Page 61 of The Ember and the Emerald

Breath abandoned me. No invisible person was hiding the tome; it was hiding itself.

“Oracle.” the captain prompted.

“One sec.” I marched to the bookshelves, hoping to find the journal but... no. Nowhere.

Fine. No showing it to Ahav. “Before we go,” I told the soldier, “you should know. If there’s one scratch on my monstra when I return, the perpetrator will die in agony.” I tapped my temple. “I’ve foreseen it.” Because I was imagining it right now.

“You should run now,” Kevin announced.

The captain flinched but stood his ground. “Let’s go.”

Doing my best impression of a seer confident in her ability, I picked up the backpack, glided to Jasher, and set it at his feet. Maybe this was foolish. I had no idea what the stones did, but if we were to build any kind of trust, we had to start somewhere. If nothing else, the stones could be used as weapons against any soldiers who dared approach him.

Although, considering the damage he could do with his shadow, he wasn’t exactly helpless.

I wondered… Did the shadow siren employ a similar trick?

“Why?” he asked me, confused.

“I meant what I told you. I care.”

Both he and Kevin watched me with narrowed eyes as I sailed past the pensive captain. I felt the heat of Jasher’s gaze boring holes into my back. I wasn’t sure what Kevin was thinking.

Three other guards waited in the stone corridor outside the room. One kept a hand resting on the hilt of his sheathed sword, leading the charge while the other two remained behind, at the door. Captain Rourke followed me, staying three steps behind.

My nerves intensified as we navigated winding hallways into an unfamiliar area of the catacombs. The damp unleashed a tide of unease.

The room itself appeared chiseled from volcanic glass, its vaulted ceiling disappearing into darkness. A polished obsidian floor mirrored the surreal glow of the space’s centerpiece: a rainbow-shaped stream of fire that stretched from one side of a raised dais to the other. The flames burned in unnatural hues of sapphire and violet, swirling in mesmerizing patterns but casting no heat.

Thin ribbons of white smoke coiled upward, twining with thrums of power, the two twirling through the air in a slow, reverent dance. Shadows moved along the towering black walls, stretching and twisting like spirits. How I tracked them when they were the same color as the stone, I did not know.

King Ahav and Queen Sandrine stood on the other side of the circle, both cloaked in purple fur coats and grim-faced. And yet, seeing my parents together after learning of their love story awoke the little girl in me, who only wanted hugs and smiles.

Ten soldiers fanned out at their sides. No sign of Ian. I probably should’ve cared about that, but I couldn’t get past the beauty of the royals. What a power couple.

How different would my life have been if I’d been born here, with them, raised by him and known by all as Princess Moriah Ori’Emet?

Not that I could ever regret my years with Daniel Shaker. He was and always would be my person. But here, now, a single mistake could cost me everything.

The flames drew my gaze once again, a force I couldn’t resist. “Where did this come from?”

“No one knows,” Ahav replied. “It was discovered twenty-five years ago, when Ian’s father restored the catacombs.”

This might be the very room Morris had stored Andrea’s coffin. If the legend the Guardian had shared was real. “Are you sure it’s not the Ember of Everlight?”

Mom flinched at the mention of the much-desired treasure. Did she fear the curse?

“The Ring is not the Ember,” Ahav said, “but perhaps the two hail from the same world. We placed a captured monstra within the flames, and it did not crystallize.”

Good to know. “Have either of you entered?”

My mom pressed a hand to her heart. “My mother-in-law, the former queen, had me tossed inside to test my feelings for her son—” Ahav winced, and she paused to pat his chest. “It’s not pleasant. I have vague memories of screaming. And I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but there’s something about you.” She frowned, her voice trailing off, then she shook her head and rallied. “Ahav pulled me free before I answered any questions.”

My eyes widened. I loved that Mom seemed to recognize me, but hated what she’d experienced. And at the hands of my grandmother, no less. “And where is the former queen now?”

“Dead,” he said, looking beyond me. Eager to see my opponent?

A plan formed. I’d wait for Ian’s arrival to issue my…retraction. No, not a retraction, I decided, but a request for more time. Time to interpret what I’d seen in my vision, just in case Ahav was right, and I’d missed vital details.