do what I do best. Steal.”
Every minute that they argued was a minute that Adriano went without medicine critical to his recovery—or at the very least, survival until a true healer could tend to his wound.In the end, Rosalia prevailed when she convinced Xavier she could acquire whatever they needed from a nearby town and that venturing in the city itself wasn’t necessary. The sun had barely crawled into the sky.
It worked. She convinced the old woman on duty that she needed a curative for a lingering cough, and once the woman was in the next room, pilfered a few ingredients. As it was a small town and likely relied on what little profit it made to stay afloat and continue to serve the community, she left the few coins she had in her possession on the counter.
Fortunate shined upon her during that foray, and she even visited the small market and purchased several fruits and dried meat.
She even considered stealing a horse on her way out but decided not to push her luck. There was only so much she could wring out of her own abilities, and she needed to save some of that magical serendipity for the battle yet to come.
The whole time that she hiked the three hours back to the settlement, sun rising overhead higher and higher, she feared she’d returned to find a burned-out homestead or that the ice wraith would find her again.
Luck was with her, and no such thing occurred.
“Will any of these work?” Rosalia asked, shoving a sack into Xavier’s arms. He sniffed the contents of each vial, selected a few, then went to work mixing unrecognizable reagents that became a bitter brew for Adriano to swallow.
Almost immediately, some of the color returned to his face.
He wasn’t entirely healed, but they had at least bought him enough time until someone with skill and training arrived. He only had to hold out until the Moritta made good on their promise.
“There’s whispers at the village gates about the army marching. A few soldiers living there were called into duty.”
Listening to those worried mothers had twisted her guts into knots. Each person they fought, every person standing between them and what was right, had no idea just how wrong their king had become. For all they knew, Rosalia and Xavier, and all those helping her, were the villains.
They believed they were the heroes. She hated it.
“Now that Adriano can hold on a while longer, what is our next step?”
“Isn’t that clear?” Adriano asked drowsily, stirring from a light drowse. “Figure out where they’ll open the blasted thing. They have their tool, their jewels, and a caster to make it happen. They know you’ll be coming for them. You merely need to know where to go.”
Xavier rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “They’ll need space to open the gateway to let an infernal army through.”
“Correct. They can’t do it within the city. They won’t do it at the palace. The king is mad, and his generals are too spineless to stand up against him, but they know better than to open a gateway to Gehenna in the middle of a residential district. Not to mention the lack of space within an occupied city and Enimura’s narrow streets.”
“They’ll also need power,” Xavier mused.
“They have the Legacies. What other power do they need?” Misery laced her voice and guilt anchored her shoulders with cast iron weight, no matter how upbeat she wanted to be for her friend and her mate.
“Those are merely keys,” Xavier explained. “The ritual provides the power, but such magic is amplified if the ritual is done in a place designed to enhance it. That’s why wizards draw elaborate circles for their major workings.”
“The wizard tower hasn’t been defeated yet, so where else might they go to open the blasted thing?”
“Old Enimura.”
Rosalia blinked up at him. “But it’s been deserted for centuries, ever since the king established the new city and the Moritta left to establish a home in the volcano. That place is ancient.” Then understanding dawned and the realization clicked. “Their whole village in the desert tingled with magic, so it would make sense their old home here would have the same feeling.”
“Yes. I've felt it when scouring the ruins for herbs and buried trinkets. It’s the only place that makes sense without traveling a great distance. And he won’t do that. They wouldn’t want to give us a chance to reclaim the gems.”
“About that…I hadn’t said anything because I wasn’t entirely certain I wasn’t