Page 21 of Vicious Is My Throne

I swept crumbs off the table into my hand, tossing them into the fire. “That’s the biggest failing of a bad leader, never learning from their own mistakes. Let’s learn from ours.”

I took the only remaining chair and pulled it closer to Raz. “Every time we touch the skulls, we go further and further back in time. So far nothing has happened except we learn a little bit more about our past. We know Corvus and Gelvira killed three of the gods, but we didn’t see how. We have to know what happened. How they did it.”

On the other side of the table, Tavion shuddered, leaning back in his chair. “We can’t control what we see when we touch those fucking things. It’s like being held captive inside our own minds.”

“Maybe we haven’t tried. When I was inside the Oracle’s dream, I learned to control certain things. Notice details that helped me then act outside her thoughts. That’s how I escaped her. Maybe we could do the same with the visions.”

“You’re presuming a lot here, Anaria. A lot,” Tristan added for emphasis.

Raziel stared steadily at me. “We’d have to pair up. One of us goes in, another has to be right there, prepared to pull them out if things go wrong. If all of us were to be trapped inside those visions at the same time, down in that chamber…”

His eyes flickered. “They’d find our bones down there in a couple centuries.”

“Nah,” Dane muttered, drinking down the dredges of his cup. “A couple months, max.”

“I know the dangers.” I blew out a long breath. “But I also know I’m right. I can’t explain the feeling, just…I feel like something is guiding me in the right direction, and for now, I’m going to trust that this is the right path.”

“And if everything goes tits up?” Tavion asked softly, and for a minute, the only sound was the crackling of the fireplace.

“Then I won’t trust that feeling anymore. But this is the only way I know to find the answers we need. And once that blight gets through your wards, we’ll have to move fast. We should make the hard decisions now, and I say we should split up.”

“Splitting up makes sense.” Raz nodded, his hand drifting down to squeeze my knee. “Force Corvus to divide his attention between us. Even he can’t be in two places at once.”

Zorander dumped his coffee onto the fire with a fierce hiss and a puff of steam. “Tell us what you were thinking, Anaria.”

“Dane and Lucius should head to Stormfall. It’s far enough the blight will take weeks, maybe months to cross the High Barrens, or the witchs’ wards might keep Corvus out entirely. You’ll be safe there and you can warn Vesper and Bella of the danger, if they don’t already know.”

I turned my attention to Tavion’s sire. “Lucius…there is a library there, bigger and older than any I’ve ever seen. I need someone to look for the answers we won’t find in the past.”

“Such as?” Lucius’s eyes lit with curiosity.

“Such as how to break a binding oath to an Old God. Probably an unbreakable blood oath, sworn three hundred years ago.”

Lucius shook his head, a wry smile lighting up his face. “I expect that will keep me busy for some weeks. But I accept the challenge, my queen.”

The words hit me harder than they should have, knocking the breath from my lungs for a second, and Raziel noticed, squeezing my knee again. He had my back, like always.

“While you two head for Stormfall, we’ll take the tunnels to the chamber and see what answers we can find. Gelvira and Corvus killed three gods. I’m hoping the five of us can kill one.”

“And what, pray tell, will you do if you find those answers?” Lucius asked somberly.

“If the visions show us how to kill Corvus”—I could hardly keep my voice from shaking—“then we’ll head north to the Hammer. Raz and Zor studied the maps, and it’s a four-day ride across the Pale. There’s a steep cliff to reach Corvus’s cave, where I expect the bastard has traps set, but once we’re there…we’ll kill him using whatever we learned in the vision.”

When I raised my eyes, silence greeted me.

Shocked silence, the kind where no one was even breathing.

“And when he’s dead,” Raz said quietly, winding his fingers through my own, “then we deal with the Oracle. Once they’re both gone, this world can heal.”

“Oh, is that all?” Dane muttered, looking at us like we were mad.

“Speaking of the Oracle…” Zor was still on his feet, face haggard but his jaw set. “How long before she gets free? Because when she does, she will be out for our heads.”

I shrugged. “I’ve never locked an Old God into her own mind before, but I expect we don’t have much more time. And yes, she’s going to be beyond pissed.”

“Then let’s get moving,” Tavion broke in. “There are more clothes in the armory. Dress for the weather, bring every weapon you can find. Dane, show me the food stores. We’ll split them between us. Are there any supplies left in the tunnels?”

“There are three main restocking points, but the torches are running low.” Dane scratched his chin. “Could be some dried meat, though I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-foot pole. I expect the bread’s dry as a bone. Or too moldy to eat.”

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