s more than one person we need to save from the dungeons of Underneath.”

“Who?” She demanded.

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