“Tonight,” I said. “We winnow—those of us who can. To human homes—towns. And we winnow out as many of them as we can before dawn.”
“And where will we put them?” Helion demanded.
“Velaris.”
“Too far,” Rhys murmured, scanning the map before us. “To do all that winnowing.”
Tarquin tapped a finger on the map—on his territory. “Then bring them to Adriata. I will send Cresseida back—let her oversee them.”
“We’ll need all the strength we have to fight Hybern,” Kallias said carefully. “Wasting it on winnowing humans—”
“It is no waste,” I said. “One life may change the world. Where would you all be if someone had deemed saving my life to be a waste of time?” I pointed to Rhys. “If he had deemed saving my life Under the Mountain a waste of time? Even if it’s only twenty families, or ten … They are not a waste. Not to me—or to you.”
Viviane was giving her mate a sharp, reproachful glare, and Kallias had the good sense to mumble an apology.
Then Amren said from behind us, striding through the tent flaps, “I hope you all voted to face Hybern in battle.”
Rhys arched a brow. “We did. Why?”
Amren set the Book upon the table with a thump. “Because we will need it as a distraction.” She smiled grimly at me. “We need to get to the Cauldron, girl. All of us.”
And I knew she didn’t mean the High Lords.
But rather the four of us—who had been Made. Me, Amren … and my sisters.
“You found another way to stop it?” Tarquin asked.
Amren’s sharp chin bobbed in a nod. “Even better. I found a way to stop his entire army.”
CHAPTER
67
We’d need access to the Cauldron—be able to touch it. Together.
Alone, it had nearly killed me. But split amongst others who were Made … We could withstand its lethal power.
If we got it under our control, in one fell swoop we could harness its might to bind the king and his army. And wipe them off the earth.
Amren had found the spell to do it. Right where the Suriel had claimed it’d be encoded in the Book. Rather than nullify the Cauldron’s powers … we would nullify the person controlling it. And his entire host.
But we had to attain the Cauldron first. And with the two armies poised to fight …
We would move only when the carnage was at its peak. When Hybern might be distracted in the chaos. Unless he planned to wield that Cauldron on the killing field.
Which was a high possibility.
There was no chance we’d infiltrate that army camp again—not after we’d stolen Elain. So we would have to wait until we walked into the trap he’d set for us. Wait until we took up disadvantageous positions on that battlefield he’d selected, and arrive exhausted from the battles before it, the trek there. Exhausted from winnowing those human families out of his path.
Which we did. That night, any of us who could winnow …
I went to my old village with Rhysand.
I went to the houses where I had once left gold as a mortal woman.
At first, they did not recognize me.
Then they realized what I was.
Rhys held their minds gently, soothing them, as I explained. What had happened to me, what was coming. What we needed to do.
They did not have time to pack more than a few things. And they were all trembling as we swept them across the world, to the warmth of a lush forest just outside Adriata, Cresseida already waiting with food and a small army of servants to help and organize.
The second family did not believe us. Thought it was some faerie trick. Rhys tried to hold their minds, but their panic was too deep, their hatred too tangible.
They wanted to stay.
Rhys didn’t give them a choice after that. He winnowed their entire family, all of them screaming. They were still shrieking when we left them in that forest, more humans around them, our companions winnowing in new arrivals for Cresseida to document and soothe.
So we continued. House to house. Family to family. Anyone in Hybern’s path.
All night. Every High Lord in our army, any commander or noble with the gift and strength.
Until we were panting. Until there was a small city of humans huddled together in that summer-ripe forest. Until even Rhys’s strength flagged and he could barely winnow back to our tent.
He passed out before his head had hit the pillow, his wings splayed across the bed.
Too much strain, too much relying on his power.
I watched him sleep, counting his breaths.
We knew—all of us did. We knew that we wouldn’t walk away from that battlefield.
Maybe it would inspire others to fight, but … We knew. My mate, my family … they would fight, buy us time with their lives while Amren and my sisters and I tried to stop that Cauldron. Some would go down before we could reach it.
And they were willing to do it. If they were afraid, none of them let on.
I brushed Rhys’s sweat-damp hair back from his brow.
I knew he’d give everything before any of us could offer it. Knew he’d try.
It was as much a part of him as his limbs, this need to sacrifice, to protect. But I wouldn’t let him do it—not without trying myself.
Amren had not mentioned Bryaxis in our talks earlier. Had seemed to have forgotten it. But we still had a battle to wage tomorrow. And if Bryaxis could buy my friends, could buy Rhys, any extra time while I hunted down that Cauldron … If it could buy them the slimmest shot of survival … Then the Bone Carver could as well.
I didn’t care about the cost. Or the risk. Not as I looked at my sleeping mate, exhaustion lining his face.
He had given enough. And if this broke me, drove me mad, ripped me apart … All Amren would need was my presence, my body, tomorrow with the Cauldron. Anything else … if it was what I had to give, my own cost to buy them any sliver of survival … I would gladly pay it. Face it.
So I rallied the dregs of my power and winnowed away—winnowed north.
To the Court of Nightmares.
There was a winding stair, deep within the mountain. It led to only one place: a chamber near the uppermost peak. I had learned as much from my research.
I stood at the base of that stairwell, peering up into the impenetrable gloom, my breath clouding in front of me.
A thousand stairs. That was how many steps stood between me and the Ouroboros. The Mirror of Beginnings and Endings.
Only you can decide what breaks you, Cursebreaker. Only you.
I kindled a ball of faelight over my head and began my ascent.
CHAPTER
68
I did not expect the snow.
Or the moonlight.
The chamber must have lain beneath the palace of moonstone—shafts in the rough rock leading outside, welcoming in snowdrifts and moonlight.
I gritted my teeth against the bitter cold, the wind howling through the cracks like wolves raging along the mountainside beyond.
The snow glittered over the walls and floor, slithering over my boots with the wind gusts. Moonlight peered in, bright enough that I vanished my ball of faelight, bathing the entire chamber in blues and silvers.
And there, against the far wall of the chamber, snow crusting its surface, its bronze casing …
The Ouroboros.
It was a massive, round disc—as tall as I was. Taller. And the metal around it had been fashioned after a massive serpent, the mirror held within its coils as it devoured its own tail.
Ending and beginning.
From across the room, with the snow … I could not see it. What lay within.
I forced myself to take a step forward. Another.
The mirror itself was black as night—yet … wholly clear.
I watched myself approach. Watched the arm I had upraised against the wind and snow, the pinched expression on my face. The exhaustion.