Why this is where Vivenne was meant to bring me.A claim on Heald will give them a tenuous claim on my country, a foothold into the Overkingdom.
An invasion is coming.And now I have a brand-new problem to deal with.
***
Chapter Twenty-Four
Sheelan exits before I can stop her, the order warrior lingering, only sheathing her dirk completely again when she shuts the door, letting me see it.Does she know what I had considered and was warning me to stay away from the princess?
Not that it matters.This is a terrible time to seduce anyone with my head exploding in rage again.
YOU KNEW.I blast that at the dragon who dragged me here, dropped me into this disaster, left me to fend for myself in this cursed place.
Control yourself, Flame, she responds, sounding stronger, harsh in my mind, the sizzle of the kinspark lighting, but with a new kind of fire that makes me grasp at my head with both hands, my head burning with it.You are a warrior of Heald.Act like it.
Fuck you, I snarl at her.
You’re acting like a spoiled child, she tells me.Are you done with your tantrum?
How dare you.I sink to the bed, shivering as I cradle my head in my hands.This is all you.You’ve done this, orchestrated this.I can’t trust you.What was I thinking?
Honestly, child, she sighs,what a waste of energy.But go ahead, feel sorry for yourself if you need to.I’ll wait.She grunts.I seem to be doing only that anyway.
I want the truth, I say, roughly pulling myself back from screaming at her again.I lean on the kinspark that rises to support me, even if it’s tenuous and thin, and feel Atlas there, Zenthris, too, know that they are with me again.For that alone, I’m grateful, and though I hate her right now, this dragon and her manipulation of me, I am thankful she’s reawakened that which I feared was gone forever.
And still, fuck her.
The truth, she sighs.It waits for you here, Remalla of Heald, my Flame.She sounds sad suddenly, feels it, too.You must hurry, child.
I’m trying, I grate at her, teeth clenching, jaw aching from it.Just get me out of here, if that’s what I need to do.
I can’t, she admits to me.My power grows thin, after all this time warding off the encroaching disease.I’m almost used up, Flame.That’s why it’s so important for you to come.
I don’t understand, I say, looking at my palm.I took the magic, like they said.Why didn’t it work?
But it did, she tells me, her puzzlement almost endearing.You can hear me.I can use my magic to let you understand Sunnish, to connect you through dream to the others.She sounds surprised that the latter worked.What more do you want from a communication spell?
A…it makes sense now, and I’m laughing, broken and hurting my throat, my heart, my chest tight with acceptance.It wasn’t supposed to give me magic.
No, silly child, she says, weariness taking over again.Who filled your head with such nonsense?We created the sparks for drakonkin as a means to speak to you over great distance.They were only ever intended for our kinsparks.That one you found was mine.
Not Neem’s, I whisper back, falling into the answers that have been plaguing me.
Not my sisters, no, she says with so much grief that I clench against it.Nor would you want to be tied to what’s left of her now.I feel her mind shudder against mine.Wait, is that what’s wrong with Vivenne?No, there’s more to it, but I don’t get to explore that question as the dragon goes on.Neem’s loss is a plague on us all, she tells me, drifting further from me with every word.She was gone much too soon, as I will be, too, before long.There’s an acceptance in her statement that triggers my empathy despite myself.I’m so tired, Flame.Please, you must come.There is so much more I need to share, and we’re almost out of time.The spell that contains my sister’s power is draining all of us, not just me.But I’m closest and have been guarding the world without them for far too long.Unless they rise to help…Aurous needs you.She goes quiet again, but reaches me one last time.I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.It’s a grim statement, one that strikes fear in me, despite her previous urging.It feels… final.
I’m working on it, I say, relenting as she vanishes from my mind.What is Aurous?She doesn’t answer, so I suppose I’ll have to wait for more information after all.I sit there for a long time, contemplating what to do, restless and needing to rise and act, but knowing I have to seize control, as she said.Think things through.There’s so much at stake, even more than I anticipated.
I’m so lost in thought that when someone drifts into my room from the garden, I barely register their arrival, though I note the scent of something fruity but almost rotten that catches the back of my throat.
When I look up, I already know who I’ll find standing in my room, watching me with a dark and secret smile.And though I’m already weary and now weighted down by further fears, I won’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my surprise.
I’ve tied him to this debacle already, after all, so his appearance here, now, tracks.
“Hello, Hallick,” I say to the Overking’s Chancellor.“You’re behind all of this, then.How uninspiring.”
His smile fades, clearly disappointed that his appearance hasn’t roused my shock and outrage.“Remalla,” he says.“Imagine my pleasure to find that you’d made your way here despite everything.”He doesn’t move, holds his place at the opening to the garden, though it feels as if he looms over me regardless.
“What are you doing, Hallick?”I shake my head, look away.“Selling off the Overkingdom to the Sun God.”I’ve answered my own question.
