Page 129 of The Princesses of Ruin
Zephrom releases my arm and produces a sheaf of parchment from thin air. She sets it down on the table. “Perform the ritual and live, or don’t and die. Your people’s fate is in your hands.”
The air around the goddess collapses and she disappears, leaving us stunned and questioning everything.
“Fucking gods,” Lily spits.
“Corrupt, the lot of them,” Kazimir agrees.
We stare at the parchment, none of us daring to touch it. If we don’t touch it, we don’t have to know what comes next—what sacrifices we must endure.
Scarlett’s spindle snatches it from the table. She unfolds it, and whatever the message is must be short because she almost immediately crumples the page. It ignites in her hand, turning to ash before us.
We stand with mouths agape.
“It said ‘Fight hard’ and…” Scarlett scoffs, a bitter smirk curling her lip. “‘Good luck.’”
Chapter forty-five
Adrik
The queen—Ashai—looms large as we set up our attack. The figures of Spiders and queen’s guard around her are molded in the same darkness, sustained like her. Their onyx obelisk skin is a harsh contrast to the powdery white snow that dusts their shoulders.
I set the next ipsain crystal beside her, knowing that the soldiers will likely die with her when we detonate them. Another sacrifice we must be willing to make to defeat her.
It’s admirable to hold lofty ideals of the hero, and sometimes they serve us. But heroes rarely win wars without becoming martyrs. If we all die, Fynren will be thrown back into chaos. Worse still, if we’re too soft with our approach in an attempt to save a handful of soldiers and Ashai lives, we risk the entire world.
The Spiders knew what they were getting into. They knew they might die fighting for their families’ freedom, their right to live long lives, unblemished by the queen’s hatred and Gaien’s depravity.
I believe in the princesses of ruin. I believe in their husbands. When this is all done, they will fix this kingdom.
The wind howls and flurries of snow whip off the statues, pelting my goggles. I grab my massive rune-etcher and dig into the muddy earth beside the crystal.
Eng for protection in a cone design, building a steady ring of protection around the crystal. Winu for the trigger, to come down at the precise moment it senses Anasia, the symbol made specifically for Reina’s magic. It is the holy writ of her power, and the goddess Zephrom has blessed it so.
This wouldn’t be possible without their interference, and that notion twists my stomach. Alyse has been quiet, refusing to divulge what happened in the depths of the Nest when she went to destroy Kazimir’s mask. It would’ve been a boon in this coming fight if our initial attack doesn’t destroy her outright, so she must know something we don’t.
“Ready there, Adrik?” Alastair asks from the other side of the goddess’s legs.
His crystal glows softly, activated and ready to blow this entire area into a crater that will mar the landscape forever.
“Almost,” I say, hurrying to finish my runes.
The wind whips across my face and the palace crumbles behind me. I start at the sound of the rock crashing into the rubble around the archive. Such a horrible loss.
“We will rebuild it,”Alyse whispers to me.
But all those books; the alchemy, the history.
“We will rewrite it.”
I finish my runes and step back, double- then triple-checking that everything is perfectly correct. It is.
I approach Ashai with clammy hands. Nerves spike through my chest, and I take a deep breath as I kneel between her legs. Emillia sets her pack down beside me gently and I open it.
Odiferous acid, herbs, hair, and skin hits the wind and turns it a sallow color. It’s putrid, so of course it will open the gates to the nine hells. I’d expect nothing less from something so foul.
I dig a small cradle in the frosted dirt. Alastair joins me at the epicenter, drawing containment runes around her feet. When she’s forced into this world, she’ll be trapped. We don’t need it for very long, just enough to press the trigger on the ipsain crystals.
Carefully, I pull a small mine from the bag and set it at the bottom of the dirt cradle. I push dirt over it and draw my runes, ensuring that the explosion will propel the liquid in the flask up and out across the statue. Finally, I set the flask on top of it.
