Page 51 of The Cruel Dawn
“Wake’s army,” I say, swallowing the pool of spit that had gathered beneath my tongue. “Where are they headed next?”
“I’m injail,” he snaps. “How would I know?” He pauses, then asks, “Do you ever think about me? Do you ever think about the good things we did together? Our entire life together wasn’t acompletelie. You couldn’t have forgotten, not after all we’ve been through.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” I ask, gaping at him. “Do you think that I,theKaivara Megidrail, Grand Defender, Blood of All, go through my days anchored to memories of you? Do you think that my day begins and ends with—?”
“Okay, okay,” he says, his eyes squeezed closed, his hand held up. “You’ve made your point.Fuck.”
“Mind your words,” Elyn growls.
“If you want me to slowly waste away down here, fine,” Jadon says. “I understand. I’m a danger to the realm. But if you’re a truly compassionate god, if you still care for me just a little, please do one thing for me: save Olivia. Maybe Gileon will let her go if she returns the book that she stole from Castle Wake.”
He pushes up his sleeves—the veins along his forearms are now twitching. “There’s something in that book that Gileon needs. That’s why he searched all of Vallendor for us. It wasn’t because he loved Olivia, I know that for sure.”
“And whereisyour brother?” Elyn asks.
Jadon runs his fingers along his twitching veins, still snubbing her.
“You ignoring the Adjudicator won’t help your cause,” I say, “and doesn’t put you in the best light. Recognize her authority right now or spend the rest of your miserable life in this dark, dank cell…or worse. Test me.Please.”
The light in Jadon’s eyes flares at me before they land on Elyn.
“Why does Gileon need the book?” the Adjudicator asks again.
Jadon flexes the fingers on his right hand. “Pride? Anger? I don’t know what drives him, especially now. All I know is that he wants it back.”
The artifact, WISDOM, is fastened to that book’s cover—that’swhat Gileon wants.
Elyn and I turn away from Jadon. I beckon the Adjudicator to follow me back into the corridor. “Does Jadon know the truth about theLibrum Esoterica?” I whisper. “That it’s not ‘just a book’?”
She stares at me. “Don’t know.”
“If he did, would he tell us?”
“Don’t know. Does he know that Philia Wysor still has it?”
My turn to say, “Don’t know. But I’m more concerned that Philia’s now staying with Separi Eleweg in Caburh.”
The Broken Hammer Inn had been a needed waystation for us after Veril’s death. There, Jadon and I had the chance to express our feelings for each other.
Yeah, I loved kissing Jadon. I loved sucking his lower lip and twisting my tongue around his and darting it back if he tried to catch it with his own tongue. And now, standing in this fucking hole in the mountain, I try not to smile as I think about our kissing game at the Broken Hammer. I try not to smile as I remember how his hands had roamed across my hips and how the game changed when his fingers found my favorite spot and…
Damn it, Jadon.
Though his words were lies, his kisses were not. Our explosions that night and everything we said to each other…all truth. I would’ve named a realm after this man.Threerealms.
No, I don’t wish death upon this man. At the same time, he doesn’t deserve the entirety of my mercy, either.
I want to rule this realm… Yeah, he said that.I choose you.He said that, too. And now, his right hand burns with the immense power he inherited from the traitor, his father.
I push those thoughts away and whisper to Elyn: “If Gileon discovers that Philia still has theLibrum Esoterica—”
“He’ll return to Caburh,” Elyn says, “and destroy the rest of the town—“
“—and slaughter the survivors, including Separi and her kin.”
And then he’ll claim theLibrum EsotericaandWISDOM.
We need WISDOM to destroy the traitor.
