Page 19 of Oracle of Ruin

“I thought the same of you. We haven’t found many survivors from the palace or the surrounding cities, so I assumed you’d either gotten out or died.” When Blaine releases him, the man steps forward to briefly embrace me as well. “It’s good to see you got out too.”

Ruby steps forward, her eyes slightly hopeful. She fiddles with a sapphire ring identical to the one Tanja used to wear. “Has anyone seen her? Tanja? We haven’t found her yet.”

Blaine falters, and before he can even open his mouth, Ruby’s face falls. Torin’s gaze slides between the two of them. Only a choking sound leaves Blaine’s lips as tears begin to slide down her face.

I place an arm around the woman’s shoulders, stepping in for the former captain. He covers his mouth with the back of his hand and nods in thanks. Ruby’s knees begin to buckle.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper as she begins to break. “She was the first of Ophelus’s victims. Verosa was there, so she will have to be the one to tell you, but she died a hero.”

I don’t dare tell the truth, that her fiancée’s death was the reason for all this, that the screams of the Kijova that shatter the earth are actually the sound of her final moments. She died a hero to us, to Vera. To the world, she died a villain, no matter how pure her heart.

I hold her upright as her legs finally gave out, shattering sobs wracking her frame. Torin pinches his lips together and raises his hood. We can see his shaking shoulders, though we say nothing. Blaine clasps his hand in his. Something silent passes between them, and Torin nods.

“We need to go. We’ve been gone too long. It won’t be long until they send out search parties looking for us.”

“They? The other survivors?” I ask.

Torin’s hood shakes. “The rebellion.”

Chapter10

Rowan

Blaine and I pause for a moment, Ruby’s quiet sobs fading into the background. Blaine raises his fist again and Torin dodges it this time.

“Let me explain!”

“There’s nothing to explain, you bastard!” Blaine roars as his hands seek Torin’s throat. “You’re one of them? The ones that have tried to kill Vera since she was a baby? Who have killed hundreds of us? Do you forget Raiko and all the others so easily?”

If I wasn’t the only thing holding Ruby up from falling, I would’ve gone in to separate them despite my growing rage. Instead, I watch as Blaine wraps his fist around Torin’s throat, knocking his hood away from his tear-streaked face.

“Never.” Torin’s eyes blaze with fire. “But we thought you all were dead. We’ve been gathering survivors and placing a truce on our civil war to defeat Ophelus. We’ve been training an army.”

Blaine pauses and releases his vice grip, though his hands stay on Torin’s throat. “Explain.”

The other man coughs, his voice strained. He turns to me, but Ruby speaks up.

“We’ve been looking for you.”

I stumble. “Me?”

“News has gone around that Ophelus had a son, a hybrid. They plan on killing the king and replacing him with one of their own. You have a claim to the throne despite your cursed blood. They want you to take it and lead them.”

“We have a cursed on the throne now and they still want to kill him. How am I different?”

“Ophelus enforced the prejudiced laws against the cursed to hide the true nature of his blood. His father secretly took on a cursed concubine, who had an affair with another one of the cursed. She fell pregnant with him, and once he was born and the former king realized he was fully cursed and not a hybrid, he killed the concubine. His wife had died and he was old with no heir, so he kept the nature of Ophelus’s blood secret and named him his successor. They think you are the solution,” Torin explains. A bruise has bloomed across his eye and brow bone, the whites of his eye now bloodshot. Blaine only looks slightly apologetic.

“And what of Vera?”

Torin falls silent, avoiding my eyes.

Ruby locks her eyes on mine and speaks solemnly. “They want her dead.”

Blaine inhales sharply, then laughs, a dark and malicious thing. He runs his hand through his hair and Torin scrambles to respond.

“I—”

“I thought you were loyal, you dog.” Blaine growls. “You’re nothing better than those worms.”

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