I step forward.
A bow.
A bow unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Its delicate frame, crafted from shimmering moonstone and steel, is adorned with golden constellations. Its string pulses with radiant energy.
I extend my hand toward it—
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kairyn grabs my shoulder. “The Bow of Radiance was Aurelia’s own weapon. The corruption seems to work … quicker on those who touch it. Unless,” his voice lowers, “you somehow wielded the Queen’s token.”
“Why would the Queen create a token for her own weapon? Wouldn’t she be able to wield it?”
“Of course. The Queen could brandish any with no consequences. Some believe she made a token for her bow in the happenstance she ever came upon her fated mate and wished for them to take up arms.”
I nearly clutch my necklace but stop. I suddenly have a great desire to get Kairyn’s eyes off of me. “Do the others have names?”
“Of course. There’s Summer’s Trident of Honor, Autumn’s Lance of Valor, and Spring’s own Hammer of Hope.”
Gesturing to the bare pedestal, I say, “What belongs there?”
“The Sword of the Protector. Before the Queen disappeared, she granted Winter protection over the realms in her absence. It has been passed from High Ruler to High Ruler and is now in the care of the current High Prince.”
“Keldarion.”
Kairyn walks to a window and looks out. “He must have it with him in Castletree. Perhaps you’ve seen it?”
An embarrassing memory flashes through my mind of being blackout drunk and swinging this sacred sword around like a toy. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t hold it for longer or it probably would have started to taint my blood. I hadn’t felt any corruption at all when I’d held the icy hilt in my hand. “Can’t say I have.”
“A shame,” Kairyn mutters. “Perhaps if we had all five weapons, we could rid Castletree of its corruption.”
A chill runs down my back. “I should probably head back to the entrance hall. I’m sure Ezryn and Farron are looking for me.”
Kairyn nods and walks back over to the door, holding it open. “Thank you for indulging my stories, Lady O’Connell,” Kairyn rumbles as I walk past him. “It has been a great pleasure to finally meet you.”
I stop and stare up at him. “They are simply stories, aren’t they? Legends?”
“Oh, I’m not so sure, Lady O’Connell. Legends have a way of becoming all too real when the time is right.”
The weight of his answer hangs over me as I descend the stairs. I place a hand on my necklace. What if these are more than stories?
What if I’m part of them?
33
Ezryn
The shadow of the monastery stretches long before me. Rosalina gives a wave from atop her ibex, and Farron offers me a smile as he mounts his own.
“You’re not going down with them?” Kairyn stands beside me.
“No. I came up here to speak with you.”
Farron and I found Rosalina and Kairyn in the entrance hall after we were done inspecting the Spring steel. She explained she’d run into him while investigating some art, and he’d shown her a couple of the other relics in the monastery. I’d felt a twinge of unease seeing them together. My brother has never been what I would call a gracious host. Rosalina didn’t appear bothered by his presence. If anything, she seemed distracted, lost in her thoughts. Though that is not unlike her. Perhaps she’s someone who could find common ground with Kairyn—they’re both dreamers, in that sense.
Kairyn doesn’t turn to face me. “You have come to deliver my punishment.”
“It is my right. You deliberately disobeyed your banishment.” My words are steady, even if my mind reels. I need to make a decision.
Kairyn’s breathing quickens. “I did not disobey you out of arrogance or spite, I swear it, brother. Spring was in danger; someone needed to act. How long was I to wait? For Father to recover? For the Queen to return? For the High Prince to—” He cuts himself off before muttering, “I couldn’t stay up here, rotting away while I watched my people suffer.”
I pause before answering. Instead, I search his dark helm as if I could find answers there.
Arrogance and spite—that was exactly what I sensed when I saw him atop my throne. But maybe those were the easy things for me to see. A resentful boy disobeying his brother.
When I look at him now, I observe the tremble in his fingers, listen to the hitch in his breath.