Page 134

Story: This Vicious Dream

He ignores me, lifting his head. “I did what you want. Will you listen to my proposal now?”

Calysian frowns, taking a step closer to Kyldare. His eyes light with surprise.

My stomach churns. “What is it?”

“He’s god-touched. I should have recognized it sooner. But perhaps I can only see it because I’ve taken the first grimoire.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he was blessed by his goddess. He’ll live as long as she does. Unless someone kills him.” The smile Calysian gives Kyldare is chilling. “Talk.”

Kyldare swallows. “You’re right. My goddess blessed me. She knew she would need someone in this kingdom when you arrived, and she also knew I would be the one to find her.” He nods at me. “I was ordered to cooperate with Vicana and find the grimoire. Everything was going according to plan until the witch became suspicious.” His mouth tightens. “She slipped one of her putrid tonics into my drink and made me confess my duplicity.”

“And yet you managed to escape and come to us,” Calysian says, planting his hands on his hips.

Kyldare lets out a bitter laugh. “You think I’m setting you up? I wish I was. I barely escaped with my life. My goddess told me to travel in this direction. She said I would know where to find you. When I felt the quake, learned where it was centered, I knew she was giving me a sign.”

“Name your goddess,” Calysian orders.

Kyldare just shakes his head. “I can’t. She has stilled my tongue so that I immediately forget her name if I attempt to say it to someone who does not already know it.”

Realization flickers through Calysian’s eyes. He knows who the goddess is.

“You put a bolt through Madinia’s lung,” he growls. “Did your goddess tell you to dothattoo?”

Kyldare drops his gaze. “I was…frustrated. I knew my goddess would be angry with me for losing the first grimoire. I wanted to punish Madinia for ruining my plans over and over again. And I knew you would not let her die.”

I shake my head. He’s lying. He wanted me dead in that moment. He may have regretted his actions after, but his words echo in my head even now.

“Think of me as you die choking on your own blood.”

My lungs tighten at the memory of the agony. The terror. Shoving that memory away, I look down my nose at Kyldare. “So what you’re saying is you’re a puppet. Andtwowomen are holding your strings.”

Kyldare’s jaw clenches, and humor dances in Calysian’s eyes. “She has a point.” His eyes meet mine, and I jerk my head, gesturing for him to move out of Kyldare’s earshot. Calysian takes a long length of rope, tying Kyldare’s feet and looping the rope through the chains and around a wide tree trunk.

“This is unnecessary,” Kyldare hisses. “I came here with the intention of cooperating.”

Calysian ignores him, taking my hand and leading me away from the clearing. My ankle throbs, but I force myself not to limp.

Calysian’s brows lower as he scans my face.

“Are you…”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re trembling.”

I meet his eyes. “He snuck up on me, Calysian. If he’d wanted to kill me, he could have thrust a blade into my heart at that moment.”

A muscle jumps in Calysian’s jaw. “I should have been here.”

I’m already shaking my head. It’s not his job to protect me. It’s mine. And I failed. It all could have been over, because I let down my guard.

I felt safe, and I shouldn’t have.

“We need to decide what to do with him,” I say. “Can you remove his…god-touch?”

The corner of Calysian’s eyes crease, and he runs a hand over his mouth. “No, I can’t remove it. Not when another god got there first. Besides, such a thing would require me to have found all three of my grimoires.”