Page 72 of Crown of Wrath

I wait a moment in the void, savoring its serenity for only a handful of seconds before appearing outside Casimir’s cell. That was the simple part. This is the part that’s terrifying.

Chapter 37

Sometimes, I wish that my mother was still alive. Sometimes, I wish she could see the world that we created. It’s certainly not what I expected, but it’s not as bad as some pretend it is.

~Maeve Arden, The Future of Magic and Dragons

Cole

The cell in front of me holds the only person who’s ever successfully forced me to do anything. He’s hurt my friends. He’s hurt me. He destroyed the entire House of Shadows, and if it hadn’t been for me giving Brenna a chance to escape, the world would be doomed.

As far as I’m concerned, Casimir Cyrus is the most dangerous person in the world. And Maeve is certain that we should let him out of his cell to hopefully fight with us rather than against us.

In theory, that’s a brilliant plan. He’s certainly powerful and will be a boon to our efforts if we have to fight against an army of House of Steel soldiers, but what happens when we’re done with that? What if he decides he doesn’t want to fight alongside us anymore?

I knew the tone of voice that Maeve was using, though. She was certain. As she goes to open the door, I stop her. For anyone else, I wouldn’t. She’s the Queen, and I swore that I’d follow her regardless of what that meant.

“Are you sure?” I whisper. “He’s…”

She puts her hand on my arm and gives me a smile. “I know, Cole. He’s the person who gave you those scars and forced you to do terrible things, but he doesn’t have that power any longer. His last reign is the last one he’ll ever have. Just like we’re going to remove Gethin from power and put Rhion on the Steel Throne, you will sit on the Thone of Flames. You are not the Prince of Flames any longer, and in eight hundred years, when the Painted Crown goes back to the House of Flames, it will go to you.”

A shiver runs through me as I stare at Maeve and recognize that change. There’s no reason my father should have that power over me. He no longer wears the Painted Crown, and Maeve and I will be the ones to save the House of Flames now. Not my father.

“I didn’t think about it like that.” The confession earns me a smile and a nod. Gods, Maeve has really grown into her role as the Queen of Nyth. She sees things differently, in a way that is so human. Everyone and everything has been stuck in the same hierarchy for thousands of years, and now she’s breaking it.

Instead of saying something, I lead the way, opening the door to my father’s cell. The guard standing beside the door nods to us, and when we step into the room covered in steel plates, thedoor is closed behind us. I hear the loud click of a lock sliding into place in the heavy steel door that neither of us could break.

It all fades into background noise as I stare at my father. His eyes are hard as he looks from me to Maeve and back at me. “You’ve finally come for me,” he says. “Is Gethin dead?”

I smile at him, and I don’t move to unchain him. Instead, just like when Darian came into this cell every day, I sit down at the table across from him. Maeve stands beside me, her hand on my shoulder, and my father frowns at me.

“We rescued you from the House of Steel months ago. You’ve been in a human castle this entire time, and we’re considering freeing you.”

His jaw sets tight as my words fill the otherwise silent space. “My son has kept me prisoner? Do you have no loyalty?”

The words come out as a hiss. “You broke the House of Flames by allying with the House of Steel and shattering Earth and Shadows. My loyalty is to the House of Flames and to the world. Both of which are nearly destroyed because of you and Gethin.”

My words come at a price. An ache in my very soul begins as I stare at the man who I’m bound by blood to follow. That pain is nothing new, though. This is the man who taught me what pain was. He showed me that the strength of a man was based on how much pain he could endure without falling.

“I had my reasons,” he growls. A steel collar is wrapped around his throat, and a chain connects it to the back wall. He is a prisoner, and there’s no question about it. I have every bit of control here, and yet, the way he looks at me is just as overbearing as ever, as if I’m the one who’s lucky to be in his presence.

“Father, sit down.” I say it without an ounce of question in my voice.

His eyes arch in surprise, but he doesn’t move. Shadows slide across the floor, and I know that the steel is draining Maevequickly, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. The shadows wrap around his body and lift him into the air. He tries to struggle, but they don’t give an inch until they deposit him in the chair across from me, the chain attached to his throat at its full length.

“So you have a Queen who will do your bidding? Shouldn’t she be the one who’s sitting here instead of you?”

I want to lash out at him, but I can feel Maeve through the bond, silently reassuring me and calming me. “You don’t deserve to talk to her,” I say.

He smirks at Maeve, surely still seeing her as the woman who sat at his dining room table and ran when he burned me. He doesn’t understand just how much has changed.

“We are the last resistance that Nyth has against Gethin. We are offering you a chance to right your failures by joining us in fighting against him.” I say the words slowly and solemnly, and they echo softly off the steel walls.

Father silently stares at me and then Maeve, and then refocuses on me as though he’s not entirely sure who is in charge. “You want me to help you fight the House of Steel?”

I nod to him. “We know Gethin is still searching for relics from the Great Houses. We have the Shadowed Cloak, and he has the Burning Brand. It’s unclear if he has either of the other two, but he’s sent an army of five hundred House of Steel soldiers to hunt for something. The two of us will struggle against that many in an open field. We would like you to stand with us.”

He doesn’t respond immediately. His fingers drum against the steel table for several moments before saying, “You won’t be able to beat Gethin without more help than that.”

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