Page 139 of Crown of Wrath

The most important thing is that he won’t know my heart, though. His decisions will be based on what he knows about me—about what I’ve done in the past. He’ll see the moments that Ihurt the ones closest to me. He’ll know that the Throne of Earth pushes its Conduit to go cold.

“Daughter of Stone, you have read what I told your grandfather. You know of the Ruin I’ve spoken of. This moment—this very second—is the point I could not see beyond. This is the turning point where the degree of Ruin will be decided.Ruin will come, but there are shades of ruin. Will everything be burned away, or will it be a flame that purges the land and allows for new growth?”

“Calyr, it is not my decision that will decide that. It is yours. I don’t want anything to be destroyed. I have sacrificed so much to make sure that nothing is destroyed. I could have brought absolute ruin to Draenyth. I could have crushed it. Instead, I saved it.”

I hold up the piece of charred wood that no longer has any ash on it. It looks as clean and unburnt as the day of Cole’s funeral pyre. “I will have my husband back, and you will help me do it.”

A roar fills the air, and flames lick the ceiling of the cave as Calyr, the most powerful being in Nyth, expresses his extreme disagreement with my command. “I will not. It is beyond my power to bring back the dead, and you know this.”

Black shadows appear from my back in the form of wings, and I slowly leave the ground, moving higher into the air. “I didn’t tell you that you would bring back the dead, Calyr. I told you that you would help me bring my husband back. I cannot enter the Realm of Death, and you may not be able to either, but there is one who can, and you put her to sleep. You can wake Lysara, and you can request an audience with her for me.”

“I will not!” Calyr says, and just like when I spoke to The Darkness, I can feel the anger between us. I remind myself that this is the only way. Only Calyr can do this. Only a dragon who put the gods to sleep can wake them.

Anger fills me. This is the only thing I’ve asked since receiving the Painted Crown, and it’s being refused. Calyr could have ended Gethin at any point. He could have prevented Cole’s death by simply stopping Gethin, and he did nothing. Now, I’ll do whatever is necessary to bring him back, including forcing Calyr’s hand.

The ground in the cave grows upward as my anger flows into the ground just as fierce as the day that I poisoned Hazel. The difference between then and now is that I have the Painted Crown, and I have experience with my powers. Calyr notices the floor rising, trying to cover his paws, and just as I suspected, he can’t do anything about it. He roars, and flames explode from his massive jaws toward me, but I’m already moving. My own flames propel me upward while my shadow wings direct my body.

My mind fragments as I’ve been training myself to do. I keep part of it focused on the anger. Another is ecstatically happy that I will see Cole soon. Another part is desperate to have his hands on me again. The last part is full of pride because I trapped The Darkness, and I’m the only one capable of a conflict with Calyr.

Steel flows over my skin and shadow wings, making me immune to the flames that Calyr fires in my direction. A third arm holds the Burning Brand, letting me control my own flames and gives me access to speed that far surpasses anything else on Nyth.

Stone continues to grow upward from the cave floor. Calyr breaks his feet out of it, shaking off the stone, but each time he steps, it grows over his feet again. His golden wings extend for probably the first time since he came to this cave thousands of years ago, and he takes flight. His massive frame can’t soar like he’s used to, and he has to continuously pump wings that haven’t been used in millennia. I’m sure that even dragons’ muscles can atrophy, and I know that’s a miserable feeling.

I move with grace and speed that no High Fae has had in its history. Calyr tries to catch me, his jaws crashing together behind me, but all he bites are the bits of flame that follow me like the tail of a shooting star. “You cannot hurt me, Daughter of Stone,” he roars. “You were in the void. You must have talked to the Darkness, and you’d know that no High Fae can win a fight with a dragon. You know you cannot win a fight withme. Even with all the items you havestolenfrom other Houses, you are still just a High Fae.”

I can’t stop smiling as I lead him on a chase. Every second in the air is one second closer to seeing Cole again. It’s another second that the stone below us climbs closer to us. Being large isn’t always a good thing. Being a dragon isn’t always the best shape.

His claws reach out to grasp me, but I dodge them. He’d have caught me without a problem a year ago. The times have changed, and so have I.

I twist in the air without losing any speed and race a few feet above the ground. Calyr tries to follow, but his talons catch on the stone, and he has to pull up. What was once a cave so high that I couldn’t see the ceiling is now only half as tall. The massive pile of treasure that Calyr had slept on has been covered in stone. Most of the torches have disappeared, but the darkness that fills the space isn’t something I need to be afraid of. I can see it all just as clearly with my eyes closed as with them open.

Calyr, though… does not have Earth senses. He cannot control the stone. He cannot do a great many things that I can do. My wings flare as I approach the wall, and I slow down almost immediately. Then I stop, clinging to the wall and stare at Calyr, who is looking around him at the ground that’s made flying dangerous for him. The distance between the ground and the ceiling is not much taller than he is. He still hovers, his wings flapping, and I know that he’s nervous. I can’t kill him with thisstone. Even if I toppled this entire mountain on top of him, I doubt it would kill him. But itcouldimmobilize him, and that’s all I need.

I don’t want Calyr to die. I want him to help me. “Help me, Calyr. Help me bring back Cole. That’s all I need. It’s a small thing, really. Cole and I saved this world that you care for so much. We fought Gethin when no one else would. All I ask is that you help me bring him back, and you know you can.”

“I cannot, Daughter of Stone. I cannot because it will bring the Ruin that there is no escape from. It will destroy this world.”

“Calyr the Gold,” I say slowly, formally, and boldly. “It is not what comes in the future that you need to worry about. You say that you refuse to help me because it will bring Ruin, but you are wrong. I am the Ruin that the world will not recover from. I am the flame that will burn everything away.”

I take a deep breath and focus on my words. “I swear on my power and the Painted Crown that if you do not help me bring my husband back, I will turn everything I am into the Ruin you are afraid of. I will send you to the void to be consumed by The Darkness. I will destroy the Thrones and the Conduits that you hold so dear. I will watch this world and everything in it die. You expect me to accept Cole’s sacrifice. You expect me to sacrifice the only thing I hold dear, but what areyouwilling to sacrifice, Calyr? Me? I’m willing to sacrifice everything for him.”

The magical oath wraps itself around me, and at the same time, I can feel the tally mark on my wrist beginning to burn. Another oath, but this one depends entirely on what Calyr decides. If he refuses to agree to help me bring Cole back, then… Well, then I’ll be forced to do something terrible.

I can already feel Cole’s hand reaching for me, though. Out of the corner of my eyes, I can see him moving, pleading with me not to do this. It’s too late, though. He’s too late to stop me. Nothing can stop what I’ve set in motion. Soon, I will see Cole.Not just these fragments of his soul. No, I will see him. I will hold him. I will press my lips against his, and nothing in the world will stop me.

Either Calyr will help me bring him back, or I’ll follow him to where he resides.

Calyr roars as flames—Cole’s flames—singe my skin around the tally mark. I lift my hand, and I remember the way Cole had touched me the night before the battle with Gethin. I remember his hands pressed against my cheek. A wave of shadow fills the space between Calyr and me. Waiting.

Then I think of Cole’s smile as he lay dead at Gethin’s feet. The shadows shift, turning into revulsion shadows, and I can feel Calyr’s fear. I could never break through his scales. I could never pierce his heart, but very few dragons can protect themselves while in the void. Calyr most likely still believes that The Darkness lies waiting in the void, and Vyran’s agreement does not extend to Calyr.

“STOP!”he roars. Flames explode from his maw, but with the Burning Brand, I push them away from the shadows, protecting my greatest weapon from the only thing he can do to stop them.

“No,” I say, my voice becoming deeper as I push the shadows closer to him. “You must make your choice, Calyr. Bring my husband back, or know that what you fear will come true immediately. It’s your choice.”

The shadows move closer to him, and I can feel the fear rolling off him in waves. It only helps me to ignore the pain as my hand burns. “Decide!” I shout.

“Fine! I will wake Lysara. It is all I can do.”

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