Page 25 of Jeweler to the Blessed (Champions of Chaos #1)

The firstborn’s grand plans crumbled with the discovery of chaos

— FROM CHAMPIONS OF KAVIOS

T he towering entrance to the Oldwood Mine was even more impressive than I imagined. Alaric had described it to me—I’d read about it in his history books—the real thing was better.

With doors so tall I had to crane my neck, the width was as massive as that of the castle entrance. It seemed excessive. Even today, with wagons of quartz coming out, only one side of the doorway was open, and it was more than enough space.

I hadn’t thought the mines would be so grand, but with a copse of trees surrounding the entrance, it had an air of mystery, of majesty. I wished Alaric were here, so I could experience it with him.

Satisfied there was no one around to attack me, Hart left me to my gawking while he alerted someone to our presence. Tamara and Gregory, the Blessed foreman and her right-hand man, returned with him.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” Tamara said. “You’ve missed the break. Now we’ll have to take you down past active sites.”

Her tone didn’t imply that she cared for my safety, more that she was disgusted by the inefficiency of it all.

“Follow me and stay close. We go to the deepest part of the mine.” Immediately, she turned on her heel and led us through the door.

Hart took his place at my back as we began the descent.

We had a long walk, giving me time to stew on our recent transaction.

I couldn’t believe he demanded a future favor for the youngleaf .

How Alaric trusted him when he’d been so quick to take advantage of the situation was beyond me.

Had he leveraged my sick mother against me?

I would need to talk to Alaric about his friend choices when he returned.

The thought sent a pang through my chest, like some part of me knew I wished for things I had no hope of getting. I buried my churning emotions and focused on the walk.

Keeping steady as I followed Tamara’s quick pace was more challenging than anticipated. The main path was wide, with room for carts and miners to walk side-by-side. She took us past multiple dig sites, and each path had two more offshoots to explore.

The mine was massive, which shouldn’t have surprised me.

So many of the citizens were employed here.

I knew the operation was extensive. The scale of the sprawl had my mind spinning.

Our descent appeared to head west, and paths veered south.

Did the path eventually return to Kavios?

I hadn’t seen any maps of the mine layout in Alaric’s books.

They must stretch beneath the Oldwood at least .

Lanterns hung in regular intervals on the path.

This journey would be far more treacherous without what little light they offered.

Too many people on these paths had worn them down.

Combined with the dampness of the caves, I slipped twice as we journeyed deeper.

As we continued to descend, I let my hand drag against the wall.

My fingers grazed the cold dirt. When had I taken off my glove?

“Emberline.”

The voice. The one from the Oldwood.

I sucked in a breath as my foot slid again on the packed surface.

Hart’s presence at my back threatened to invade my space. His arm was outstretched, as if to toss me toward the wall instead of allowing me to fall into the open expanse. My breathing was heavy—it matched his.

I met his gaze over my shoulder. The fierceness there made me want to flee. He opened his mouth.

Gregory turned, hearing the disturbance. “Careful.”

“Don’t slow us down,” Tamara said.

I slid my glove on and rolled my neck carefully, collecting myself. Hart pulled back his arm and shook his head.

“Fucking Chaos.” His words were so low, only I could hear him.

My mind was elsewhere. I needed to focus. These mines were dangerous, even without the increase in earthshakes. I swallowed my fear and kept walking. Living long enough to discover how the Jeweler to the Blessed sourced the adamas kept me focused.

We turned farther west as the path split again. Now, it felt like we were walking into an enclosed tunnel instead of having the expanse on the right side in which to fall. This didn’t ease my worries as I considered a cave-in like the one only days ago .

The path finally ended at another large door. It was not quite as massive as the entrance.

Tamara gestured to a pile of gems and a cart beside the door. “These stones need separating.”

“I just put the quartz into the cart?” The cart had a clear label. “What do I do with the adamas?”

She gestured to my bag. “You will report the adamas you find but take it with you.”

My mouth turned down, and my gaze narrowed on the door. Sorting already cut gems wasn’t what I wanted to do. Somehow, I knew that whatever was behind that door was what I wanted to learn about. That had to be where they found the adamas.

“I was under the impression I had to select the site to be mined. If I had to separate something already prepared, why not bring it to me in the city?” I used my best researcher’s voice.

One I had used on Alaric when he started an argument about history with few facts.

It begged the question, why are you wasting my time with this?

Tamara was unimpressed. “Prince Elias sent you. I suggest you take any questions up with him.” Her dismissive tone had a bite I had yet to perfect.

My gaze moved again to the pile of gems. Did they expect so little adamas from this stack? I knew adamas was rare, but my bag wouldn’t hold much, and the pile was as big as I was.

“Will this be all she’s doing?” Hart asked. “Elias mentioned she’d need to come back. If this is all you require, we might not need to.”

Tamara leveled a glare at Hart that, even in the lamplight, needed no clarification. It wondered whose side he was on in this debate.

Tamara spoke of me as if I weren’t even there. “If she proves successful at this task, others will be given to her. We’ll give you an hour here. Any longer, and you won’t make it back before dark.” She glanced at Hart like this was his problem. “We’ll discuss anything further after the Cornucopia.”

With no further instruction, Tamara and Gregory disappeared into the paths. I couldn’t imagine it was worth their time to return to the surface before collecting us again, but presumably, they had other duties within the mines.

What other tasks would she deign to assign me if I proved myself worthy with this one? The discussion rankled me. I almost didn’t want to sort the stones out of spite. The rational part of me knew that would be counterproductive to my goals.

If I didn’t do it, they would make Father try, and they would stop searching for Alaric.

I wasn’t that naive. If I didn’t respond to the prince’s honeyed words, I was sure Vaddon would threaten violence next. I picked up the first stone—it was hot, not simply warm. I quickly set it aside as adamas.

“How did you know that?” Hart picked up a stone and rolled it in his palm before dropping it back into the pile.

I shrugged and tossed him one piece of quartz and the adamas. “Do they feel the same to you?”

He tilted his head. “Do they not to you?”

Alaric had told me no one else could sense the stones like we could, but I’d never tested anyone else. Hart seemed to stare at the stones before mumbling something and shaking his head.

I took that for my answer. “I just know I guess.”

He returned the stones and stepped toward the large door. A brief glance over his shoulder told me he knew this was ill-advised. He did it anyway, tugging at the large handle.

The door didn’t budge. It was locked.

“Eris curse him. ”

It was unclear who Hart cursed or why. I wished he’d keep his voice down when being blasphemous.

“You should be careful with your curses.” I picked up another stone.

He bowed gallantly. “I wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities.”

I shrugged. “It’s your funeral.”

He was behind me again before I realized he’d moved. “Does that bother you? That I’d no longer be here to keep you safe?”

I stepped away under the guise of picking up another stone. It was the warmth I was familiar with. “I’m bothered that anyone could be killed for their beliefs.”

“Even a Blessed?” He picked up another stone and tossed it into the air. Catching it, he threw it again. His action relayed a casual air, as if it was an offhanded question and my answer was unimportant, but there was a tension in his stance that had been missing only moments ago.

I hadn’t realized what I’d implied. The fact that, for even one moment, I hadn’t thought of him first and foremost as a Blessed was concerning.

Then, I considered his question. Every Blessed accepted power in exchange for King Rodric’s rules.

They knew what they were signing up for, and they did so willingly.

My mind strayed to the story of the Blessed child fleeing the city before accepting her Selection.

I liked to think it was true—that there were means for escape, even for those who grew up only knowing the trappings of the Blessed.

I didn’t know Hart’s history. Maybe his entire family was Blessed, and he didn’t know how to leave.

Perhaps he liked the power. Maybe he had no one and was simply looking out for himself.

The real question was whether any of that mattered.

Should I condemn him for that one decision? Were the Blessed capable of change?

I liked to think change was possible.

Images of Blessed stealing citizens from the streets, taking, filled my mind.

Hart grunted. “I’ll take that to mean you’ve reconsidered. And I’m allowed to curse using whichever goddesses I please.”

I didn’t respond as I bent to sort another gem. I hated that he had me considering my position. It was something usually only Alaric invited. Sorting another stone—quartz—my stomach bottomed out at the thought of how much I wished Alaric were here.

I’d be moving into his room tonight. It was more overwhelming than I’d taken time to consider. I felt so lost without him. In the mine. In this role. With the Blessed. At every turn, I was presented with a new … choice … but none of them felt like choices at all.

Alaric always seemed to know precisely what to do.

We continued silently until I dropped the last stone into the quartz cart. I only had a handful of adamas pieces, as Tamara had indicated.

Gregory returned and led us back to the surface.

The worksites we passed were now inactive, but every one of them had carts filled with quartz.

These were the production levels I was familiar with.

This mine was responsible for quartz distributed across the other two kingdoms on the continent.

It was in high demand in both Linia and Aven.

I’d read Linia’s throne was made entirely of quartz.

I swallowed as we neared the entrance. Would I ever see Linia as I’d originally planned?

The shift must have finished. Miners trudged up the paths ahead of us.

“Is that enough for your commissions?” Gregory nodded toward my bag, now filled with adamas.

“I can get started with it. I’ll need more to finish.”

“Good. We’ll expect you back after the Cornucopia.”

I guess I’d passed this test.

My nerves grated to hear Macen’s voice in the group before us. We’d joined the miners leaving for the day on the return walk through the Oldwood. There was safety in numbers.

I tucked my chin, making myself small, like I would in any group. Instead of avoiding the Blessed, I was avoiding Macen’s notice. I didn’t know what I’d say to him.

Why had he set me up? Did he want me dead? We may not be anything to each other anymore, but I’d never considered murdering him—unless we were counting now.

“Is that the little prick you knew from the side street?” Hart asked under his breath.

He hadn’t said much to me since we’d left the mines. I didn’t know if he was upset with my response to his question about the Blessed. It was best if I didn’t know—didn’t care.

Hart had made his choice the minute he accepted the adamas.

“Emberline!” Macen waved.

He waved?

My eyes must have doubled in size. Was he saying hello like he didn’t try to have me killed last night? I couldn’t find an appropriate response as he slowed his steps, walking beside me.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

Hart and I were already trailing the others. We were far enough behind the group of miners that I didn’t contain my response. “Are you serious right now?”

I rarely let my emotions flare in public like this. I was reasonably confident in Hart’s declaration that he wouldn’t take from me. There was no question in my mind that he would stop anyone else who tried. Not that there was anyone around besides my idiotic, magic-less ex.

Hart’s hand twitched like he would take action.

“I’ve got this,” I said under my breath.

“What are you upset about?” Macen genuinely looked befuddled.

I gently tugged off my glove. Had I found this easygoing charm endearing at some point? Before answering my mental rhetorical question, I turned and slapped his face. The crack of my palm connecting with his skin was one of the most satisfying sounds I’d heard today. “You tried to have me killed!”

I didn’t need to dance around it. Hart had reported the Feared had found me. It was a miracle Macen hadn’t been arrested.

“You weren’t in real danger,” Macen said, rubbing his cheek.

My mouth hung open. “Are you joking? Macen. That man wanted me gone.”

“Gone, not dead.”

Replacing my glove, I shook my head. I couldn’t comprehend what he thought the difference was. “Don’t come near me again.”

Macen reached out like he’d grab my arm.

Truly, I considered stabbing him with my dagger. This seemed like a lesson he needed to learn. Hart was there before I could react.

Macen’s arm was twisted behind his back, and he had fallen to his knees. “I wasn’t?—”

A quiet rage seeped from Hart’s every word. “Her instructions were clear. Come near her again, and I’ll kill you.”

Macen swallowed. Hart leaned impossibly closer, twisting Macen’s arm even higher around his back. Hart whispered something I couldn’t hear.

“Yes, sssir,” Macen stammered.

“Get out of here,” Hart said, releasing his hold.

Macen shot forward, inserting himself back into the group.

“I said I had it.” I glared at Hart.

He shrugged. “What can I say? You inspired me, Chaos.”