Chapter 25
ERMANEL
Lerek sat on the cold ground, the grass spiky from the winter frost. He swore under his breath as he brushed some twigs off his breeches. Settling once more, he pulled his legs up to rest his arms on his knees and gazed out at the silent stream, his mind calming after a day filled with revelations.
He knew Sonah had been hiding something when he’d questioned her, but he’d no idea it was anything like what the Imperial Guard had shared.
When Captain Xoran had caught up to them, Lerek had questioned him, too.
The news was the same; Terena was a god.
And according to Xoran, in love with the Liodari commander.
That Terena had hidden her true nature from him rankled. And he’d thought of the many times over the years he’d reasoned away things that now made sense. How fast she moved. Her strength. Her fighting skills that had nothing to do with her father, the previous Captain of the Imperial Guard.
What bothered him the most, though, and what kept him from sleep, was her relationship with Daris Antonius.
Lerek sighed and lay back, hands clasped at his stomach as he gazed up at the sky between the swaying branches high above.
Many times he’d sat companionably with the Commander of the Liodari and thought him a good man, a strong leader.
They’d formed a relationship of sorts over the months he’d been in Sparta, and Lerek had even looked forward to the times they’d sit together playing Tavli and talking about everything.
But they’d only spoken of Terena once.
Lerek recalled that evening, when Daris had dined with Lerek in his rooms shortly after their arrival in Sparta.
It had been Daris who’d asked about her.
Lerek had dismissed it as idle curiosity about the woman who was to be executed the day the Liodari had spirited him and the firstborns out of the White Palace.
Not wanting to share the depths of his feelings for Terena with the Liodari commander, Lerek had denied their relationship.
He’d even pretended ignorance about knowing Ren as anything other than his father’s Royal Tracker.
Daris had stared back at him long and hard, but made no comment.
Soon after, they’d moved on to another topic.
Now he wished he’d said more, had claimed her then and there. Perhaps then Daris would’ve stayed away from her.
Lerek closed his eyes, willing away the image of Daris with Terena that immediately dominated his mind. He vowed to find her. Soon.
Something cracked behind him, and Lerek opened his eyes, frowning.
A shadow moved over him.
“Well met, prince.”
Lerek gasped a second before something hit him in the head, and he was out cold.
The cypher sat on the ground in Terena’s tent, his broken arm bound to his chest. His head hung down, the long black strands of his hair hiding his face from her.
“You are not Heylisian.”
The man twitched, but otherwise gave no response.
Sighing, Terena rose and ventured closer. Rydon moved back to allow her room as she crouched before the cypher.
“What’s your name?”
Nothing.
“This is going to go a whole lot better for you if you cooperate,” Terena said with a glance behind her at Rydon’s scowling visage. “You’ve no friends here, but if you speak with me, I promise to release you.”
The man stared back at her, his dark grey eyes red-rimmed. Still, he said nothing.
“How is it you ended up in Emperor Solon’s army? Conscripted?”
The man blinked.
“Barra des oté Osta?”
Terena looked back at Rydon in surprise. “You speak Ostan?”
Rydon flicked a glance at her. Turning his gaze back to the cypher, he repeated his question.
“Sa,” the man said at last, his voice so soft, Terena leaned closer.
Rydon settled onto one knee beside her. “Eken barra ó?”
The cypher shifted, pressing his lips together as he flashed Terena a look.
After a moment, he began to speak, his words low, guttural and fast. Her eyes swung back and forth between the two, watching Rydon as he responded, asking more questions.
The man’s head moved animatedly as he spoke, his eyes shifting to Terena every once in a while, motioning to her with his chin.
“Ask him if he can drain someone’s powers. Someone like me.”
Rydon again spoke to the cypher in Ostan. The man shook his head and laughed, launching into another rush of foreign words.
When he stopped, Rydon ran a hand down his beard and turned to Terena, his face grim.
“He says that’s not the amulet’s power. As you said, the one he carried was from Artemis, allowing him to control wolves.”
“Did they have another cypher in their group?”
After another exchange with the young man, Rydon shook his head.
“No, he was the only one. He was in Metilai looking for someone. A prince from Osta. He’s been missing for years, and the queen of their kingdom sent many before him to find this missing prince.
General Peleon’s soldiers caught him while looking for amulets like the one he wore. But he claims the amulet isn’t his.”
Terena searched the man’s face as he watched her. “How? We were told no one outside the bloodline it was gifted to can use the amulets.”
“Aye,” Rydon said as he rubbed his jaw. “He claims his queen used blood magic to force the amulet to answer to him. She’s done this many times. He doesn’t know how it works, just that she’s done it before and she’ll do it again until she finds whoever this missing prince is.”
“Fucking hells.” Terena’s pulse ratcheted, and she looked at Rydon with alarm. “If she can do that, what’s to stop Solon from doing the same? Find Soros and—”
“Lady Terena?”
Terena frowned at the voice coming from outside her tent. “Aye?”
The man stepped inside, his gaze shifting from her to the cypher and back again. “Captain wants to see you.”
Before she could respond, he turned and ducked out of the tent.
Terena looked back at Rydon, who scratched his chin.
“Want me to come?”
She sighed, slapping her hands on her thighs before rising. “No, I’m good. See if you can get anything else out of him.”
Terena made it to the captain’s tent, where one of his men pulled back the flap to allow her entry.
She saw Soros sitting behind his field desk, feet propped up on a bucket he’d overturned.
He looked at her knowingly, spinning a dagger on his desk.
A small smile danced on his handsome face beneath his unkempt beard.
“Well?”
Soros looked down at the dagger he was playing with, the smile turning coy. “I have a gift for you.”
Terena arched an eyebrow. “A gift? What?”
The captain looked up at her, a gleam in his eye. She sighed again, turning to leave. He dropped his feet to the ground, swiping up the dagger as he leaned forward in his seat and called out to the soldier outside.
“Bring him in, Torinos.”
A few seconds later, Torinos, along with another man she knew only as Scar, came into the tent, holding up a man with a black hood over his head. The man’s hands were bound at his back and his clothes were filthy. Dried blood caked the neck of his tunic, which was torn in several places.
Soros waved his men away and the prisoner fell to one knee as Torinos and Scar let him go and quit the tent.
Terena looked from the prisoner to Soros who was now as giddy as a child on his nameday.
At Terena’s look, Soros rose, tucking the dagger into the sheath at his waist and went over to the grimy man, yanking him back to his feet.
Eyes locked on Terena’s, Soros lifted the hood from the prisoner.
The blood drained from Terena’s face.
For a fleeting moment, she thought the world rocked beneath her.
“Isher,” she breathed.
Isher, gagged and bound, stared at her wide eyed. Then he took a step toward her. Soros kicked the back of Isher’s knee and the prince crashed to the ground.
“What the fuck?” Terena whispered, her horrified gaze flying to Soros. “Where—”
“One of my scouts found him. Never thought a routine scouting would yield the Captain of the Imperial Guard’s campsite, let alone a prize such as this.”
Terena stared at the prince. He must’ve been the surprise Xoran had mentioned in his message to them. A flash of anger choked her. She was disappointed it wasn’t Sonah. Isher wasn’t the surprise she’d wanted.
Soros kicked Isher in the back, and the prince fell onto his face. He squirmed, maneuvering to regain his position on his knees as he turned hateful eyes to the captain.
Terena couldn’t tear her eyes away from him.
“He’d wandered away from Xoran’s camp,” Soros continued, crossing his arms over his chest as he moved to stand at Terena’s side. “What shall we do with him?”
“Leave,” Terena whispered.
Soros hesitated, and Terena felt his gaze searching her face, but she dared not look away from Isher. “I thought—”
“Leave,” Terena said, turning at last to face the captain. Whatever he saw on her face made him throw his hands up in compliance. She turned back to Isher when Soros left.
The silence was thick, pressing in on all sides until all she could hear was a deafening roar in her ears. Isher didn’t take his eyes off her.
He started speaking, his words garbled behind the gag, and he shook his head. Bringing up his right leg, he planted his foot and rose unsteadily. The prince breathed heavily, watching her, eyes filled with fury. But there was wonder there, too.
And then his face softened, and he gazed at her with—
Terena cursed and moved, striding forward to yank him around. She grabbed hold of one of his wrists and unsheathed her dagger. Moving the blade to cut the bindings, she spotted the bracelet on his wrist.
Terena froze.
Exhaling raggedly, she grabbed a fistful of his tunic and spun him to face her, dagger raised to his face as she yanked the gag from his mouth. Taking two steps back, she sneered at him.
“You fucking worthless dog,” she said softly, an edge to her voice she saw gave him pause. “That bangle you wear was a gift I gave Lerek. Is it not enough he’s dead? You need to become him?”