Page 70

C HAPTER 70

C autiously, Lor and I rise to our feet with our hands clasped. Cheers greet us from every side, mingled with boos and hisses. Herric watches us from his box. Everything has shifted, so they’re closer now, forming a circle around the mountaintop.

Is this all an illusion? How is any of this possible?

I don’t really care. None of that matters. All that matters is Lor and getting us out of here. I capture her face between my hands and kiss her deeply as the crowd’s chants swell to a crescendo, their feet stamping so hard I feel it vibrate where we stand.

Perhaps no one can resist a love story.

And if we survive this, ours will be one for the ages .

Lor pulls away and blows out a relieved breath.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“I’m fine,” I say with a wince as I attempt to rotate my shoulder. “Go and get the rose.”

She nods and then runs across the plateau and leaps for the flower.

Suddenly, I’m seized from behind, my arms pinned behind my back as I grunt in pain.

I watch as the rose melts into the air, and Lor lands in a crouch.

“What the—” She spins around to face me, her eyes widening. I’m being held by two massive trolls wearing beaten leather armor. I’ve never seen one before, but I know they dwell in the deepest caves of the Beltza Mountains and are constructed of brute strength and vicious tempers. One wrenches on my bruised shoulder, and I fall to my knees with a cry.

“Let him go!” she shouts at Herric. “We made it! Let him go!”

Herric laughs, and my chest caves with the disappointment of knowing I was right about him all along.

“Perhaps I changed my mind,” he says.

“We have a bargain!” Lor spits.

She lifts her arm, brandishing the silvery mark on her palm like a shield.

He shrugs and waves his fingers. There’s a flash of light, and I see the silver dissolve from her skin. She stares at her hand, open-mouthed, while I fight uselessly against my captors.

She turns to look at me, her chest heaving with anger. Her hair is wild, standing on end, and her eyes burn with the sum force of her rage.

I’m going to use my magic.

We need the ark first. We can’t leave here without it.

She drops her hands and stamps her foot, screaming out a sound of frustration.

“So this was all for nothing?” she shouts at Herric. “Why did you do this?”

“It wasn’t for nothing,” Herric replies. “ I had fun.”

“You fucking asshole!” She cries so loud her voice cracks, her hands squeezed into fists.

He places a hand against his chest. “My dear. I’m the Lord of the Underworld. What were you expecting? I admit, I assumed you’d lose and make this easy, but you just had to go and be clever, didn’t you?”

She takes a slow step towards him, her fists still clenched. “You can’t make me destroy it.”

“Then he dies,” Herric says, gesturing to me.

“Then I won’t do it! You know that.”

He shrugs again. “I think . . . I’ll call you on that bluff.”

He licks the tip of his finger and holds it up as though he’s testing for the direction of the wind. “The odds feel like they’re blowing in my favor.”

Lor snarls, and I can feel her magic responding to mine. It rises to the surface, threatening to burst from her fingers.

Lor, stay calm. You can’t let him see your magic yet.

She rolls her neck and flexes her fingers, and I feel her power sink lower, simmering just under her skin instead of boiling over .

Good girl.

“Make him bleed,” Herric says, and a dagger is placed against my throat.

“I’ll destroy you!” Lor screams.

“How?” Herric gestures. “You’re in my domain without your magic. You are nothing unless I decide to free you.”

I hold my breath, feeling the edge of the blade bite into my neck. It’s then that I notice my father inching towards Herric. He’s looking not at me but at Lor. I’m so used to my father’s mask of imperviousness, his cold stares, and his complete indifference, and what I see in his face makes me go still.

I notice a woman seated on his other side. She’s stunning, with long dark hair, but with those same vacant eyes of the dead.

My father glances away from Lor and then at the woman, and something breaks in his expression. I can’t puzzle out what I’m seeing. Who is she? I remember the scribbled phrases in his notes, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before.

My father slides closer to the lord while he and Lor continue to argue, and my head fills with static as I watch.

His gaze flicks to me and then back to Lor before everything slows down.

The king of The Aurora—the man who has never once shown me an ounce of kindness—reaches for Herric, yanks the ark from his belt, and then . . . tosses it.