Tale of the Heart Queen (Artefacts of Ouranos #4)

Chapter 40

C HAPTER 40

N adir and I make our way through the city, heading for the Sixteenth District, one area that mostly avoided disaster in the quake.

Cloris Payne claimed she knows how to manage the bond between Primaries, and while I have no expectations that she’ll be willing to help us, I’m arriving with a bargaining chip.

We stop in front of the Priestess of Payne as thunder rolls overhead, pausing outside the building to remember the last time we were here.

“I can go in alone,” Nadir says, his hand gripped around mine. The last time I saw Cloris, she told me Rion had caused the scar I wear on my face so proudly. I touch my cheek as though I can still feel the pain of those long nights in the Keep where he tortured me until it felt like my skeleton had been ripped out of my body.

I shake my head. “I’m not afraid of her.”

Nadir gives me a tipped smile. “I know you aren’t.”

“Then let’s bargain with this bitch,” I say, and we make our way up the white marble stairs.

“We’re here to see Madame Payne,” I say, and the stunning High Fae female at the front desk blinks at us with her big eyes.

“She’s very busy—”

“Tell her Lor is here,” I say, cutting her off. “And tell her we don’t have time for her bullshit. We want to see her now.”

The Fae’s eyes widen, and I know none of this is her fault, but I refuse to stand around waiting for her high and mightiness to grant us an audience. We have what she wants, and she will give me what I want, so help me.

“Of course,” the Fae hostess says when it’s clear I mean business. She dips into a curtsy and then scurries off, whispering something to another High Fae, this one male. He looks at us, then turns down the hall, off to deliver our message.

The woman returns. “Would you like to wait inside?”

She gestures down the long hallway that leads to the large room made to look like a temple of Zerra with its pool and greenery.

“No,” I say. “We won’t be here long.”

She nods, and we wait only a few seconds before the male reappears.

“She’ll see you,” he says, and Nadir takes my hand as we follow him up the winding golden staircase. We enter a dark paneled hallway and are then ushered into Cloris’s study, covered in thick woven rugs and filled with bookcases and ornate furniture. This time, she doesn’t make us wait. She’s standing in the middle of the room wearing a silk burgundy dress, her silver hair pulled into an intricate braid, and her cane clutched in her fist. She’s all sneering smugness, and my fist clenches as I resist the urge to clock her across the mouth.

“Heart Queen. Aurora Prince,” she says as the door closes. “Have you come to keep up your end of our bargain? I assumed I’d see you again soon enough.” The corner of her lips curl up. “Because you’re in . . . love.”

She says the last word like it’s carrion, spitting it out like sinew on dry, caked sand.

“Have you ever loved anyone?” I ask, and she laughs.

“Do you think I care?” she scoffs. “You think you’ll trick me into revealing my bleeding heart? Not all of us are so weak.”

“Fine,” I say. “No, I will not be helping you find the ark of Heart.”

Her eyebrow arches up in disdain. “Then what are you doing here? You will not beat or torture the answer out of me, girl. I’ll die rather than reveal anything to you.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say,” I reply, looking at Nadir.

He’s not in love with my plan but conceded it was kind of the only option we had.

“So we’ve brought you something I think will convince you.”

“What could you possibly—”

Her words cut off as I dig into the pocket of my tunic and pull out the ark of Aphelion. I’m banking on the notion that Cloris doesn’t know I stole the others from Zerra, worried she’ll demand the rest from me too. How often does she converse with her goddess, and why hasn’t that goddess found me again?

Last time, Cloris told us Zerra was dying because everyone was using their magic with impunity and draining her. Cloris had part of the story but not all of it, which leads me to believe she isn’t as in with her goddess as she thinks. It also makes me think Zerra is feeding different truths to different people, hoping to prevent anyone from having leverage to use against her. Perhaps she’s more clever than she seems.

Cloris stares at the ark in my outstretched hand and then at me. “You’re giving this to me?”

“In exchange for the knowledge of how Nadir and I can bond,” I say.

She’s trying to keep her cool, but the manic light in her eyes gives her away. She wants this so badly she can taste it.

Cloris inhales a sharp breath and straightens her shoulders.

“Our bargain was for the ark of Heart.”

“Which is currently somewhere in The Aurora in the hands of the king,” I say. “You said you’ve been searching for all of them, so I’m offering you this one.”

I study her face. There’s nothing to suggest she knows I have the others, only that intense longing for the object cradled in my hand.

She shakes her head and peers up at me. “I want this and the ark of Heart for the knowledge you seek.”

I suspected this would be her ask. Give an inch, and they always ask for a mile.

“Fine,” I say, tucking the ark back into my pocket. I take Nadir’s hand. “Then we’ll be on our way. ”

We turn to leave, but she calls out as I predicted she would. “Wait.”

“What?” I ask.

“Listen,” Nadir says, dropping my hand and stepping towards her. He’s taller than her by a good foot, plus he’s fucking scary when he’s pissed. She takes the smallest step back at his approach, though she tries to cover it up. “We can find this information out from someone else. If you know, then someone else knows too. But there is only one ark of Aphelion to be had. So you’ll take Lor’s offer, or you can fuck right off. We have things to do, and you’re wasting our time.”

Cloris’s eyes flash with fury, but she must hear the sense in Nadir’s words. Her jaw clenches, and she holds out her bony, trembling hand.

“Fine. Give it to me, and I’ll tell you.”

Nadir snorts but defers to me, glancing over his shoulder in question.

I move to stand next to him. “No. You’re going first because, as he just pointed out, you’re getting the better end of the bargain,” I say.

Technically, it’s true. We might be able to find this information on our own, but we’re also running out of time.

“How do I know you won’t run as soon as I tell you?” she asks .

“Of the two of us, you are the one who’s been trying to screw me over. You’re the one who’s been lying to everyone. So I’m the more trustworthy one in this relationship.” I hold up a hand. “You have my word that we will not run.”

Cloris lets out a long, slow breath.

“Very well,” she says and then smiles in a way that suggests neither of us will like this answer. “It’s very simple. You will need both Artefacts, and there are a series of lines to recite in addition to those required of a normal bonding.”

“What lines?”

“I don’t have them memorized, but you’ll find them in a book known as the Book of Night.”

“Where will we find that?” Nadir asks, and Cloris shrugs.

“At one of the priestess temples, I suspect.”

I look around the study. “You don’t have one?”

“No. Your grandmother destroyed my copy.”

I study her, scanning her up and down. I think she’s telling the truth.

“That’s it?” Nadir asks.

Cloris tips her head.

“No. There are two more things you need to be aware of.”

“What?” I ask. She’s enjoying the process of stretching this out as long as possible, feeding us drips of information to maximize their sting.

“First, you’ll need a High Priestess, of course. I told you Serce made the mistake of trying to do it herself.”

I narrow my eyes, trying to parse a lie in her words. I think she’s being honest, as much as it guts me to admit it.

“So you’ll still need me, and I will trade this knowledge for the ark of Aphelion, but if you’d like my help, I’ll still require the ark of Heart as payment.”

I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose. My mother said I had to bond to destroy the ark, but will I be strong enough to get it from Rion without it ?

“Why did my father want the ark?” Nadir asks. “You never explained that. Is that what you promised him?”

Cloris considers the question. “It was not the ark I dangled before him.”

“What then?” I ask.

“It was you,” she says. “The territory of Heart had resisted conquering over two long, bloody wars, and I simply suggested that with the Primary and her magic in his possession, he might finally be able to take it.”

“Would that have worked?” Nadir asks.

Cloris shrugs. “Maybe.”

Nadir looks at me and I shake my head. She lied to Atlas and Rion to get at me. She could be lying to us right now. She’s obviously a master.

“That’s why he was so angry when I refused to show him my magic,” I ask as my stomach knots with this knowledge that I’ve craved for so long.

She nods. “He was convinced I’d lied, and the Primary was gone.”

I think about what Nadir said and how Rion’s interest in me shifted after Gabriel stole me from the Hollow. So why did he start searching for the ark of Heart?

“What’s the second thing we need to do?” Nadir asks a moment later.

“Oh, that,” she replies, and that’s when her face stretches into a wicked grin.

“For the bonding to work, one of you will have to give up your role as the Primary. ”

Nadir and I both grind into stillness at those words, and Cloris laughs in delight.

“Oh? Did you think it would be so easy?” she sneers. “If you want that kind of power, it requires a sacrifice . Can your love stand the test?”

I narrow my eyes. “You’re telling us the truth?”

She laughs again, tipping her head back with glee.

“It’s the truth, Heart Queen.” She studies me. “Or perhaps not a queen anymore.” Her gaze slides to Nadir. “I haven’t met many men who’d give up their power for a woman.”

I cannot pass the role of Primary on to anyone else. Coral said it had to be me. If I don’t ascend, then Heart loses everything.

But his answer is a derisive scoff. “Then you underestimate what I’d do for her, High Priestess .”

I exchange a look with him, reading the sincerity in his eyes, my heart twisting in my chest. There’s a flicker of something in Cloris’s expression before it morphs into a scowl.

Nadir takes another step towards her, and this time, she visibly backs up. “How does one give up one’s role as Primary?”

Cloris blinks several times before she recovers. Nadir has completely thrown her off with his reaction. She expected him to balk at giving up his crown, but I also can’t help but wonder if he understands what he’s doing.

She clears her throat. “You will have to ask the Torch when the bonding is performed.”

Nadir looks back at me, seeking confirmation that I’m done with my questions .

I swallow a ball of tension in my throat. “And that’s everything?” I ask again. “The full extent of it?”

“That is everything,” Cloris says, holding out her hand. “Now, I will take the ark. And I will consider performing the ceremony for you once you find me the ark of Heart.”

I glare at her, and then I hold out the ark of Aphelion. The black stone glitters in the light, and I can feel its power even if it isn’t mine. She studies me, her calculating gaze sweeping me from head to toe. She will do everything to ruin me. I can see it written on her face. No matter what she says, she harbors centuries of anger towards my grandmother, and I will be the culmination of her revenge. This witch already tried to steal me, and when that didn’t work, she used every resource she could to get at me.

She reaches for the ark, and I allow her hand to close over it as a light of triumph sparks in her eyes. But I hang on to it, and she looks up at me, her face twisting into a frown.

With Nadir standing at my back, ready to offer his control, I unleash my magic, a lightning bolt slamming into her chest as the room explodes. Books fly from shelves as they collapse into splinters. Cloris screams and bends at the waist, clutching herself.

Fury curdles in my limbs as I filter more magic into her body while Nadir’s magic curls around mine, keeping it in check. Just barely. I want Cloris Payne to understand everything I’m capable of.

She groans and wails, rolling on the ground, just like when I attacked her as a child. This time, I feel no remorse or guilt about my actions. She is responsible for everything that happened to me and my siblings. To my parents. I ended up in the Trials because of her. Rion killed my parents because of her.

She could have let us live in peace, but she dragged us out into the world and played with our lives for her own benefit. We will find another way to complete the bond. I’ll be damned if I let this monster take another thing from me.

Magic funnels into her body, charring her from the inside out and frying her to a crisp. I don’t kill her—I’m not sure I even can after what happened last time, so I pull my magic back because I don’t want to kill her. I want her to live knowing that I am stronger. That I could have destroyed her, but I’m choosing to allow her to live. Let her goddess punish her for failing her yet again. Those two deserve each other.

As I stare about the ruined study, my breath drags in on a ragged gasp. Surveying the spoils of my destruction, I feel only grim satisfaction.

When my magic cuts off, I stalk towards her and stand over her broken body, ash falling over her like snow. A crash signals the collapse of the far wall, exposing us to the outside air. As tendrils of hair whip across my cheeks, I don’t even blink as I glare at her.

She looks up at me and groans, her blackened fingers reaching for me, her chest rattling with a dry breath.

“That’s for everything. For telling Rion and Atlas about me. For trying to use me. For every moment of misery that me and my siblings lived in Nostraza.”

I crouch down and get in her face, dropping my voice to a deadly whisper .

“Don’t ever think you have power over me, Cloris Payne. I will fucking ruin you if you hurt anyone I love ever again.”

Then I stand up slowly as she blinks—the stark contrast of her eyes against her blackened skin is positively ghoulish. She moans, the sound withered and cracked, and I try to summon up an ounce of remorse.

“Do you understand me?”

She whimpers, but I see the defeat enter her eyes. The understanding that she’s been bested, once and for all.

“Stay away from me,” I say. “From my mate and my family.”

Then I spin around, take Nadir’s hand, and we exit the room, closing the door on Cloris Payne for the very last time.