Chains of Fate

Chapter Forty-One

A/N: Sorry for the horribly long wait on this chapter, everyone. Thank you for being patient! I hope you like it!

Chapter Forty-One

"Now tell us exactly when and where you saw Therin, Ayacinth," Astera commanded the girl, who sat before her on a chair in the council room. Gavin and Hadrian sat near Ayacinth, while Titus and Mayra sat on either side of me. Synnove was presumably still moping about in the garden. Astera ordered a guard to search for Synnove, apparently already knowing that she was the last Harbinger.

I stared at Ayacinth as she gazed stone-faced at Astera. The creatures that came with Ayacinth proved that she was telling the truth. Astera ordered griffins to scout the forest, and just one returned, only communicating to the queen that Therin was coming. The griffin died from the poisoned scratch of a fairy.

"Therin was just outside our northernmost border," Ayacinth replied. "He was about to cross into the giant's domain when my father—" Ayacinth's eyes closed. "My father..."

When she didn't finish, Mayra spoke up, her voice urgent. "What about your father?" At this, Astera shot her sister a glare.

Ayacinth shook her head. "He brought all of our forces against Therin, but he was injured when Therin broke through the border." This caused Mayra to tense. "My people were forced to back down," the girl went on. "We were only able to put up runic barriers at the last minute. It should hold them off for a while, but we don't have long until they reach this city. They have a basilisk, my queen," she said to Astera. "How are we supposed to fight that? There is no runic script that can protect us from such a creature."

Gavin rested his chin on his hands, while Titus tapped his finger on the table next to me, his gaze calculating. Astera was standing, pacing back and forth as we all listened to Ayacinth. Even though the giant was telling the truth, she wasn't innocent. She had been working with Therin—there was no excuse for that. I realized she must have been the guide who led Therin into the forest to spread the lies that the Harbingers were gone.

But when should I reveal that to the queen? I thumped the tabletop with my thumb, thinking hard. Ayacinth kept casting me wary glances as if she knew what I wanted to do.

You're darn right I want to tell on you, you sniveling little beast, I thought silently to her when she caught my gaze. I knew she couldn't hear me, but I wanted her to feel the anger inside of me. I wasn't going to let her off easy.

"Rowan will be capable of defending the city," the queen said, which made Ayacinth's eyes wander to the glass floor. "I already ordered him to put up a tighter barrier. We will protect our people with every runic script against dark magic. And light magic," she added heavily, "given that creatures from the light have sided with Therin." Astera called for a satyr servant. "Have a messenger go to Dhiren. Inform him of the situation and tell him to gather his forces outside Eremith as quickly as possible. Send two fairies to Deirdre and Lilith and tell them the same. It will take them longer to arrive here." The servant nodded and exited the atrium.

"It seems that Therin intends to invade each realm," Hadrian said suddenly, surprising all of us. "Otherwise he wouldn't have started with the giant's northern borders. He would have gone through the southern border of the centaurs and straight into Eremith."

I felt the blood drain from my face. "So Eremith isn't the only realm we need to protect."

Astera put her index and thumb together and rubbed her forehead. "Correct. But we do not have the capabilities to protect Eremith and the other realms at once. It could be a trap."

"But what if it isn't?" I countered. Even though I had no experience in battle strategies, I remembered what Astera said about the Barghest earlier. "If you go on the assumption that it's a trap when it's not, then you risk losing the armies needed to fight Therin altogether. If he destroys the realms of the giants, the centaurs, the fairies, and the Sidhe, what will you have left?"