Fireblood (Frostblood Saga #2)(86)
I traced my fingers over the spines of books, then pulled scrolls from their perch on the shelves, unrolling and tossing them aside one by one. There was nothing neat or methodical about this. Prince Eiko would know his inner sanctum had been ransacked, but I had no time to be careful.
“Can I help you with something?” an amused voice asked.
I jumped and whirled, recovering my composure with a glare. “You startled me.”
Prince Eiko sat on a chair tucked into the shadows between an armoire and a painted screen, making him almost indiscernible at first glance.
“It’s my observatory,” he pointed out.
I cleared my throat, opting to be blunt. He had shown me in small ways that he wanted to gain my trust. I hoped I wasn’t wrong about him. “When you followed me to the school that night, you told me to come see you when I realized my time had run out. I’m out of time.”
“You were looking at my bookshelf rather hopefully,” he remarked.
“There’s a book I need. And I have a theory you might have it.” I wasn’t ready to tell him I needed a map of the tunnels. Telling him about the book would be a safer way to gauge whether he was willing to help me.
He didn’t even ask which book. He just pointed. “Bottom shelf, far right, behind the volume on ocean currents of the Vast Sea.”
I hadn’t expected him to tell me so easily. Hiding my surprise, I bent and found the book.
The Creation of the Thrones stood out in gold letters on the black leather cover. I touched the spine with reverence, lifting the book gingerly and placing it on the table. Elation and relief made my hands tremble.
“You had it this whole time,” I breathed, opening to the first page.
“For a while, anyway. Long enough to translate the old tongue and understand most of its contents. The masters have the knowledge, but they do nothing with it.” He paused, as if deciding whether or not to go on. “They don’t care if my wife is taken over by a curse. They only care about the power the throne gives her.”
“So the throne is on Sere!” Triumph surged through me. In my dream, the throne had been in an underground cavern. Once again I wondered if Sage was sending me visions. “Does the queen know?”
“No. She believes it was destroyed in the last eruption. Only the masters—and I—know the truth. Shortly after Rota disappeared, their father, King Tollak, died and there was an uprising on some of the islands. The masters saw that series of tragedies as a sign that the curse was awakening in the throne. The curse has periods of dormancy and activity, according to the book. At any rate, when a volcanic eruption occurred within months of Nalani being crowned, the masters saw an opportunity to hide the throne, to claim it had been destroyed. In truth, the castle was destroyed, but the throne remained. As there seemed no way of destroying it, the best they could do was hide the throne, hoping the distance would protect the queen.”
“Is that all in the book? Or did the masters tell you?”
He shook his head. “The book is ancient, and the masters are an outrageously secretive lot. No, I confess I found out by accident. Years ago, while using the tunnels between the observatory and the castle, I sometimes noticed a master or two passing by. One day, I followed. I saw the cavern where they keep the throne and the guard who is always posted.”
“You’re convinced the curse is affecting the queen?”
“I am. I noticed changes in Nalani when King Rasmus took the throne in Tempesia. Her understandable grief and anger at his massacring Firebloods could have accounted for the changes, but I began to grow nervous. I started actively trying to find out more. Finally, I stole the book.”
“Are her veins black? That’s a sure sign of possession.”
He came forward, close to the other side of the table, and gestured to the book. “A black vein is a sign of full possession by the Minax, but the creature exercises a lesser influence on people outside its immediate vicinity. Even with the throne hidden at a distance from the castle, the curse affects the queen, although the changes in behavior are less obvious. At first, I didn’t want to see the signs, but when she had Frostbloods executed—” He broke off. His expression darkened. “That is not the woman I married.”
“And now she’s planning a war she can’t win. That’s exactly the kind of thing the Minax craves. Death and chaos and all the lovely grief that follows.” All this time the Minax had been right under my nose.
“May I show you something?” Eiko reached forward and flipped through the book, pointing when he found the page he sought. “There.”
An illustration showed two indistinct figures, one throwing fire and one throwing ice, the two streams meeting in the center to form a blue-white flame directed at a dark, orange-veined throne.
“A Fireblood and a Frostblood creating frostfire. Destroying the throne of Sud.”
He turned to the next page. The throne was gone. In its place was an oval outlined in black, a malevolent pair of eyes staring out of it. Even the illustration was enough to make the back of my neck prickle.
“The Minax,” he said calmly. “Trapped in a remaining shard of the throne. I’ve translated the ancient Sudesian and the instructions are quite specific: The shard must be at least as large as an ancient Sudesian coin.” He opened a small wooden box and produced a gold coin, which was not much larger than modern Tempesian ones. “A smaller stone would risk its escape.”