Palace of Silver (The Nissera Chronicles #3) - Hannah West Page 0,141

ferocity of their grips.

Ambrosine may have overpowered Valory, but even so, I didn’t believe there was a force in the world that could sunder that grasp.

Valory clutched her portal box in the other hand. Pallor haunted her ivory flesh, and I shivered looking into her eyes. I could see every dreadful hour of her captivity written across her face and knew she would have rather fought the battle a hundred times over than endured the slow, slithering horror of that pit.

She and Kadri embraced in a way that Valory and I never would, but neither of us minded. We communicated in our own language.

“Glisette,” she whispered, those sad eyes tracing the swollen, horrid lump of my face. That she would pity me after what she had endured spoke to how awful I must have looked.

“Commission a portrait while you can,” I joked, but no one laughed. I was too ghastly a sight, apparently.

Valory didn’t let me duck under the emotion of the moment as she usually did. She cupped my elbow as though I were a fragile thing she feared to touch. “Thank you for saving me. Mercer said you manifested the sword.”

“More or less,” I croaked. Even though Eulippa had been just a glittering, golden effigy of my sister, an otherworldly imitation of her physical form, I still wished she could have stayed longer. “But I can’t help blaming myself for Ambrosine.”

She nodded. “We made a mistake.”

Mercer handed me what was left of the sword. The golden blade had faded to ether, leaving only the hilt.

Together, we followed voices through a door hidden behind a tapestry in Ambrosine’s chamber, down winding stone stairs that led to an Edifice of the Fallen.

“Is it really you?” I heard King Myron ask. He sounded like a broken man, but I heard hope in his voice.

“Yes, Father, it’s me,” Navara said.

When we arrived at the bottom of the stairwell, we found King Myron fettered by chains that gave him only enough slack to roam the room. He was even more gaunt and hollow than when Ambrosine had shown him to me. A tray of food on the floor sat untouched. He had been prepared to fade away.

When he saw me, he cried out and tried to push Navara behind him to keep her safe. “It’s all right, Father,” Navara soothed, cradling him. “That’s not her. She’s gone forever.”

I didn’t know what awaited me back home after the heroes’ reception that Navara was planning. Would people still be rioting in the streets of Pontaval? Would the fledgling Realm Alliance recover from such a grave error?

All I knew was that leaving would be more difficult than I ever expected.

The reception gave Navara an excuse to hold us hostage, but I didn’t mind. Kadri and I shared a chamber and slept for nearly two days. I woke once and found Sev at my bedside, but he whispered me back to sleep, leaving me with the scent of spruce and soap. Later, a physician came to set my nose. It hurt so badly that I wanted to break his in retribution. At another point, Devorian strolled in to tell us that Valory had brought Fabian and Larabelle through her portal and asked if we wanted to bid them hello or if we planned to rot here. We both yelled, “Rot!” and pulled the covers over our heads.

The deep sleep failed to hedge out the horrible dreams. I eventually decided that being awake, in pain, and hideous was preferable to sleeping.

This time, Kadri was already up and about, eating biscuits and drinking cold tea. Navara had left us gowns to wear to the reception, which was now somehow only a few hours away.

The soft, layered dress of sky-blue silk was kind to my wounds, and even though mottled bruises ringed my eyes and swollen cuts marred my nose, lips, and cheeks, I found the courage to descend to the throne room.

Other than Navara and King Myron, who looked thin but rejuvenated, Sev was the first person I noticed. He had traded his usual leather jerkin for a dark-purple one with leather buckles, but a belt of weapons still hung around his hips.

The reception was a bit of an embarrassing show, with seats of honor for the elicromancers, plus Sev and Commander Larsio, as well as honorary seats for Tilmorn and Perennia. Thankfully, most of the attention fell on Navara and Myron, who announced that every priest and altar attendant found to have been involved with the Uprising would