Queen Elara had been dead for ten years, yet somehow she had just given them until midnight.
Toby read the message again.
THE SECOND GATE OPENS AT MIDNIGHT.
BRING BOTH TWINS TO HIGH KEEP.
OR I WILL OPEN THE THIRD MYSELF.
QUEEN ELARA.
Nobody in the hunting lodge spoke.
The severed finger beside the note made silence feel like the only respectful response.
Finally, Cael laughed.
It was not amusement.
"Your royal family has an extraordinary relationship with death."
"Our royal family?" Toby asked.
Cael looked at him.
"I was raised in mines and prisons. You can keep the relatives."
Thane moved toward the box.
"Don't."
Gareth caught his wrist.
"I need to see the ring."
"You've seen it."
"I need to know whether it's really Edric's."
Gareth studied him.
"Would you recognize it?"
"I served him for fourteen years."
Gareth released him.
Thane carefully removed the signet from the severed finger.
He turned it toward the fire.
A crowned falcon had been engraved into the dark blue stone.
Thane's expression collapsed.
"It's his."
"That doesn't make the finger his," Cael said.
Thane glared at him.
"You think someone stole his ring?"
"I think someone wants us to believe Edric is helpless."
Toby looked between them.
"Why?"
"Because frightened people become predictable."
Cael pointed toward the note.
"Whoever sent this wants both of us inside High Keep."
Gareth nodded.
"Then neither of you is going."
Cael smiled.
"You've been my father for less than an hour and you're already giving orders."
Gareth's eyes narrowed.
"Do not tempt me to discover how quickly paternal patience develops."
Toby almost smiled.
Cael did not.
"I'm going."
"No."
"The second gate opens tonight."
"According to a letter signed by a dead woman."
"I opened the first. I know what happens next."
Gareth moved closer.
"Then explain."
Cael looked at Toby.
"The gates aren't doors."
"What are they?" Toby asked.
"Seals."
He placed the black Kingsbane fragment on the table.
"When the first seal broke, this became accessible."
"And the second?"
"Another piece of the blade."
"And the third?"
Cael hesitated.
Toby noticed.
"You don't know."
"I know enough."
"No. You know what the Brotherhood told you."
Cael's jaw tightened.
"They taught me more than anyone in this room."
"They also burned symbols into your chest."
Silence.
Cael's eyes hardened.
"Be careful."
Toby didn't retreat.
"You said they didn't do that."
"They didn't."
"Then why are you angry?"
Cael stepped closer.
"Because you know nothing about me."
"You're right."
Toby's voice remained calm.
"But you walked in here calling yourself my brother while holding a knife to my friend's throat."
Mira looked down.
"So maybe start giving me reasons to trust you."
For a moment Gareth expected Cael to strike him.
Instead, something strange happened.
Cael smiled.
Very slightly.
"You're not as useless as you look."
Toby folded his arms.
"You're still uglier."
This time even Gareth failed to hide his smile.
The moment ended when Ysara groaned.
Her wound had begun bleeding again.
Gareth immediately crossed to her.
"Sit."
"I'm fine."
"You're leaking onto the king's floor."
"Aldren deserved worse."
She sat.
Gareth removed the blood-soaked bandage.
"The arrow passed through."
"Yes."
"Then why are you getting weaker?"
Cael approached.
"Because the arrow was poisoned."
Everyone turned.
"How do you know?" Gareth asked.
Cael pointed toward the wound.
Thin black veins had begun spreading beneath Ysara's skin.
"Ashroot."
Ysara closed her eyes.
"How long?" Gareth asked.
"Hours."
Toby stepped forward.
"There must be an antidote."
Cael answered.
"There is."
"Where?"
"High Keep."
Gareth laughed bitterly.
"Naturally."
"The royal apothecary keeps white thorn extract."
Ysara shook her head.
"No."
Toby stared at her.
"You'll die."
"I've had worse evenings."
"That's not funny."
"It wasn't intended to be."
Toby looked at Gareth.
"We have to go back."
"No."
"She'll die."
"Going back could kill all of us."
"Then we find another way."
"There may not be one."
Toby's expression hardened.
"You said nobody gets to decide someone's life is expendable."
Gareth stopped.
His own words.
Cael leaned against the table.
"I like him."
"Nobody asked," Gareth said.
But Toby had already made the argument Gareth could not escape.
Gareth looked at Ysara.
Then at the message.
Midnight.
"How much time?"
Thane checked the sky through the window.
"Six hours."
Gareth made his decision.
"We return to High Keep."
Ysara tried to stand.
"No."
"You need the antidote."
"Forget me."
"Unfortunately, Toby has decided your life matters."
Toby nodded.
Ysara looked at him strangely.
Almost painfully.
"Your mother would hate how much you resemble Gareth."
Gareth glanced at her.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing flattering."
---
They left the lodge before sunset.
Thane knew an old route through the western ravine that avoided Morvus's patrols.
Cael walked ahead.
Toby followed beside Gareth.
Mira stayed behind them.
Nobody spoke to her.
That silence seemed to hurt her more than accusation.
Eventually she whispered, "Toby."
He kept walking.
"I'm sorry."
No response.
"I never wanted to lie to you."
Toby stopped.
Everyone else continued several paces before noticing.
He turned toward her.
"How many times?"
Mira looked confused.
"How many times did you tell Cael things about me?"
Her eyes filled.
"I don't know."
"Ten?"
"More."
"Twenty?"
"Probably."
"What things?"
"Where you worked. Where you slept. Whether you were sick."
"What else?"
She hesitated.
Toby understood.
"My mark."
"I saw it once."
"When?"
"Two years ago. You burned your arm carrying that soup pot."
Toby remembered.
For one second beneath the blistered skin, golden lines had appeared.
Mira had helped bandage him.
"You told Cael."
"Yes."
"And then?"
"He told me to make sure nobody else saw it."
"Did you know he was my brother?"
"No."
"Did you know what the mark meant?"
"No."
Toby looked away.
Mira whispered, "You were my best friend."
"Were?"
She flinched.
Toby realized he had thrown her own word back at her.
He regretted it immediately.
But forgiveness did not come.
Not yet.
"Give me time."
Mira nodded.
"All right."
They continued.
Cael had watched the exchange.
Later, when Toby caught up, he said quietly, "Don't blame her."
"You used her."
"I trusted her."
"There's a difference?"
"Yes."
Cael looked ahead.
"People I use usually die."
Toby stared at him.
Cael gave no indication whether it was a joke.
---
Night fell as High Keep appeared beyond the valley.
No torches burned along its walls.
That was wrong.
Gareth stopped.
"Why is the keep dark?"
Thane stared.
"It shouldn't be."
Even during siege conditions, the walls remained illuminated.
Cael's expression changed.
"The first gate."
"What?"
"When it opened, something began draining heat beneath the castle."
They continued cautiously.
The western drainage tunnel brought them beneath the outer wall.
No guards.
No voices.
Only darkness.
They entered.
The smell reached them first.
Iron.
Blood.
Mira covered her nose.
"What happened here?"
They found the first body thirty yards inside.
An inquisitor.
Then another.
Then six more.
None bore wounds.
Their faces were frozen in terror.
Their skin gray.
Gareth knelt beside one.
"Dead."
Cael examined the man's eyes.
"Not dead."
The corpse suddenly inhaled.
Toby jumped backward.
Its eyes opened.
Black.
Completely black.
The soldier grabbed Gareth's arm.
"HE'S AWAKE."
Gareth tore himself free.
The man's body convulsed.
"Who?" Gareth demanded.
The soldier smiled.
His teeth were stained black.
"The king beneath the king."
Then he died.
Nobody spoke.
Cael looked toward Toby.
"Still think we shouldn't have come?"
"Yes."
They moved faster.
Near the apothecary, they encountered survivors barricaded behind a chapel door.
Gareth identified himself.
The door opened.
Inside were servants, soldiers, and several wounded inquisitors.
Captain Veyron stood among them.
His sword was covered in black residue.
He saw Toby.
Then Cael.
For once, the captain's composure vanished.
"Both of you?"
Gareth raised his sword.
"Where's Morvus?"
"Missing."
"Queen Elara?"
Veyron's expression sharpened.
"Why are you asking about her?"
"She sent us a message."
"No."
"Signed with her name."
Veyron walked closer.
"Elara cannot have sent anything."
"You saw her body too?"
"No."
"Then why are you certain?"
"Because I killed her."
The chapel became silent.
Toby stared.
"You killed the queen?"
Veyron looked at him.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because she asked me to."
Gareth stepped forward.
"Explain."
"Not here."
"We're running out of places where people are willing to explain things."
A tremor shook the chapel.
Stone dust fell.
Veyron looked toward the floor.
"How long until midnight?"
"Less than an hour," Thane said.
Veyron swore.
"Then the second gate is about to open."
Cael raised the Kingsbane fragment.
"We know."
Veyron's face went white.
"Where did you get that?"
"The first gate."
"You idiot."
Cael drew his knife.
"Choose your next word."
"You think that's a weapon?"
"It is."
"No."
Veyron looked at Ysara.
"You know."
Ysara said nothing.
"Tell them."
Cael turned.
"Tell us what?"
Ysara's silver eye lowered.
"The Kingsbane was used once before."
"To kill Azrath?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"To divide him."
Toby felt cold.
Veyron continued.
"The creature beneath High Keep isn't Azrath's entire body."
Cael's confidence finally faltered.
"What is it?"
"Half."
Silence.
"Where is the other half?" Gareth asked.
Veyron looked directly at the twins.
"Walking around."
Nobody understood.
Then Toby's crest began to glow.
Cael's answered.
Veyron whispered:
"When the Vaelor guardians couldn't kill Azrath, they divided his essence. Half was imprisoned beneath High Keep."
His eyes moved between Toby and Cael.
"The other half was sealed into their own bloodline."
Toby stared at his arm.
"No."
"Every generation carried a fragment. Tiny. Dormant."
Veyron looked at Cael.
"Until Seraphine gave birth to twins."
Cael's face emptied.
"The essence divided again."
"Exactly."
Toby understood first.
"One half between us."
Veyron nodded.
"Which means if you reforge Kingsbane and use it against the creature below..."
Toby whispered, "We'd be killing part of ourselves."
"Worse."
Ysara finally spoke.
"The blade would reunite the divided essence."
Cael stared at the black fragment in his hand.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"You let me open the first gate!"
"I tried to stop you."
"You never told me why!"
Their argument ended when the chapel doors exploded inward.
A wave of freezing air swept through the room.
Candles died.
People screamed.
Something walked through the darkness beyond the doorway.
A woman.
White gown.
Bare feet stained with blood.
A golden crown rested crookedly on her dark hair.
Gareth stopped breathing.
He knew that face.
He had seen it alive.
He had seen it dead.
Queen Elara entered the chapel.
She looked almost exactly as she had ten years earlier.
Toby stepped backward.
"That's impossible."
Veyron raised his sword.
"No."
Elara smiled at him.
"Still following orders, Captain?"
Veyron's hand trembled.
"I killed you."
"You tried."
Gareth moved in front of Toby.
Elara's eyes found him.
"Gareth."
"Your Majesty."
"I wondered whether you'd recognize me."
"Everyone seems determined to test that today."
Her gaze shifted toward Toby.
Then Cael.
Something like sorrow crossed her face.
"The twins."
Cael raised his blade.
"Did you send the message?"
"Yes."
"Is Edric alive?"
Elara's smile disappeared.
"For the moment."
"Where?"
"Beyond the second gate."
Thane stepped forward.
"Take us to him."
Elara looked at the signet ring he carried.
"You still serve my son?"
"Always."
"Then I'm sorry."
Thane frowned.
"For what?"
Elara looked toward the severed finger.
"That isn't Edric's."
Thane froze.
"Then whose is it?"
Elara's eyes filled with tears.
"Morvus's."
Gareth stared.
"But the ring—"
"Edric gave it to him ten years ago."
"Why?"
"Because Morvus wasn't the Regent."
Elara's voice became almost a whisper.
"He was Edric's decoy."
A bell began ringing.
Midnight.
Once.
The stone floor split.
Twice.
Golden light erupted through the crack.
Three times.
Cael's Kingsbane fragment tore itself from his hand and flew into the opening.
"No!"
He lunged after it.
Toby grabbed him.
The floor collapsed.
Beneath the chapel, a vast underground chamber appeared.
At its center stood a stone gate covered in glowing chains.
One chain snapped.
Then another.
The second gate opened.
A man stumbled through.
Long dark hair.
A beard streaked with gray.
His clothing hung in tatters.
Thane fell to his knees.
"My prince."
Gareth stared.
Edric.
Alive.
After ten years, Crown Prince Edric had returned.
But Edric did not look at Thane.
Or Gareth.
Or his mother.
He looked only at Toby and Cael.
"No," he whispered.
Then he saw Queen Elara.
His face twisted with horror.
"Get away from her!"
Everyone turned.
Elara did not move.
Edric pointed at his own mother.
"That's not Queen Elara."
The woman's smile slowly returned.
Her jaw opened unnaturally wide.
Black smoke began pouring from her mouth.
And Edric screamed the warning that came ten years too late.
"Elara never survived the massacre."