Page 131 of The Last One
He frowns. “Why would you think that?”
I pull onmybreeches, the ones with etchings of elks and whorls, and nearly collapse from the surge of power rushing through my legs. I take off the borrowed tunic, replacing it with my leather vest. More air in my chest. More strength in my spine. On with my black leather gloves. I feel my fingers lengthening. Just touching the suede, tracing the outline of the elk and owl on my palms, feeling the soft leather of my vest against my skin? Better than a bath. My bones feel sturdier, my mind clearer. Feels so good. I could have felt like this all along.
Teeth clenched, I turn to Jadon and ask again. “Did. You.Know?”
“Of course not,” he says, “but Kai, you have to calm down.”
“Oh, I’m calm,” I say, hands buzzing. “Watch me become evencalmer.”
Jadon pales and turns to Veril. “Will you reason with her?”
“About what?” the old man asks. “We’ve seen her when she’snotcalm. She hasn’t even raised her voice yet, and in this instance, I find her restraint…admirable.”
I smile at Veril. “Thank you.” I grab the second satchel and dump out its contents: dresses, fabric, headpieces, gloves, skirts. Nothing here belongs to Veril or me.
The last satchel: tunics, dresses, tulle, more tulle, swatches of satin and velvet.
No amulet.
“Kai,” Jadon says, “I’m begging you now to not do anything you’ll regret.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t.” I gather Olivia’s things in my arms, turn around, and very calmly dump all of it over the campfire.
Sparks shoot high and explode like stars and lava, and the fire roars to life after being fed. The surrounding camp now boils with sudden heat. The destruction of Olivia’s things makes me dizzy, but it’s agoodkind of dizzy—like I’m witnessing flowers bloom in front of me or watching a baker pull from his oven dozens of honeycakes made just for me.
“And I don’t regret it,” I say.
Jadon’s face is red, his eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t have done that.” By the hardness of his jaw and the tightness of these words, he’s trying to remain calm.
I point at Veril. “I should’ve never doubted you. You were right.”
Don’t trust anyone to bring you that which makes you whole. They may notwantyou whole.
“What doesthatmean?” Jadon asks.
“Tell me,” I shout at him, eyes hot with tears. “Where is my pendant? Where is she?”
“I don’t know.” Jadon scrapes his fingers through his hair.
Is there at least one person who matters to you, who you wouldn’t want to see perish?
I scan the rose-orange sky. “While I was searching in the woods for an amulet that was no longer in the woods, I had an interesting experience. There I was, kneeling on the forest floor, swiping my bare hand around in the dirt like a mudscraper, and a visitor happened upon me.” I look at Veril with a raised eyebrow. “Sybel.”
“Who?”Jadon asks.
“You know her as the Lady of Dawn and Dusk,” Veril says, dragging his gaze to Jadon.
Jadon crosses his arms and blinks at me with flat blue eyes. “And?”
“She told me who I am.”
“And?”
“I’m not a mage from Peria or Steedale or anywhere,” I tell him. “I’m from everywhere. I’m the Lady of the Verdant Realm.”
Jadon’s eyes come back to life but immediately drop back into flat and blue.
Veril holds his hands before him, prayer-style, and dips his head. “Kaivara. Lady—”
