Page 186 of The Blade in the Ashes
What did he gain from my death?
Nothing.
My death went against anything he had ever said to me, or Clay, or even Hyrax. Even now, he insisted that he wanted to be with me. And past any romantic imaginings, my dying wouldn’t bring him more power or status. If anything, if I died, he wouldn’t be the heir consort anymore. He wouldlosehis power.
I replayed his words in my mind, searching for some answer in all the confusion.
This ends with us together.
That’s the only way this can end.
He wasn’t planning to kill me. It was a bluff.
Caldrius wasn’t searching for the kind of power that came from a title or crown.
The realization smashed into me as sharply as if I were seeing another vision of the truth. Every word Caldrius had ever said to me now seemed loaded and too obvious. He’d essentially told me his plans from the start. He’d laid out the pieces of it like breadcrumbs that I’d been too blinded to follow.
“Hyrax, run!” I screamed, thrashing against Caldrius’ grip.
My father looked at me, and I saw the same understanding in his eyes that I felt echoing in every one of my heartbeats.
“Put down the sword,” Caldrius commanded, his voice hard.
“No!” I kicked at Caldrius. I readied my power, warnings be damned.
Hyrax kept his eyes on me as he lowered to the ground, setting aside his sword, and not sparing a single glare for Caldrius. No, he wanted his last vision to be of me. His daughter.
“Don’t,” I begged him, eyes watering with fresh tears. “Don’t let him do this.”
Hyrax’s brow furrowed, his expression glimmering with that same love I had seen the moment he had decided to create me. “I would do anything to save you, Theadora.”
My heart broke into thousands of tiny pieces, pieces that all longed for the relationship I might have had with my father if things had gone differently. And just as I gasped my way through that pain, the blade was pulled from my throat.
I reached for my magic just as Caldrius leveled his palm flat against my back and shoved, sending me sprawling forward. Hyrax instinctively rushed to catch me. His hands steadied under my elbows, holding me as Caldrius spun. He darted to the left, swinging my blade just as the power I summoned slipped from my grasp and surged instead to the blade in his hands.
Hot, sticky blood splattered across my face as Caldrius severed Hyrax’s head from his body.
I choked, a gasping wheeze tearing out of me before the world exploded into darkness.
My head throbbed. Darkness swam at the edges of my vision.
I closed my eyes, falling into a memory.
"Her highness is preparing for the Eternal Slumber."
"What does that mean?"
"She's dying," Caldrius said simply, his voice quieter than before.
"What will happen when she... slumbers?"
He didn't look at me. "Someone new will rise. Her vessel may fade, but her power will find a new host. That's how it works."
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Thea
Iblinked awake, groaning through the pain. Everything hurt. My body ached from being thrown when Hyrax’s power exploded, and my heart stung from the memory my dreams had resurfaced.
