Page 40 of The Cruel Dawn
I swipe my mouth—blood wets my fingers. Agon’s healing was all for nothing.
“Stop this fighting at once,” my uncle shouts.
The walls of the aerie shake at this old man’s voice.
Elyn and I both freeze in surprise.
“We aren’t here to fight each other,” he growls. “We’re here to stop Danar Rrivae from claiming Vallendor as his own.”
“Apologies.” Elyn nods to my uncle and settles her gaze on me. “I did what I had to do, Kai. I needed to separate you from the weapon. Even now, he is still not who—or what—we think he is. And back then, we hadn’t come close to understanding the truth, so I thought it was best to keep you apart.” Her posture eases before she says, “I offer my apologies for being so…hasty.”
I unclench my teeth, and even my hands lose some of their fight. “If it wasn’t for your mother,” I say, “I’d be picking my way across the fucking tundra right now, wasting time and hating you more than ever. You have the nerve—punishing me while asking me to use the power that you resent—”
The stone in her dove pendant flashes with red light. “I don’tresentyour power,” she snaps. “Stop being so melodramatic.”
“Says the woman who keeps sweeping me to the ends of the realm—”
“Danar Rrivae,” Agon interjects.
“Is in Brithellum,” Elyn says, “working together with Syrus Wake now that his primary weapon is off the field.For now. Danar is currently creating a new species of otherworldly more powerful than before.”
“I met a few of them down at the sea,” I say. “A leather-winged flying beast is now resurrecting dead creatures.”
“Resurrecting?” both Agon and Elyn say.
“I saw it happen right before I popped into the abbey, and…” I shrug and shake my head with wonder. “If I hadn’t seen it firsthand, I wouldn’t believe it.”
“How?” Elyn asks.
I shrug again. “No clue, but we have to killthosebeasts to keep them from healing and raising the dead.”
“The challenge, then, is greater than before,” Agon says. “And the weapon?”
Elyn sniffs. “It’s been days now, and he still keeps his back turned to me and refuses to talk to anyone. But I think that’s about to change.” She sizes me up with narrowed eyes and gives a crooked smile. “Because I know someone who can loosen his tongue—and she’s standing right in front of me.”
11
“No.”
“No, what?” Elyn asks, eyes bugged.
We follow Nimith, with me moving faster down the staircase than I did coming up. Soon, we reach a long corridor with a mural of a sky alive with bolts and bright balls of yellow light. The creation of Linione.
“No, I’m not talking to Jadon,” I say.
Nimith soon reaches a closed door with an ornate, moth-shaped knocker. “You may refresh in your quarters.” She opens the door, and the scents of lavender and fresh water greet me.
Even though Uncle Agon just told me that I couldn’t stay here, I’ve now entered my bedroom in the Abbey of Mount Devour—and it’s just as beautiful as I remember, with a luxurious bed draped in soft silks. A deep tub filled with hot water and oils scents the room and calms my nerves. From the wide windows, Vallendor looks so peaceful. The peaks of Baraminz Spires in the east catch the fading light of dusk, while down south, the cool waters of the Cerulean Sea look iceberg blue. An illusion: my realm is a fucked-up death-scape crawling with otherworldly, fatal diseases, and merciless thugs.
“Jadon is no true threat to you right now,” Elyn says, stalking over to the window. “He’s imprisoned in the depths of the abbey, guarded by the Raqiel.”
I side-eye her. “Didn’t you just say that he is far more dangerous than we thought? And yet you want the one person who can stop him to go down there and talk to him?”
I leave the window for the bathroom and peel out of my armor. My mind races, seeing the ruin of my body in the bathroom mirror. From my shoulder blades down to my ankles, I’m bruised, purples and blacks and blues, most of me covered with crusted blood. I look like I fell deep into a coal mine and then was chopped up by madmen wielding rusty picks. No picks this time—just mean-ass otherworldly hanging out at the Sea of Devour.
Elyn paces my room with her arms folded. “We need to learn more about Danar Rrivae’s plans, Kai. How he’s creating his creatures. Where he’ll strike next. What Syrus Wake’s role is in all of—” She finally takes a moment and actuallylooksat me. “Shit, Kai.”
My eyes burn with tears. “You played a part in all of this, you know.”
