Chapter 14
Theron
The moment Theron saw the black gown, he cursed his rotten luck.
Just what he needed. One of Orithyia’s clerics had gotten themselves killed inside his palace.
Bloody footprints showed where she’d come from, and a slick of crimson pooled where she’d collapsed.
Theron knelt to examine the corpse. Lifting the ragged edges of the back of her dress, he saw the wound that had killed her—a deep gash cut across her back.
With such a severe wound, she couldn’t have run far.
“Do you know who attacked her?” Theron asked Nireus.
“Not yet. I have people following the blood trail.”
He prayed the attacker wasn’t anyone associated with his palace.
“Where did she come from? How did she get past the guards?”
“I don’t know yet, but she seems to have cursed the guards she passed into silence. They recovered soon after and raised the alarm, but by then she’d already died.”
A weak divine curse. It didn’t surprise him. Few clerics aside from paladins learned to wield their divine magic while suffering pain. Given the make of her gown and the use of magic, she was an initiate. But why was she here? Why die in his palace? Why come into his inner sanctum?
As he took in the details of the woman before him, he noticed her hand.
“She’s holding something.”
“Please step back, Your Majesty. I’ll inspect it.”
Theron stepped away, leaning against the wall as his spear bearer knelt by the woman and pried open her hand.
The obvious answer was that Orithyia had sacrificed a pawn to cause him no end of trouble.
It would be just what he needed while he was weakened by recent rumours and his wife’s demands in open court.
A scandal involving a cleric within the palace would be just the thing his most opportunistic courtiers would need to foment rebellion.
While few of his courtiers had any love for Orithyia and her ilk after the spire was constructed, a weak monarch was prey, and predators couldn’t resist the scent of fresh blood.
“Two black beads, Your Majesty. One is chipped.”
Theron held out his hand and inspected the black beads, both covered in the cleric’s blood.
It wasn’t unusual for clerics to carry the stone associated with their goddess.
After all, the goddesses saw the world through the faceted planes of their sacred gemstones.
He wondered what Knowledge had seen through these eyes of Hers.
It would be a great disrespect to allow Her eyes to be covered in blood.
“Water. Now.”
Within moments, he poured water on the obsidian beads, clearing them of blood. But as he did so, his heart seized in his chest. Theron tore a strip from his tunic and hastily covered the beads.
“Your Majesty?”
His mind raced in time with his heartbeat. Merciful Triad, this was bad. These weren’t obsidian beads. They couldn’t be. Not with the distinct band of white hidden beneath the black.
“Onyx,” he said.
Commander Nireus’ eyes widened in horror as he looked between the bundle in Theron’s hands and the woman on the floor.
“A dualist?”
“Who else would carry the eyes of Lies in her hand?”
Another dualist incursion into his palace.
“She must have been on her way to the palace sanctuary,” Nireus mused.
Yes, and she had gotten damned close. Too close to the sanctuary where he kept miniature statues of the Triad and the tangible deities, as well as the corridor to where the ceremony to bestow Aurean kingship took place.
If she’d managed to replace one or both of Knowledge’s eyes with those of Lies, who knew what kind of calamity might have befallen the palace?
If he thought his courtiers restless and distrustful now, they would be calling for his head the moment they discovered the sacrilege.
A king who allowed Lies into his palace was a king without honour.
“Find out everything you can about this woman. Where she came from. How she got in. Who attacked her. And if she’s from Aureum or elsewhere.”
“You think this was a Viridian plot?” Nireus asked.
Theron grimaced down at the woman’s body.
“We can’t rule it out. Dualists have breached the city before, even tried to attack the palace, but never got so far as the inner sanctum.
And who did I recently allow entry into my city?
If this woman had succeeded in her task, Orithyia would have branded me a heretic, stripped my crown from me.
Who else would gain from this situation if not Flora? ”
Nireus paled.
“I’ll triple the guard on the Viridians.”
“Have them confined to their rooms. No messages in or out. Confiscate their letters.”
“Does that include the princess, Your Majesty?”
He caught himself before he spoke. Theron was about to tell his commander that his wife was no Viridian.
But that wasn’t legally true anymore. And with her mind weakened, it was possible Flora could use her even without her knowing.
Yet if he confined her to her quarters, it would set back any progress he hoped to make with her.
“Keep eyes on her at all times but keep them hidden. If Flora intends to use her…condition to attack me, I want to know.”
“As you command, Your Majesty.”
Theron sighed. What a mess.
“Find out if she was attacked before or after she entered the palace grounds. Once we know that, then we’ll contact the temple. In the meantime, move her somewhere less conspicuous.”
“Your Majesty!” Polydorus called.
Theron turned at the sound of Polydorus’ voice. Given the harried tone, it boded ill.
“Your Majesty, Head Priestess Dia has come. She’s in poor shape and she’s demanding an urgent audience. She says it’s a matter of life and death and that she can speak to none but you.”
Fuck.
“Lead the way,” Theron said.
It seemed he’d be getting that explanation sooner than he expected. Unprepared and on edge, Theron found Dia leaning heavily on her cane in his throne room. Theron stuttered to a stop.
A black eye, a split lip, her usually tidy appearance dishevelled. She was bent over her cane, breath ragged. He raced to her side.
“Who has dared harm you, Dia?” he asked, his magic wrapping around her frail body and healing her hurts. Broken bones, cuts, bruises, and gashes along her back. Someone had beaten and whipped her.
“Theron, there’s no time. You must save us from her. She’s going to destroy everything!”
“Who?” he asked.
“Make way for the High Priestess of Knowledge!”
Dia flinched in his arms as the doors to his throne room burst open to admit Orithyia, flanked by dozens of paladins. Nireus, along with a few palace guards, levelled their spears at the incoming paladins and set up a defensive line.
“She’s an agent of chaos! Don’t let her poison you too!” Dia cried, clinging to Theron’s tunic with all her might.
“I thought you might flee here, dualist scum. Take her,” Orithyia ordered her paladins.
“How dare you invade my palace like this, Orithyia! You have no right!” Theron roared back.
“I have every right, Your Majesty. It is my sworn duty to stamp out heresy wherever it arises, especially when it threatens a monarch of Trisia.” She tipped her head in Dia’s direction.
Theron tightened his hold on his elderly tutor.
“Dia is no more a dualist than I am.”
“Is that so? Then why did my paladins discover onyx beads in the possession of her closest aide? Why is the head priestess wearing a ring with an onyx gemstone at this very moment?” Orithyia asked.
“Lies! Every word from your mouth is a lie, all in service of your wretched goddess!” Dia retorted.
Theron’s mind buzzed with the possibilities. Had Orithyia finally made a misstep? Golden opportunities had been placed at his feet. Dia was no dualist. But for the high priestess to accuse a woman falsely was a grave offense. Would he finally cut the head off that vicious snake?
“Calm, Dia. High Priestess, are you certain you wish to accuse Head Priestess Dia of being a dualist? Of wearing the eyes of Lies on her person?” Theron asked.
“I would never make such an accusation without being certain.” Orithyia raised her chin.
“Polydorus? Call for High Priestess Myrina, and Generals Batea and Canthus to attend court. I would have witnesses to what comes next,” Theron said.
Dia wept in his arms.
“You were right, Your Majesty. I’m so sorry I doubted you,” Dia sobbed softly.
“Oh, I expect you’ll be sick of hearing ‘I told you so’ soon enough,” Theron replied softly. “When we have that lying snake caught, I don’t suppose you’ll have any complaints if I ask my aunt to cut her head off?”
Dia chuckled.
“None.”
As Dia regained her composure and the witnesses arrived, Orithyia remained silent, her head held high. An agent of chaos? Theron would believe it—and so would his people. Flora was about to lose her greatest ally. And who knew? Maybe Orithyia’s downfall would be that mad dog’s as well.
“Your Majesty, why have I been called?” Myrina asked as she entered the court, taking note of the paladins and guards on the brink of a fight.
Then his aunt caught sight of Dia and blinked in alarm at her state. Even healed, it was obvious she’d been attacked.
“You are here to act as witness to a sinister accusation. High Priestess Orithyia has accused Head Priestess Dia of being a heretic and wearing a ring with onyx. As a neutral party and a high priestess, I ask that you take Dia’s ring and break the stone in court so that we might ascertain who here is an agent of chaos and who is telling the truth. ”
Batea’s eyes lit up.
“Finally,” she whispered, nudging Theron.
Yes, his cousin was as thrilled as he by the possibility of killing Orithyia.
“How straightforward, Your Majesty. Please confirm that the onyx ring is indeed Dia’s. I won’t allow her to slip away by claiming the ring never bore her seal once it’s been smashed,” Orithyia added.
Dia looked down at her ring.
“The seal is mine. Please look, Your Majesty, Your Holiness.”