Page 55 of King

“If she did find him,” he says quietly, “she didn’t bring him back alive. When I matured, she let me out of my room but never revealed my identity to anyone. She told me not to, either. That’s why no one knows about me.”

I have so many questions, like why he had to be such a giant dick tome. But there’s no time.

“I’m not done with you,” I warn him. “But we need to find your mother.”

I grab him by the tunic and shove him through the doorway. He’s coming with us. And if he ends up being the key to ourvictory, I might even let him live.

Chapter 19

Rue

“They’re wasting time,” I growl. “The queen isn’t there!”

Jade and I grew increasingly restless while waiting for word to come. Turns out the seer has a heart after all, or we just wore her down with our relentless questions. She’s been projecting the visions coming to her in the fire so we can see them, too.

The images are tinted orange and a little blurry. Sometimes, they flicker in and out or grow taller depending on the height of the flames. Then, they vanish entirely and a new vision starts. It took some time for my mind to make sense of the distortions, but keeping up with the events unfolding has been even more challenging.

I’m starting to see how difficult the seer’s job is. The visions keep starting over but change based on what Durin and Vaegon do. When Durin went to the queen’s chambers instead of the dungeons, the vision of what happens to the realm was grim, to say the least. But when they found Folas, the vision was of a look of horror on the queen’s face.

What’s worse than the changes is that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s actually happening now and what’s a vision of a possible future. The seer explains which is which as they appear, and I’ve begun feeling guilty for hating her so much. I can’t imagine this kind of thing going through my head at all times.

We watched Durin and Jade’s Alphas search the dungeons with no luck. Right now, they’re running around the rest of the castle, looking for hiding spots Durin might have missed.

But the queen isn’t there. She’s out in the forest behind the castle with all her lost mixed fae in tow.

If Durin can’t get there quickly enough, she might be able to draw more power from the darkness before he and Vaegon can confront her. We’re depending on her weakened state. They may not be strong enough to defeat her without it.

“Someone needs to tell them!” Jade shouts, pacing back and forth beside the fire.

Brody tries to soothe her by rubbing her back, but she’s just as anxious as I am. Nothing could calm me down right now except the queen’s severed head on a pike.

“They need to get out there before she draws more power,” I say to the seer as calmly as I can. “We have to tell them. You have to let us go to them.”

She looks uncomfortable as the scene from the fire switches back to the battle going on outside. The shifters and kelpies are holding strong, but we’ve suffered some losses. The nobles are powerful enough. The queen can’t be allowed to join in that fight.

“I can’t see the end,” the seer says quietly, narrowing her eyes at the fire. “I can’t see anything past the present anymore.”

“That’s because you’re facing a significant choice yourself,” I tell her. “The pressure is on you this time.”

The fire shifts back to the queen. She’s kneeling in the dirt with the mixed fae standing protectively around her. I can see her lips moving, but I can’t tell what she’s saying.

I look back to the seer, my heart pounding as I wait for her to decide. She mumbles something at the fire, likely a spell, but the vision doesn’t change. A line forms on her brow, and she waves her hand over the flames. Still, nothing happens. She blinkstwice and shakes her head, clearly unaccustomed to feeling so lost. But we don’t have time for her internal crisis.

“If Durin dies,” I warn her, “you die.”

She looks up at me with stony eyes. “If Durin dies, we all die.”

She mumbles one more spell, pressing her lips into a thin line when nothing happens. Keeping her gaze fixed on the fire, she finally concedes. “Fine. Go.”

My heart leaps back to life. I promised Durin I wouldn’t leave, but this is different. We have no choice.

Jade grabs Brody’s hand and then my own. “We’re ready,” she says, with a fiery determination on her face.

“Be careful!” Paren says, clinging to Frederick like she can’t bear to watch them go.

Jade rushes over and gives them each a kiss on the cheek before returning to my side. The seer waves her hand, and the world blurs and changes around us, leaving us in a place that’s very special to me. One with painful memories and lost memories. But it’s the place where my future began.

“Where are we?” Brody asks.

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