Page 64 of Jeweler to the Blessed (Champions of Chaos #1)

An earthshattering roar was loosed in Hart’s direction.

More dots connected in my mind. “Hart—Sebastien—he’s why you’re here.” I was suddenly surprised the dragon hadn’t eaten Hart already.

“It’d be best to put your hand on him,” Hart said, ignoring my revelation.

“ Don’t rush her ,” Charon growled. “ And yes. The Cursed is the reason I’m here, though Alaric tells me he’s not wholly unredeemable, hence his ability to still draw breath. ”

He glared at Hart, and that time, I knew he spoke to Hart as well.

“You look like shit, Charon. Whatever Alaric tried didn’t work. ”

I glared at Hart. He knew this was where Alaric was headed.

“Why did he need to do anything? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“He needs Chaos’s magic,” Hart said.

The dragon—Charon, Hart had called him—growled again, flashing teeth at Hart. “ If there is anything you want to say to me you’d rather not say before the Cursed, just think it. ”

It was another reminder that everyone had known who Hart was but me. Charon must be able to control when he spoke only to me versus when he spoke to both of us.

“ Think of what you want me to know, and I’ll hear it ,” he said.

I didn’t need to hide things from Hart. He already knew everything, and if Alaric had been here, trying to save Charon, he deserved to know.

My head hung as I spoke the words. “Alaric is gone.”

Charon’s head hung with mine, even as he flashed his teeth at Hart.

“ Where do we stand with the Cursed? ”

Hart snorted, so I assumed that went to both of us.

I felt Hart’s gaze on me, though I couldn’t bring myself to meet it. “I don’t know.”

To cut off the conversation, I let quick steps take me across the cavern.

Charon lowered his snout as I moved. It wasn’t the pull of moth to flame, like what I experienced with Hart.

But something drew me closer, a string taut between us.

It was the same feeling I had when I entered the Oldwood before I submitted to its call.

“It’s your magic, not the Oldwood’s,” I said.

The rigid scales of his snout were within reach. It dipped in assent to my question. His nostrils flared at my approach, his lip curling, exposing teeth the length of my arm.

I pulled my glove from my hand and pressed it against him before fear overtook me .

“You’ve been calling to me for years.”

It was more of a statement, not a question. Charon seemed to understand. I thought of Mother’s replies when I spoke of my friend in the forest. It was just another way everyone in my life had kept things from me.

Under the guise of giving me a choice.

Heat consumed me when I made contact with Charon.

It was the heat of the adamas stone, the heat I’d dug for in the cold, hard ground of the Oldwood.

It connected us even as it burned through us.

I fell to my knees as emotion rushed through me.

His, mine, I couldn’t tell one from the other.

I gave him everything I had—everything I’d taken from Hart when we’d opened the door.

A scene from this cavern filled my vision. Alaric here, with Charon. A vial, very similar but much larger than what he prepared for Mother.

“ He tested the youngleaf on you? ” I asked through the connection.

“ He tested a great many things. ” Charon’s words were silenced as the image of Alaric being hauled away by guards sketched out between us.

Tears filled my eyes as the image moved to the one playing in my mind on repeat, even as I worked to suppress it: Alaric’s body crashing against the wall, Themis’s arms outstretched …

“ What are we doing about it, Champion? ” Charon’s voice was gravelly and filled with disgust at the sight of Themis.

“Ember, we need to get Charon out of here. We won’t have another chance.”

Shock must have shown in my wide eyes as I looked at Hart and then back at the entrance.

“He will fit. But he’ll need you to heal him afterward.”

I shook my head again, trying to clear my thoughts. I couldn’t focus on multiple conversations. “Where will we take him? He’s not exactly inconspicuous.”

“He won’t be so out of place in Linia.”

I turned to stare at Hart. “What?”

“There are other dragons in Linia. We just have to get him away from Kavios. You’ll need to use me to heal him as he comes through,” Hart said.

My heart constricted in my chest for Charon. He’d been trapped here for, what? Hundreds of years? And the first thing I did would cause him pain.

A completely different kind of panic set in as I realized the emotion I’d need from Hart to heal him: lust.

Hart’s usually taunting green eyes were dull as he watched the realization dawn on me. “He needs this.”

I shivered inadvertently, thinking about our night together—about the inconceivable pleasure of his touch. I hated myself as lust pooled low in my stomach. I wasn’t sure if it was worse to take lust from Hart or use my own.

“Why don’t you do it? Use what you already have from me.”

He shook his head. “He needs the magic to come from you.”

It was all so stupid. The magic might flow from my hand, but due to Themis’s curse, it would be Hart’s emotions that fueled it.

“ You will need to explain your relationship with the Cursed at some point. I don’t know if you want to fuck him or kill him. ”

“ I’ll let you know when I figure it out ,” I thought back.

Charon snorted.

Hart still moved carefully around Charon but after his declaration seemed relatively confident he wouldn’t be attacked. He followed me into position on the other side of the door.

“ We will be talking about this later. ”

I had known him for mere minutes, and already, I rolled my eyes at him.

Charon huffed and then started moving.

I could hear his scales scraping against the tunnel edges.

My shoulders tightened like I shared his pain.

He didn’t cry out, though his large teeth clenched, a muscle ticking in what had to be his jaw.

I tried not to look at Hart as I took his hand.

With my other, I reached for Charon as he stepped into the too-small opening.

Hart’s gaze said too much I refused to think about. The flare of our touch was incandescent. Charon’s wings pressed against the tunnel walls, and rocks fell around him as he worked to widen the parts he wouldn’t fit through.

“Almost there,” Hart said.

Something rumbled in the cave, and I realized it was Charon. He must be fitting through the tightest spot. I pushed more of the healing magic into him, hoping that every scrape and tear of his wings as they clenched to his sides would be immediately healed.

“ Thank you, Champion. ”

Finally, he pushed through. His wings spread as we made it through the tunnel and into the open path, although even the path we’d descended would be difficult for him to scale. It was not wide enough to fit the breadth of his legs.

“ I’ll manage .”

His magic shook the earth, leaving no question where the earthshakes had originated.

It shook until the fork that took us to the hidden passage collapsed.

I dropped Hart’s hand but let mine rest on Charon’s scales as we climbed.

The warmth I’d come to associate with the adamas was a comfort as it flowed between us until I’d emptied everything Hart had given.

I hadn’t even had a chance to get used to how I accessed my magic before it changed.

Only yesterday I could have used my own emotions to heal Charon as we walked.

Now, thanks to the goddess’s game and Themis’s idea of balance, I was wholly dependent on Hart’s emotions for magic. I could only take from him.

I didn’t want to think of it, but I couldn’t help comparing the connection with Charon to the one that flared when Hart and I touched.

When Hart touched me, there was heat, yes, but it was consuming, not comforting. And it was different with Hart when we’d left the throne room, different than what I’d felt last night.

Hart didn’t spare me a glance as we hiked up to the entrance. My mind returned to the words of Champions of Kavios— another line that seemed so straightforward: Her Champion will take until the point of breaking. As I considered it now, I wondered if Mother meant it for him or me.