Free sorcery and science 04.5 - masquerade by Ella Summers Page A

center of it all. He saw the figure of King River, entering the palace at Chrysalis in the middle of the night, surrounded by a horde of Selpe soldiers, who bashed through doors and windows and screamed out insults. Jason’s mother was stabbed and fell, followed by his father, and the Selpes walked over their bodies and spit on them.
    Suddenly, the cord was cut, and the flood of images stopped. King River had managed to pull Terra away from Jason, and he was carrying her off. As he left, he called out, “This outrage will not go unanswered, Edward!”
    Jason and his father stood there, watching King River drag Terra toward the portal. Then they sat on the sofa and said nothing until Mother came into the house much later, just as the sun was setting on Chrysalis.
    “What happened here?” she asked them.
    Her words snapped Jason out of the trance that had begun the moment Terra streamed her foresight into him.
    “The Selpes are coming,” he said, facing them. “And they’re going to kill you.”

 
     
     
     
    ~ 7 ~
    516AX April 18, Chrysalis
     
     
    IT WAS PAST supper time, but Jason hadn’t eaten. None of them had. Lana sat in the corner of the room, reading a book by candlelight. Jason, though, couldn’t just sit by calmly, not when he knew what was coming. So he was pacing. It was less effective at calming his nerves than throwing knives, but Mother had forbidden him from doing that inside the house. As though that was something they should be worrying about on the eve of their deaths. Jason wondered if his mother would lift the ban when the Diamond Edges stormed the house.
    Half an hour into his aggravated pacing, the door opened.
    “Where have you been?” Jason demanded. They’d been gone too long, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was coming. A storm? Diamond Edges? The destruction of Pegasus?
    “Pegasus is enormous. Do you really think calling the entire kingdom to arms can be executed in a few minutes’ time?” his father asked.
    “Especially when you are asking them to rise up against the high king,” Mother said. “Such a thing hasn’t happened since the days of the Siennan uprising. And look how well that played out for them. They had to leave their kingdom behind. No Elition in Pegasus wants to suffer the same fate, Edward.”
    “We aren’t seceding from the rest of Elitia, and we aren’t fighting them. We’re fighting the Selpes to save Elitia. We need to sever ties with the Selpes now, before there’s nothing of Elitia left to save. It has already gone too far. They’re after Jason. And they’re after Terra. Sooner or later, Rhys will wake up and see this. Then he will band with us. It won’t be Pegasus against Elitia. It will be all of Elitia standing united against the Selpes, the Avans, and anyone else who would try to do us harm.”
    “If it were only a matter of captivating an audience, Edward, you would get the job done as well as any Enchanter. Sadly, there’s a lot more to it.” Mother shifted her gaze to Jason and Lana. “I trust you two remember Silver?”
    An Elition man with silver-blue eyes stepped into the house. Silver, the most revered Apothecary in all of Pegasus. He was the one called upon to heal things Elition bodies could not. He also made the best Sunshine Serum Jason had ever tasted. But he wasn’t there to mix up drinks for them today.
    “Silver is going to show you to a camp in southern Pegasus,” Mother said. “Many of our best fighters are there. They’ll protect you.”
    “They should be protecting you ,” Jason told them as Lana walked up beside him. “Terra’s foresight showed your deaths, not ours.”
    Lana nodded. For once, he and his sister were in perfect agreement.
    “For this fight to be won, we must stand our ground. We must uphold morale. Chrysalis is the symbolic heart of Pegasus. If I were to flee before the fight even began, we have already lost in the eyes of our people,” Father said. “But you should go with