Page 85 of The Cruel Dawn
“But—”
“He’s the weapon, I know,” I say, watching the grass turn green beneath my knees. “I’m sorry. I fucked up. But I’ve learned. I promise you that I have.”
“Jadon’s not just a weapon,” Elyn says. “He istheweapon. He is certain death.” Elyn kneels beside me. “The truth is cruel, Kai. I know how you feel about him, but Jadon Rrivae was not meant to live, nor to have a life with the Grand Defender and Lady of the Verdant Realm. What will happen if I’m not around to save you next time? Youwillperish, and Vallendor will perish with you.” Her gold eyes soften, and she takes my bruised hand. “So don’t do this again, Kai.Please.I truly am sorry about all of this.”
And for the first time in a long time…I believe her.
22
“Beaminster never had a golden age,” Jadon says as we approach a town just outside of the larger city of Brithellum. He still wears the borrowed armor of a man beneath his station—the prince remains a prisoner. “Not one person born in Beaminster changed the realm through music, art, or letters. Nothing was ever invented or discovered here.” Instead of walking behind us, he and Elyn walk beside us, several paces apart.
Every tree and shrub in this province is a shade of red or brown, stooped, shaven, barren, prickly. Danar Rrivae’s oven of malice has baked out all softness of life.
“But even in its best times,” Jadon is saying, “Beaminster has always been an open-air jail.” He explains that Beaminster was founded to house the worst of Brithellum, but they were all just mundane criminals without hope or aspiration. “The town suffers,” he says, “because no one in Beaminster gives a single shit about making the best of what they have.”
The gates around the city look like rotting teeth. Trash from years gone by—broken pots, splintered chairs, torn garments, dead rats—is piled high around those gates. There are no cottages with curtained windows, or churches or temples with gleaming walls. If there are honeycakes to be had, they would surely be filled with maggots.
Elyn’s cardinals swoop around us, though the air here is also foul.
“Hostages are typically kept here,” Jadon shares.
“And you know this because…?” Philia asks.
“Becausehekept hostages here,” Elyn says, eyebrow cocked.
“Well, I’m here to free Olivia,” Philia says, chin high, “by any means necessary.”
“Retrieving the ring is the most important task, Philia,” Jadon says. “If we don’t get that, no one will be free. We may have to search private homes to find her or Gileon or the ring. The town has a few hidden bunkers here, too. We’ll likely have to fight. There’s also sickness here. Not…me,” he adds, when Elyn shoots him a look. “But some disease that congeals your spit, pits your skin, and fills your ears with tar. So don’t get spat or sneezed on.”
“Have fun,” I say, smirking.
Philia’s eyes widen. “Does that mean Olivia may have this mystery sickness? Could she die? Could she already be dead?”
No one speaks, because we have nothing reassuring to say.
Separi bows her head and touches my elbow. “Is there anything I can do for you besides aid in the coming fight, Lady?” She blushes and looks down at her shoes. “I know I’ve failed you—”
“Don’t.” I lift the Renrian’s chin. “My mouth and body may have changed, but you provide me with more than food and company. You aren’t failing me, Separi. Isn’t it impossible for a Renrian to fail?”
She chuckles as she fixes my buckles and my hair. “No, we don’t fail.”
I grin and lower my voice. “The threads in my hair saved my life. I did something foolish last night, but your braid-work kept me more whole than I deserve to be.”
“Last night?” Her eyebrows scrunch. “Did I sleep through a fight?”
I wink at her. “A personal battle.” I slip off my pack heavy with theLibrum Esoterica.
“I’ll hold it,” Philia says, stepping forward.
“No,” both Elyn and I say. We are so close to Olivia now that Philia could flee with the book to make a deal with Gileon herself.
“Thanks for the offer,” Elyn says, “but I’ll hold the Lady’s satchel.”
I roll my eyes at Elyn and hand her the bag. “Everyone wait here,” I say.
“Why?” Jadon asks, his shoulders stiffening.
“Danar Rrivae knows that I’m in Beaminster,” I say, “because the book is in Beaminster and the ring that unlocks the artifact is in Beaminster. He’ll try to keep us from that ring. How, this time, I’m not sure. By staying back, you’ll see just how many people you’ll need to kill.”
