I smiled sadly at her description of Luther. It was exactly how I might have described him myself months ago. Now, the thought of him living joyless and cold for so long plucked painfully at my heart. “I promise you, no one was more surprised than me.”
She inclined her head toward the path and we continued walking. “My representatives said your Ascension Ball was a hell of a show. I hear Umbros was up to its usual beastly behavior.”
I tensed. I knew nothing of the relationships between the Crowns except that the Umbros Queen was distrusted by all. Any sign of alliance with her—say, for example, releasing her representatives from their magical binds—would quickly mark me for suspicion.
“I was glad to see them leave my realm,” I answered honestly.
“Did Sorae like the two treats I sent? I would have sent more, but my Rosha goes through them like candy.” She gave a happy sigh. “I do adore Sorae. She’s got such a sense of humor. Consider yourself lucky, you could have been stuck with that horribly crabby Ignios gryvern.”
I frowned. “You can speak to Sorae?”
“I can speak to all creatures.” She pointed to her Crown, a glowing circle of intertwined fauna that slithered and fluttered and clawed in endless motion. “Realm of Beast and Brute. It quite literally goes with the territory.”
Scarlet spread over my cheeks. “Right, of course. To be honest, I haven’t given them to Sorae. They were a little… um…”
“Cute and fuzzy? Damn, I knew I should have skinned them first.” She spotted the queasy look on my face and laughed. “The strong feed from the weak, cub. It’s a part of nature.”
“It doesn’t bother you to kill them even though you can speak to them?”
“Humans can speak, it doesn’t stop them from killing each other.” She shrugged. “If I didn’t have magic to control them, the beasts in my realm would eat me, too. Guilt and compassion have no place in the food chain. Only survival.”
Survival at all costs. That goal, my father’s foremost lesson, had guided me through these recent dark obstacles, but to hear the same words spoken now with such callous nonchalance, they felt strangely hollow.
“Speaking of beasts,” she said. Her eyes cast toward another intersecting pathway where a hulking giant of a man lumbered toward us. He was a sentient mountain of muscle, with thighs like redwoods and a brick wall of a chest. His fearsome glare would have made even a mean bastard like Garath cower in fear.
His blood-red irises gave him away, though I would have known the Fortos King from the Emarion Army uniform he wore—albeit a far more embellished version than I’d ever seen. His Crown reminded me of a tangled cluster of veins, rhythmically pulsing like it had a heartbeat of its own.
He grunted as he approached, his eyes dragging over us in cold evaluation.
“You’re looking chipper today, Fortos,” the Faunos Queen purred in greeting. “Aren’t you going to welcome our newest member?”
He leveled me with a stare. “I hear you’re the Bellator child.”
My spine straightened. “Both my parents served in the army. Andrei and—”
“Auralie. I’m aware.”
“You knew them?” I couldn’t help the awe in my voice. Some part of me was still that young, naive girl who glowed with pride that a mighty Descended King had taken notice of her mortal parents.
He made another guttural noise. “You cost me two of my most valuable assets.”
I stared, not knowing what to say—I’m sorry my existence inconvenienced you?—until it occurred to me that if he had known about my birth, he might also have known my birth father.
“Do you happen to have any idea who—”
Before I could finish, he pivoted sharply on his heel, striding onward and leaving me blinking in his trail.
The Faunos Queen shot me a sympathetic look. “Don’t take it personally. If you’re not giving him someone to kill, he’s not interested.”
We walked in silence as the path wound on, bordered on both sides by thick brush and tall grass, all of it dotted with the same vibrant crimson blooms.
“What are those flowers?” I asked. “I’ve never seen anything like them on the continent.”
“Kindred willing, let’s hope you never do, or we’d all be doomed.”
“It won’t happen,” the Fortos King cut in from up ahead. “My soldiers have it under control.”
“Arboros!” the Faunos Queen suddenly shouted. She pointed accusingly at a blonde woman to our left wearing a halo of interwoven greenery dotted with continuously blooming flowers. “I have a bone to pick with you about our border!”
“Keep your bones to yourself, Faunos.” The Arboros Queen’s voice was sweet, her demeanor demure, but the sparkle in her bright emerald eyes suggested she was anything but meek. “If this is about the mortals again—”
“You know they aren’t allowed in my realm. If they aren’t going to keep to the Ring Road, they have to stay in Arboros.”
“Life is meant to propagate and spread. You may insist on defying nature’s course, but I shall not. If your borders need securing, take it up with him.” She gestured to the Fortos King, who seemed to perk up at the prospect of a new battle.
The Faunos Queen practically snarled. “You keep those mongrels out of my jungles, or I’ll make sure no bee or butterfly ever propagates in your realm ever again.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” she hissed, flinging back her moss-edged cape. “We need those pollinators, Faunos.”
The two women stormed toward each other in a huff, continuing to quarrel. The Fortos King’s eyes gleamed eagerly as the exchange grew increasingly laden with threats.
“I’ll handle this,” he said, stalking off to join them. “You go on ahead.”
I looked around at the wide open land. “Go where?”
“Just keep walking. All roads on the island lead to the Temple.” He paused and shot me a condescending look. “And don’t wander. Until you’re coronated, you’re not allowed off the path.”
I debated staying to watch the spectacle, grinning to myself as I imagined telling the story to Luther later. However, if the King of Fortos did have information on my birth father, provoking his temper was not an ideal way to win his trust.
I walked on and soon lost sight of the others. Over the top of the wild overgrowth, the dark form of the Kindred’s Temple came into view. The circular platform rose high above the ground and was edged nearly all the way around by a series of ornate archways topped with tall, thin obelisks. The entire structure was made of a night-black stone that glittered under the rays of the midday sun.
Godstone. A substance stronger than metal and imbued with a deadly toxin that could kill a Descended. No one was certain whether the Kindred brought the godstone from their home world or created it with their divine power, but it was as difficult to find as it was sought-after.
In addition to building their Temple with the mysterious material, the Kindred left behind a cache of weapons crafted of godstone to each of the first Descended Crowns, but after several fell into the hands of mortal rebels during the Blood War, the Crowns agreed to confiscate and destroy them. Though illicit pieces could still be found for outrageous prices on the black market, sightings of it were rare, even for the Descended.