Chapter Forty Nine
A Joining Of Night And Day
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The Floating Mountains, Nythanor
Kyra
The stagnant quiet in the surrounding air was a welcome sound. It meant the Eternals had yet to realise she was gone.
At the top of the endless twisting stairwell, Kyra came to a stop, heart in her throat.
One more step and she’d be met with a squawk from a razor sharp beak, daring her to go any further. It was a stupid plan. And one that would probably get her eyes pecked out.
But no other option would get her away from the temple fast enough.
Gritting her teeth against the cold, she cleared the top step.
As expected, the hawk was before her instantly, its cry slicing the air, splaying its wings as it did every time she’d stepped foot on the Summit. But with no Eternal to call the bird off, she would have to do it herself.
The hawk stepped forward and squawked again, its clawed feet stamping the snow, the feathers on its great wings widening further.
Kyra refused to step back, instead mimicking the same sound she’d heard Mankar and Naal do countless times. Two high-pitched, clipped whistles.
The bird faltered slightly, its head cocking to one side.
But then the great beast opened its beak and screeched louder than ever before.
Kyra did step back then, but not far enough to be clear of its skull smashing under her chin so hard she tumbled halfway down the sculpted ice-steps, teeth vibrating in her jaw from the impact.
Body aching, she looked up to see it airborne, diving toward her with malicious intent.
It was going to run her off the mountain.
Stupid fucking plan. She’d have to kill it. There was no other choice.
Light shone from every pore as Kyra flung out a hand, ready to blind it, or obliterate it completely.
Two whistles sounded behind her.
The bird changed course. Instead of ramming its powerful body into hers, it swooped, and Kyra ducked as it soared overhead, landing still and stoic behind her, all interest in bowling her from the mountain completely lost.
Hand outstretched against its beak, looking as though he had a lifetime of experience with the damned beast, was Gedeon.
Obsidian eyes met hers. The bird peered over its shoulder at her, then haughtily looked away.
Kyra glowered.
Gedeon gave the hawk a small smile, then patted its shoulder. ‘I heard you attempt the call and took a gamble. Fortunately, it paid off,’ he said, then raised an eyebrow. ‘I am Eternal now. Remember?’
‘How could I forget,’ Kyra said coldly. ‘So, only the elite can control these beasts? That figures.’ The bird nudged Gedeon’s cheek with its beak, then took off, back to its post on the Summit. ‘Why are you following me?’
Gedeon linked his hands behind his back, looking every bit the prince that he was, no longer unkempt and beaten from weeks of imprisonment.
The wind ran its gentle wisps through his waving black hair as he stood there, a dark silhouette stark against the white landscape.
He took a step toward her, his low voice stroking over her skin as he said, ‘I would have thought that was obvious.’
Kyra hissed, ‘I am going to Zarynth. Do not get in my way, Gedeon.’
‘How will you get there?’ Another step. ‘The hawk will certainly not take you. I assume that was your plan?’
‘I’ll find another way. I’ll fucking walk there if I have to.’
‘The Eternals will find you and drag you back before you even reach Phaenon City.’
‘Then I’ll escape again!’ Kyra cried. ‘I will escape again and again and again until I find a way out. Naal can fucking chain me to the ground and I’ll still find a way to get out of here.
Even if Azar kills me the second I arrive in Dracyg, I can’t just do nothing.
’ Her throat was suddenly thick. ‘I can’t… I will not leave her there.’
Gedeon paused a step away from her, his unblinking gaze of night boring into her very soul. ‘Who is she?’
Kyra couldn’t say her name. Fiercely, she whispered, ‘My sister. She’s my sister.’
It didn’t matter if they didn’t share blood. It didn’t matter if they were races apart, fae and human. She was her sister. By every right.
Tension rippled through Gedeon’s jaw. He took another step toward her, now on the stair just below. Kyra didn’t move. ‘You cannot go to Zarynth.’
‘I will break you if you get in my way.’
‘Try it,’ Gedeon goaded her in an almost whisper. He was close enough now that his warm breath tickled her face.
Goddess, she hated him. She wished she’d just let him die that day, wished she’d simply watched as his flames consumed him.
‘I warned you,’ she said darkly.
She reached for the earth within his very bones, willing her magic to blast him away, just as she had done to Zuriel-
The world went black.
It was as though the divines had wiped out every single source of light. The moon disappeared. The orange hue of the city fire pits was extinguished. Kyra frantically searched for any light in the thick shadows. Nothing but opaque darkness glared back at her.
Gedeon’s voice rumbled through it. ‘Your impulsiveness will be the death of you.’
She dared not move. Not with the realisation that seeped through her. ‘This darkness… is you?’
Breath brushing close to her right ear, he murmured, ‘You are not the only one with the power of two deities.’
Kyra’s heart and thoughts began to race simultaneously. As he paced around her, she willed the sun to come forth. It came almost instantly at her call, shimmering on her skin, a dim yet undying light in an ocean of darkness.
Gedeon was at her side, his form now illuminated by her.
A still presence. ‘Use it, then,’ Kyra said forcefully.
‘Help me. I have no chance of reaching Zarynth alone, but hear me when I tell you that I will never stop trying. I will never stop trying to save her. I don’t care that it’s a trap.
I don’t care that I will probably die trying.
’ She took a shaking breath. ‘But with you by my side… we might actually make it out alive. Please, Gedeon. You owe me a life debt, remember? Let me claim it this way. Save hers and the debt is paid.’
Something flickered in Gedeon’s eyes then, something that had nothing to do with her glow alighting those stars. She forced herself to stay quiet. To wait.
Then, at last, he said slowly, ‘If I consent… we do it my way. You will listen and obey. Even if it means aborting the mission and running. These are my conditions. Take them or leave them.’
Kyra couldn’t help her sneer. ‘A male who wants to be in charge. How original.’
The darkness was extinguished, and suddenly he was in front of her.
For the first time, his cool mask had slipped.
There was a bite in his rumbling voice now.
‘I do not ask to take charge for the sake of stupid male pride. I take charge because I know Dracyg. I know my mother. I know where your sister is likely being kept in the Black Castle. And I know that without me, your chances of even breaching the city are slim to none. You need me.’ He took a step back, his expression one of cold dominance. ‘Make your choice.’
Kyra didn’t hesitate. ‘I accept your terms.’
She would heed his every word. Just as long as she agreed with them.
Because if he thought for one moment she would do anything that put Rosary’s life at risk, or resulted in having to leave her behind… then he would soon find out who was really in charge.
Gedeon peered up at the hawk sitting regally on the edge of the Summit. ‘Shall we take another gamble?’
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The Agni Lands, Zarynth.
Gedeon.
Flight by hawk was significantly less comfortable than flight by dragon. On Tanwen’s back, Gedeon’s legs gripped unyielding scales. On the hawk’s, he struggled to find a hold on slippery feathers over its soft, warm blooded body.
It was a relief when the great bird finally began its descent, and when he and Kyra slid off its back some five minutes after, both of their legs wobbled from having to squeeze them against its body with such vigor. He could not blame it for pecking him haughtily on the arm once they landed.
It could not follow them, for it would draw too much attention. Gedeon ordered the beast to be on its way once it had hunted. They had been lucky enough that the bird recognised his bond to Naal, agreeing to fly them across the world, obeying the will of an Eternal warrior.
Luckier still that none from the order had followed. Though Gedeon had his shadows to thank for that. Even Nysari the Hunter would not be able to track them through that darkness.
It came at a price. Exhaustion lay thick over Gedeon’s mind, body and soul as they trudged through the barren lands on the border of Agni territory.
The aftermath of Sekun’s curse still haunted him, and the barrel of magic he had sorely missed was taking its sweet time replenishing after their journey.
So, they moved by night, under a cover of darkness that Gedeon didn’t have to wield.
It dawned on him every day what Naal would make of his treachery.
He’d had every intention of keeping Kyra in Phaenon, but the moment he had looked upon her face, the moment he had seen the desperation, the immovable tenacity in those green eyes, he’d known it was a lost cause.
Known that she would find a way to Zarynth to save her sister, with or without him.
She’d made her case well: her chance of survival with him was far greater than without.
And Gedeon would betray Naal Westerra over and over again if it meant keeping Kyra alive.
When they tired each night, they shimmied themselves into the smallest of cracks where the ground protruded like a beast’s claws, rocky terrain that protruded from the desert sands, providing them with good enough cover to rest their heads when the sun lifted its own.