Chapter 27
ERMANEL
Rydon had been surprised to see the Heylisian prince when Soros’s man arrived with the gagged and bound royal, but when the soldier informed him he was to bring the cypher to the captain’s tent on Ren’s orders, he spared no further thought on the man.
Terena’s face was sickly pale, lips parted and trembling as her eyes raced to every corner of Soros’s tent. Settling the cypher on the ground against the captain’s cot, Rydon drifted closer to Ren and waited for her to acknowledge him.
She lifted both hands, covering her face before she shook her head once and dropped her hands. Her eyes looked at him owlishly.
“False death betrays love.”
Rydon frowned, tilting his head and waited for her to continue.
A moment passed in silence, then another, the seconds sliding past as he waited for her to go on. If she expected him to understand her meaning from that sentence, he could not think why.
“The prophecy,” she added, hands splayed. “The prophecy Pytho told me. Those are the first words: false death betrays love. Lerek’s death was false! He didn’t die, Rydon. Isher did.”
Rydon’s eyes widened to the point he feared they might drop out of his skull. “What are you saying? That wasn’t Prince Isher?”
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “That was Lerek. A scout found him. Lerek was traveling with Xoran. That was Xoran’s surprise! And according to Lerek, the only ones who knew who he really was before Xoran found him were the Spartans.”
Rydon’s lip curled into a sneer. “That lying bastard—”
“Aye,” Terena said in a voice filled with disdain. “I’ve a mind to head straight to King Altos and bash his head in.”
“I meant Daris Antonius.”
Terena’s gaze dropped away as she scowled. “Him, too, I suppose. Although he might be forgiven since he was following orders.”
“Here we go,” Rydon muttered, raking a hand through his hair. He turned away from her, pacing the limited space with hands on his hips.
“Believe me, I’m still angry at the commander.” Terena reached out and wrapped her fingers around his arm, squeezing gently. “But he is as much a pawn as the rest of us when it comes to the games of sovereigns.”
“Aye, that is true, although you are no pawn. You never were. From now on, if they take advantage of you, it’ll be because you allow it. You have the knowledge of who you are now to aid you in putting down your foes. With Hermes and Sonah, when we find her, we’ll be unstoppable.”
“I’m worried,” Terena said, before chewing at her nail.
She wagged a finger a moment later. “Now we know Lerek isn’t dead, it must mean he’s the part of the prophecy about false death.
Don’t you see, Rydon? He betrayed me, he betrayed our love, letting me think he was murdered. It has to be what Pytho meant.”
“What’s the rest of it? Do you recall?”
Terena made a face, her features darkening as she thought. “Aye. That it would forge Athena’s Weapon. I don’t know what that means. Hermes told me I was Athena’s Weapon.”
“Could mean that because of Lerek’s death and your arrest, you decided to fight back? Become her weapon in truth?”
“No.” Terena shook her head, popping her finger back in her mouth to nibble at the nail. “No, she said false death betrays love, and then Athena’s Weapon is forged. So that means…”
Rydon crossed his arms, waiting.
“Fuck!”
Terena’s outburst didn’t surprise him. She was wound up so tight before Lerek’s return from the dead, he worried she might be close to her breaking point.
Her eyes raced back and forth and the nervous way she chewed on her nail—gods, was that blood at the corner of her mouth now?
Had she chewed so far down the quick she’d drawn blood?
And she didn’t seem to notice either, which made Rydon nervous for her.
“Terena,” Rydon dropped his voice to a low murmur, leaning forward to force her to meet his gaze. “You will not solve it in your current state. And what is your plan for the prince?”
“He stays with us.”
“Why?” Rydon spread his arms. “What’s that gain us except another target on our backs? Xoran will have to tell the emperor who took his son, and we’ll have all of Heylisia converge on us!”
Terena remained silent, her eyes on the ground. Rydon released a rough exhale, rubbing his hand up and down his face before waving it at her.
“What about him?” Rydon added, motioning to the cypher sitting on the ground. “Why did you have me bring him here?”
As if seeing the man for the first time, Terena started, her eyes widening. After a beat of silence, she turned to Rydon. “Ask him what powers the other cyphers Solon has in his ranks can wield.”
Rydon crouched down next to the cypher and spoke to him in Ostan. The man regarded her in silence before turning back to Rydon. He spoke fast, pausing every once in a while as he thought. When he was finished, Rydon’s expression turned pensive.
“He says he’s only seen three in his time with the Heylisians. One moved small objects with his mind, while another manipulated fire. Both of them men much older than him.
“The last was a woman whose power was the same as you had mentioned before. She can drain someone’s energy, not power.
And he’s only ever seen her do it on other Heylisian soldiers.
She left their company a few months ago and he hasn’t seen her since.
Shortly after, he was assigned to the group that attacked us. ”
“Curious,” Terena said as she stared at the cypher, his steady gaze locked on her, too. “Take him to the edge of the camp and release him. Tell him to go home. To Osta. And never return.”
Rydon grunted his assent. He thought for a moment.
“You should have Vas send a message to Xoran. About the prince. You can give him back after we’ve found the amulet.
If you don’t, Xoran will retaliate, Ren.
He’ll have to. He cannot let this pass; he needs to save face with his men. Not to mention the emperor.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
Rydon waited. When she didn’t continue, he grunted. “Fine. Then what?”
“Remember what Cassandra said?”
Rydon groaned. “The witch said many things. To what do you refer?”
“She said she wanted to go to Metilai. We never told her where we planned on going and yet she knew. I know you don’t believe her visions, but I do. We need to go. First thing in the morning. Would you do me a favor and tell Soros I’m staying in here tonight?”
“Aye. I can do that. But we cannot go to Metilai alone.” Rydon shifted his weight and grimaced. “Ren, we should wait for Hermes. He’ll be here any day now. And what about Sonah?”
“I’ll have Cassandra find her. She’s a seer, after all. Fuck, should’ve thought of that sooner.”
“And if she cannot? Or worse, sends us on a wild goose chase? You cannot trust what she says, Ren. She’s manipulative—”
“I think there’s more to her. Do you really believe she’d withhold that information from me? She knows what I’d do to her if anything happened to Sonah because she didn’t warn me.”
“I think it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a bad idea to go to Metilai, too. We should wait for Hermes.”
“The emperor owes me answers, Rydon.”
“Ren, no.”
“Aye. We’re going back to the White Palace.”
While Soros had his men break down camp, Terena had sought out Vassori with a message for Xoran and bade her ride to his camp.
“I’ll meet you in Metilai,” Terena had told her, clasping the tracker’s arm as Vassori nodded.
Striding toward where Cassandra and Rydon were, Terena called out to the seer.
“Have you had any visions of Sonah?”
Cassandra’s gaze shuttered. Fidgeting with her skirts, she glanced down. “Aye.”
Terena puffed out a breath. “Really? Where is she? Do you know? Is it clear from your visions?”
Cassandra waggled her head. “She’s safe. I do not know who she is with, but they are friends. I cannot tell where she is right now, though. I don’t have a sense of time with my visions. I see a very large man, blond, with a beard. And… a woman. Her skin is… different. I see a wolf but… he’s a man?”
“No riddles, please, Cassandra.” Terena groaned. “She’s safe though?”
“Aye?”
“Do you see me with her? In your visions.”
“Aye. We’re all together. And Vassori is with us, so maybe it’s Metilai.”
“You cannot tell?”
“I’m not familiar with the surroundings.” Cassandra looked at the ground, her lips pursed. “I see a tall blond man sitting on a throne. Different from the one before. And Sonah is with him. I see you but you’re wearing a uniform—”
“The only throne that makes sense is Metilai. But the blond man isn’t Solon. The emperor has dark hair.” Terena looked down, thinking. “And the amulet. Do you know where it is?”
Cassandra lifted her chin. “I do not, but I last saw it in Ravos. At Sydney Hall. And it was in my vision of—”
“We have a problem.”
Terena turned as Rydon strode toward them, a deep scowl on his face.
“What now?”
“When I let the cypher go, he told me General Peleon was sending an army north to Ravos. The cypher said that’s where he and the others were headed when they ran into us.”
“Why?”
Rydon wiped a hand down his beard. “Duke Ravos claims to have Sonah Yahn.”
“Impossible. And isn’t he dead?”
Rydon shook his head. “The new Duke Ravos.”
The blood drained from Terena’s face. Her eye twitched, and she squeezed them shut, pressing her fingers into her eyeballs. “Galen,” Terena muttered. “Why the fuck did we not hear of this sooner?”
Rydon shook his head. Turning, he bellowed for Captain Soros.
Terena’s attention drifted to Soros as he and two of his men brought a bound and gagged Lerek toward them. Lerek’s eyes spit fire as he struggled against his captors.
“Where do you want him?” Soros asked as the men shoved Lerek forward. The prince stumbled, and it took every ounce of Terena’s willpower to stay mounted as he fell to his knees.
Once upon a time, she would’ve skinned the men for their treatment of him.
Lerek glared at their group, sneering as best he could around the cloth in his mouth.