Page 45 of Jeweler to the Blessed (Champions of Chaos #1)

I have an idea to test. It will buy them more time.

— ALARIC SARE’S LETTERS TO ISABELLE ARKOVA

T he next day, when we entered the workshop, Hart was quiet. I still didn’t have the words to adequately describe how I felt, so I focused on planning instead. Someone was trapped in the mines, and they needed me to free them.

Whether she meant to or not, Alysa had given me hope with her transparency. There was another entrance to the mines—old and defunct, maybe, but it existed. Which meant I could get into the mines during the limited hours when no one was on shift.

The real problem would be getting into the adamas cavern. Hart had pulled at the door the first time we were left alone outside it. It hadn’t budged. Since I still didn’t know where his adamas was, I had no idea if he used magic to fuel his strength when he did.

I’d have to ask him. It would be my only chance of getting in. I opened my mouth to ask about the somewhat sensitive subject.

He beat me to it with his own question. “Can I see the note Alaric left you?”

“Go ahead.” I gestured toward the hidden room.

Hart parted the gold curtain, walking to where the shelf opened with the hidden latch. He’d seen me do it a few days ago, but the way he reached the exact right location behind the books told me he’d done it before.

“Did you study with Alaric too?” I asked.

“In a manner of speaking.”

“Was this part of the project he researched for you?”

Hart ignored my question and walked into the storage space.

I sighed. “It was in his copy of Champions of Kavios .”

Silence followed my words. I walked toward the door and saw his fingers running along the edges of the text.

“He never let me read this one. He always claimed he didn’t have it. I knew, of course.”

“But you?—”

“What? Procured his collection for him? Yes—but this one couldn’t be purchased.”

“Why?”

I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but I could tell he wanted to share something with me.

Hart chuckled. “It’s the only copy in existence.”

“What?”

He pushed back the strands of hair that had fallen from his knot. “You don’t strike me as someone who believes in prophecy, even as it unfolds before you. But I believe, as Alaric does, that some of what’s written here is history, and the rest is foretold about the Cursed King and Eris’s Champion.”

He did sound like Alaric. But still, the way he glanced at me, it made me want to ask questions I’d never bothered to ask my uncle. “Foretold by whom?”

It was unclear why that was important, but the slight smoothing of his brow as he leveled his gaze to meet mine told me I was on the right track with my question.

“A talented seer.”

That didn’t really answer my question. I also wasn’t sure his assessment of me was right anymore. Previously, I was on the fence about the book holding true prophecy, but I had to admit that seeing the Cursed King’s nightmare magic in action had certainly been convincing.

I knew his collection was rare, but this seemed extreme. “Why would Alaric have the only copy in existence?” I asked.

“I wondered the same thing, but over time, I was sure he had it.” He tilted his head. “When I first met you, I wondered if that’s why he protected you. Maybe you were the author.”

I shook my head.

Another face popped into place. The same blond hair that made mine and Alaric’s familial bond all but obvious, though hers was now gray.

Mother’s ramblings that somehow made perfect sense.

Her comment about my guard. The things she couldn’t know.

Before her accident, had she been this seer?

It was a leap, but knowing everything Alaric had kept from me, it no longer seemed like a big one.

Hart didn’t question any evidence of the revelation on my face. I wondered if he’d made the same assessment once he’d decided it wasn’t me. Alaric’s note slipped into his fingers as he opened the front cover.

His gaze skimmed the short note. “Do you still want to leave?”

He hadn’t asked so directly yesterday. After our trip to Alysa’s, he’d spoken of options, making sure I was aware of them, but he hadn’t asked what I’d pick.

“I’m not sure.”

“Alaric spent years collecting stories that showed what Kavios could be. He never accepted its current state. Never stopped fighting from the inside,” Hart said.

“But he still left,” I whispered.

“So he did.”

Hart set the book down and closed the storage room door. With long strides, he crossed the room to where I leaned against Alaric’s workbench. My fingers gripped the wood as he neared.

“He didn’t leave because he gave up. You know that, don’t you?” He held my gaze. “He left because he had hope. He wanted to show you how things could be.”

I tilted my head. That was oddly specific. “You said you didn’t know where he went.”

“I don’t know where he is, but that note also says ‘ if I’m not here .’ It doesn’t sound like he intended to be gone for so long.”

I was shaking now. “Then why is he not here? Why did he leave me to become the one thing he kept me from? Why didn’t he tell me anything about you?”

He lifted a hand like he’d reach for me, but at the last second, he instead ran it through his hair like he wanted to rip out every strand. “He’d want you to focus on what you wanted to ask as soon as we entered the shop.”

“You know who is in the adamas cavern?”

Hart’s gaze was piercing, but he gave a brief nod.

“Who is it?”

The shift of his gaze told me I wouldn’t get a straight answer before his mouth opened. “That’s not really the most important question.”

I hated that I agreed with him. The fact that I would free them was all that seemed to matter to me.

“Did you try using magic to open the door to the adamas cavern the first time we were there?”

He shook his head.

As much as I wanted to ask why, it also wasn’t the important part. “Will you help me free the captive?”

“There’s nowhere you can go that I won’t follow, Chaos.”

The comment was too raw. And echoed too strongly of what I’d told him of my parents’ relationship. I shook my head, loosing another question I’d turned over last night. “Would you do this if you were me? Or would you run?”

He tilted his head. “That’s not something I can answer for you. It’s for you to choose.”

I sighed, somehow knowing that would be his answer.

“Did something else happen?” he continued. “Did Alysa pressure you yesterday?”

Admittedly, our conversation about the settlement had been overshadowed by the Oldwood’s magic and my relinquishing control to it.

I shook my head. “She just gave me a lot to consider.”

He arched a brow. “Such as?”

I laughed as I recalled Alysa’s warning. While I couldn’t put my finger on what Hart wanted, it no longer worried me as much as it probably should. He’d proved he was on my side, even when it was clear he wasn’t sharing everything he knew about the captive. I trusted there was a reason.

Still, I shared Alysa’s question. “Inquiring minds want to know what drives you, Hart? What are you after?”

His chuckle was low and rumbling. He waved his hand dismissively. “She knows how to hold a grudge. Alysa and I have disagreed on priorities in the past.”

That was the crux of things, wasn’t it?

I gestured between us. “What happens when our priorities are no longer aligned?”

His brow furrowed as he searched my face. There was more consideration for the question than I expected.

“I’ll support whatever path you choose.” He swallowed like the statement held more meaning than I realized. “I’d hoped that was clear.”

The only thing that was clear was that my choices were growing by the minute, and Hart stood beside me at the crossroads.

This was what I’d wanted, the reason I’d shared my secrets with him.

Now that we were here, though, I couldn’t help but want more.

Maybe I didn’t just want information—I wanted his opinion too.

Opinions he seemed reluctant to share. I needed to know his reluctance didn’t have to do with our conversation about his magic.

“I don’t know why you hesitated yesterday when we talked about taking, but I see the man you strive to be.”

I wasn’t sure he was breathing. I’d started this, so I guessed I had to continue.

“I didn’t say anything yesterday, and it bothered me all night.

It wasn’t the fact that you are Blessed that concerned me; It was that I was so ready to use your power.

Seeing what you do in the city, I acknowledge the value you provide by leveraging your position.

I don’t know what made you choose the blessing, I don’t know when you decided to start choosing differently, but I see that you’re making choices every day that stand against what Rodric is doing. And that means something … to me.”

He held my gaze, and I felt a thousand things flash between us.

“You heard me yesterday? You’re not hiding from it?” He leaned into my space, his arms caging me against the workbench.

“I heard you. You take.”

He shook his head, stepping back. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I’m saying that I need your help and your perspectives. I might want to leave now that I know there’s somewhere safe for my parents, but I need to free the captive. Both require your assistance.”

He held my gaze as if weighing the sincerity of my words.

“I have a plan to free the captive—the night of the Masquerade,” I said. “We’ll need your magic to get in. But, if it doesn’t work, or I can’t have both, I want your opinions. I’ll want the information I know you’re not sharing.”

He dipped his chin and pulled out the stool, readying to work the foot pedal that powered the shaping blade.

“I also reserve the right to change my mind,” I added.

He smiled a real grin instead of his usual smirk. “As is your wont.”