Chapter Forty One
Lady Of Shadows
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Gallena’s Temple, Phaenon.
Naal.
Naal did not trust herself to speak as she stared down at Zuriel in a comatose state, having just had to endure hearing her daughter scream in agony whilst Maida’s power seared through her body, re-breaking bones that had fused wrongly, in order for them to heal correctly.
Naal’s fingers grazed over Zuriel’s sweaty brow. She was resting now. The worst was over.
Body broken. Healing, yes, but broken.
By Kyra.
There was a ringing in Naal’s ears that had begun the second Mankar had awoken her, spouting about a fight between her daughter and the Earth Warden that had ultimately left Zuriel twisted on the floor, her bones crushed by a power Naal had only ever seen used by an Earth Warden as a last resort. In the midst of battle.
Never against one of her own.
The Eye of the Fifth had been in her mind’s eye the moment she had awoken. Only now did she understand why.
Ire boiled in her blood, but there had to be an explanation. Naal wanted to believe she knew Kyra well enough to be sure that this abominable use of lethal power had not been intentional.
If Kyra’s blast had been any more potent, if it had hit Zuriel any higher than it did, it would have fractured her neck in several places.
Instant death.
Maida had told her that mere minutes ago. That Zuriel was lucky to be alive.
‘Naal?’
She tore her gaze from her daughter’s still face. ‘What?’
Maida nodded over her shoulder. ‘Nysari is here.’
Indeed, Nysari swept into the room, black wings tucked tight. She glanced at Zuriel on the healer’s table, her expression stony. ‘You called for me, pramah?’
‘I did,’ said Naal quietly, turning to face her Third. ‘Kyra has fled. You are the best hunter among us. Find her. Bring her back.’
Nysari nodded once. ‘Do I have permission to actually hunt should the girl refuse to come?’ She glanced at Zuriel. ‘An eye for an eye?’
Naal gave her shoot-happy Third a withering look. ‘No, Nys. Bring her back unharmed. There is more at play here than just a fight gone wrong.’
‘As you wish. I will project when I find her,’ said Nysari, then backed out of the room without a look back.
Naal glanced at Mankar. He had been the one who had found Zuriel, and was now leaning against the wall, his eyes glued to Zuriel’s face. Not a word had passed his lips. ‘Mankar, go with Nysari,’ Naal ordered. ‘It will not do to stay here.’
Silently, Mankar nodded. He moved to Zuriel’s side, ran the back of his forefinger over her pale cheek, then departed after his sister.
Leaning against her desk, with her arms folded tightly across her chest, Maida said, ‘This cannot go unpunished, Naal. Earth Warden or not, Kyra attacked Zuriel.’
‘There is more at play,’ Naal mumbled again, an effort to convince herself more than anyone else.
Maida huffed out a breath. ‘I should like to think so. A fight in the crypts, I ask you.’ She shook her head. ‘What could they possibly have to fight about? And why has Kyra fled?’
Naal settled herself into the armchair by the fire, summoning the words that did not yet feel real enough. ‘Kyra has stolen the Eye of the Fifth, Maida. Zuriel tried to stop her.’
‘Goddess, no. Why?’ Silence fell between them. ‘Do you believe the Earth Warden to be working for Azar?’
‘I don’t know.’ It was as unlikely as one of her own Eternals working for the Empress. And yet-
‘Perhaps she is and does not know it?’ Maida offered. ‘Could there be an imperi in the Fire Queen’s employ that we do not know about?’
Naal ran a hand over her face and said again, ‘I don’t know.’
One hundred and fifty years ago, when Gedeon Dewmaul had been named Fire Warden under the watchful eye of his tyrant mother, Naal had hastened to the Tomb of the Mothers.
Only a Warden could open those doors, and if Zarynth’s Queen ever ordered her fire wielding son to steal that which was soundly resting beneath the waves, then Droria’s continuing freedom would be compromised.
Naal had known such ambition was not too vast for the Empress through Orro Myrso’s findings over his years in Zarynth.
Naal had stolen the Eye before it was too late, almost damning herself to a life imprisoned in the tomb in the process. She’d acted out of fear, fear of what Empress Azar might attempt with the Eye of the Fifth in her possession.
Great guilt had settled in her heart since that day, guilt that she still had not shaken. She knew Gallena had disapproved. She’d felt it in the wind the moment she’d resurfaced the water with the Eye of the Fifth clutched in her fist. But the deed had been done.
It had been a necessary act of meddling. She’d told herself that every day.
Only Zuriel, Maida, Orro, Nysari and Mankar had known of what horrors lay in Gallena’s Temple.
Kyra’s true reason for her midnight expedition with Kawai was now thrown into light. She’d tried to steal the Eye herself. Perhaps felt Naal’s own magic trapped within the tomb’s walls and concluded that it was she who had taken it from its prison.
Naal had underestimated the girl’s keen mind.
But had she underestimated her kindness? Her fierce loyalty? Did she truly believe Kyra Daeiros, granddaughter of her beloved mate, to be capable of siding with Droria’s greatest evil?
No. There was more at play. An ulterior motive of the Earth Warden’s that Naal was yet to understand. There had to be.
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Avaldale, Vrethian.
Kyra.
Avaldale was unrecognisable.
Usually teeming with carefree, ignorant humans bustling about the streets, it now had a bleakness to it that had nothing to do with the change in the seasons. A city on the edge of its nerves, a scent in the salty air divergent to the norm-
Fear. That’s what the docks smelt like as Kyra stepped off the tiny ship she’d paid some Nythanorian fisherman an extortionate amount to take her across to the earthland.
Almost a week and a half later, and it was a miracle the Eternals hadn’t tracked her down yet, though she knew they wouldn’t be far behind.
Which meant she had to get this done fast.
She would think about what had happened in the crypts once Oslan was free. She would face whatever punishment Naal would give her.
But right now… she had a bargain to fulfil.
The Eye seemed to grow heavier in her satchel with each passing minute.
‘Bit late for a shipment, isn’t it?’ a Union soldier said as she stepped off the ship, approaching her with a wary hand on the hilt of his sword. ‘Do you and your crew have clearance to dock here?’
‘Clearance?’ Kyra scoffed, barely daring to lift her hooded head should he recognise her. She had a feeling the excessive number of Union cunts roaming the city had something to do with her. ‘Since when do you need clearance to dock in this shithole?’
More soldiers swept by them and onto the deck of the ship behind, and Kyra prayed that the amount of coin she had given the timid captain was enough for him to keep his silence.
The soldier before her said, ‘What business do you have in Avaldale, traveller?’
‘I live here,’ Kyra said impatiently. ‘I didn’t realise it was now illegal for Vrethans to come and go as they please.’
‘The city has been under duress these past months,’ the soldier said with a hint of regret. ‘And it is after curfew. You’ll have to come with me-’
From beneath her cloak, Kyra swiftly whipped her dagger from its sheath, placing its point at the soldier's waist, right between his ribs. ‘You’re not taking me anywhere. I have an important meeting with Lady Lilion Perdy and unless you’d like to tell the Lady of Shadows that you are the reason I didn’t make it, I suggest you and your hounds look the other fucking way and let me pass. ’
It was a long shot, using Lilion’s name as leverage.
The soldier went still, but not with fear. Instead, recognition lit his blue eyes. ‘Kyra Dae?’
She remembered him then. It was the same Union soldier who had marched her into the Citadel to meet her death all those months ago.
The young one with the pretty face, with the soft naivety to his voice.
Kyra grinned up at him, but did not relinquish the placement of her dagger. ‘Hello again, soldier.’
His mouth twitched. ‘You’re still alive.’
‘Shocking, I know.’ Kyra cocked her head to one side. ‘Are you going to help me keep it that way?’
The pretty soldier peered nervously over his shoulder.
‘You shouldn’t be here,’ he said in a rushed, whispered voice, then motioned to the Union pigs swarming the docks.
‘That’s what this is all about. When you left, some of the fae from Valfell started infiltrating the city in the dead of night, wreaking havoc.
Setting things alight, destroying crops, stealing things from the Citadel.
Their magic is back. The Governors have told everyone that you’re the one behind the attacks. There’s a bounty on your head.’
Oh, good. Gone for months and still somehow being blamed for shit. ‘Do you believe them?’
After a moment, the soldier shook his head, then held his chin high. ‘I choose to believe the Earth Warden is not a terrorist. Even if most believe the opposite.’
Kyra blinked at his open honesty, even in the face of adversity.
‘That makes you smarter than most, my friend.’ This was a soldier who, perhaps, never wanted to join the Union.
Who had no other choice. He couldn’t have been older than eighteen, and Kyra knew the Union paid their soldiers well.
If he had a family to provide for… perhaps being in the Union was the only way to do so. He clearly had no love for the job.
Slowly, Kyra lowered her dagger. ‘What’s your name?’