Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
TRISTAN
The protests were growing worse. The people were starting to riot.
There were mobs forming in the city, screaming about New Korteria.
About Ka Kormac’s occupation. About the way their soturi was starting to overshadow our own.
There were complaints pouring in from soturi whose homes had been invaded by Ka Kormac.
And complaints of worse crimes happening during those invasions.
Reports that left me ill, and sick to my stomach.
The biggest protests though were centered around the vorakh task force.
The Emperor had sent word that he wanted more arrested.
More than perhaps we even had. The other night when those three accused of vorakh had been dragged into Cresthaven, all three had been innocent.
Publicly humiliated by being stripped naked, and tortured.
And all because of an accusation. And despite their innocence, despite the proof by nahashim, the Bastardmaker had sent them to the newly constructed Bamarian prisons.
They were only half built by the mages, not yet fit for anyone to live in for a single night, much less the weeks I knew they’d be there, but it didn’t matter.
Kormac’s wolves had to meet their quota. Avery needed more slaves.
I didn’t know what to do. I felt like I was losing my mind.
But luckily, there was no ball tonight. Nor a parade—those were being restricted now thanks to protests.
Arianna was finally getting a taste of her own medicine.
But barely. So when the Council meetings finally ended for the day, and the soturi out hunting vorakh made their final report to me, I was beyond grateful to retreat to Naria’s room and lie down.
I crawled onto her bed, and fell asleep hours before nightfall.
Sometime later, I woke up with a start. My eyes opened, but closed nearly at once as cold seeped through my body and I was sucked into a vision. No. No. No.
The door opened. Fuck. I tried to still my body, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop shaking. Couldn’t stop the vision from taking over.
“Tristan?” Naria asked. “Tristan!”
No! No! I couldn’t answer. I was being swept away, my surroundings gone, and within seconds, Naria’s voice faded from consciousness.
There was a flash of yellow light.
Yellow. Too much yellow.
I looked around. I was in the ruins of an ancient temple and there were people shouting. No. Not people. Gods. Two of them. And a Goddess with flaming red hair.
I was little, my body barely a boy’s, and I was naked. And cold. So cold. I reached for a blanket on the ground and covered my body, holding it tight around my shoulders. But still I shivered, afraid. Everything felt new and strange and harsh.
A God lay on the ground, unconscious, a yellow crystal hung from his neck. He wore the armor of a warrior. He was familiar to me, though I also knew I’d never seen him before.
He’d been powerful. Deadly. Someone strong enough to destroy the world.
And I was scared. Because I felt the death he’d wrought inside me. It felt like my soul had been torn in half. Like my body was splitting. Tearing apart. Everything hurt.
I wanted to crawl to the God. I wanted him to protect me. I wanted to crawl back inside of him. But he wasn’t waking up. His eyes wouldn’t open.
I looked behind me. Another God, this one awake, his eyes an almost blinding shade of green. Curls spun of gold on his head. The Goddess was beside him.
I shook my head in confusion and pain and cried out, my voice small like a child’s. “I … I can feel it. My death. My birth. All at once.” I had died. But I’d also just been born. What was happening to me? “It’s so much,” I said, tears falling down my cheeks.
“We had no choice,” the God whispered.
The Goddess watched me with concerned eyes. “It must feel so confusing,” she said gently. “But you’re going to be all right. I swear. You don’t have to be alone in this. I know the role I played. And I’m sorry for it.”
I stared at my feet, poking out from the blanket. My hands opened and closed in my lap. Then I lifted my arms. My skin was so new, I was almost pink.
“Are you hurt?” the Goddess asked. “We can’t stay here. But we’ll take you with us. Protect you. Can you walk?”
We can’t stay here? Why can’t we stay here?
Anger rushed through me, fiery and overwhelming, ready to consume my small body.
I pulled the edges of my blanket closer.
I still didn’t understand. Where were we?
Who were they? And why did I want to crawl into the arms of the God who seemed to shine the color yellow?
I glared at the God and Goddess. “You said you had no choice. But what is it that you have done? What am I?”
The Goddess began to cry, but I felt no sympathy for her. “You were part of the God known as Shiviel,” she said, “Guardian of the Yellow Ray. Now you’re not. Now you’re new.”
“New?” I asked, horror filling me. “I’m not new. I can feel it. I’m ancient. I always was. I can feel where you cut … where you cut me apart.” Shiviel. Shiviel. I had to get back to Shiviel.
I could see it now. Heaven. Earth. The Hall of Records. The Light. The War. I wasn’t new. “I remember,” my voice shook. “Remember too much. I can’t be new. I’ve been here for so long. If I were new, I wouldn’t have died. I wouldn’t have felt it. My death.”
“You’re right,” the God said. “You are ancient. We were brothers once. We protected each other. And I swear I will protect you now. I will amend this. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“Why should I believe you?” I spat. They were the ones who had cut me. “I sense memories. Of another world. Another plane of existence. Of light. A light that did not burn.” It was becoming clearer. All of it. Who I’d been. Who I was. A Guardian. “But I am not Shiviel. Not anymore. I am … other.”
A light flashed. Yellow. Yellow light. Blinding. Too much.
A woman tore through with wild, unkempt black hair, and a beauty mark above her mouth. The vorakh who murdered my parents.
“NO! ” I screamed. “NO! ”
“I’ll still get you,” she said. “I’m close now. Closer than you know.” A smile spread across her face, one embedded with a promise. Of death. “You won’t get away from me this time, Turiel.”
My eyes sprang open again, and I was kicking and flailing and shouting. “I’m not Turiel. I’m not Turiel!”
“Tristan,” Naria said. “Tristan, stop! It’s me! It’s Naria.” I gasped, coldness clinging to every inch of my body. “What the hell,” she said. “What’s wrong with you?”
“C-Can you get me a blanket,” I asked weakly.
Rolling her eyes, she walked to the closet and pulled out a spare. She climbed into the bed with me, wrapping her legs around mine, her arms across my waist as she pulled the blanket over the two of us.
“Body heat will help,” she said quietly, her eyes searching mine.
I burst into tears. “You know what you just saw?”
She nodded. “I know. I’ve known. I figured it out.”
“And you didn’t tell anyone?”
She leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Obviously not. I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to tell anyone.” She pushed back my hair, her face softening. “It’s okay. I’m here with you.”
I buried my face against her neck and breathed in her floral scent, trying to push the vision out of my mind. But when I closed my eyes, I saw the vorakh again, and all I could hear was her telling me she was coming to get me.
Coming to get Turiel.