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She sighed and rubbed her forehead as she pondered these things.

A commotion sounded in the hall, and she spun around. A crash followed. Glass shattered.

“Ryn!” Someone screamed her name, and bumps formed along her flesh. “Ryn!”

The voice sounded like Xerxes but… she’d never heard him scream.

Her bedroom door banged open, and there he stood with a robe tied loosely around him, his hair a dripping mess. Ryn took in his state—his pale, grayish body, how he grabbed his head, how he struggled to stay standing. He looked like a child caught in a nightmare.

“Ryn.” It came out a dry growl. “I’m…” He shook his head. His lashes fluttered as he backed away toward her door like he wished he never came. “You should run,” he said through his teeth. He reeled backward into the hall.

Ryn followed him out, listening for his voices, catching the words they hissed. Understanding exactly what Xerxes was being told to do. “El,” she whispered as a bead of fear moved through her.

“KILL HER NOW!”

“She must die RIGHT NOW!”

“KILL HER.”

“I’m here.”

Ryn took hold of the sides of Xerxes’s head. His eyes flashed open, and he stared, unfocused. A warm wind fluttered along Ryn’s hands, and she knew El was with her, standing there in the dark hallway. Right at her side. It was on his behalf she said to the voices, “Be quiet.”

A gust of air was sucked out of the space. Xerxes nearly lost his balance, but he caught himself on the wall. Unshed tears filled his bloodshot eyes as he stared at her in disbelief, in horror, in question. The scent of spoiled fruit wafted from him, so potent Ryn nearly choked. She took in the bits of pear on his robe, the stain of fruit juice on his mouth.

She thought of his tree, the one webbed in shadows. That trunk of crooked limbs that produced both his curse and his treatment.

His treatment.

Hiscurse.

Ryn wanted to kick herself. She huffed in disbelief as it dawned on her that the answer had been right in front of her the whole time. How long had this been going on right under her nose?

“It’s been long enough,” she said quietly. She said it to Xerxes, to El, to herself.

Xerxes was frozen to the wall, so she left him there. She marched back into her room, threw open her wardrobe and grabbed her sword. Xerxes was still where she’d left him whenshe came back. His gaze fell on the sword as she passed, as she went to do what needed to be done.

“Wait…” Xerxes rasped. “You’re not going to…” His voice turned panicked. “You can’t, Ryn, youcan’t!”

Ryn heard him shuffle after her, so she broke into a sprint, staying well out of his reach as he teetered. She raced through the halls, past startled servants, making her way to the door at the top of the spiral staircase.

“Ryn!” Xerxes shouted. The plea echoed through the stairwell as she descended.

A thousand dark voices screamed in protest when she reached the bottom, when she came into the oval room and looked upon that great, terrible tree. The shadows swivelled, turning their heads in her direction.

“Leave us alone!”

“We will kill you!”they threatened.

Ryn drew her sword. She took in a deep breath as Xerxes stumbled into the room behind her.

“WE ARE GODS.”

“WE SHALL DESTROY EVERYTHING YOU HAVE—”

She swung for the tree. Her sword released an anthem of song as it collided with its base, sailing into its wooden throat like it was cutting the head off a snake.

The shadows screamed, growling as she hacked, her sword gliding through the wood. She swung again, and Xerxes reached to grab her, but the volume of voices electrified the room, and he fell, gripping his head.