My heart pounded with purpose. I belonged to something greater than myself now.
When I answered Father Garius, my voice was as raspy as his. “Yes,” I whispered. “Yes, I’ll go.”
He didn’t smile. He didn’t look relieved. Instead, his gray eyes turned hard and he nodded slowly, as if he had to take his time accepting my answer. “Take Oliver.”
“No,” I argued. “I couldn’t ask him to leave his life here. He wouldn’t anyway. He loves the Brotherhood too much. He’s—”
Father Garius held up his hand. “He is not cut out for Temple life as his mother would like to believe. May the Light bless her. And you need him. The road home will be dangerous even if you manage to keep the crown hidden during the journey. Anyone in the realm would be willing to murder for that crown. Do you understand that, Tessana? Nobody knows you’re alive. Which means nobody will know if you die. You cannot, under any circumstances, reveal that you have the crown.”
“Father, how do you expect us to—”
“You’ll find a way. You have to.”
He was right.
We either made it all the way to Elysia.
Or we didn’t.
“Oliver won’t want to go,” I assured Father Garius. “He’s much too smart. When we played dragons as children, he was always the villager that told the brave knight about the dragon. I had to play the part of the dragon and the knight myself!”
Father Garius turned his head away and I could have sworn it was to hide a smile. But when he looked back at me, his eyes were serious. “We shall miss you around here, Tessana. You have been an exotic flower to our wheat-colored existence.”
I smiled at my mentor, at the man that had raised me. “But wheat looks like gold under the Light, Father. An exotic flower is pale compared to the glory of gold.”
His eyes filled with emotion and I mirrored his expression, unable to control the deep regret of leaving him behind. “This is why the realm needs you, Tessana. This is why you must go home.”
“Will I ever see you again?” A tear slid from the corner of each eye, but I didn’t bother to brush them away.
He shook his head and offered a small smile. “My dear, this is where our paths split. But in order for me to take mine, you must first take yours.”
I didn’t understand. I wanted to ask him more questions, invite him to the castle once I had established my reign. But he lifted a finger to his lips and I knew that this unprecedented moment of conversation had come to a close.
Instead, I told him, “We’ll leave first thing in the morning. We’ll go through Kasha. Through the Golden Plains. It’s summer now, the heat might be a problem, but—”
Father Garius clucked his tongue and I gave him my full attention. He jerked his chin hard, once.
“You don’t want me to go through Kasha? But it’s the most direct route, I thought—” He clucked his tongue again. I swallowed back frustration. This had been much easier when he was speaking to me. “You can’t mean for me to go through Tenovia?”
He nodded.
I groaned. “But the section of Tenovia bordering Heprin is the Tellekane Forest.” He smiled at me. I wanted to scream. “And not just any section of the Tellekane Forest, but the Blood Woods! You cannot expect us to travel through the Blood Woods alone and survive!”
He nodded again.
He did expect us to.
“We’ll be dead before nightfall. Those woods are as haunted as Denamon.”
Magic had been banished from the realm thousands of years ago. Yet whispers of insidious black magic swarming the Blood Woods raced through all nine kingdoms. Even in our peaceful, practical land, we lived in fear of the dark presence just over the border.
The very trees were rumored to be saturated with evil magic, hiding dark secrets and shadowed monsters. The only people that braved those woods were thieves, waiting like spiders in webs for their next victim and pagans practicing outlawed religion.
Father Garius’s stern eyes dared me to show irreverence. I swallowed my retort.
“Fine. The Tellekane Forest it is.” At least I wouldn’t have to worry about my uncle’s reaction to my sudden appearance on his doorstep. The bandits and ghosts would murder me first.
By this time next week, I’d be mounted on a fiery altar as the virgin sacrifice to the pagan god of chipmunks.
He handed me the satchel he’d kept the crown in and I reluctantly slipped the heavy piece of gold finery back to the secret compartment at the bottom of the bag. I stood up, suddenly eager to pack up my belongings for the long journey ahead.
Father Garius stilled me with a gentle hand on my forearm. He slowly stood, revealing his age with the creaking of his joints and shaky breath. He stepped forward and pulled me into a warm hug.
A lump appeared in my throat once more. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had hugged me. The gesture felt unfamiliar and foreign.
My hands belatedly fluttered to rest on his back. He smelled of hay and the oil used for lighting the temple lanterns. I closed my eyes and committed this moment to memory.
I would never forget him.
He stepped back and I slung the satchel over my shoulder. I fled the room without looking back. Behind my closed door I pulled out the crown once more, knowing I wouldn’t be able to do this again until I reached my homeland.
I fingered the etched vines that decorated the base. They twined around each other, weaving around brilliant diamonds that grew in size the closer they were placed to the middle. The center ruby was half the size of my fist and sparkled when it caught the candlelight. I could see my blurry outline in its surface.
I closed my eyes once again and placed the crown upon my head. My head swayed to the left beneath the
