Page 133 of A Promise of Peridot
“No.” I grinned. “Even better.”
Her eyes lit with curiosity.
“Dagan taught me here in this very keep how to protect myself with a sword. It made me feel strong and powerful. Like I could face things bigger and more frightening than me. Like maybe one dayIcould be the frightening one. I’d like to teach you, too.”
Leigh held my eyes as she considered the offer. “I’ll never be as strong as you, though. I’m not Fae.”
It was shocking to see myself, however briefly, through Leigh’s eyes. As the brave one, the resilient one, her full-blooded Fae sister. No wonder my childish avoidance of Kane had upset her so. She was looking to me all along to be strong. For us. For her.
In the place of our mother.
“You don’t need to be Fae. You can harness power onlyyouhave. Bravery comes from in here.” I pointed to her heart.
Her eyes stayed fixed on me as I stood. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Help Kane track down the blade. Find a way to save the realms and my own life. And figure out the love story if we make it that far?”
Leigh’s lips cut a flat line. “I hate that plan.”
I slumped against the stone wall behind me once more. “Yeah, me, too.”
“You two ready to explore?” Mari called from around the corner, Ryder behind her like an eager pet.
“Let’s do it.” I grinned back at them. I’d help Mari with her magic block later tonight. Figure out what in the world to do about Kane later, too. For now, it was enough to spend the afternoon with the people I had missed so much. I’d tell them what I’d learned about my mother, about Powell. I’d share with them my fears, and my hopes, my faith in the future.
What I should have done weeks ago I could do now. And that would have to be enough.
“I found the painter you were looking for,” Mari said to Leigh as we started down the hall. “His abstract work is in the north wing gallery below the vault and above the...” She trailed off, cringing.
Leigh swallowed. “Above the what?”
“The... torture chamber.” Mari grimaced. “But! This place really isn’t as scary as you might think. Most castles have a torture chamber, it’s not just us!”
Leigh did not look pleased.
“It’s actually pretty interesting, Leigh,” Ryder added. “One of the most prolific thieves of all time was held in there. I read all about it last night in the library.”
I might have made a comment about Ryder suddenly being interested in books now that they had been given to him by Mari, but the words dried up on my tongue.
“Who?” I asked.
“Drake Alcott,” Ryder said, barely able to contain his pride in knowing the answer.
The vault that had housed the blade for forty-five years was only two floors above the torture annex. Where notorious, world-renowned thief and con man Drake Alcott had been kept. Hadn’tNiclas said he had been sent away five years ago? The same time the blade went missing... And to Hemlock Isle. An island here,in Onyx.
I stilled. “Ryder... you’re a genius.”
“Stones, don’t sound so surprised.”
But I was already moving. Ignoring their calls as I ran back into the throne room, past those sentries once more, searching for Kane—but he was nowhere to be found. I turned to Griffin and Barney and the herd of Onyx soldiers that surrounded them.
“Where’s Kane?”
“Not sure,” Griffin said coolly. “But he thinks you’re leaving for Citrine with Fedrik.”
Bleeding Stones.
“I need to find him. Right this moment.”
