Chapter 28
Lorali
H er tears were long dried, leaving her empty within her chambers with nothing but the file of her life. It was the one thing she managed to hide from Sage before they entered her room unannounced, to find her with Veridian plans annotated in someone else’s hand. Everything had moved so fast then; Sage calling Heinrich to alert the guards and place Eldric Lorecaster under arrest.
I’m proud of you, Sage had said, cool hand cupping her cheeks as they placed what should have been a comforting kiss to her brow before sweeping out of the room. Stay here; I will take care of everything.
Rather than proud or safe or cared for, Lorali felt hollow as she sat on the floor of her chamber. Staying as she was told. There was nothing she could do; it was out of her hands. Eldric would be arrested and sentenced to the gallows, and she would follow. The cold draft that came from the darkest edges of the room ruffled the papers beneath her bed. Seemed to whisper to her, look . Not everything is as it seems, little star.
Before another heartbeat could pass, she was on her knees reaching beneath her bed and pulling out the file. She finally read the words written within, pouring over her triumphs and failings. The first rite she performed for a man destined for the gallows, earning her robes when she achieved her status as a high cleric, the early years of her devotion. Lorali’s life passed before her eyes in words. All the way back to that very first day. The last page tucked behind a portrait that she almost didn’t recognize as herself. She couldn’t remember the last time her hair had been so dark. Before her powers, bursting like starlight, began to slowly drain the color until only her pale strands remained.
The pages stilled in her hands as she read a familiar scrawling script she had learned to decipher years ago. She felt the world turning beneath her, mind swimming as she read those words over and over again until finally she had to set the file on the ground, hands clasping over her mouth. Controlling her breath to keep from retching as those words echoed in her head. Deceased by design. Deceased by design. Deceased by design. It overshadowed everything else in the file, weighing on her. Dwarfed the realization of just exactly how Eldric knew the anniversary of her parents’ deaths or even that her memories had, in some way, been altered. Her mind raced until it finally went numb, and that numbness crept into her bones.
It was written in such a casual yet bold manner, as if no one else would ever read this report that had been locked away in the archcleric’s archives for nearly two decades. Her skin prickled with gooseflesh as she began to make connections. Pulling the threads that tied the fabric of her and Eldric’s lives together, crafting a seam of new understanding.
There was an infiltrator deep within the temple—someone high enough to have access to such secure files. Though she couldn’t think of who it could be, she did know without a doubt who had orchestrated all of it, and she knew where she must go.
***
Lorali’s breath trembled as she made her way through the dark street, feeling the tug within her chest as she left Eldric far, far behind while she navigated the outskirts of the East district. Following the road until she reached a bridge that sent fire through their bond as she pushed at its limits .
Pulling her cloak closer, Lorali came to the house that would have once been quaint, perhaps even nice, but was now surrounded by dead grass and chipping paint on the wood siding. All color and life in the estate from the summer sucked into the greyness of moonlight and snow.
With sure steps, she strode to the doorway and slammed her fist against the wood relentlessly until she heard footsteps across creaking floorboards.
“What the fuck?” came a disgruntled growl behind the door, the sound of the deadbolt twisting before it opened. Daeson’s hair was mussed with sleep, a tired look in his eyes that only showed a hint of surprise to see the high cleric staring back at him with fire in her eyes. Tracing down the length of his exposed chest was a deep, white scar mottled at the edges. She blinked, recognizing the telltale signs of a magical injury. And from the way it stretched across his skin, it must have been one he earned long ago. Lorali swallowed, bringing her eyes back to his. A spell like that should have killed him. Being within the Order, she often forgot that not all magic was used for good. A naivety she could no longer afford.
Daeson fumbled for that mask of arrogance he held in place for all the world to see, but he could not hide the dark circles that were etched beneath his eyes. The weight of a leader about to burn out .
“You are the last person I expected to see.”
“Eldric has been arrested for treason,” was her only response, face carefully blank as she watched him. Rage flared behind his eyes as he weighed his options. Careful. Calculating.
“You wouldn’t be here if you were the one that turned him in.”
“No, I wouldn’t be.”
“Have you read your file?” he asked with a tight voice. His hawk-like eyes watched her reaction, the way her muscles stiffened, her bottom eyelid twitching just slightly when she worked her jaw at his tone. From the look on his face, he knew it all. Had likely read every word before he handed the file to Eldric. She felt exposed as she realized that a stranger she couldn’t stand knew everything about her.
“Yes.”
“And?”
Lorali clenched her fists, fighting the urge to snap at him. They couldn’t afford to waste time. Her past wasn’t important right now.
“I’m here, aren’t I, Prince Daeson Athera?”
Daeson’s breath froze, eyes narrowing as they trailed the dark cloak draped over her Order-issued attire, the tight braids pulling her hair back sharply from her face .
“Did Eldric tell you?” There was anger there, his defenses high and ready to strike at a moment’s notice, but also sadness.
“No, I’m observant,” she said, chin tilted back so she could look up into his dark eyes. To show that her fire matched his own.
Without another word, Daeson turned on his heel and left the door open as he retreated up the stairs with a wave. “Knock your boots. I don’t want to clean up puddles in the morning.”
Knocking the ice-crusted snow from her boots on the doorstep, Lorali stepped inside and shut the door behind her. A log snapped in the crackling fireplace within the living room, the same one where she had saved Saraina months ago. She rubbed her arms beneath the cloak, keeping her feet on the old blanket laid in front of the door. Moonlight reached across the worn floors, mixing with the flickering firelight and casting everything in pale, moving shadows. It made her skin crawl.
“Too damn cold outside,” he grumbled, pulling a sweater over his head as he descended the stairs, heading into the living area without a word to her and stoking the flames with iron tools. Lorali followed but kept her distance with the threadbare couch between them. She didn’t know if she should speak first, but the growing silence ate at her. Anticipation clawed at her skin, gnawed at her bones. The waiting made her want nothing more than to be planning. Doing. Saving.
“What happened?” Daeson’s shoulders were tight as he stoked the fire. “I would have thought your bond would protect him from such a fate.
“Our bond is not protection. If anything, it makes the line he walks thinner.” She frowned, fingers tapping against the couch as she tried to maintain composure. “He is under scrutiny, but even if he wasn’t, your plans that he brought into my house were enough to get him sent to the gallows once more.”
Lorali’s cheeks flushed as she looked toward the window. She felt shame coursing through her for having taken the papers in the first place. If she hadn’t, if she had just talked to him, none of this would have happened.
Daeson scoffed, turning to stand to his full height.
“Believe it or not, Eldric had a life before you. He’s a grown man who makes his own decisions and plans.”
“You put him in danger—”
“And you didn’t?” His voice rose over hers before he scoffed, shaking his head and placing the red-hot tools back in their place. “You said it yourself. You made the line he walks thinner, put him under scrutiny. And judging from the guilt written all over your face when I answered the door, there’s more to the story. You’re probably the reason he was arrested in the first place. Am I wrong?”
She could feel all her worst habits coming to light. Digging her heels in, staying in an argument until she had the last word. Proving she was right. She needed to focus on the problem at hand, not dive into it with Daeson.
“None of this matters. What matters is that you need me, and I need you.”
“I do not need you for anything,” he snarled. The familiar prickling of magic seeped into the air. As Daeson stalked towards her, the wind outside howled, its response to his flaring power. “You are with the very same people that killed my family and stole everything from me.”
“And they killed mine as well!”
Unbidden tears sprung forth at the words, rage and disbelief warring within her heart over the truths she had learned. “The archcleric had my parents killed to get my power. You don’t get to lecture me about what lengths the Order will go to—I am now well aware since you decided to drag my past out of the archives.”
The two of them breathed heavily in the silence, some understanding snapping into place. She closed her eyes, pressing her lips together as she tried her best to salvage what she had come here for .
“We can either sit here arguing until sunrise or find a way to save Eldric and get the circlet of Sylvene. Your plans are obsolete; the Order will be on high alert. You’ll be caught and executed. I can’t get Eldric out on my own. To get what we both want, we need each other.”
He eyed her,likely weighing the risk of trusting her versus the benefit of having her on his team. Then, Daeson exhaled heavily into the night, lips pressed together as he gave a firm nod and gestured for her to follow him. She fell into step beside him as they descended into the basement.