Caleb made a raw sound and scrambled backward over the broken floor. Glass cut his palms, but he kept moving until the dais stopped him.
“No. Please.” He struggled to get the words out. “I didn't know. Forgive me, Your Majesty. I was blind. She poisoned my mind against you!”
He pointed a shaking finger at Elara. She stood a few feet away, too stunned to answer.
“Blind?” I let him hear the word again. “You saw what suited you, Caleb. A stepping stone. A tool you could discard.”
I took the plain black stone from my throat. Its cool weight had rested there through every mile of my journey to Nightfall.
The Royal Life Stone was the heart of the Blood-Oath, and Caleb had crushed its twin beneath his boot.
“For one hundred years, this stone protected your lands. It turned back the beast ti
