Page 139 of The Cruel Dawn
He shrugs. “Fuck if I know.”
I pause, sensing dishonesty. “Have you seen your father Rrivae since you’ve left the temple?”
“No.”
There’s no hesitation, but something isn’t quite right in that simple reply.
He sighs. “Are you done asking questions—?”
“Do you know that the traitor had other children?”
He opens his mouth, another flippant reply at the ready, but blinks at me then, lost for words.
“Three boys and a girl,” I say. “A wife named Indis. They were killed when their failed realm, Birius, was destroyed. Danar Rrivae believes that they’re still alive, somehow, somewhere. He truly thinks his family is being held hostage somewhere in the Aetherium, so he’s destroying realms to force the Council of High Orders to return them to him.”
Jadon Wake lowers his head.
And now he knows: to neither of his fathers will he ever be enough.
What does he think of that?I could read Jadon’s thoughts once upon a time. I try to now, but all I can hear is bone grinding against bone, his clenching jaw and gritted teeth.
“He created me with my mother,” he whispers, “to spite the Council of High Orders. Not because he desired Vallendor—or my mother—for their beauty.”
I shake my head. “Danar Rrivae wants Vallendor for vengeance against my father, who approved the destruction of Birius. Every realm the traitor claims is important to members of the Council of High Orders. I’m High Lord Izariel Megidrail’s daughter, and my father and yours hate each other most of all. You wouldn’t evenbehere, in this predicament, if it wasn’t for his spite, for his envy.”
I pause, then add, “He never loved your mother, and he certainly doesn’t love you.”
Jadon smirks, but a scowl quickly replaces it. “Then I’ll fight foryou—I’ll fight for the one whodoeslove me. But then we must first build an army. I’ll go to every kingdom not under my mortal father’s rule and demand that they stand with us or die. There’s King Exley of Kingdom Vinevridth in the south, and Queen Alinor of Kingdom Goldcrest in the east and…” Jadon’s face hardens, and the cords flex in his neck. “I’ll even enlist the last Gorgas and Jundum, Otaan and Dashmala throughout the provinces. If I must threaten them all with slow, agonizing deaths, then I will. It’ll be their choice, their destiny. But, Kai, you need fighters, so their fates must be tied to yours.”
I can’t help but smile. “I do need fighters.”
He’ll do everything he just vowed because I can tell that Jadon Wake makes this promise.
Jadon gazes down at the canyons now carved by the harsh light of the new daystar. Those brutal rays cut through the dark sky and cast long, jagged shadows, twisting the landscape into something…otherworldly. The land below is a vast expanse of red and ochre, scarred by deep fissures and cracks—like the realm has begun to bleed under the intensity of the light. Dust swirls in thick, choking clouds. The canal is completely dry, the beds just lifeless grooves in the earth.
Jadon’s gaze is fixed on the wasteland before him. His body tenses, his fists clenched at his sides as if he’s willing the realm to change. “I won’t let him take this place,” he says, nodding, his voice thick with resolve. But the land around him echoes with doubt. “My fathers can only kick over a few chairs, but you, Kai, you own this house—and they’ll both die knowing that.” Then he takes my hand and kisses it.
I wince as the sting of his lips on my skin travels up to my wrist. Then he kisses the crook of my elbow, sores and all.
Lightning zigzags around my body and settles like a collar of heat around my neck.
His lips find mine, and I don’t feel the blade against my neck until he pulls away from me. “Call off Elyn,” he says, his grip tightening around the dagger’s hilt. “You know she means to kill me, Kai, and she will. I don’t want to die. You don’t want me to die. You love me.”
Tears fill my eyes, and my throat burns like it’s filled with sand. “To love you and save Vallendor—I can’t do both.”
But then, I’ve lost Vallendor. So why not die loving him? Because I’m not ready to surrender, even though I’ve lost.
I’ve lost because I failed to recognize the enemy—and that included Jadon Rrivae Wake.
Now, he holds a dagger to my throat, and he won’t need this blade to end my life. I feel my body chipping and tearing. I feel my muscles snapping. I feel my body screaming in protest as it dies, railing against the son of an emperor, the son of the traitor.
Jadon presses the blade harder against my neck. “Come with me, Kai. Let’s live the life we’ve talked about. Traveling. Eating foods we’ve never tried. Visiting shitty realms before they’re destroyed. We don’t have to stay here. You have the power to take us to some other realm, don’t you?”
“Yes.” The Glass of Infinite Realms will take me anywhere I want to go. I blink, and a fat teardrop rolls down my cheek. “No.” I’d never survive the journey with the traitor’s son as my companion—he is Miasma and would kill me before we even reached another realm.
Jadon shakes his head. “You still don’t understand how powerful I am now. I’m stronger than you. I’mmorethan you. What haveyoudone to those who turn their backs on you? I could do the same, but I don’t want you to choose death. I want you to join me.”
In that dream, the one where Jadon and I lie together in the forest, I’d asked him to come with me, but he’d refused. And now, he wants me to join him as the realm burns all around us.
