"My sweet Brenna!" The look in Counsel's eyes made Noble recoil.
His acknowledgment of the name only confirmed what she already knew.
She looked away to the pile of shattered glass. It did not just resemble the stained glass in her room at the citadel. It was one and the same.
The caverns and tunnels below the kingdom did not just resemble Ender's Deep, they were Ender's Deep.
Or what Ender's Deep was before it broke apart. The rubble which Noble had visited a handful of times in the Dream Realm was in fact the ruins of Crestfall.
The professor had never considered that prospect because there was already a gate at her citadel.
Another was impossible, wasn't it?
Yet she could not deny the evidence before her eyes. For whatever reason, the Spell treated the land above and the citadel below as two different Nightmares.
This Nightmare was before the one where the government saint had inhabited Ender's body.
In that one, Ender was rebuilding a world after the south side of the kingdom was torn apart.
That meant the fissure would be formed in Ender's lifetime.
And if Noble's intuition was correct. It would be formed much sooner than that.
"Ender, please." Noble pushed back the revulsion she felt from his longing look and tried to reason with him. "We have to return the Heart and protect the city. The Tyrant is on his way. There is no time to lose. If we hurry, maybe we can get the barrier back in place and still meet the Tyrant before he arrives. Remember our plans--"
"Your plans," Ender patronized her. "This plan is much better. I have found a way to use the Heart. My Master's book has a spell. It will work! We will never have to fear an attack by anyone again."
The greed in the man's eyes was chilling.
'The only person he wants to protect is himself...'
Noble took a step forward, trying to keep her face neutral.
"Where is the Heart?"
Counsel's hand flexed as he lifted his arms.
'He's going for his sword!'
Instinctively, Noble summoned her estoc.
But the man simply opened his palms and revealed something even more harrowing.
The Heart.
"Don't worry. It is harmless now that it is out of the cave." Counsel cooed. "But with my sorcery, I am able to turn this into the perfect weapon."
The man held a black ball lightly in his hand. Nearly imperceptible strings of light pulsed across its tenebrous surface.
'It cannot be!'
Resting in Ender's palm, the [Portcullis Key] reflected her face back at her from its inky void.
No, it wasn't the Key. It was the key before it became the key.
Or another gift from Ariel that looked exactly like the key? That seemed less likely.
No, the [Portcullis Key] had brought her here… brought her back to itself?
'What in the Spell?!'
Noble's head spun.
There was too much information to process and not enough time.
'Focus.'
There would be time to sort through the convoluted insanity later.
Right now, she needed to stop the coming calamity if she could, and the key--er Heart was her best shot.
"Please, Ender. Put it back...for me."
Noble reached for the ball, but Counsel pulled it away.
The blond protector frowned. "Everything I have ever done since we met was for you. I have let nothing stand in the way of your future. Not your aunt, not court politics, not even your parents. You were always meant to rule!"
With me by your side.
The last words were unspoken, but Noble heard them just the same.
However, it was the part just before that which Noble found more alarming.
"My parents? They stood in my way?"
Noble felt the man's guilt, but instead of invoking compassion, it filled her with dread. She swallowed.
"The Tyrant didn't kill Lord Byzas and Lady Alura, did he? You did." The words were barely above a whisper.
"Your parents did not think we were a good match. They said they doubted my affection! But really, we both know they still thought of me as a pitiful slave that they graciously freed from bondage." Counsel spat the words out bitterly.
Noble blinked.
The scales of blindness fell from her eyes, and she saw Counsel for the first time.
Not from the tainted lens of Brenna's misplaced loyalty or Noble's own desperate need to have an ally when soloing a nightmare.
But really saw him.
Counsel had killed Brenna's parents!
"Murderer!"
That is what Emira had called him. She must have suspected his treachery but had been unable to prove it.
With this realization, other pieces suddenly clicked into place.
The poisoned cup that first night.
Counsel had bumped the table to keep her from drinking it. It hadn't been a fortunate accident. It was an intentional move to save her after failing to assassinate the Queen!
But that was not all. Drune, the head librarian, had not told Emira about the book Noble had taken. And Noble had been wearing the [Fraudulent Facade] when she escaped from and returned to the palace.
The only person who had both of those pieces of information to tell the Queen was the man before her.
'He sabotaged me!'
Would negotiations have gone differently without his interference? It was hard to say, but Counsel had made sure the meeting would fail before it began.
And he had gone forward with the rebellion without her permission. Before, Noble had dismissed the error as overexuberance, but now she realized it was a willful disregard of her desires.
How many other things had her 'protector' done behind her back during this Nightmare? The world felt turned on its side.
"I trusted you!"
That was the problem. Counsel had told her that she was too trusting. The paranoia that she had in the waking world had not translated to this ancient time.
"What I did was for the greater good. For your good," Ender assured her. Noble felt something press upon her senses.
It was similar yet different from the pressure she sometimes exerted on others' emotions.
Noble pushed aside the thought that maybe Counsel was right.
"Stop that!" The Queen raised her sword.
"Stop what? Using my Aspect? I thought you would be pleased that I've finally unlocked its secret!" Ender smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "It seems I will have to keep working to convince you."
Noble tensed. She had no desire for another mind attack. Her expression hardened.
"Give me the Heart. We must return it now."
"Brenna, I..." Counsel moved toward her with his arms opened wide. Emira's bracelets slid down his wrists from beneath his armor, shimmering from proximity with the Heart.
"Stay back!"
Noble had no intention of letting the man anywhere near her. The [Unlikely End] hissed with energy, ready to cut off Ender's hand to regain control of the dangerous orb.
Around her face, the visor of her black and gold armor wove its way to cover everything but her eyes in its protective shield. The mighty helmet graced her head, ending quietly in a purple plume.
"Give me the Heart and my Aunt's bracelets too." Noble's eyes swirled as she leveled her weapon at Ender's throat. "I will not ask again."
Counsel sighed before clicking his tongue. "Poor Brenna. Don't you see? You are too late. It has already begun."