Page 4 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

There were two doors leading to a wide stone patio that wrapped around the whole of the tower. Each was ornately carved, inset with a long oval of leaded glass, and both were unlocked .

Probably because it was well over 300 hundred feet to the ground and jumping off the side of a tower was an objectively terrible idea.

Oh well.

A veil of that same warding magic surrounded the terrace, and it dimmed the sun, casting the entire area in shadow. Taly smirked a bit as she ghosted a hand across the slight shimmer that fell just inside the gray stone railing. Now that she was outside, that was an easy problem to fix.

Pulling the scissors, Taly crouched, levering up a loose stone. Rows of silver wiring ran underneath, and a few snips were all it took to have that veil dissolving, letting in the unfiltered light of day.

The sun was near blinding, and she flinched back into the shadows, holding up a hand.

Fey senses for this new fey body, and Shards, it was like she’d been living her entire life with a bag over her head—one that had suddenly been ripped away.

Everything was too loud, too bright. Blue was now blue , and red was red .

A balmy, summer breeze caressed her skin, bringing with it the smell of jasmine and freshly cut grass—the smell was so strong, it almost made her choke.

Breathing through her mouth, Taly forced her eyes open.

The sky stretched out around her, and the gardens surrounding the palace were in full bloom, speckled with bright bursts of color.

It chafed against her senses and made her head ache, but she staggered to her feet.

She needed to hurry. There was no way to know when someone would come to check on her, and she needed to get into place.

Keeping her head down, she tied one end of the rope to the railing, letting the other dangle over the edge.

And then instead of throwing herself off the side of a tower to what would most certainly be her death, she retreated back inside.

This was the part where the princesses always got it wrong.

Because the point of making a rope out of something like bedsheets or, in her case, dresses, wasn’t about escaping.

It was about making your captor believe you had.

Taly hurried to the front room, to the door that would open when someone came to see if she was awake.

Which she was, and she made sure they knew it by knocking and rattling the handle. The warding magic snapped against her skin, like a thousand tiny ants all stinging at once, but she ignored it. Her hands were still tingling as she slipped behind one of the heavy velvet curtains.

From somewhere within the apartment, a clock ticked away the seconds as Taly began to wait.

It didn’t take long for the door to open, and metal clanked as something large and heavy lumbered past.

Mechanica armor, Taly thought, pressing her back flat against the wall. It had to be. She couldn’t think of anything else that would sound that large or that heavy .

The armored suit moved farther into the apartment, but Taly didn’t move. She didn’t even dare breathe as she listened for its footsteps.

Stone grated, and she knew it had found the open terrace doors and clipped wires.

The cloth rope had been left in plain sight, and when those heavy, lumbering footsteps reversed, rushing from room to room and back through the front door, Taly knew that her warden now believed her to be somewhere else in the palace. Maybe even splattered on the ground.

And since there was no reason to lock an unoccupied cage… Taly allowed herself a smile when she peeked from behind the curtain to find that the front door had been left wide open.

She didn’t give herself time to revel in her victory as she half-ran, half-leapt down the spiraling steps, careening round and round until she hit the landing below.

Another hallway—lit with windows that spanned all of one side. She gave it a passing glance as she turned and—

Two hulking metal creatures spanned the length of the hallway, and Taly whirled only to find two more blocking her path.

A rough metal hand clamped down on her shoulder, and Taly yelped, twisting and pulling the shears from her boot in one fluid move—

Only to realize that this “weapon” would do very little against the thing that towered over her.

Against any of those now crowding around her.

At 10 feet tall, the Mechanica suits were bulky yet polished, and under any other circumstance, Taly would’ve thought them beautiful. Each piece of gold plate was inlaid with whorls of glistening blue, and the helms were decorated with metal horns twisted with silver.

But as they slowly advanced, caging her in, all she could see was the deadly blades on those horns and the cannons set into the gauntlets as they flashed red and white.

“I’m glad I set guards,” said a surprisingly light female voice. “Her Majesty warned me that you were slippery.”

Taly retreated a step, uselessly adjusting her grip on the shears as her back hit the wall.

“My Lady,” that voice said again. The center one, though Taly couldn’t be certain. The helms covered their faces. “I apologize for my tardiness. We did not know when you would wake.”

When Taly didn’t answer, just continued to grip those scissors like a lifeline, the center one stepped forward, metal clanking. “My Lady—”

“Stop calling me that!” Taly snapped. They were toying with her. She was sure of it. “Whatever it is you’re here to do, just get on with it. Stop stalling.” Her voice cracked.

The Mechanica tilted its strange, metal head, glancing at the others as it said, “As you wish, Madam .” Like it was the form of address that was the issue here, and they had all just committed some grievous sin.

It took a step, then another, each one scraping harshly against the polished marble floor.

“Shit.” Taly held the scissors out in front of her. Her hands began to shake.

A metal arm extended, and she braced herself for what was sure to be a murderous blow…

That never came.

Taly opened one eye, only then realizing that she had closed them. Still clutching her scissors, she could do nothing but gape as the group of Mechanica awkwardly bent at the waist and… bowed .

“The Queen respectfully requests your presence at tea,” the woman in the center suit stated tersely.

Taly blinked. “What?”

“ Tea , Madam,” the woman repeated. A brief pause, and then the center suit shuddered. The pieces of armor clanked together loudly as it rose, the other armored suits quickly following. “Her Imperial Majesty has requested your presence at tea.”

Taly was suddenly glad for the wall at her back, how real it felt when everything else was spinning out of control.

A private audience with the Time Queen was the absolute last thing she wanted in this place that made no Shards-forsaken sense.

This was the woman responsible for the Schism.

A Genesis Lord. A High Lady. No sane, rational person would agree to this, and even though her grip on reality was starting to feel dangerously tenuous, she still considered herself to be both sane and rational.

“T-tell the Queen that I decline,” Taly said, mustering that politeness Sarina had worked so hard to instill in her. “Respectfully.”

“That is not a suitable answer,” the woman in the center suit replied.

“Then I guess it’s not a request.” The words were out before Taly could think better of them.

The woman hesitated, then said, “Forgive me, Madam. The Queen respectfully demands your presence at tea.”

“And if I still don’t go?” Taly argued mulishly.

“Then I suppose I will be forced to carry you. ”

The Mechanica reached for her then, its metal body stiff and unyielding, but Taly flinched away, stabbing at it with her scissors.

It paused. “Do we make you uncomfortable, Madam?”

“Yes.” Taly eyed the two cannons embedded in its metal gauntlets. “You could kill me in an instant. Of course, you make me uncomfortable.”

The suit bobbed its head, the movement graceless and uncoordinated. “I apologize, Madam. We will make adjustments.”

All around her, metal began to shiver and clank.

The helmets were the first thing to fall, hitting the floor with sharp cracks.

The arms came next as their whirring joints slowly spun to a stop and slipped out of socket.

The legs shuddered, and the plating on the torsos began to cave as Taly watched the five hulking Mechanica abruptly collapse in on themselves, crashing to the floor in a tangled heap.

Tendrils of blue energy floated in the newly empty space, swirling chaotically as they began to take shape, forming themselves into the shape of a woman. Her face was smooth and featureless, and her dress looked like smoke as it clung to her nearly transparent form.

Behind her, four perfectly round orbs, each one as large as a child’s head, hovered expectantly.

Fairy fire.

Spirits. Just like the ones she’d seen at the gates of the palace, the ghosts her mother had summoned to fend off Vaughn.

“Is this more to your liking, Madam?” the woman asked.

Taly blew out a slow breath, willing her heart to settle.

“Strangely… yes. I still feel like you could ki ll me if you wanted to, but this is better than a giant suit of weaponized armor being powered by a ghost.” Sensing that these things weren’t going to hurt her—at least not yet—she took a tentative step forward.

“What are you exactly?” Taly asked as she began to circle the woman. “You don’t look like the fairies that brought me here. Or like them.” She nodded at the four orbs that still hovered nearby, silent.

The woman’s head followed her, twisting at an unnatural angle.

“I am the same as my brothers and sisters. I am a spirit, a manifestation of anima. However, unlike many of the fairies you will encounter here, I have chosen not to pass through the mists that separate our two realms. Your world degrades us, whereas this place preserves what is left of our generative force. Because of this, I still have my mind. I am nearly the same now as I was when I died, simply lacking a physical body.”

“Who were you when you were alive?” It seemed like a reasonable question to ask a ghost.

“That is not important,” the woman replied. “For now, you may call me Leto. I have been assigned to be your attendant during your stay. If there is anything you require, you need only ask.”

Taly finally lowered the scissors. “I would like to leave. Can you show me the way home?”

“That is not possible.”

“Why not? Am I a prisoner?”

“No,” Leto answered matter-of-factly, her head still held at that impossible angle.

“You are a guest of the Queen, and you will be given the freedom to roam the palace after you have spoken with Lady Raine. I apologize for any unease you may be feeling at present. That is my fault. I had hoped to be there when you awoke so that all this might be explained, but I was called away.”

Taly shuddered at the thought of waking up to that hulking suit of armor looming over her bedside. “What about my weapons?” she asked, even if she already knew the answer. Her dagger, her pistols—each one a gift, a reminder of Skye. “A friend made those for me. I’d like them back.”

“You will be allowed to arm yourself after you have spoken—”

“With Lady Raine.” Taly scowled, shoving her scissors back in her boot.

“I’m so glad you understand,” Leto said. Taly jumped when the fairy’s body abruptly snapped back into its proper configuration. Smoke curled around her phantom form, slowly dissipating. “If that is all, Madam, I must start preparing you for tea. Your current garb is insufficient.”

Taly kept a wary eye on the fairy as she was gently herded back up the stairs and through the apartment, ticking off the facts in her head.

She still didn’t know where she was, and she didn’t know if there was a way out.

She was unarmed and trapped inside this tower with the ghost of a woman she didn’t fully trust. She was defenseless, and her magic—the one thing she might be able to use to protect herself—had gone quiet inside her.

Not a spark, not an ember, not a single vision.

What’s the next step?

That’s what Ivain had always said, and in this case, it was easy. She needed to speak to the Lady Raine. After that, she would be in a better position to find a way out.

“Okay, Leto,” Taly conceded, knees wobbling as she followed the woman into a small dressing room decorated in shades of blue and gold and pink. “You win. I guess I’m going to tea with the Time Queen.” It sounded even more absurd coming out of her mouth than it had in her head.

Leto gave her a suspicious glance, as if she didn’t quite believe Taly’s sincerity—then inclined her head. “Very good, Madam,” she said, drifting across the room. Her ethereal hands moved aside several draped panels of sheer blue gossamer, revealing yet another set of doors.

Ones Taly recognized.

That were already standing open.

Shit .

The fairy paused at the threshold, gazing into the ruined mess that used to be the closet. Shredded remains of fabric dusted the carpet, and empty hangers still swayed on the racks. Several drawers had been overturned, their contents spilled across the floor.

Leto turned, and even beneath that smooth, featureless face, Taly knew that the spirit wore a look of shock.

“This,” Leto clucked in a way that sounded strangely like Sarina, “may take longer than I expected.”

Somehow, Taly mustered a sheepish grin, shrugging as the fairy turned and began sorting through the wreckage.