“I’ll make the vow,” I say.
“Wise decision.” Ren snuffs out the bolt in his hand and walks closer to me, his feet making tracks in the puddle of water from the River of Unbreakable Vows. He stands over me, towering so high that it reminds me of what it felt like to be a child trapped under his shadow. “Do it now.”
I place my hand that has the talisman branded to it in the puddle. The water edges over my fingertips. It feels cool and calming compared to the pain that I have endured today. I look up at Ren as he glowers down at me, and can’t help wondering how that expression will change when I make the vow. How will he look at me then? “I vow, on the water of the river Styx, the River of Unbreakable Vows, that I will … never bring Daphne to you.”
Before Ren can react, I send a surge of lightning into my hand. It hits the water and explodes, electrifying the wet ground all around us. The blast sends Ren flying through the air toward his throne, and me sailing backward.
I hit the altar with a soul-shattering crack, and darkness surrounds me.
chapter fifty-eight
DAPHNE
Haden’s body convulses in my arms, like he’s having a seizure. He twists and writhes in silent agony. And then he goes limp and still. So still and breathless that I think the worst.
No. No, he can’t be dead.
“Haden, come back!” I say, smacking his face.
Nothing.
I try a softer approach and press my lips to his forehead. “Please, Haden,” I say, brushing my hands through his hair and then pressing my fingers against his neck. No pulse. No nothing.
“Daphne,” Dax says. “I think he’s gone.…”
Haden lets out a great, gasping groan and sits bolt upright, like he’s waking from a horrific nightmare.
“Haden!” I throw my arms around him, holding him to me. “I thought you were dead.”
Haden’s vision seems to focus and he takes in the surroundings of the Sunny Ridge common room. The carnage of the events with Brim and Simon surrounds us. I can hear his heart pounding out a frantic melody.
“For a moment, I thought I was, too,” he says, his voice sounding more like a croak.
He flexes his fingers and a charred object that vaguely resembles the talisman falls from his hand, leaving a raised, blistering welt of its size and shape in his palm. “That actually worked,” he says, like he’d caused that kind of damage on purpose. “Scrambled the connection to the Underrealm … Sent me back here.” He pinches his leg like he’s making sure he’s truly back inside his body. “Half expected to wake up a shade in the Wastelands instead.”
“What happened?” I ask, searching his jade green eyes.
“He tried to force me to make an unbreakable vow that I would bring you to him. He said the only reason he hadn’t done it before making me Champion was because the Oracle tried to tell him it would backfire.… So I thought of the way you tricked Simon, and I … made it backfire. Quite literally.”
“How?” I ask.
“I vowed I would never let him have you, and electrified the water—scrambling the connection in the talisman. Almost killed myself in the process, though.” He raises his singed hand like he wants to brush his fingers against my cheek—but doesn’t quite have the strength to do it.
“Harpies. Talk about burning bridges. I knew you had it in you!” Dax slaps Haden on the shoulder.
Haden cringes. “ ’Scuse me?” he asks, his speech starting to sound slurred.
“Sarah and I have met before, remember? She told me things.…”
“You didn’t care to share?” I ask.
“I wasn’t at liberty to discuss it. The decision needed to be Haden’s alone. I’ll tell you more later,” Dax says. “We’ve got another problem on our hands.”
“Seriously?” Haden says, dropping his hand. “We almost all died in the worst children’s game I have ever heard of; I almost had to kill my man-eating pet; I stood up to my lunatic father—who has a major god complex, by the way—and had my soul electrocuted three times; and now you’re telling me there’s another problem?”
“Ha!” I laugh.
“What?” he says.
“That is the most human I have ever heard you sound!”
A clap of thunder rolls outside the darkened windows.
“Save the flirting for later,” Dax says. He points up. “Skylords are coming. Simon made a call before he came in here. I have a feeling his buyers are just about to show up. They’ll be wanting to take delivery of the goods, if you know what I mean.”
“Harpies.” Haden looks around. “Where did everyone else go?”
“I sent them to pull up the car,” Dax says. “Daphne and I were getting ready to carry your body out. I just hope they didn’t take off without us.”
Rain starts pelting the windows. There’s a clash of white lightning that makes me jump, followed by a roll of thunder so loud, it shakes the building. “That’s some storm.”