Page 47 of Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound #3)

T he walk back to the palace was a painful one.

About a hundred yards away from the mausoleum, we found Nora’s body.

She’d been stabbed by a cane-sword, but judging by the blood and still burning embers around her, she’d put up quite a fight.

I paused to lay a hand on her chest and say a little prayer before continuing.

My mother’s friend wouldn’t be the only loss we would suffer, and when it was all over, I would take the time to mourn each and every one. But for now, we had to carry on.

It wasn’t until we were nearly to our destination that I realized we were gathering a small stream of followers. A handful of men and women, giving us a wide berth but moving toward the palace with us.

“We saw the lights. We heard the fighting. Did you kill all the monkeys or are there more?”

“Did you defeat The Wicked Witch, then?”

“Are we still safe?”

“Did you pass the trials, miss?”

I didn’t answer, focusing instead on the cluster of guards, who’d moved into our path, blocking us from entering the palace.

“The Wizard isn’t taking visitors at this time.” The old, grizzled guard Duncan had sparred with stared down at us, arms crossed over his barrel chest.

Fenwick’s words came back to me as I stepped up, rolling onto my tiptoes until we were nose to nose. Nothing was going to stop me from seeing The Wizard.

Nothing.

“Out of the way.”

His fingers twitched toward his blade and then stilled as he looked over my shoulder, catching sight of Hook.

“Bah,” he said, “let them through.”

“What? Boss, he said not to.”

“We couldn’t stop them if we tried. Let them through. We don’t get paid enough for this.”

The guards shoved the doors open, and I stalked through, fury driving every step I took until I reached the solarium.

At the far end of the grand chamber, the gigantic green face flickered to life on the wall, and the braziers ignited, painting the room in red and green.

“You dare disturb the Great and Powerful?—”

“Save it.” I waved a hand, cutting him short and sending my whip through the air with a violent slash.

The braziers hissed and then went out, plunging the room into darkness.

The enormous image began to ripple like water.

“Is it true that the trolley to Ruby Reach is a lie? That it brings people to the witch so she can turn them into monkeys?”

The gasps exploded all around me, but this wasn’t time for subtlety. I needed answers, and I needed them now.

“Send everyone from this room and close the door so we may talk privately!” Oz thundered.

The fact that he didn’t even try to deny it instantly told me all I needed to know.

“I’m done with these games.” I strode toward the curtain at the side of the room, magic burning hot beneath my skin. Hook moved to my side, hand on the hilt of his saber as he shot the guards a warning look and shook his head.

“Step out and show yourself!” I demanded.

The crowd had gathered right by the open doors to watch, and the curtain flapped but didn’t open.

“Go away. Come back later, when you’ve calmed down!” The Wizard boomed.

But the time for calm had passed.

I let the full force of my magic loose, aiming straight at The Wizard’s image. It flickered and disappeared even as the bolt of power smacked into the wall, leaving a scorched hole in its wake.

“Open. The. Curtain. Or your real face is next.”

The fabric shifted and this time, it opened. Lord Fallowell stepped into view, shoulders slumped, looking like the scared, weak man he was. The crowd’s murmurs exploded into cries of outrage.

“Behold, your Great and Powerful Wizard,” Billy shouted, her voice trembling with rage.

“He’s been lying to you this whole time. Tell them the truth, Lord Fallowell ,” I pressed. “Tell them about Ruby Reach.”

The crowd raged, their whispers turning to full on shouts, but Hook turned, holding up an arm, “Stay back. Let’s hear what he has to say for himself.”

“It’s true.” Lord Fallowell closed his eyes and nodded.

“I didn’t have a choice. She swore she would stop trying to break through Marin’s protections as long as we kept sending them.

If you could’ve seen her power…It was only a matter of time, and then the whole city would’ve fallen.

It wasn’t meant to be forever. I thought you would’ve come sooner… ”

“My uncle took that trolley!” a man shouted.

“I swore to my son going would give him a better life!” another woman sobbed.

Duncan, Hook, and Billy joined arms and created a human wall to keep the swelling crowd from coming for him, but it was all background noise as I stepped closer and held his gaze.

“And if I couldn’t complete the trials? Would you have done as you swore to me last night and fought by my side when Almira came for us?”

His nostrils flared as he lifted his chin. “I’d have done whatever I could to protect this city, as I’ve always done. As I told you in the sanctuary. If I couldn't save them all, I’d do my best to save as many as I could.”

Meaning he’d have turned us over to her and gone back to being a flesh peddler for Almira, and in that moment, it was as if I saw him for exactly who he was for the first time. Willy Fallowell was a small, weak man.

Not just this version of him—but my father too.

All those years of Druzilla and her idiot sons treating me like garbage, and he’d let it happen.

All those years of me loving him anyway.

Worshipping him, even. Defending him to anyone who’d listen.

But he didn’t deserve it then, and this even more pitiful version of him damn sure didn’t deserve it now.

I moved closer, unable to stop my voice from rising. “You traded their lives for your own comfort and ease. So you wouldn’t have to lead when a leader was so desperately needed. So you didn’t have to fight a battle that desperately needed fighting.”

Rage rose hot again in my gut. Most reserved for the people behind me who had lost someone they loved…a bit for the child that was me, who’d never known a living parent who would take a stand for her.

“Sometimes, a deal cannot be struck, Willy. Sometimes you have to draw a line in the sand for the people counting on you. Instead, you didn’t even give them the choice or the truth. You betrayed them all.”

Us all…

His Adam's apple bobbed. “For what it’s worth, when I saw you, I felt hope again after years of hopelessness. You have no idea how badly I wanted you to pass those trials. I prayed for it, and despite all this,” he gestured at the seething crowd and the remnants of his reign, “I wouldn’t change it.

Take what you’ve come for and draw your line in the sand, Harmony. ”

He reached into his jacket and pulled out a box, worn smooth from age.

“The safe was unlocked, and this is what was inside. From your mother.” He held it out toward me. “I hope it brings you some peace.”

I accepted the wooden box, anger still burning beneath the surface. Duncan had made his way over, positioning himself between us and the increasingly rowdy crowd.

What happened to Lord Fallowell from here?

His fate was in my hands. If I left him to the mob, they’d tear him to pieces.

I wasn’t even sure if they’d be wrong to do it, either.

But I couldn’t let that happen. As deeply flawed as he was, there was also good in him, too.

He’d saved the birds of Emerald City, as well as many of its people from the witch’s wrath.

Just as my own father had saved me in the woods that fateful day he found me.

And I couldn’t bring myself to hate either one of them.

“Guards, come get Lord Fallowell and escort him out,” I called, then turned my attention to the crowd. “Anyone who harms him will answer to me. He’ll be tried in court like anyone else. Who is next in the line of power?”

Olga stepped forward, her eyes damp with tears that she swiped away. “I am.”

She’d been chilly to me in deference to her boss, but she seemed both smart and capable. “Put together a team of advisors. Include the guard there.” I jerked my chin toward the older guard from the training grounds, and she nodded.

“Warwick.”

“And three others of your choosing. Lead with honesty and integrity, and be aware, I will be watching you.” I threw my hand sideways, sending the braziers roaring back to life for effect as the crowd gasped. “Do not take this opportunity for granted.”

She bowed and stepped back as I turned to Hook, who had broken away from the chain as Fallowell was led away by the guards.

“I need a few minutes alone here. The three of you pack up and gather some provisions and as many weapons as you can carry.” I made my voice as sure and Queen-like as possible. “Tonight, we leave for C’an Saas.”

It wasn’t until I was alone that I dropped to the floor, legs trembling as I wondered how the fuck we were going to get there.

I just had to hope the answer was in the final prophecy. The last words my mother left for me...

I reached into my pouch and pulled out the other items I’d collected in my travels—the jeweler’s loupe and the magical clock— and I arranged them side by side. Then, I stared down at the wooden box in my lap.

It seemed impossible that something so small could hold answers so monumental.

With shaking hands, I lifted the lid and peered down to see a package wrapped in brown paper and a small scroll of parchment tied shut with a thin, red ribbon.

Tugging out the scroll, I set the box aside.

I held my breath as I untied the knot and unrolled the parchment… only to find that it was blank.

“Blank?”

I flipped it over, and then bent closer, illuminating the space around me with a flick of my hand.

“No. No no no no!”

I closed my hand over the parchment and let out a broken howl. All this time, all these lives, all the pain and sacrifice of so many, and my mother’s final words were…

Nothing?

The tears I’d been holding in for days came out in a rush, along with a grief so deep it pierced my soul.

Grief for the mother I’d met for the first time and lost, nearly in the same breath.

Grief for Nora Broomall, the witch who had given her life to give us a chance.

Grief for all the bright lights Almira had snuffed out here in Emerald City in her quest for power.

It was only when I heard the sounds of nails scratching against stone that I stopped and cocked my head.

Rats?

I stiffened, but then realized it wasn’t rats at all. It was the rhythmic scraping of a quill. I lifted my head to follow the sound only to find the wall already half-covered in black writing.

The same phrase in the same looping scrawl, repeated over and over.

There’s no place like home.

There’s no place like home.

There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home There’s no place like home There’s no place like home There’s no place like home There’s no place like home There’s no place like home There’s no place like home…

I leapt to my feet and wheeled around, heart hammering. Was it Gayelette sending me a message from C’an Saas?

Hairs on the back of my neck prickled as I stepped closer, squinting through shadows as I caught sight of it…

the quill bobbing as it scratched away at light speed.

I turned to look back at the open box on the floor.

The wrapped gift inside was gone. The box was empty, except for the torn swatch of brown paper.

This was the gift from my mother. The quill and ink. Had she enchanted it to deliver this message to me before she died?

It was only when I was nearly touching the wall that I saw it in the dim light. The thin filaments of magic—silky, living threads that spilled from my fingertips, wrapping around the quill, guiding it into a familiar script.

It wasn’t Gayelette or my mother doing this.

It was me.

I staggered backward as I stared down at my hands. I’d sensed it growing inside me since my mother had helped me free it. It had gone from feeling like a dying ember to a rising sun.

Fear of the unknown…doubts about what I knew was supposed to come next, made me want to wait for the others. Ask them if it felt right. But I knew this was my choice, and mine alone.

Breathing slow and deep, I reached out, capturing the quill and inkpot from midair. Their magic thrummed softly against my palm, warm and comforting. A sense of certainty filled me—my path clear for the first time.

I sat back down on the stone floor and stuffed everything back into my pouch before smoothing the wrinkled, blank parchment out in front of me. Then, I dipped the quill, pressed pen to paper, and closed my eyes as the prophecy flowed out of me.

It played like a familiar song in my mind even as I wrote…

The time has come to leave the story,

And return C’an Saas to its former glory,

With her she brings the Guardians three,

Sister in spirit, found family,

A charming prince, a captain’s crew,

A band of rogues, to name a few,

And once, ding dong, the witch is dead,

They’ll restore the blood this land has bled,

Dawn will rise, a blossom’s kiss,

A hunter’s bounty, nature’s bliss,

No place like home, a sight unseen,

Daughter, tinker, good witch, queen.

The moment that last word poured from my hand, I dropped the quill and ink, and a bolt of something that felt like lightning shot through me, and my back arched as I tried to absorb it in vain.

Then I was floating, to the ceiling and beyond. Hurtling through the sky, through time and space itself. I looked down to see The Emerald City winking far below me, and I could’ve screamed.

Instead, I lifted my arms to the heavens, tapped my crimson boots together, and whispered the words beating in my heart.

“There’s no place like home…”