Page 142 of Merciless Is My Crown

He shot me a crooked smile but didn’t sheath the knife. “You made this place, so you tell me.”

“I didn’t make this place.” I walked to the nearest tree and laid my hands on the rough trunk. “I just…brought the magic back. This is what Old Valarian looked like before the Fae came. Before humans even existed.”

“Did you ever stop to think?—”

“Shush,” I told him. “Let me listen.”

“Shutting up, princess,” Raziel said good-naturedly.

Magic flowed through the tree, through this entire forest, like lifeblood, pumping everything full of life and power. Magic flowed in through my palms, my own throbbing power echoing every pulse of this forest. Then I realized…I’d left my iron bands with Tavion. There was nothing—fucking nothing—keeping my power in check.

“Get down,” I screamed at Raziel before a wave of magic exploded out of me. Not destructive…but nourishing, somehow, ferns and flowers unfurling around us, the bark on the trees cracking as trunks expanded to near-mythical girths, and roots snaking over the forest floor.

Raziel and I ended up on our backs, staring at that impossibly blue sky through the canopy. “Are you okay?” Raz’s breathing was a bit shallow.

I pushed to my elbows and grinned at him over the crushed ferns. “I’m fine. Okay, no channeling magic over here or we’ll have trees that touch the clouds. But I have to make the magic understand what I need it to do once we open that portal.”

“What do you need it to do?” Raziel rolled over onto his belly.

“I want it to fix the land but leave the people untouched. And the animals,” I added, working my fingers down into the black, wet soil. “I want to repair Solarys but not harm anything living there.” I closed my eyes, trying to put that idea into words, to somehow convey that to the power humming through every part of this realm.

As if everything—the trees, the plants, the soil—was all connected.

I dug my fingers in deeper until my wrists were encased in cool, damp earth. Help me save this world. Help me return Valarian to what it once was. But bring no harm to the souls who wander these lands.

The ground rumbled softly, enough for Raziel to let out a strangled sound.

We will open the portal. The king poisoned the land on the other side, ruined it with iron, but if you can save Solarys, please, please restore it to what it once was. But there are many Fae there, humans and animals. Innocents who do not deserve to die.

Please spare them. Please.

The forest went still, not so much as a bird chirping, and every hair on my body stood up. Then a faint breeze swept through, tangling my hair around my face, and magic became a wild song in my blood, racing through me then settling like the power had suddenly gone dormant.

I pulled my dirty, blackened hands from the earth.

“Did it…work?” Raz asked. “Because that sounded like an answer to me.”

I blew out a breath. “There’s only one way to find out.” I glanced at the portal. “Get us on the other side and let’s get that thing open.”

Behind us, I swore the entire forest sighed in expectation.

An hour later, we decided it was time.

Zeph, Torin, and Simon left for Blackcastle to erect a ward around the Keep and guide as many Fae and humans inside as they could convince to seek shelter.

Zorander was moving the army away from here, the rising cloud of brown dust obscuring their movements enough for us to know he’d succeeded in rousting them into action.

Cosimo and Raziel erected a shield of magic that wouldn’t, in all actuality, protect us from whatever was about to roar through that portal.

Because when that wall fell…

Please, please keep Tristan safe. Wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, keep him safe. I wrapped my prayer around him, that ever-present dread gurgling back up inside me. He had to be back at the Keep by now.

He had to be.

I held onto that thought as I gazed up at the shimmering ward stretching as far as I could see. No, when that thousand-year-old wall collapsed, the crash would devastate everything within range.

“Ready?” Cosimo asked with a slightly crooked grin.

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