“It’s not guilt. I believe it’s the Minax from the throne.” I waited to see her reaction, but her face remained perfectly blank. “I’m sure it sounds like I’ve gone mad, but—”
“I know about the throne,” she said simply. “I told you. Don’t wear your mask with me. I was inviting you to confide in me and allow me to help you.”
“How can you possibly help me?”
“I’ve been preparing for this day for half my life, reading the dustiest tomes in my father’s library, researching the throne, sneaking out at night to consult with scholars.” She smiled at my consternation. “My father may be a fusty, old sermonizer, but his saving grace is his collection of books. I know the old stories, and I’ve seen for myself that there’s more truth to them than most people believe.”
A cheer went up from the crowd, but I didn’t bother to turn and look at what had caused it. I was too ensnared by Marella’s revelations.
“King Akur went through a marked change during his reign,” she said. “His wife and children saw it. My father and the closest court members saw it. And so did the royal scholar, who believed the throne was the real cause of our war on Firebloods. He believed the curse in the throne woke and was growing in influence. He told the king that as long as we treated Sud’s people unfairly, the repercussions and fighting would be endless. And then King Akur’s wife was murdered, proving Brother Thistle’s theories right. The only reason he wasn’t executed for his treasonous opinions was that he shares the same blood as the largest landowner in the eastern provinces. If Thistle’s cousin, Lord Tryllan, had pulled his support for the king, it would have meant disaster for the border wars. So Thistle was banished to a crumbling old abbey on Mount Una, and he and his predictions were forgotten.”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I asked, half accusingly. “I would have told you everything.”
“I didn’t know if I could trust you. You have a bond with Raz. He looks at you in a way I’ve never seen him look at anyone.” There was a brief flash of emotion in her eyes. “There are a great many reasons you could choose to reveal me, and I didn’t want to take the chance. But now you’re talking of dying in the arena today, and that risk is much greater. To all of us.”
I paused. “You think I can destroy the throne, then?”
She took my hands in hers, her fingers cool but not frigid. “I know you can, Ruby. Today is the summer solstice, when your powers are greatest. If it’s any day, it must be today.”
Solstice. I remembered Brother Thistle saying that it was just over three weeks away, but the days had passed and I’d lost track.
“But, Marella, I’m afraid I’ll be lost and I won’t even want to destroy it. It’ll merge with me and then—what would I become?”
Her fingers tightened on mine, her voice becoming urgent. “Merging with it is the only way to destroy it. Don’t you see? If you do that, you can turn its power on itself. It’s not only your fire you need. It’s your darkness. That’s what makes you special.”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve watched countless Firebloods fight and die in this arena, and I’ve never seen any of them do what you can. The Minax has chosen you.”
“Oh Sud, help me,” I whispered, pulling my hands from hers and covering my face.
“You already know it’s true. That’s why you decided not to fight today. You’re scared of what you’ll become. But I promise you’re stronger. You can merge with the Minax and still control it. You can do this, Ruby.”
“You’re wrong. I won’t risk it.”
I turned away.
“Then let me tell you something that might change your mind. Your opponent today, Kane. He was one of the soldiers who raided the abbey.”
I spun back to her. “What?”
She nodded. “I inquired about him for you, hoping I could discover his weaknesses, and I found out that he was assigned to Captain Drake when they went to Mount Una. I heard he was merciless. It was carnage, Ruby. And… the young man with scars was killed, too.”
“Arcus?” I breathed.
She nodded, her eyes full of sorrow. “A fierce Frostblood warrior that fought madly to protect the abbey, despite the impossible odds. He killed a dozen soldiers before archers brought him down with flaming arrows.”
A haze blurred my vision. The burning arrows wouldn’t have been enough to subdue his frost, but he would have been terrified of those flames. It would have knocked him off guard, weakened his focus. I could see it clearly in my mind, the moment when he had been overcome.
I didn’t realize I had doubled over until I felt Marella pull me up into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry, Ruby,” she whispered into my hair. “I wasn’t going to tell you. But now you know why Kane must not leave that arena alive. He deserves this death.”
I gasped and shuddered, feeling myself falling into a million pieces but helpless to stop it.