Page 109

Her mother.

Breena looked just as she had that night at the palace gates, in scaled black armor and coiled braids. The symbol for the Water Shard was stamped into her chest and emblazoned upon the sword at her side, and when she smiled, even though it was at the Queen—Taly was unprepared for the wave of emotion that slammed into her.

She had so few memories from before the fire, but that smile…

Taly remembered that smile.

“Atlas,” Azura greeted. She extended a hand to the man, as was the custom between Genesis Lords. Taly reluctantly forced her eyes away from her mother. For indeed, the man beside her was Atlas Venwraith of House Arendryl, the High Lord of Water.

And if he was on Tempris…

Shards, how far back did I go?

Arendryl used to be one of the most prosperous dominions in the Fey Imperium, but then one day, without explanation, they’d sold their lands and moved to the mortal realm, setting up a new nation.

The Shadow King had soon followed, bringing his entire household. Then the High Lady Cassi, the avatar for the Fire Shard.

And years later when Azura shut down the gates, when the remaining two Genesis Lords consolidated their power and formed the Dawn Court and the Sanctorum and began their centuries-long quest to eradicate time magic—the High Lords of Water, Shadow, and Fire vowed that they would not step a single foot back on fey lands until the bloodshed had ended.

It never did. And they never had. So if Atlas Venwraith was on Tempris, that meant that this was before the Schism. When Tempris had still been at the center of the Fey Imperium and the Council had still been in power.

It also meant that these people around her, the ones whose hands flashed with gold—they were time mages. The same ones that had disappeared along with their Queen. That the Sanctorum had spent over two centuries hunting.

Shards… maybe she had pulled on that spell just a little too hard.

“You’re early,” Azura said with a bland smile. By now, Taly knew her well enough to see the undercurrent of worry behind the expression. “First, you surprise me with a visit, and now you catch me completely unaware.” She waved a hand at the dark leggings and loose silk shirt she wore. It was plainer than anything Taly had ever seen her wear, but still finely made. “Shame on you. Breena, isn’t it your job to keep him in line?”

Breena bowed her head in deference, though there was a twinkle in her eye. “Name one Genesis Lord that’s ever listened to the advice of their Crystal Guard?”

“I listen,” Azura insisted. “Or I did. Once. For about five minutes. It was a terribly boring five minutes, so I decided not to do it again.”

“Azura,” Atlas said softly. His voice was mild and smooth, but still somehow carried the weight one would expect from a man of his station. “We need to speak privately.”

Azura’s eyes narrowed. “If that’s the case, then I take it this talk must also beurgentsince you came to interrupt me during a lesson as opposed to waiting for me in my tower—where there are fewer wandering eyes and attentive ears.”

He nodded. “Auberin is also here.”

“He heard of our visit,” Breena added. “Nissa, of course, followed.”

Auberin Brenin and Nissa Caeli—the High Lord and Lady of Earth and Air. They now reigned over the Dawn Court, though at this point in time, they were just members of the Council.

Azura closed her eyes and took a breath, as if she could will herself the patience to deal with whatever crisis this seemed to indicate. “Iunderstand,” she said. “Lady Graylin,” she called over her shoulder.

A woman with sharp features and silver-white hair pulled away from where she had been instructing two other mages. “Majesty,” she said. Taly jolted. She recognized that voice, even if she was used to hearing it from someone slightly more transparent. And blue.

“Take them inside.” Azura glanced around the arena, and the other mages were already stopping their exercises and packing up. “Once they’re settled, do a sweep. I’m sure Nissa already has ears in the palace.”

The woman bowed. Her hair was loose, and it slipped across her shoulders, shining in the sun like frosted silver. “Of course, Majesty.”

The arena began to clear, the mages talking in hushed whispers as they disappeared through the arches.

The Queen met the High Lord of Water’s gaze, molten gold against molten blue. Taly wondered if that was some effect of the Shards, if bonding with a god was what made their eyes seem so strange and alien, even compared to the dream-like colors of the fey.

“Yes, I am aware that Nissa and Auberin are planning to move against me,” Azura said when the arena had fully emptied. “That is what you were going to say, though for civility’s sake you were going to stumble around the point for another few minutes in a way that I would’ve found wholly annoying. Yes, I know about the coup, and yes, I am aware they are already trying to paint me as unstable even though they heard that man’s testimony the same as every other member of the Council. I will not be bullied, however. Auberin isnot the first power-hungry High Lord I’ve had to put in his proper place, and I daresay not even the most cunning.”

Atlas and Breena shared a look.

“We have no proof,” Atlas said, “other than a madman’s ravings.”