Page 40 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

Taly struggled to see through the flurry, scanning the branches and tracing each chirp and rustle. She could just barely make out the faint golden afterimages as they moved through the branches, each following the threads of their individual decisions. Right or left. Down or up.

The threads shifted.

Taly began weaving the spell. Four more. They were all overhead, bunched together and about to descend.

A hiss of wind was her only warning before pain exploded at the base of her neck. Taly let out a scream as her back arched and her body jolted. Her staff fell from nerveless fingers, rolling away as she slumped to the ground.

A fairy—one she had thought frozen—floated just inches above her face, giggling merrily.

“Game!” Azura called from the sidelines.

Taly groaned, trying to move her arms first, then her legs, both unsuccessfully. Her head lolled to the side, but the movement triggered some other injury. Her body twitched violently, drawing a whimpered gasp from her lungs.

“What the hell?” she moaned. Even talking hurt .

Azura leaned back in the tall green velvet chair Leto had brought down shortly after lunch. “ You forgot to guard your back. A well-placed blow to the neck can incapacitate a fey. If this battle had been real, you would be dead by now.”

“Good to know,” Taly bit out. The words burned her throat. She could barely breathe.

The Queen waved a hand, sending out a tendril of magic that snaked across the yard. The spell licked at her skin, and Taly nearly sobbed in relief when the pain began to ebb.

A simple reversal spell, one Taly could have cast on herself.

If she could just figure out how to think around the pain.

“Again,” Azura barked.

Taly decided she hated that word.

Taly yelped as the ground flew up to meet her.

Every nerve ending crackled with heat as a thousand needles pricked her skin, and even though a wave of numbness followed close behind, her body began to spasm uncontrollably.

The manic cackle of the two fairies that bobbed overhead only served to complete yet another humiliating defeat.

Sadists. All of them. The palace was full of fucking sadists.

Dirt crunched, and a polished boot prodded at Taly’s shoulder, kicking her with what felt like an unnecessary amount of force. She groaned as she was rolled over onto her back .

“You’re still allowing yourself to get hit,” Azura said.

The woman stood over her, her body blotting out the sun as she crossed her arms imperiously.

Even though the details of her face were lost to the shadows, Taly somehow knew that the woman was frowning.

“I keep telling you to guard your back, but do you listen? Of course not. Because Talya Caro knows everything. Everything except how to guard her back.”

Taly grumbled a curse and wriggled feebly. Her body was still completely paralyzed—she couldn’t even manage a crude gesture. “I hate you,” she muttered, her scowl deepening when Azura grinned. “I hate you so much, you crazy bitch.”

“That’s sweet.” Azura chuckled as she poked Taly in the stomach with the tip of a folded parasol. “But flattery will get you nowhere. You know what will get you somewhere, more specifically out of here and back where you belong? Guarding your back.”

“You’re such a bitch,” Taly groaned as the Queen sent out a small wave of magic. Something crunched as it moved back into place.

“You said that already,” Azura chirped, ignoring the poisonous glare that Taly sent her way.

She reached down and hauled the smaller woman to her feet, grabbing her by the waist when her knees immediately buckled.

“Anyways, my dear” –Azura waited for Taly to find her footing before releasing her— “I think we should call it a day. The gates will be closing soon, and I have a feeling you’re going to want a bath before dinner. ”

Taly would’ve rolled her eyes, but the pain that movement would inevitably trigger wasn’t worth it. Yes, she needed a bath. She was filthy. But she didn’t need the woman that had been sitting in the shade drinking tea all afternoon pointing that out.

Taly swayed on her feet, panting. She leaned against the tree when the world began to tilt.

Her heart was still beating too fast, and there was a slight haze creeping in at the edges of her vision.

Her stomach turned, but she waited until both the Queen and Leto had disappeared behind one of the stone arches before sinking back down to her knees and vomiting.

She heaved until there was nothing left inside of her—until she was crying not only from the bile that stung her nose and throat but the lingering pain that tightened like a vice around every cell and muscle and nerve.

After so many weeks spent in the palace, she had never felt the urge to give up quite so violently as she did right then. Through every bullshit test and trial, every random whim the Queen decided to throw at her, she had managed to grit her teeth and bear it.

But those had been mere annoyances; nothing compared to this new hell.

A manic laugh bubbled up and out, scraping against her throat like a knife.

It really was funny in the worst possible way.

After everything she had endured—harpies and magic spells and undead monsters—a simple game of tag would be her downfall.

You’ll play until you win, the Queen had said.

But she was never going to win. It was too much—stalking and hunting, fighting and casting, all while managing more pain than she ever thought possible.

Just the idea of coming back here tomorrow, of going through this again and again and again —

Taly doubled over as her stomach gave another heave.

It all seemed so pointless. There were some days she wondered why she even bothered to get up at all.

Because even if she did win, somehow managing to eke out a victory and earn her freedom, what would she be going back to?

Would her family accept her now that she was fey?

What would they say when they found out she was a time mage?

That just knowing her could put their lives at risk?

And that, of course, assumed they were even still alive to be angry at her.

Tempris was under attack when she left, and she had no idea how much time had actually passed.

Time moved differently inside the loop, but what the hell did that even mean?

What if her family was already dead? Or worse, what if they had been turned into shades?

What would she do if she ever came across Skye, rotting and dead, staring back at her through milky eyes?

Oh Shards, what if her dreams came true and Skye—

Taly twisted her fingers in the red dirt, forcing herself to breathe.

Skye . Just his name was enough to give her pause.

She missed him. It snuck up on her sometimes just how much, pulling her from whatever she was doing and making it hard to think.

The few nights she was able to take control of her dreams, somehow escaping those blood-filled visions of a future she prayed never came to pass, she would sometimes find him, alive and whole and waiting for her.

Those dreams were the only thing that still had her going to sleep at night .

Taking another deep breath, she closed her eyes. Get up. She could practically hear the words, as clearly as if he were whispering in her ear. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up. Get up and do it again. Come home to me.

Skye wouldn’t give up. Arrogant Highborn bastard that he was—he wouldn’t give up. And he wouldn’t let her give up either.

Taly gritted her teeth, swallowing back the next wave of nausea. It wouldn’t end like this. Not here. Not today.

Get up . And that’s exactly what she did. Slowly, aware of each lingering ache and pain, she staggered to her feet.

Do it again. And she would. Again and again. Until she won. Because she was stronger now, as strong as Skye. Because she was Talya Caro, and that bitch didn’t give up.

The first explosion crashed in the distance, and the ground began to tremble. Holding her head high, Taly wiped her mouth on the back of her sleeve and began making her way back to the palace.

Azura hid in the shadow of the wide stone arch. “I can feel your judgment,” she said, glancing at the woman that had drifted a few paces ahead. More than a friend—a sister, even if there was no shared blood between them .

Leto floated back down the darkened tunnel to where the Queen had stopped to watch as the girl began retching in the training arena down below. “Permission to speak freely, Majesty?”

“Of course. You are always free to speak your mind. You know that.”

“You’re too hard on her,” Leto said after a beat of hesitation, never taking her eyes off the girl.

“I knew you were going to say that.”

“I’m not the only one that has raised concerns.”

“I’m aware.” She had ears, after all, and the fairies were hardly circumspect when it came to their whispering.

“She has passed her seal examinations in a fraction of the time than any other student you or I ever trained.”

Azura picked at one of the chains coiling around her wrist. “I know all of this, Leto.”

But her friend went on. “She told me what you had her do for the second seal assessment. Most mages would not have been able to hold up a simple coin so soon into their training, much less an entire temple ceiling. Under any other circumstances, she would be considered a prodigy, and yet you still belittled her.”

True . All true.

Azura said, “You know as well as I that the Lady Caro was prone to arrogance when she was younger. She said so herself.”

Leto gave her a sidelong glance. “Even so—this new trial is unorthodox.”

Azura kept her chin high. “I know.”

“Even at the highest levels of training, this would be considered needlessly vicious.”

“She needs to get stronger. ”

“At what cost?” A gentle question, laced with quiet fierceness.

A wolf defending a cub. “You made me your advisor for a reason, Majesty, so listen to me now. I know you have plans for the girl. I know that some things have already been set in motion. That certain events would’ve played out even if we hadn’t chosen to intervene.

But this trial, this game —she is no good to us if she breaks. ”

Azura’s lips pressed into a thin line. “We both know what’s coming for her. We both traveled through the Weave, and we saw that future.” A nod. Leto’s shoulders slumped forward. “If she is to break, I would rather it be now—rather it be here , where we can still pick up the pieces.”

Leto shifted her gaze back to the girl heaving in the center of the arena. “I still think about that day.”

Azura placed a hand to her chest, as if she could force down the hollow ache that had settled there. The Schism—it was such an appropriate name for the thing she had done. She had torn the world apart and then scattered the pieces.

“As do I,” Azura said softly. “I want her to live, Leto. I set her down this path, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try to mitigate the damage.

When this war finally finds its conclusion, I want that girl to have a life.

I know you question my methods, but everything I have done so far has been towards that end.

Towards that chance, slim as it might be. ”

Leto went quiet for several long moments as they both watched the girl still kneeling in the mud. Taly’s retching had finally subsided, and she seemed to be having some sort of internal debate .

“She did well today,” Leto said as she turned to go. “She would’ve won if someone wasn’t cheating.”

Azura barked out a laugh. “Time mages always cheat,” she called over her shoulder to the surly fairy. “You know that as well as I.”

“But she doesn’t,” came Leto’s reply as she disappeared down the long tunnel, moving back towards the palace.

No, Azura conceded silently. Not yet, at least. That was always a difficult lesson to teach. And just one of the reasons why she had decided to go with a more unorthodox approach when it came to this final phase of Taly’s training.

Azura looked back to the yard as Taly began to pull herself up, barely managing to stagger to her feet and swaying slightly.

Her hair was falling out of its braid, and mud stained her clothing and streaked every visible inch of skin.

She was in pain, but that didn’t stop her from taking one lurching step forward, then another, straightening her shoulders and holding her head high.

“Good girl,” Azura whispered, guilt shifting into pride.

Leto was wrong. The girl wouldn’t break. Not when it mattered.

Smiling, Azura called after Leto, “Tell the kitchen to make veal and truffle risotto tonight—the human recipe you and I picked up the last time we were on Earth. Taly doesn’t know it yet, but it’s her favorite.”