Page 99 of Merciless Is My Crown

“We have to find someplace called Ashbane.” I looked straight at Zeph and Simon. “That’s where the pendant will be. That’s where your friend is. And we’re going to rescue him.”

39

ANARIA

“What about killing the king?” Zorander’s stormy gaze met mine. “The longer we leave Serpens alive, the more he fortifies his position. We give him too much time and we’ll be meeting him on the battlefield. Good men will die.”

“Then it’s in our best interest to get this done quickly.” I turned to Zephryn and Simon, both of them far older and wiser than any of us.

“Have you ever heard of Ashbane?” I asked. “It would be somewhere on the Dearth, close to the cliffs.” My gaze stayed firmly on Zephryn. “How far away is that?”

“The Dearth is uninhabited and forbidden to the Darkhold dragons.” Zephryn eyed me warily as Simon handed him the handwritten page. “But when I was young, I flew over those lands. Once.”

“What is the terrain like? As far as I know, the Fae seldom travel that far north,” Zorander asked, his entire demeanor changing as he smoothly fell back into his role of commander.

“Near the ocean the land is mountainous, much like Darkhold, but flattens into an open plain the further west you go. On the very western edge of that plain lies the Hammer. As for how far it is…” Zephryn calculated. “I could fly to the cliffs in three hours if the weather was clear. The way Zorander and Raziel move, they could cover that much ground in half the time.”

Raziel and I shared a long, pointed look.

“What am I looking at?” Zephryn asked, smoothing out the paper to scan the markings. “What do these mean?”

“We each carry one of these markings on our bodies.” I pointed to the circle within a circle symbol. “This is the mark every witch in the coven carries, ever since the day the Oracle came and forged her alliance with Vireena. These symbols are also carved into the cave floor beneath the Hammer where Corvus dwells.”

Zephryn and Simon went perfectly still when I mentioned we were marked, or maybe because I oh-so-casually said I’d seen the floor of Corvus’s cave with my own eyes, but I plowed ahead.

“But no one in the coven speaks this language. We need someone who does,” I said quietly. “We need Cosimo to interpret the notes beneath the symbols. They could tell us how to kill the Old Gods, because the Shadow King…well, we all know Serpens isn’t our real target, he’s just in the way.”

Gods, a few months ago I was a slave with no options. Now I was talking about the most powerful king in the world as an impediment to our plans.

“If anyone saves our friend, it will be us,” Zephryn said with equal quiet. “Especially since I’m the reason he’s spent an eternity trapped around that creature’s neck.”

“It was Zeph’s plan to save Torin,” Simon explained. “Solok and the Oracle…they had to be distracted while we escaped from Tempeste. So we set a trap. Cosimo was the bait.”

Zeph growled something foul, his eyes narrowed to slits as he tried to decipher the pages.

“It was Coz’s decision; he knew the risks,” Simon murmured. “But this could be our chance to free him, if the Oracle isn’t there.” He met my gaze, his body tensing. “That’s the big question, isn’t it? Where she is right now? Because none of us can fight her and win.”

“You’re not wrong about that.”

The Oracle could be anywhere right now, but most likely she was searching for us at this very moment.

She’d expect us to go for Serpens next—free the Solarians and the magic, drop the wall, and unite both realms. If she was searching for us, she was looking this direction.

“What are you thinking?” Raz murmured, his gaze glittering.

“I’m thinking either of these two options could be a trap. We could be playing straight into the Oracle’s hands without meaning to. I’m thinking that we, at this very moment, could be damning ourselves.” I drew a shaky breath, unsure, for the first time, I was making the right call.

“And even so, we must choose.”

“We cannot remain here, Anaria.” Raz brushed his hand over mine and that soft touch had me straightening.

“Perhaps the real question is…where is the Oracle right now?” I asked softly. “She has to know we’re going for Serpens next, and she’s always ten steps ahead of us. Is she in Tempeste because it’s centrally located…or the Dearth, or is she already in Solarys?”

“All those Reapers circling over the Citadelle.” Zorander’s face was grim. “What if they’re not leftover from…before? What if those creatures are her guards?”

“That makes sense. But we have to decide. Go north and find that pendant or south to free an entire realm?” I couldn’t keep the edge from my voice. “We don’t have long to make up our minds.”

“I vote for Solarys and the king,” Zorander said. “That’s a sure bet with a guaranteed outcome. Like Anaria suggested, this Ashbane could be a trap at worst, or a waste of our time at best.”

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