Page 204 of The Last One
“To my knees?” I ask, laughing. “You’ll never find me on my knees.”
Danar raises an eyebrow at Elyn. “The Grand Defenderhasdropped to her knees, to the delight of…my weapon.”
“What is he talking about?” I ask Elyn. “What weapon?”
Elyn’s eyes flick at me, then flick to Jadon, and that’s where they stay.
I shake my head until the cords of my neck go rigid and I can no longer move.
“Have you ever wondered why you’ve felt as weak as you have, Kai?” she asks.
“Yes,” I say. “I haven’t worn my amulet. I don’t have true armor. This realm is a dump.”
“It’s more than that, Kai,” Elyn says.
Jadon’s nostrils flare as he scowls at Elyn. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Have you ever wondered,” Elyn continues, “why your skin burns only when a certain someonetouchesyou?”
I whisper, “Yes,” nervous now. Because that someone who made me burn is standing across from me.
“Jadon Ealdrehrt,” Elyn says, arms folded. “No, I’m sorry. JadonWake.Oh, damn it, I’m wrong again. Jadon WakeRrivae.Heis the weapon.”
Speechless, I turn to Jadon.
Elyn continues. “Ser Wake is the weapon who served both my purpose and Danar’s.”
“Youtell me,” I say, pointing at Jadon. “I want to hear it from you.” My breathing becomes thick, and everything I want to say lodges in my throat, strangling me. Once again, I’ve become the fool, the dupe, the only one not in on the joke.
“Kai,” Elyn whispers, forcing me to look back to her, “JadonisMiasma. He is sickness—he is death itself. He wasbornto destroy Vallendor for Danar, hisfather. More than that, he was born to destroyyou.” There is no lie in her eyes nor is there hesitation in her words.
I gape at Jadon, hurt and ire mixing in my gut, nauseating me. Stuck between icy panic and fiery rage, I want to sit and surrender. But numbness sweeps over me, shielding me from feeling nothing, protecting me against the fatal strikes of submission. “Is she speaking the truth?” I ask him now, nearly stripped of emotion.
“We weren’t supposed to become friends,” Jadon says in his new voice. “But we did, and I thought…” He rubs his jaw, looking like Old Jadon in that moment. “I wanted time. I wanted what I wanted even if you were the Grand Defender. I wantedyou. I didn’t want to hurt you, but I knew every time I touched you, I destroyed pieces of you.”
I drop my head and study Elyn’s blade. “Why…?”
“Emperor Wake has a powerful heir and enforcer in Jadon,” Elyn says, her gaze also settled on her sword. “And Danar has basically the same—but instead of the power that Wake wants, Danar wants therealm. Both men need Jadon to be the same thing, and both men need you dead to get what they want.”
Powerless, Danar paces behind Jadon, his skin blazing hot, his glare hot enough to scorch all of Vallendor—that is, if he could touch it.
Jadon fixes me with his gaze, then raises his arms. “I was supposed to end this right after you returned from seeing Sybel in the forest.” He runs his hand over his hair. “After you confirmed that you were the Lady of the Verdant Realm. But by then I cared for you too much, and I found myself falling in love with you.”
Danar growls hearing Jadon’s declaration, his hands clenching and unclenching.
Jadon levels his shoulders, and his jaw hardens. “At the same time, I saw how powerful you were even without your pendant, and I realized that you’d been helping do my job. To destroy Vallendor. So I used you, yes, asmyweapon. But that’s how I justified keeping you alive—and how I will fight to keep you alive.”
Elyn whirls around to face Jadon, her eyes hot. “That wasn’t the agreement.”
Danar’s eyebrows furrow, and he glowers at her. “What agreement?”
“That tat of yours?” Elyn says, sneering now at Jadon. “I won’t remove it. I won’t break your bond to this evil now.”
The marking on his hand?
Jadon throws off his gauntlet, showing the circular tattoo that he’d hidden behind a bandage. “Then I’ll cut it off myself!”
He turns to me. “I was slowly destroying everyone around me, making entire towns sick, but I was hurting you, too, speeding your end, and I didn’t want that—not yet. So I tried to keep this covered whenever you were near.”
