Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“That’s what I said,” Kerrigan told Fordham. “I can control it.”
“We don’t know where it is, and even if we did, I no longer think we should use it. You said there would be a price, but you didn’t say it would burn out her goodness.” Fordham pointed his finger at Titania. “That was the price, was it not?”
Titania nodded. “One of many prices.”
“It won’t do that to me.”
“It might!” he raged. “We can win this war without it.”
“What of the one after that?” Kerrigan challenged. “And the one after that? Our history is all wars dating back as far as recorded history with the dragons. Let us end this once and for all.”
“Then I’m glad that we do not have the crown, for I could not agree to this.”
“I know you are angry, son of Samil, but what would you have done differently in your ancestor’s place? Irena did the best with her circumstances.” Titania put her hands behind her back. “I believed that she could control the crown, and I was wrong.”
“You could be wrong about Kerrigan as well.”
“She isn’t,” Kerrigan said. She looked back to Titania. “Do you know where it is?”
Titania hesitated a moment before saying, “No.”
“She cannot lie,” Fordham said.
“But you have a guess?”
Titania lifted one perfect shoulder. “As do you.”
“The same one, I’d wager.” Kerrigan turned away from them both. “This crown has been plaguing us since we discovered it from Ferrinix’s memory. It has already caused me irreparable damage. It has already stolen my father from me. If we must go after it again, then we should remember that it is likely to cause pain. Even if it does not steal my goodness, it is likely to steal something else.”
“Well said,” Titania said.
“Then you use it,” Fordham told the mother of the Fae.
“I cannot. We know that a Fae cannot wield it properly.”
“I can do it,” Fordham said, ignoring her. “I will wield it.”
Kerrigan looked back at her love. “I could never risk you.”
“So we can risk you but not me?”
“I have his blood. I have his magic. The crown is most likely to recognize me. That’s the point. Titania’s isolation was waiting for someone of his line to right the wrongs. She has done her time. She has paid her debt by her disappearing and then giving us the information we need to fix these things. This is what it has all led up to.”
“But—”
“You said that I had to lead,” she told him with tears in her eyes. “So let me lead.”
He took her hand in his and pressed a kiss to it. “I said I could not survive this without you too.”
“And that we would do it together,” she promised him.
“Yes,” he agreed. “Together.”
“Go with my blessing,” Titania said as she placed her hand on where theirs joined. “May you find the crown. May you wield it and win this war.”
Kerrigan nodded at her. “And then your isolation is over.”
Titania nodded once. She clapped her hands, and the magic dissolved all around them. Suddenly they were standing back on the outside of Titania’s magic in their snow gear.
Fordham cursed as they both adjusted to the freezing temperatures again. “Promise me something, Kerrigan. If we do not find the crown this time, we will leave this foolish burden behind.”
“Yes,” she agreed easily.
Because she knew where it was.
Chapter Fifty
The Metal Crown
A second later, Fordham jumped them out of the snow and back into the mountain cave. The riders were long gone, and only Aurelie remained. They recalled their dragons and were back in the skies within hours. Kerrigan argued for using her bangle, but Fordham insisted that they needed all the magic they could get. If she found the crown, then she couldn’t risk it.
It was nearly midnight when they landed back in the aerie. Aurelie headed to find her family. The poor girl was exhausted from the three quick flights, but she didn’t say so much as a word as she disappeared. They hadn’t told her what had happened on the mountaintop, neither of them trusting that it wouldn’t get out to the troops. It was suspicious enough that they’d fled right before they were supposed to be leaving for battle.
Thankfully no one else was in the aerie when they arrived so they didn’t have to make any explanations for their rushed return either. Dozan’s spies would likely whisper in his ear, but hopefully Kerrigan would be done with what needed doing before he heard.
“Well, we’re back,” Fordham said. “Where to now?”
“Down.”
They started down the long, winding steps inside Ravinia Mountain. She had lived here long enough that she had a better sense of direction. To think, the first time she had ever been here, she had been terrified that they’d kill her. Now she could walk the halls like it was her home—and soon she would be their queen. So long as they won.