“Why?”
“My powers are unreliable. I have a foul temper and I’ve hurt people. I’m more likely to be the child of darkness.”
He wrapped his robes more tightly about himself. “Do not say that. You are no such thing.”
“I think it’s time for bed,” I said, standing. I’d had as much as I could handle. It was more than enough to believe I was the last Fireblood in the kingdom. The idea that I was somehow destined to save the world from the curse of a god was far too much to accept. All I was supposed to do was kill the king, and that seemed impossible.
“Do not run from the truth, Ruby. Summer solstice draws near, the time when your strength is greatest. It is almost time for you to leave… and the time has come for me to tell you what we want you to do.”
My heart kicked against my ribs. My palms grew damp.
“I am still researching the thrones and their connection to the ruling family, but I am confident of this: You need to eliminate the throne first. It protects the king and gives him power. If he could be overtaken by force, someone would have formed an army and done so already.”
I raised an eyebrow. “And would people be willing to fight? To face torture and death if they lose?”
“The land is dying. The people are dying. They have nothing to lose.”
“So you’re saying, to have a hope of killing the king, I need to destroy the throne first. How?”
His light blue eyes bored into mine. “You must summon all the power you have. Everything, Ruby. You understand me? There can be no reservation. You must focus all your heat on the throne. Melt it. Destroy it.”
I nodded. “What if I’m not strong enough?”
“You have to be.”
Fear gripped my stomach. Things suddenly seemed so complicated, more starkly real. For everything to depend on me… it was unimaginable. I wasn’t strong. I was volatile. Undisciplined. I didn’t have the strength, the control.
I stared out the window. The dying sun left fingerlike streaks of purple as it slid from the sky. I rubbed my arms and tried to draw warmth from my heart.
“What if I do manage to kill the king without destroying the throne?” I asked. “What then?”
“Another ruler will take the king’s place, someone who must be stronger than the throne and its dark appetites.”
“And if not?”
“The curse will continue and the new ruler may become the same as the current one.”
I crossed my arms and let out a breath. “You’re saying if I don’t destroy the throne, the kingdom will be no better off than it is now.”
“That is very likely, yes.”
I stood and started pacing the length of the room. “Why are you doing this? Why risk the abbey and… spend all this time training me? What’s it to you?”
“I believe I came to this land for a reason. I cannot watch the kingdom fall into destruction. I am not even sure you, with everything you have gone through, understand the suffering that goes on all around us.”
I came back to the bench and sat. I stared at the ice crystals under Brother Thistle’s chair, shivering, trying to sort out my feelings, which were some combination of anticipation and dread. When a cold hand covered mine, I jumped so hard I knocked my head against the window behind me. Brother Thistle removed his hand, but I could feel his stare. His expression was almost forlorn.
“It was much easier to make these plans before I knew you,” he said. “Before you came here, you were a tool to be used, a weapon to be wielded at our choosing. After all, you were slated for death anyway. If you died in the completion of our plan, it would be a worthy sacrifice. But now… please believe this is hard for me. You are a kind, feisty, headstrong, impulsive, generous young woman. I have grown quite fond of you.”
“That’s quite a list of virtues and vices.”
“With the virtue playing the greater part,” he said with a slightly sad smile. “It is much harder to send you into danger than I expected. And, I believe, even more difficult for Arcus.”
I gave a harsh laugh. “I doubt that.”
“You do not know him as I do. He is as gifted at concealing his feelings as he is at wielding frost. I believe I have come to know him better than anyone. The more he feels, the more impervious he seems.”
“Really? And how does he show that he’s impervious? I suppose by being passionate?”
“Ruby—”
“What happens when the throne is destroyed?” I asked, not wanting to hear any more about Arcus and his feelings.
“My belief is that when you destroy the throne, the curse will be destroyed as well. In that case, the king may undergo a transformation.”
My brow furrowed. “What kind of transformation?”
“The curse has controlled him for years, but if the throne is destroyed, he may return to his senses and realize how far he has fallen.”
“Or he’ll be furious that I destroyed his source of power.”