Ash

Instead she’d taken her punishment, but at a cost that was ridiculous . . . banishment was meant for those who were traitorous, murderers . . . for elementals who would try to destroy our world, not save it. Not all who were banished lost their minds; some faded into nothing, their bodies going back to the element they were spawned from. A few went wild, their minds cracking under the strain until they lashed out. Those were fewer and further between than the four families made them out to be.

I did not doubt that if Lark cracked, the very foundations of our world would be at risk.

Which meant that both for her sake and the sake of our family, I had to stop this madness before it twisted any further out of control.

I strode toward the Spiral, needing to speak to Bella before I faced the Enders. She would be integral to what I planned, the linchpin I needed to know I could rely on.

The Spiral was where the seat of Terraling power resided, and where I would find both the king and Bella. A giant grouping of trees from every nation wrapped around one another, woven together in time, bark and sap. A variety of leaves and flowers swept outward from the trunk, a true mishmash of flora.

I hurried up the steps that led to the great tree and the curling trees that made up the massive living structure. The interior was far larger than the exterior, a gift from the mother goddess.

The two guards at the main door nodded to me as I passed. I paused, making eye contact with them one at a time. “Fifteen minutes, I want you at the barracks.”

Both saluted me. As an Ender, it was my job to keep not only the king and his family safe but our entire elemental family. As the head Ender, I was in charge of the Rim guards as well. And I would need all the help I could get if I was truly going forward.

There was no reason to hold me back from what I planned in my head—the safety of those I was sworn to protect was on the line. The safety of my elemental family, and even the royal line.

A coup was not something easily done.

With Bella and the other Enders and Rim guards standing with me, we could make it happen, and with Bella on the throne, she could lift Lark’s banishment. The solution seemed simple, even though I knew it was anything but.

Bella could make right where her father had gone so very wrong, and the only way to do that was to take the king down once and for all.

The halls of the Spiral were sparse. Those elementals who kept it clean were nowhere to be seen, and I quickly realized why. The yelling from the throne room was no doubt the cause of their absence. I picked up my pace, feeling the tension rise in the air as I drew closer to the throne room.

I found the king and Bella nose to nose, and she wasn’t backing down. The sight was odd; it was unusual for him to go toe to toe with his oldest daughter. Briar and Keeda, the younger two sisters, were also there, though they stood off to the side. Keeda stared at nothing, her mind gone ever since her encounter with Lark in the Pit.

Briar kept her eyes down, as though the ground at her feet was incredibly interesting. She was the quietest of the bunch, with no thoughts of the throne or power.

“Father. You must lift the banishment off Lark,” Bella said. At her side sat her daughter, River. As a half-breed, the small child didn’t look as much like our elemental bloodlines as the others in the room. River had dark hair and bright blue eyes like her biological father, and her body was going to be tall and slim, not curvy like her mother—that much was already apparent in her long limbs. She clung to her mother’s skirt, staring up at her grandfather as he glared down at them.

“Father, Lark was doing what she had to do to keep us all safe. To keep the world safe. Is that not enough to retract the banishment? Your pride is going to get us all killed, you old fool!” Bella snapped, her short temper rearing its head.

He shook his head, his eyes glittering with anger. “You push the boundaries of propriety, Belladonna. Do not make the same mistake Lark did and think you can force me to do as you wish! Your mother was the last who will ever control me!” The last was said with a roar. River cringed against her mother, but Bella . . . I had to give her credit. She didn’t back down from her father. She drew herself up, never once looking away from him.

“I am the only one you have left as an heir. You wouldn’t dare banish me.”

My feet slowed of their own accord. That was a deadly thing to say to him in his current state. But even as his face purpled with rage, I could see she was right.

He had no choice but Belladonna now. Keeda was mindless. Briar was a weak-willed child who had no head for politics or power. Raven had disappeared, and the oldest boy, Vetch, had been killed by Lark.

I looked at my king, no longer seeing the great man he once was, but the broken-minded leader we now had to deal with. Again, because of Cassava. Her manipulation of Spirit had kept my king from the greatness he could have given the world. She’d forced him to keep Lark away as if she meant nothing to him.

So for the man he could have been, I would give Basileus one last chance to make things right.

“My King,” I stepped up behind Belladonna, just to her left side, “your oldest daughter is wise beyond her years. I beg you to listen to her, and let her help you lead our people. Bring Lark back, show them that you are merciful as well as wise. That you can recognize when a mistake is made, and you are not so full of pride to admit it.”

The king’s eyes shot to mine, flashing with anger and power which made my skin twitch. The Spiral rumbled under my feet, echoing his displeasure. “An Ender thinks to advise the king? Since when do you think you could possibly understand what it is to lead?”