A warning. All of you will not survive until the end. There will be loss, Sam. And it will burn like nothing has ever burned before. You must remember to keep in the light, even when the dark begins to curl around your feet.
I pushed open the doors.
They groaned as they parted.
The thousands of people who stood in the throne room fell silent, turning toward me.
For a brief moment, I thought of running.
Instead, I stepped into the throne room.
I held my head high.
My shoulders squared.
I would not break.
Not in front of them.
There were tears on some of the faces around me.
Others refused to look at me.
Still others stared with open hostility.
They whispered, He did this.
All his fault.
The gods chose him, but they chose wrong.
All his fault.
How could the gods be so wrong?
All his fault.
He is not strong enough.
ALL HIS FAULT.
I pushed those voices away.
Mom and Dad were waiting for me near the front, at the bottom of the raised dais. They hugged me at the same time, and I stood stiffly, trying to focus on the feeling of them against me, nodding at their whispered words of strength and love.
Gary and Tiggy were next. Gary’s lip was trembling, and Tiggy’s eyes were wide and solemn, and I wanted to tell them how sorry I was, that I should have been better than I was.
Gary hung his head over my shoulder.
Tiggy kissed my forehead.
Pete nodded at me as I passed him by.
The doors to the rear of the throne room were open wide, and Kevin hunkered down on the other side, head pushed through. His eyes never left me. For a moment I thought they flickered completely black, and felt a strange pull in my heart, but then it was gone.
Justin stood on the dais, dressed like the king he would one day be.
He raised his hand and clutched my wrist.