“You may be shocked to learn that I have no designs on becoming a deity.”
Lord D’Luc actually laughed, a short bark of surprised mirth. “Now that you mention it, I wonder if we shouldn’t alter the trajectory of our little experiments. As much as I adore our talks, we draw no closer to your being able to control the artifact. Touseit in any meaningful way. The stone is your tool, not the other way around. I fear the route of scientific progress has dried up for both of us. So why not look to something else for motivation? Your desire for power, the dark desires you vehemently deny?”
“The method is irrelevant,” Ru said, ignoring this last jab. He had already hurt her where it counted. “As much as you want me to re-enact the Destruction, I won’t. Good luck with all of this, though.” She waved her hands to indicate herself, the breakfast laid out before her.
A muscle feathered in the lord’s jaw. “It’s no use defying me. In the end, with or without your acquiescence, you will use the artifact to bring about the dawn of a new era. You will use it as it was meant to be used, and cleanse this world in fire. Whether you accept it or not, this is your destiny. Festra’s will is your destiny.”
“Did you ever once believe that the artifact could bring about a scientific breakthrough?” Ru asked, almost in resignation. “Or was that for my benefit?”
“Draw whatever conclusions you like,” he said, leaning forward with a gorgeous, icy smile. “My only goal is to see you master the artifact and unleash its power. My personal beliefs are immaterial. Anyway, you ought to thank me. I have a surprise for you.”
Ru went cold. A surprise from Lord D’Luc couldn’t be anything good. “Lucky me,” she said.
His smile widened. “Aren’t you going to ask what it is?”
“No.”
A flicker of impatience crossed his face. “Then I won’t keep you in suspense. Tomorrow, we set out for Mirith. Regent Sigrun is deeply invested in your progress with the artifact and believes that you may find it easier to progress toward our shared goal at the palace. I look forward to seeing what we accomplish there.”
Ru’s blood turned to ice. So the palace truly belonged to Lord D’Luc. Regent Sigrun was under his power, probably rendered helpless in the same manner as the professors. Neither Simon nor any of her friends at the palace were safe. Ru knew in that moment that no matter where she went, the artifact would hold her in its stony grip. And as long as the artifact was hers, Lord D’Luc would not stop hunting her.
CHAPTER 6
Lyr found Ru on the Tower parapet that night. She hadn’t been able to sleep, plagued by thoughts of her loved ones hurting, dying. Unable to rid herself of the sensation that she was falling unendingly into a pit of emptiness. And the only thing that awaited her at the bottom was her due punishment.
An evening rain was already beginning to frost on the parapet’s stone walls. She stood in wet slippers, her dressing gown — which she had been wearing since the night before — and a blanket wrapped haphazardly about her shoulders.
She wondered what it might feel like to fall from that height, the wind in her hair and icy on her skin. Whether it would be freeing, the knowledge that this would finally sever her connection to the artifact. Whether it would satisfy her, knowing that she had cheated Lord D’Luc from his plans, his kingdom-wide destruction. And whether she might, at last, feel some infinitesimal measure of absolution.
“If you’re thinking about jumping,” Lyr said, “don’t.”
“I wasn’t.” The artifact was silent again, and she felt more at peace on the verge of self-destruction than she did at any other time. She said nothing, continuing to stare out over the shadowycourtyard at the moonlit road beyond that would lead her to Mirith in the morning.
“You’ll need rest before the journey,” said Lyr sensibly.
“I can’t sleep.”
“‘Course not.”
They stood together in companionable silence for a while, Lyr in full King's Guard regalia of leathers and steel plate, and Ru in her dressing gown and blanket.
“I won’t let them harm you,” he said eventually.
“I know you won’t,” said Ru, conciliatory, and a rush of memory made her breath catch painfully in her throat. The last demonstration, Lord D’Luc’s quick strides across the dungeon, the flash of a blade…
“Whatever you’re thinking about,” said Lyr, frowning so deeply his eyes were nearly consumed by his heavy brows, “stop.”
Ru finally met his gaze. “I should have died at the Shattered City,” she said. “All of this… the Tower falling into Lord D’Luc’s hands, the Children, Festra… it’s all because of me. Because I found the artifact.”
“You didn’t, though.”
“Itouchedit. I’m the one who woke it up, who set it off.”I should have known better.
“You know that for a fact?”
She paused, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Yes,” she said at last. “What else could it have been? I was called to it, Lyr. Just as Fe—Taryelwas called there. His heart wanted us to meet. It wantedmefor some cursed, incomprehensible reason.”
The King's Guard shrugged. “Just saying… I thought your studies hadn’t come up with a conclusive answer one way or another.”
