Page 62 of A Petal in the Crown

“What do we do next?” Thomas asked.

“Evangeline,” Gray said. “Can you see where Alaric’s army is?”

Evangeline shook her head.

His mind spun in circles. Calculating. Assessing. “Keep trying,” he said, turning toward where Erik and Janelle had ridden north. Should they follow behind? Stop at the villages along the way to make sure Evangeline’s visions weren’t missing anything?

“We need to get back to the castle,” Lea said, interrupting his thoughts.

Gray turned to her, tilting his head in confusion. His heart skipped a beat, hope pounding against his ribs that she had a plan.

“I need to plant enough moon flowers to send throughout the kingdom. A bag for each village. And have our army distribute them as quickly as possible. It’s the only way to save their lives. We don't know how long Alaric will be lying low. But it gives us some time. If we can get moonflowers to them, they'll be immune if Alaric does start stealing magic again. We need to keep him from getting stronger. Our army can search for him as they distribute the flowers.”

Gray rubbed the back of his neck, sorting through the options in his mind. It made sense, after all. At the castle they were surrounded by a wall, with an entire army at their disposal. Here they were, running blind, unable to discern Alaric’s next move. It didn't matter where they were, not when it appeared Eudora could transport Alaric wherever they wished with the snap of her fingers. Maybe, in this case, preventing Alaric from being able to steal more magic was their best chance at defeating him.

“You're right. Maybe mobilizing our army throughout Desia will help us find him faster. He can't hide if we flood the entire kingdom with soldiers.Someonewill know something. Even if Alaric himself isn’t spotted, his guards should be easy to break.”

For the first time since they’d found Howen destroyed, Gray felt a surge of hope. This war was going to end one way or another. But chasing after Alaric was playing his game. Giving him the control. They had to take it back, and keeping him from stealing more magic was their best move.

Suddenly, he couldn’t return to the castle soon enough. “Let's find Erik, and get back.”

Gray didn’t wait, kicking Obsidian’s sides and leading them along the route Erik would've taken. Obsidian moved like the wind, jumping over fallen logs and dodging between trees, his mane whipping behind him as if he understood every word they’d said and knew the importance of finding Erik as quickly as possible. Leaning down, Gray patted his neck.

“Good,” he said. “Find them.”

Obsidian suddenly halted, almost throwing Gray to the ground as he tried to avoid a small patch of flames spreading across the grass.

“Woah, boy,” Gray soothed. He sent his shadows out behind him, finding Lea and wrapping around her protectively as he whipped his head around to look for the cause. The flames spread rapidly, growing taller by the second, but there was no sign of Alaric anywhere. No sign of anyone at all.

Lea pulled Luna up next to him, holding out her hands to suffocate the fire that had spooked Obsidian with her own shadows.

“Can you feel him?” Gray asked, still searching for what could have caused the fire.

Lea shook her head. “No. He's not here.”

“Then what—” Gray stopped as another pillar of smoke rose in front of them. Just on the other side of the flames Lea had put out, another small patch of dry grass sparked, the fire moving quickly toward the trees. His stomach dropped as another fire started only feet away. “It’s not Alaric. It’s the sun. This heat.” Gray said, putting out a section of flameswith a burst of shadows while Lea attended to a larger fire several yards away. Within seconds, small fires ignited all around them, the air growing thick with smoke.

“Wildfires,” Lea said, swiveling her head around as if trying to decide which one to fight next.

Before she could choose, Evangeline's head flew back, a strangled cry leaving her throat.

“We have to find Erik,” Thomas said, his eyes darting between the fires and Evangeline.

“No, you don’t. Neither you nor Emma can fight the flames. Get back to the castle. Warn Vincent. We’ll find them and be right behind you,” Gray said.

Emma didn't protest, turning her horse and racing forward. Thomas’s jaw tightened, but he nodded, following behind her, and Gray was grateful. They'd be no help against the fires. Not without any sort of elemental magic. He couldn't worry about them when they needed to find Erik and Janelle.

Evangeline shuddered as she came out of her trance, grabbing her head with both hands and grimacing. “It’s the god of the sun. He’s causing these fires. There will be more, all throughout the kingdom,” she said.

Gray threw up his hands, his magic raging inside him at the thought of his kingdom going up in flames. “But why? Why would he not want us to succeed in killing my bastard brother? Why make it so much harder?” Gray growled, throwing his shadows out in a net as far as he could to push down the flames.

“Balance,” Evangeline said, looking at Lea with sad eyes and nodding slowly. And even without her saying more, Gray knew what Evangeline meant. Lea wasn’t supposed to be here, saving the people of the kingdom. She'd had that chance before and failed. There wasnothing balanced about her defying death to come back and kill another—no matter how evil Alaric was.

This was the god of the sun balancing the scales, creating chaos and destruction as Lea fought to save them all. It filled him with fury. What was balanced about Alaric taking other people’s magic? Why had he not been punished for the crimes he’d committed against the universe?

But even through his fury, Gray knew the answer: it was because Alaric hadn't been killed. Hadn't been defeated. It was himself and Lea who had failed already once before, now using a second chance the universe hadn’t wanted to give them, and Gray couldn’t help but wonder, after all was said and done, what the universe would demand as repayment for the time they had stolen.

Chapter 39

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