Throne of the Fallen

They were all living things. But that didn’t connect them. Some plants. Camilla paced away, her thoughts focused inward. Some plants… all plants were alive. But some plants…

“All right,” she said. “If I were in House Sloth, plants would be broken down into categories. Flowering, fruits, trees, bushes… and annuals and perennials.”

Her pulse thrashed. That felt right. Some plants were annuals; they needed to be replanted each year. Some plants were perennials. They came back each year on their own.

Suddenly, she knew what the answer was.

Chills raced down Camilla’s body.

“Death.”

Some plants died. Mortals and all animals died too. Death ended all that began. And once it began, there was no undoing it. Death also had five letters. It fit.

It had to be the correct answer.

Still, as she knelt next to Envy, seeing the sickly pallor of his normally healthy, bronze skin, she hesitated. One more wrong answer and she didn’t want to consider the torture he’d experience. At her own hand.

She couldn’t waste any more time debating.

Camilla hissed through her teeth as she clasped the chain again, finding the link with the letters. She twisted them into place quickly this time, pausing for only a beat on the final letter.

DEATH

She hoped she wasn’t dooming Envy to his. The H clicked into place and an eternity passed in a second; then the glow intensified, and Camilla internally damned—

The chains shattered in a flash of fire, freeing the prince.

Camilla sobbed and then gently pulled him onto her lap, stroking his head.

“Please. Please get up.”

She had read enough fairy tales as a young girl to know that the prince was supposed to wake the love of his life with a kiss. But Envy was a demon, and Camilla was no damsel in distress. She pressed her lips to his forehead.

He didn’t magically stir. But his skin was starting to regain some color now that the chains weren’t constantly attacking him.

Camilla rocked him gently for a few more seconds, still painfully aware of the clock Abyssus said was counting down their time to solve the final clue. They were so close. They were in the site. If they lost, her talent would be stolen forever.

She could leave Envy, find the next clue on her own…

Awareness suddenly prickled against her skin. She glanced down, startled to find Envy’s emerald gaze locked onto her.

“Did we lose?” he asked, his tone void of emotion.

“Not yet.”

“You could have left me.”

She could have. There was a question in his eyes. One she did not have an answer for.

Camilla carefully maneuvered him off her lap and stood, brushing down the front of her dress, then glanced around. “Abyssus said we have until sunset to solve the last clue. We’re almost out of time.”

FIFTY-EIGHT

ENVY TOOK QUICK stock of his injuries as he sat up. On the surface, he didn’t appear too bad. But looks could be deceiving. The worst of his aches and pains were still there.

He pushed himself up to his feet, head pounding from the strain.

Camilla, thankfully, had already turned her attention to the Pillars. The fear he’d seen in her, the tenderness, both were gone, replaced by a brutal determination. If he hadn’t seen her, hadn’t experienced that hellish torture, she’d have given no outward indication that they’d battled a dark force. He wanted to ask about Abyssus, if she was all right, but she clearly was.

She was a woman on a mission. And he was glad of her help.

Unable to move just yet, Envy watched Camilla take in the pillars, a look of awe and reverence on her face.

He understood her fascination. Even in a world full of magic and riches, they were truly something to behold.

The pillars stood twenty-two feet tall and were each carved from a solid piece of shadowstone, a gemstone found only in the Seven Circles that was like a smoky moonstone. Each massive column was adorned with images ranging from flora to fauna to astrological.

Many had speculated on what the symbols meant, but no one could be certain that their theory was correct. Only the oldest of the Fae knew what the Pillars had fully been capable of.

She was looking at them with appreciation, but he also saw the way she methodically scanned them, running her hands over each image, her mind hard at work to solve the mystery of why they’d been sent there and how it related to the game.

He looked them over from where he stood, slowly regaining his strength.

In the mortal world, there were a few ancient sites that were similar, but nothing compared to these pillars. Some believed supernatural beings had created the ones across the mortal world, but if they saw what had been made by the Fae, they’d understand the differences.

These columns glowed with an inner moonlight, the art casting shadows. And that was while they were buried below ground, far from the sun and moon, which legend claimed they’d been created to celebrate.

Envy had seen the Pillars once before: when Wrath had each of the seven ruling Princes of Hell come together to nullify the Fae magic, in a sense leashing the Pillars.