The whole experience didn’t feel real—I remembered it clearly, but it was like watching a movie instead of having truly lived it. I recalled everything that had happened, but not the emotions I’d experienced while it had happened. “The mages were right to send me to Ember. I was totally and completely dark. But now… I’m back.”
“It shouldn’t be possible…” Reed looked mystified. “No mage has ever come back after going dark.”
Gemma held up the half of the Crown. “It happened after you touched this,” she said.
There was something different about her. She looked harsher. Stronger. There was a hardness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before.
Or maybe I’d been looking at her differently when I’d been dark. Maybe everyone had looked different then. Softer.
Then I glanced at Mira, and she looked the same as before. Hesitant and a bit scared, like she was uncomfortable in her own skin.
It was a miracle she’d survived that fight with the dark mages and dark fae.
They only survived because I helped them, I thought, although of course I didn’t say it out loud.
They’d only gotten their magic a few weeks ago. They were new to it, so what they’d done was downright impressive. And I had faith they’d grow stronger from here.
I believed in them, just like I’d always believed in Selena.
Grief hollowed my heart at the thought of my best friend, and I leaned into Reed for support.
It didn’t seem possible that I’d never see Selena again.
But I’d watched her die.
She was gone. Forever. And a part of my soul had died with her. I hadn’t realized it then, but I felt it now.
“Touching the Crown brought you back,” Reed realized. “The Crown’s the key. If we can bring it to the dark mages, we can bring them all back.”
“Assuming they want to be brought back,” Mira said.
“They don’t.” I remembered the calmness that came with feeling no emotions. The feeling of control—of being unstoppable. Of having what felt like unlimited power and no qualms about what to do with it. “Once they figure out what it does, they’ll kill you before you come close to them with it.”
“We don’t have time to strategize about how to turn an entire kingdom of dark mages good again right now,” Gemma said harshly. “Let alone to organize ourselves to execute a plan—if we’re able to come up with a feasible one that won’t get us killed.”
Ethan stepped back, like she’d slapped him. “If we can free the mages from the darkness, they might be willing to set the dragons free,” he said. “How can we not have time for that?”
“Because this is only half the Crown.” She spoke slowly, like she was talking to a child. “We need the rest of it. That’s our mission, and it has to be our priority. Because if only half of the Crown can do this, imagine what’ll happen when it’s whole.”
Ethan stood completely still, and I had a feeling he was going to fight her.
“She’s right,” Mira jumped in before he could. “Our mission is to find the Crown. Not half of the Crown. The full Crown. We have to stay focused on that.”
“It’s our best hope at defeating the demons.” Gemma spoke immediately after her sister, like she was finishing her twin’s thought. “It’s our best hope at staying safe.”
That final word snapped Ethan out of his anger. “Right,” he said. “You’re right. I just hate leaving them there when we have a way to save them.”
“Our people have been enslaved by the Dark Allies for centuries,” Darius said. “We can survive in their kingdoms for a few more weeks, or months, or even years. We have to think long term. And your plan about allying with the supernaturals on Earth is a good one. With them on our side—and with the full Crown, assuming you find the second half of it—we have the best chance of beating the Dark Allies and setting our people free.”
21
Harper
To get to Avalon, you needed to complete the island’s entrance Trials.
Only one vampire kingdom could take you to the place where the Trials began—the Vale, which was located deep in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
So, Mary sent a fire message to the ruler of the Vale, King Alexander. He quickly replied, saying a witch would meet me outside the entrance of the boundary dome.
Like all witches who’d grown up in one of the six kingdoms, I knew the entrance locations to the boundary domes of each one of them. It