Page 47 of Jeweler to the Blessed (Champions of Chaos #1)

Her breaking point will be the city. His will be her.

— FROM CHAMPIONS OF KAVIOS

T he doors clanged loudly behind me as they closed. The echo cascaded across the length of the marble floor. I had nowhere to go but forward, even though the face that stared back at me was anything but welcoming.

I assumed the Blessed saw King Rodric regularly in situations much like this.

I imagined rows of chairs covering the floor.

Blessed in attendance to show their gratitude and hear their king’s words.

Monthly sessions for the Blessed to mingle with royalty.

Those without magic invited would have found themselves behind the curtains with a Blessed needing to take.

Not even Serena attempted to garner an invitation to these events.

She said she was quite happy with the pleasure brought from Forest’s Edge.

There was no need to add impressing royalty into the mix.

King Rodric did not look impressed at my approach.

I should have assumed this was coming. Alaric had missed a meeting with the king on the day he disappeared. It was the reason Vaddon had found me. The thought inserted itself into my mind like a rude guest.

Vaddon drew my gaze as I crossed the chasm of a room with slow steps. I pressed my hands against my side to stop myself from twitching. I need not show how nervous I was. Even if they needed me—even if the prince had forbidden anyone from taking from me—all bets were off with the king.

Better not to give him a reason to try.

The king’s advisor was with the guards. Even farther removed from the dais than Prince Elias. He apparently couldn’t stop his arms from folding over his chest at my approach.

I swallowed and continued my strides across the marble floor. My focus was on the only question worth answering. What did the king want with me? Was this truly to test my skills with the adamas?

He sat stalwart on his throne, cutting an imposing figure.

One hand scratched at the silver-flecked beard on his face, and the other draped lazily over the armrest. The magic of the Blessed was at Rodric’s disposal, but still, he let his hair gray.

It was an interesting move. One I assumed was intended to further impress his power.

The salt and pepper color didn’t make him look old but refined.

Where the prince inspired love and joy from the citizens of Kavios, the king used his legend.

He’d built this city with his father two hundred years ago.

He let his age show to inspire confidence, fear, and loyalty for all he’d done since then.

Too bad the rest of the city didn’t know what he really did to them.

Finally, my gaze moved to the crown atop King Rodric’s head. Eight triangle points topped the gold circlet. What stole my focus was the gem fixed to the center triangle … it was glowing.

Green light filled the room. He hadn’t yet spoken and already wasted the adamas’s stored magic. If nothing else, the king was confident in his ability to harvest more.

The king studied me just as intently as I did him. I took care not to let my gaze linger on the gem’s color. They knew I could find the adamas. I didn’t know what else they knew about my abilities. Giving them more information to lord over me was not my goal.

“You’re right, Elias.” King Rodric didn’t bother to glance at his son. “She does appear to have Alaric’s spark.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but the king’s voice exuded confidence.

My steps slowed, and I attempted a curtsy. It wasn’t much better than the one I’d tried in the prince’s study.

“Rise, child,” he said. “Do you know why you’re here?”

The green glow of the ring didn’t falter.

I glanced at the prince and gripped the satchel still slung across my body. “I understood I needed to provide the adamas to Prince Elias before the Presentation.”

I didn’t want to leave anything out lest he think his magic wasn’t working.

A smile briefly crossed his face. It felt as fake as it was fleeting. “I hear you’re quite good with adamas. The Presentation must go well. Even with our reassurance at the Cornucopia, rumors of the Cursed King still spread.”

I wouldn’t precisely call lulling the populace into a magic-drenched calm the same as reassurance . But that was just me .

“The people need more hope—more happiness to latch on to during the Selection.” He stroked his chin. “Do you know why your uncle lied to us about your talents?”

The shift in topic was unexpected. I couldn’t follow how one connected with the other in his mind. No matter how much I wanted to glance at the prince to glean his expression, I didn’t dare. The adamas in the crown still glowed green. It required a response.

“I didn’t know, Your Majesty. Many knew I apprenticed with him regularly.”

The king rolled his eyes. “Being a jeweler and being a jeweler who can find adamas are very different skill sets. He hid the more important of the two.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Thankfully, King Rodric hadn’t asked another question.

He stroked his beard again. His gaze finally left mine and fell to his son. “Elias speaks highly of your capabilities.”

I dipped my chin in acknowledgment. Until this moment, I’d been feeling very confident about the stones, but now I wiped my sweaty palms briefly against my skirt.

He held out his hand. “Let me see the gems.”

I didn’t dare approach. The prince stepped toward me. His lip tipped up into a forced smile. Interesting that he appeared as intimidated by his father as I was. I pulled the gems from my bag and placed them in his cupped hands. He scaled the dais, holding them out for his father’s review.

“Send the girl in,” Rodric said.

Vaddon opened another large door near the front of the room. A young woman hesitantly stepped in. She curtsied immediately. My stomach churned, putting together what my mind hadn’t yet.

Her long brown hair fell in soft curls down her back as Vaddon led her to the dais. She looked older than me, but only just. Rodric removed his crown, handing it to Vaddon, and plucked a single gem from the prince’s palm as she neared.

I couldn’t watch this. My confidence in my skill collided with the horror at what I’d done. I wanted to vomit.

The woman approached carefully as Vaddon gestured her forward.

She curtsied again the closer she got to the king. “It’s an honor to be used, Your Highness.”

The breath I’d been holding let loose. At least she wasn’t fooling herself about what she was getting into. No matter my morbid curiosity at my own skill with the gems, I still didn’t want to watch as the king’s hand snaked out and grabbed her wrist.

I found I couldn’t look away.

Her words weren’t false. The gem Rodric held shifted to yellow flashes as he stole joy from the woman.

He held firm as he reached for another stone, swapping them out in his palm.

Each gem he tested continued to pull emotion from the woman.

Her joy turned to pleasure the longer he took.

The last two gems flashed orange instead of yellow.

Satisfied, the king waved the woman away. Vaddon looked murderous as she took his arm, needing support to retrace her steps down the dais.

They’d all worked.

Not only could I source the adamas, I had shaped it into the powerful stone.

While a part of me had known I’d done it based on the feel of the stones as I worked them, the horrifying reality of seeing my stones hold magic sent a shiver through me.

I needed to get out of here. My legs felt like they could buckle at any moment.

“Very good,” the king said. “We have another request for you.”

My stomach still roiled. I hoped desperately that Hart and I could free the captive tomorrow night.

If even a sliver of me had been considering Hart’s path, working against Rodric from the inside, everything within me raged against it now.

I couldn’t turn the gems over for the Blessing, even in service of a larger goal. Not when they were used for this.

The woman may have known what she was there for and even enjoyed it, but the power imbalance still stood. There was no freedom of choice when the king controlled our fates as he did.

He continued speaking, oblivious to my thoughts. Rodric returned his circlet to his head, ensuring the adamas gem faced me. “My crown requires more jeweling.”

The gem was already one of the largest I’d seen. The crown was much larger and sturdier than a ring. It was similar to the pendants, holding a more substantial gem.

How much more magic did he need?

As soon as I asked myself the question, I knew what he wanted.

The crown’s design made it obvious. My head tilted as I considered how each of the points of the crown could hold its own gem.

I was already calculating in my mind…there were eight points.

The extra raw material Gregory had mined made sense even as understanding sent a chill up my spine.

“I require a gem for each point on the crown.”

It wasn’t as if I could refuse him, but he proceeded to try to convince me.

“This piece will be the ultimate test of your skill. So many gems in so small a space for one bearer. Do you know what that does?”

I couldn’t imagine what so much power would do. How many would he take from to fill them all? How many emotions? How many years from their lives would it be? I shook my head slowly in response.

He seemed happy enough to tell me. “You will be personally ensuring the protection of Kavios. The defense of the Kingdom will no longer be a worry.”

His smile showed too many teeth for me to believe the response.

Was it a worry to begin with? I weighed what I was supposed to think versus what I knew of the other kingdoms on the continent. We controlled adamas production, but as I’d recently learned, champions didn’t need adamas to wield magic.

I’d thought Kavios was protected because of the magic—and I was sure that was true, to some extent. Magic and the natural landscape of mountains and the Oldwood didn’t make it an easy target. But what if another champion wanted the stones in their city?

Hart had said Chaos’s Champion ruled Linia, but I had no idea about Aven. Maybe they considered Rodric’s idea to impose order to be a good one. My hand grew unsteady at the thought.

There was also the more obvious answer: Rodric feared the Cursed King and the rebels. In his mind the city may need protection from internal threats as much as external.

As if on cue, a blue glow overtook the gem. “All will be well. Kavios will be safe. You will assure it.”

I nodded slowly, allowing my body to mimic one of the citizens impacted by the calming drug of his magic. This was too much power. I’d already seen what the king could do to Kavios. The way he wrapped a soft blanket of calm over the city at the Cornucopia.

His magic was too strong. It removed the citizens’ ability to think, the ability to consider their fears and their joys. It wasn’t enough that he took their emotions. He also took away their ability to feel.

The irony was not lost on me. I’d started hiding my feelings long ago, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

They were becoming increasingly insistent in recent days—demanding to be felt.

There was my anger the night of the Selection Festival, my fear of Vaddon’s attackers, my anger at the captive’s fate in the mines.

And then there was every emotion Hart provoked that I still refused to acknowledge.

Just because I didn’t wear them on my sleeve didn’t mean all citizens of Kavios didn’t have a right to.

I envied those who laughed as easily as they cried and those who weren’t afraid to show their heart or mind to everyone they deemed worthy.

I’d created this wall around myself that was taller than the castle towers. It was formed of harder stone than the gems we painstakingly carved from the mine. It meant that nothing was visible to tempt the Blessed, but it also meant not much got in.

It worked for me—or at least, it had been working.

It had been too long since I’d replied. The king had said I was contributing to the defense of Kavios.

There was only one response to that. I dipped my chin and slipped into another curtsy.

The less I said at this moment, the better.

I could hide things, but I was no actor.

If I tried to speak disingenuously, it would be to the detriment of whatever plan I devised not to do this.

And I wouldn’t do this—my decision had solidified.

Prince Elias stepped down from the dais, returning the gems to my hand. My nostrils flared. I felt dirty reclaiming them, disgusted by what I’d done—what they’d been used for.

“We’re glad you agree, Emberline. I know you have much to do with setting the stones, but we’d like this piece as soon as the Blessing is complete.”

I nodded again. There was no other response. The prince’s words were gentle, but they weren’t a question.

“You’ll be well rewarded for this, Emberline.” The king looked down over the prince and me at the foot of the dais .

I didn’t contemplate what it meant. It was the dismissal I needed. Turning on my heel, I walked more briskly across the floor than I had upon entering.

“We’re excited to see what you can do.” The king spoke to my back as the guards opened one of the doors and let me slip into the hallway.