Page 86 of Savage Crown
She couldn’t possibly know that, but I relayed the message anyway.
Kaelric fell silent for a beat, resigned to the fact that I was going to do this.
‘Tell her I love her, too, and thanks for avenging our family. And damn you, Brynn, for being so headstrong and independent,’he added.
I grinned.‘Sorry, submissive is not in my nature,’I tossed back, glancing into the cave to see only darkness.
I felt a tug at our bond, as if he was trying to pull me back to him by force, and then it went slack. Val was blocking him, and I think he knew it.
‘Okay,’he said finally.
‘Okay,’I agreed.
I wasn’t saying goodbye. I wasn’t saying what he meant to me, because there were no words. Before he could throw anything else across the thread between us, an order, a plea, I let the bond go slack. Not severed. Not gone. Just quiet. Muted enough that he couldn’t pull my attention or distract me. Without hesitation, I stepped into the cave that opened wide like a mouth, and instantly the sound changed. My footsteps echoed off the stone walls as Valkaryn burned yellow in my hands, lighting the way. A chill hung in the air.
I reached the back of the cave, where a large set of stairs was carved from what looked like pure iron ore. Valkaryn’s glow hit the shiny black stone and caused it to look wet and menacing. I swallowed hard, taking the steps one at a time as my stomach twisted into knots. When I reached the top, there was nothing, no floating crystal or fancy inlaid stone at the back wall. I was about to turn back when I felt a pull to look at my feet. There, a flat stone lay on the ground about four feet in diameter. It was greenish, with a vein of white running through the center of it,and so much power radiating off of it that the ends of my hair stood up.
‘Here,’Val said, as plain as bread.
I had expected something more… pretty or magical, maybe. This stone was very unassuming. I gripped Valkaryn and peered down at the large stone. My breath smoked and drifted away as Val’s steel was warm against my palms.
‘You sure?’I said, although asking was foolish. I felt the power from here. This was something ancient, holy even.
‘I am,’she said.
The words did not make anything softer. They made things clear.
‘What do I do?’I asked her. She seemed to know more about this than I did.
‘Drive my blade right into the white line of the Creation Stone.’
I swallowed. My throat hurt the way it did when a person tries not to cry and wins. “Will you be gone?” I got the courage to ask, and hated the way I already knew the answer.
‘Yes. I will return to the Creator.’
My heart fissured at her words. Grief tore it right open.
‘Then we shouldn’t do it. The world can live with magic. The Elites aren’t that bad. It will be okay for some while longer,’I pleaded with her like Kaelric pleaded with me, and staggered away from the stone.
‘Are the Elites really not that bad? Did you know that the Creator intended for all to have magic? That the masses could come to the mountain and take his offering every five years freely? The Elites are the ones who have the Arcane Trials and restrict it to just one winner. The Elites are the reason you and so many in the Dregs were poor and magicless for so long.’
Anger rolled through so hot that my chest burned. Was that true? Of course it was, she would never lie to me.
‘We have to end it,’she told me. ‘I’ve waited so long to find someone worthy of wielding me so that I could do this. I want to set the world right before I go.’
Tears were streaming down my face.
‘What happens to the Wolfkin?’I asked.‘To Kaelric? To all of us who are changed?’
‘Wolves will still be wolves. Those who shift will keep what is already in their bones. But the Elite, the magic wielders, will lose their ability. Healers will use herbs and time instead of spellcraft. The world will find a new way to be. The Wolfkin will protect the humans.’
That felt right. Just Wolfkin and human. Wolfkin protecting, cherishing. Something that Kaelric had proved was already possible by taking my people into Hildreth.
‘I love you,’I whimpered, and then turned the blade so the light highlighted the engraving along the spine. I had traced those lines with my finger a hundred times. I pressed my lips to the wolf engraving on the hilt.‘Thank you for getting me this far.’
‘I love you, too. Thank you for taking care of my son,’she said.‘And my people. Now put me where I belong, Brynn. I’m ready to meet my fate.’
I stepped forward. My legs felt strange, hollow, as if the muscles had disappeared. I closed my hand around her hilt, set my feet the way Godric had taught me, and faced the seam in the rock.
