Page 30 of The Cruel Dawn (Vallendor #2)

“I could burn down this town, and then travel to the next town and burn that down, too. Shall I write a primer to remind you who you’re talking so flippantly to?”

I smile without humor, and my nostrils flare as my hair scrapes the ceiling of this room.

“‘Laze about’? Beloved, you don’t want me to ‘laze about.’ I haven’t set out to willfully destroy shit in a very long time.

That would be my version of ‘lazing about.’ Not giving a fuck and just…

setting everything on fire without a care for who’s in that house or in that inn and then turning over in bed and falling asleep in the arms of a big, sexy god who builds me tubs and writes me songs.

That’s my ‘laze about.’ Do you want me to show you a working god?

An ambitious, overachieving, transcendent, and finicky Lady of the Verdant Realm? ”

I’ve watched friends die. I’ve seen whole towns destroyed. I don’t need this shit from her. Not today, not now.

In fiery, stony silence, I flop down gracelessly in the only chair in this small room and cover my face with my hands. I’m so tired. I take a deep breath, roll my head from one side to the other. The tightness in my chest and the headache that has spread to my entire body only grows worse.

“I thought you at least cared more about Jadon,” Philia says, quieter now. “The way you both looked at each other…”

“Just stop, Philia,” I say, blood draining from my face. “I don’t have and you won’t get the answers you want. The big storybook that Olivia stole. You have it. I need it. Now. Please. ”

“You broke your promise,” Philia says.

I cock my head. “What promise?”

“To rescue Olivia,” she claims.

I scan my memory. I’ll wring that bitch’s neck. I’ll crush all ten of her sticky fingers. I remember saying those things. I don’t remember ever saying, “I’ll rescue Olivia,” not once.

Philia’s eyes fill with defiance, and her face hardens with resolve.

“Then I won’t give you the book,” she says, chin lifted.

“It’s taken you forever to come back to Caburh for me.

And then, when you do show up, you don’t even have Olivia with you.

And now you expect me to give you something that belongs to her—? ”

“That book does not belong to her,” I say, my patience growing as thin as the walls of this room. I scan the area, and the air glitters around a chest hidden behind a screen. There’s an enchantment in that space, and it isn’t coming from the Renrians or from me.

Philia’s gaze follows mine, and her skin flushes. She nods, acknowledging the tension now filling this cramped room. “I’m guarding it,” she says, her voice low and steady.

“From what and for whom?” My gaze darts from the shimmering patch of air to Philia’s face. “You plan to give the book back to Olivia?”

Philia’s lips press into a thin line. “Umhmm.”

I pause, the weight of what I must do pressing against my chest. “You have no idea what’s at stake right now,” I say. “If you did, you would give me the book.”

She thinks about that and scrambles to the screen, opens the chest, and grabs the book. She clutches it to her chest like those out in the town square had clutched their swords.

I stay seated and prop my chin up on my fist. “You know…I can take that book from you right now without any effort.”

Her mouth pops into an O , but anger turns her eyes into jade shards. “Do it, then. Kill me and be the one everyone says you are.”

My ears hiss with her words. “And who am I?”

She swallows her words but still thinks them.

Evil. Devil. Maelstrom.

“Maelstrom?” I whisper.

That’s what Danar Rrivae said.

I close my eyes against my internal flood of fire, and I wait…and I wait…and I wait until I no longer hear my bones crackling with flames. Then I take the deepest breath I’ve taken since waking up in the Rim of the Shadows high above Gasho.

“Please, Philia,” I say, leaning forward.

“I need that book. You told me once, in that meadow near Duskmoor River, that your mother had always prayed to me, that I’d kept her family fed and healthy.

Do as I ask, for her.” I hold out my hands.

“You’re in danger. Maford, Olivia, the realm , is in danger—and this time, it’s not from me. ”

Philia considers my threat, clenches her jaw, and shakes her head again.

I leap up from my seat, take two steps across the room, and yank the book from her arms.

She yelps and clutches her elbows.

The book is heavy and solid, a symbol of its knowledge and power. The book’s leather cover is adorned with dark blue, rich purple, and shimmering silver jewels. A dazzling gem embedded in the middle of the cover catches the light, its color shifting between blues, purples, and silvers. WISDOM.

I run my fingers over that center jewel and the rough, textured leather. My head pounds as I kneel before Philia and say, “I’m sorry.” When she doesn’t respond, I kiss her forehead, stroke her damp hair, and lift her chin. “This is serious, and I don’t expect you to understand that.”

Her face quivers, and a teardrop plops onto the back of my hand. Her shoulders shudder as a sob escapes from her chest.

“I promise to rescue Olivia,” I say with great intent.

The young woman looks up to me, her eyes shiny with hope. “You said the word. You said ‘promise.’”

“Yeah. I did.” I sit back on my haunches.

“And once I rescue her, I’ll break her hands and wring her neck.

” I wink at the redhead, then turn my attention to the book.

The jewels around its edges glow, but the mysterious gem in its center shines brightest. Why does Gileon need this book?

He and his brother have already tried to usurp their father’s rule.

Could this gem help him succeed a second attempt?

I pluck Tempest from my ankle sheath. Maelstrom.

Tempest. Coincidence? and try to pry the silvery-blue gem from its setting.

No give.

“It’s locked in,” Separi says, now standing in the doorway. “It won’t reveal the truth behind the fairy tales.”

I shake my head. “I know, but I was hoping…” I drum my fingers against the book. “So if the truth remains locked… We need to take the ring from Syrus Wake, then?”

“No,” Separi says. “We must take the ring from Gileon Wake.” She lifts her right hand and waggles her ring finger. “He was wearing it on his last visit to the inn.”

Shit.

Guess I’m going to Brithellum after all.