I scanned the schematics for Spartine, running over the plan one more time.
“There are five possible paths,” Axer said. “The two for low security are less relevant. We aren't going to be looking for footpads and embezzlers. The middle tier sends to an interesting web. But the two for high security lead to a set of paths that interconnect. Level 5 will be individual cells with complete nullification parameters. Level 4, however, is for prisoners being manipulated mentally and allows for low level spells. Because the mage is trapped by the mind, a regulation of magics and a few enchantments to make the mage more comfortable are allowed.”
I looked away. “Like making the air cooler and the pillow softer? With enough food and water available?”
His piercing gaze pinned me until I looked back. “Yes,” he said resolutely, but gently.
“Do you think this will work?” Will murmured.
“It has to,” I said.
The library shuddered around us—slowly at first, then it started to pick up speed, shaking with magic. The books took flight like a thousand crows lifting from a field. Universal Motes solemnly landed in front of me.
I swallowed and closed my eyes. “He's begun.”
The time for planning was over. Stavros was initiating the first cull.
I opened my eyes and looked at the tense, beloved faces around me. “As soon as we leave the library and temporal field, we'll have twenty minutes. I went over the pattern with the books—once started, it takes about twenty minutes to complete the magic he will use.”
Twenty minutes for Stavros to wipe out twenty million people.
“I can’t start my part until he completes the setting of the grid. Which will equate to five minutes’ passage outside,” I said, trusting in math instead of falling to terror.
“We have to be in position by then.” Axer looked at Olivia.
Olivia lifted her chin. “I'm ready. I've been ready for this since the day of my emancipation.”
“Ren?”
I felt the shuddering of the library. Inside we had minutes to spare that we would not have outside of it. “Valeris let his power get out of control,” I murmured. “Kinsky let his power get under control. Valeris was too strong in his grip on the powers available to him, Kinsky too weak.”
I touched the journal. “Kinsky wanted a quiet life. A life with his projects. A life with the girl.”
I looked at Valeris’s beautiful temporal library and the palace beyond. “Valeris wanted progress and prosperity for the world.”
“Ren?”
What did I want?
If I had been asked what I wanted before, it would have been safety, security, and happiness, for those I loved. But to ignore the cost, or to ignore what happened to people outside of my family and friends was something I could no longer do. The world was greater than my circle.
Sacrifice.
My fingers drew along the edge of the journal. “It all comes back to that. For what happens to a Kinsky or Valeris or Crown without a tether? Without a center? And so… What does Ren Crown choose? Does she choose to keep her family and friends safe, or does she choose to save the world? For the saving of one is at the cost of the other. If I’m on my own, I lose my humanity, but if I’m surrounded by those I love, I thrust those I love into the center of the storm.”
“Trust in your friends’ choices,” Axer said.
I tilted my head. “I do. Of course, I do. And yet, deep down, I lose my drive to do anything except protect all of you when circumstance strikes.”
“Find a way.”
I smiled. “Do better?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment. “You always do. So, trust in us to do our part. That we are not pawns for you to protect.”
“I’ve been told I’m terrible with pawns.” I touched the threads at my elbow.
“You are too good with them. That is the problem.”
“Each of us has a reason we are here, Ren. And you made certain that everyone connected to you would make their own choice. Even Verisetti, with the truth spell addition, can choose not to use the connection.”
What does Ren Crown choose?
“Yes,” I whispered. “I'm ready.”
We gathered our supplies. The books arrayed in two long lines, watching us solemnly as we left.
Universal Motes blinked, and I gave it a small bow.
Then we all walked up the stairs and out into Valeris' palace.
Chapter Twenty-nine: All Is Love; All Is Lost
Outside of the library, the world was shaking violently. Stavros’s lights zipped along, looking for their victims.
I had wondered if he’d just target all of us first. But the input parameters for the spell were too broad, and yet too restrictive—he’d already decided who he was using it for before I’d seen the spell, but hadn’t shown me who.
Besides, he wanted more than one of us alive to be used—he’d want to make our ends personal and painful.
The seal in the center of the floor started swirling as soon as I looked at it. Universal Motes had been very helpful.
Butterflies jammed together in my chest. I didn't know how I was going to survive what needed to happen. Spartine, Stavros, the culling, A... I closed my eyes. Forward. Go forward.
I quickly formed an image of the destination and shot the coordinate packet toward the seal. It was sucked into the center, opening a vortex.
I let a half-smile curve my lips. “Look, Con, it's like...” My words trailed off. “What?”
He was staring moodily at the seal. He looked back at me with that same strange cocktail of emotions, but something was finally winning—resolve.
He stalked back toward me, eyes intent.
“What is it?” I asked, butterflies becoming eagles jamming in my chest. “Second thoughts? Something's wrong? What—”
His warm fingers slid along my cheek, then wrapped into my hair. He leaned down to rest his forehead against mine and closed his eyes. “The ribbon. I lied.”
“What? We aren't engaged?” I asked, smiling shakily, curling my fingers into his shirt. “I have to show up to family dinners as your weird second cousin?”
He opened his eyes and looked into mine. “It doesn't mean family. Not like that. Not to me.”
And his emotional connection opened cleanly, without the muddle he usually hid his true feelings within. And it was love, clear and without artifice, shining there.
I stared at him, breath caught in my chest. “You—”
His emotions were wrapping around me, free and clear and relieved. Like honey and copper—sweet, tangy, and charged—gentle, consuming, warm, passionate, and resolute. “No tricks. No games. No expectations. No lies—not to you, not ever again.”
Stunned, I watched him pull away.
He looked at peace for the first time in weeks. Months. Then he looked down at our connection threads and I wondered what on earth he’d see.
He looked up, and a smile, brilliant and all-consuming split his face. He backed up slowly. “Interesting. See you soon, darling.” He winked, turned, and flipped over the edge of the seal and through the vortex.
I stared, lips parted, cheeks warm.