Page 19

“Ione and Dario, the Sages who dictate the physical elements. Ione can change the tides with one breath and send them crashing into cities with a single thought.”

My body stiffened at the image.

“But she mostly uses her powers for the sole benefit of her faction. There has not been a drought in their lands since she first claimed her sovereignty thousands of years ago.”

He was trying to reassure me but severely missed the mark.

“Dario...” he paced, “is another thing entirely.” The Preceptor stroked the folds of his dress anxiously as he tried to string together an adequate yet not all-fearing picture of the god. After a few moments, he sucked in both of his lips and blew out a hiss. “As I mentioned before, the Mother created her Sages to bestow knowledge and experience that those of us here on earth needed to thrive. But she was no fool. Having watched the cycle of our trials and miseries since the sun first dawned, she thought us mortals insufferably opportunistic, and wished not for Thesion’s great sacrifice to have been in vain.”

“She forged Dario within the pits of the earth, melting the squalor and indecency of our kind right into his very core. Ensnaring the will of this place we call home into the trappings of immortal flesh. He is a mirror of our world, his every emotion reflecting into the physical realm.”

“And he is unfortunately moody,” Kalen added, his mouth curving into a half grin.

“The simplest of offenses on his heart has been the impetus for avalanches and fiery blasts from mountain tops. Raging as he rages, quieting only when he sulks.”

From the distress in the old man’s sunken cheeks, I could tell this was the watered-down truth. But for the sake of time—andpotentially my sanity—I didn’t press for any more than he was willing to give.

“You must know, Gwyn,” Kalen fixed his eyes on mine, capturing my attention, “although the Light and Shadow are the most powerful of the Sages, they are all lethal in their own right.”

The room seemed to darken, then, as if the clouds over Thesion’s sermons had reached out from the past into it.

Neither of the men spoke again, giving me a brief moment to take in what I had learned today. None of it seemed any more absurd than any of the stories Kalen had told me about myself and the almost-war. Thesion’s sacrifice had been brutal, yes, but could it have been so dissimilar from the violence of other creations? The only thing out of place was the reason we were here at all.

“Why are you telling me this?”

The Preceptor did not move to speak. I felt the warmth on my left side disappear, a cold brush of air appearing in its wake. Kalen was walking toward the window, hoisting a broad leg up onto the bay.

“What, now you’re bored with it?” he huffed at the glass.

“It’s not that,” I hesitated, needing to choose my words wisely so that I avoided his tendency to be vague. “It’s just that you said you wouldn’t tell me anything until I needed to know it. So why do I need to know this? Why now?”

Kalen had been explicit when instructing the Preceptor to focus on the Sages. As far as I could tell, they had nothing to do with my missing stones and wouldn’t provide any type of path towardsretrieving them. There had to be some other reason Kalen wanted me to familiarize myself with them, with their powers.

Some birds had fallen into formation off the cleft of the mountain, and Kalen’s eyes darted in sync with their movements. The line broke, the leader dropping his wing andletting the wind push him to the back of his flock. Kalen threw a glance in my direction. “You know for a daft looking girl, you are quite observant.”

“What good would it do you to hold off any longer?” asked The Preceptor.

“Hold off what?” I gasped, my attention focused squarely on Kalen.No more secrets, we had said, hadpromised.He threw up his hands, swiping them along his face, like he was trying to wipe away the mask he had painted there for this meeting.

“The Sages are coming to Leoth,” he said, devastatingly apathetic. “In five days’ time.”

“What?” I laughed a little, but it didn’t carry.

Kalen kept his hands on his face. Perhaps he thought whatever damage he was about to cause between us would only exist if he looked at me. Through the triangle of his hands, Kalen’s mouth spoke. “Our poor friend, Dalwin, has looser lips—and more friends in the Astralite camp—than I thought. Someone let it slip to Gabriel that a certain stunning, blonde immortal was sneaking around Leoth as my personal handmaid. It didn’t take him long to infer exactly who that was.”

His hands fell away, and Kalen shook his head at some invisible annoyance. Something more he was not saying.

“How does he know with certainty it was me? I mean, no one has seen me in almost...a century?”

When I landed on the appropriate frame of time, Kalen dipped his chin in affirmation. Then he said, “You make quite an impression it seems.” His mouth twisted up into a wry smile. I shook off the urge to smack it from his stupid face.

“Why are they coming here?”

He turned his back on me again, looking up into the sky. The birds were nowhere to be seen.“I can’t ever be too sure of our gods’ intentions, but I would say it has something to do with the fact that a plot has arisen against their sister. Very suddenly, andwithout much warning, even with Gabriel’stalents.They want to get a good look at who has been charged with the errand, I suppose.”

From Kalen’s reflection in the window, I could have sworn I saw a hint of absolute terror in his eyes.

“They want to see you, Gwyn,” he said.