Page 61 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
“Will you fight me, Warden Carmella? Will you be more than the pathetic excuse of a leader that those two males were?” I asked her, my magic playing at the edges of her mind. My head was beginning to pound, the nausea setting in. Not nearly as bad as it had been, but still painful.
Carmella stood, grabbing Ivy and dragging her so that she was hidden behind the Fire warden’s back. Friends—best friends even. I could taste their affection, feel the way it pulsed like asecond heart in each of their chests. Carmella was stronger, but Ivy was smarter. The two were formidable together and weak apart.
A team of sorts.
“No, Princess Asher. I remember who it was I vowed to save.” Just like that, my wrath drained out of me like water set free from a dam.
She used the same words that Nicola had ominously uttered to me before we left for this voyage. Was it a coincidence? No, probably not.
I dug into Carmella’s mind, finding that her thoughts and memories of Nicola were already there at the front, as if waiting for me. I sorted through them, watching as Nicola stood at the front of crowds, as she seemed to conduct and orchestrate every minute move. Carmella had seen Nicola’s mind seem to float above the clouds, her eyes going distant and glassy before she would nod her head and begin explaining once more. Then, as if desiring to really solidify the truth, Carmella showed me another memory of Nicola, one in which she slowly wrapped a black piece of cloth around her face, the bloody golden shield at the center of it.
Nicola was a rebel. Not just a rebel either, by the look, feel, and taste of those memories, Nicola was their leader.
Before I could leave her mind, Carmella showed me one last thing. This was not a memory, but an imagined scenario that the warden seemed to think was inevitable. An army of black-clad soldiers stormed the manor, invading Isle Element and coming straight for us.
Blinking, I returned to the space around me. Xavier and Mia stared on in horror, as if they could feel the danger that loomed. Sterling, who could not have been more oblivious, quietly whispered, “Well, it is a good thing that the food was poisoned, because it seems I have lost my appetite.”
“The rebels are coming,” I said. Xavier reacted quicker than anyone else, standing with a bang of his fists upon the table. Mia’s eyes darted from side to side as she thought—plotted. But my gaze remained on Carmella.
You cannot kill them. I have tried and failed more than I care to admit.
Warden Carmella flinched as she listened to my voice within her head, but she remained seated and calm.
We only poisoned yours and the prince’s food. We needed to take you out before Nicola’s misguided love set you free.
Oh please, they wanted all opposition out of the way. I would not have been surprised if they aimed to end Nicola one day as well.
And the rebels that come now? Are they meant to kill the king and queen?
She looked at me with a rueful smile, one born of loss and failure.
It is not the rebels who come, Asher.
What do you mean?
Vines erupted from the chests of both Ivy and Carmella, blood spraying the table as their hearts were speared. Sterling finally lost his cool, bending over and vomiting. Xavier stormed out of the dining room, shouting over his shoulder, “Get the Golden Guard herenow!”
“Asher, we must be ready to fight,” Mia practically growled, pushing herself to a standing position. I stayed still, my mind racing.
Carmella said it was not the rebels coming. The army she imagined in her head had been clad in black, no sign of the bleeding shield. And she had mentioned Nicola trying to save me.
“I was right,” I whispered, choking the words out before I sobbed.
“Stop mumbling and get focused, our entire realm will fall if we are not united. We must show those rebels who they are—”
“I was right,” I nearly yelled. Whipping my head to the queen, I caught her shocked expression before she morphed it back into impassiveness. It was too late though, because I knew. Wrath did not appear, did not so much as whisper denials into my head. BecauseI knew.
“I know what is real.”
Then I grabbed Sterling’s arm and willed myself outside.
For the first time, I intentionally portaled.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Bellamy
“Iam nervous, Bellamy,” Mordicai said as we watched his soldiers train. The king of Heratt had sent me more than one missive stating as much, but to have him at my side and outwardly expressing that fear was something completely different.
