It’s a reasonable question. He’s seen what Mother can do, lived it firsthand. But I’m sure. My problem all along has never been having great magic, it’s been mastering it.
I nod. “This is why we needed my magic to be reliable and consistent. It’s why we went to Frostfire in the first place. This is the benefit of finally figuring it out. We do have an army. But we don’t have to have a war.”
“And then we do what with her?” he asks, spreading his hands. “Leave her there like Galen Tarva did? Ruling Fisa? Forever a threat?”
My plan sours a little in my stomach. “No. We all know that won’t work. We’ll bring Fisa into the fold. We’ll reunite Thalyria, just like we planned. As for what happens to Mother… That’s up to her. I’ll do what I have to in the end.”
“You have to be clear, Cat. You have to know what you’re willing to do.” Griffin looks at me hard. “Do you know?”
Mother’s fate is probably the thing I spent the least time thinking about in Tartarus, and yet the answer is perfectly clear. “I know what I’m willing to do.” In fact, I’m betting my life on it.
Griffin still looks troubled. “If you can fly in, then you can also fly back out. If your plan fails, we have a plan B.”
“Oh, I even have a plan C.”
“And what’s that?” he asks.
“Prometheus.”
His dark eyebrows creep up his forehead. “I’m not sure he’s ready for war. Or even for the outside world. He startles at just about everything.”
“Which is why he’s our plan C. And why he’ll stay here to protect our family and the royal seat.”
Griffin looks torn, both skeptical about Prometheus’s mental state and interested in utilizing the Titan’s great power. “He’d be an asset.”
“He is an asset,” I agree. “Here.” With the army gone, Prometheus will be a one-God battalion in Tarva City, protecting people and a place his giant heart has already wrapped itself tightly around. “He’ll take care of any threat to the palace while we’re away.”
Griffin eventually nods. “I think you’re right.” He reaches for me, taking my hand from across the table. “If part of our show of force and power is you flying into Castle Fisa like Winged Victory, then how do I get in with you?” Griffin asks. “You can’t fly me up.”
And that’s the final question. Because we’re in this together. Even when I didn’t realize it yet, we were in it together from the start.
“I’ll fly around Castle Fisa and the city to make sure everyone sees me, especially Mother.” If eyes can sparkle, I think mine suddenly do. Eleni and I escaped so many times, and Mother never knew how. You can’t have two powerful kids and what turned out to be their Olympian protector without them digging a tunnel. It was a given from the time we could crawl.
I skirt the table and slip into Griffin’s lap, bringing my arms around his neck. “But you and I, my love, are going in through the back.”
CHAPTER 31
Our forces surround Castle Fisa. Ipotane hooves brought down the previously unshakable gates of Fisa City. Ianthe screamed triumph from Lycheron’s back. She leads the creatures with their Alpha. Beta Team commands thousands of men and women at the ready, Bellanca now in charge of Kato’s forces. Each leader raises the new standard of Thalyria: a banner, white and green. Peace. The olive branch. Hope and victory in a spray of leaves.
Mother witnesses the takeover of her kingdom from the high-up balcony of her throne room. We come in force, mighty, united, and not a Fisan soldier fights. Not a citizen resists. The city falls to us without bloodshed, and all Alpha Fisa can do is watch. Not even her great magic can reach everyone, or destroy everything. She knows it, and maybe ruling over death and rubble holds little appeal, even for her. In perhaps one of the only moments of decency of her life, she chooses not to try.
Instead, she watches me fly over walls and rooftops. I rally everyone, addressing not only our brave troops but also the Fisans of the city and Mother’s own soldiers still on her battlements, unresisting. I tell them that today is a new beginning. I ask them to stand with me, with a new and unified Thalyria. I shout that this is the day that might meets right. I cry out that we bring peace, not war. I tell them that Elpis fights for them.
Finally, with Elpis’s name ringing on all lips, I find Griffin, take his hand, and turn us both invisible. With only Beta Team knowing about this final portion of our plan, I guide us toward the now-crumbling exit of the narrow tunnel Eleni and I made. My sister burned it through rock and earth, and I laughed in her wake. We had to crawl out then, and Griffin and I have to crawl in now, my wings tucked safely back inside.
We emerge in a shadowed corner of the storerooms. There’s no one here. Out of caution, we stay invisible as we make our way through the castle, moving toward the great galleries of the upper levels and Mother’s favorite room—the one where she lorded over us all. There’s only one throne. Father never merited a chair.
Castle Fisa is all but abandoned. A few servants flit here and there, looking as scared as rabbits and unsure. I don’t see any guards. Maybe they’re all up on the battlements, watching the new tide wash ashore.
We reach the throne room’s heavy, high doors, and I let go of the invisibility that has been cloaking us for little reason.
Griffin looks at me. He lifts his hand to my face. “You are the Queen of Thalyria. And the Queen of my heart.”
Emotion swells in my chest, warm and wonderful. Like Lycheron and Ianthe, Griffin and I are so different now, so much stronger and more balanced together—as one. “I love you. You’ve helped me become the person I want to be. I see the future before us.”
Griffin lets his hand drop. He takes up his sword instead. “Claim your destiny, Cat.”
“Claim it with me.” I leave my weapons in my belt and let lightning heat my blood.
Griffin nods. Centering myself is so easy now, and I let my Elemental Magic swirl and build. Then I use a great, howling blast of wind to throw open the throne room doors.
Mother is about to taste my force and fury. And my mercy—if she’s willing.
CHAPTER 32
All is silence. There’s only the slight rasp of Griffin’s and my breathing.
The throne room is empty apart from Mother. No court denizens occupy the long and ostentatious space. I don’t see Father, but then again, I hardly ever did. There’s not a single guard. Only Alpha Fisa, who watches us from her gilded chair. The room seems cavernous without anyone in it, and as heartless and cold as it’s always felt.
A small smile plays at the edges of her mouth. It reeks of cool satisfaction, and my pulse picks up a notch. The lack of an immediate fight makes me wonder about an even more devastating clash to come.
But I’m not scared anymore. My mind, my body, and my magic are finally ready for this confrontation that’s been my whole lifetime in the making.