Page 62 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

Still grumbling a long stream of curses under her breath, she strode to the center of the arena, stepping over her dream self as she groaned in pain. It was the end of the day already, so she tugged at the spell holding the dream together.

The day began to rewind.

She was going to have to approach this differently.

This wasn’t just a straightforward game.

One where she might eventually eke out a victory if she could just be faster and stronger than she had been the day before.

It had been designed to be unbeatable, and while she couldn’t cheat directly—Azura would see it coming—she might be able to find a weakness in the rules. Something she could exploit.

“I don’t know why you’re surprised,” she muttered to herself, watching as the world whirled by in a blur of movement.

In her frustration, she yanked on her aether, pulling that tether that would take her back to early morning.

“This is Azura, after all. It’s not like she’s the patron saint of clear intentions. ”

The sky went dark.

“Shit.” She’d gone too far.

Gripping the spell, she tried to pull it back, but time was still rewinding, day turning to night and back again.

Even worse? The process was speeding up—days blinking by so quickly that the scene was now only flashes of black and white and red.

A strobe light that signified the rapid passage of time.

Taly started getting nervous, images of that damn time loop returning to her. Except this time, there was no Queen to bail her out if she went too far.

It stopped. As abruptly as if she’d hit a wall.

Taly blinked. She was still in the training arena.

There was the tree overhead, the red dirt underfoot, the cloud of splintered light where the palace should’ve been.

She’d lost her grip on the tether, and that was a problem.

A big one. She was dreaming, yes, but she’d entered this vision deliberately.

A fall wouldn’t pull her out of it like a natural dream.

Without that tether, she had no way of waking herself up.

That was something she’d worry about later, though.

Right now, she was more interested in the people that now stood around the base of the oak in groups of twos and threes.

Some held staffs like hers, others held no weapons at all as they went through training exercises that were second nature to her now.

Their hands glowed gold with magic, and in the center of them all stood—

“Azura.”

Taly turned as two more figures walked into her field of vision.

The man was tall and broadly built with sandy hair and eyes that glowed like molten blue metal.

He was dressed in white robes of state with a crown upon his head.

The gold swirled like the tentacles of a kraken, and a trident marked the apex.

Taly knew him instantly. Not because of any personal connection, but because she’d seen his image in books and newspapers. He was a very important man, but right now, that’s not who she cared about. She only had eyes for the woman beside him, her face so familiar it caused her heart to clench.

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 be urgent since 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. “I understand,” 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 is not 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.”

“I checked the tomb myself,” Breena added. “He sleeps. There is no evidence that he has awoken since—”

“I know.” Azura closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I know, I know. But Aneirin is cunning, and Shards save us all if a human ever wandered near that tomb.”

Taly’s brows rose. Why did that name sound familiar? And why did the High Lord of Water and Azura both seem so… nervous?

“I’m not saying you should abandon your lands just yet, but be wary,” Azura said, glancing at Atlas. “I know we’ve encountered false prophets before, but something about that man put me on edge. My dreams have been… unquiet ever since.”

Breena visibly tensed. “Anything specific?”

“No,” Azura said. “But…” The Queen’s voice trailed off, and her head turned to the side as though she’d heard a sudden sound.

She looked straight at Taly, her brows nudging together in confusion.

“You’re not supposed to be here yet,” was all she said, and then Taly was falling as the world around her fractured.

As the dream was ripped apart.

Taly awoke with a gasp. Her heart was pounding, and her palms were sweaty. The pain of her injuries immediately rushed back in, and she welcomed it. Even welcomed the burn in her lungs as the last of her aether drained.

Azura had seen her.

How had Azura seen her?

That was the past. Just a memory. She couldn’t have—

“Never eavesdrop on a Genesis Lord.”

Taly looked up. Leto was drifting in front of her, nearly transparent in the late afternoon light. For a moment, she imagined that she could see a long straight nose, proud Highborn eyes, and hollow cheeks beneath that smooth, featureless face—all framed by a shock of silver-white hair.

“They will know,” she said in that calm, even way that had become so familiar to her now. She’d recognize it anywhere. Even inside a dream.

“Who is Aneirin?” Taly asked.

“No one of consequence.”

Taly wondered if that was the first time Leto had ever lied to her. Something told her it wasn’t.

“Come.” Leto turned towards the palace. “What you just did was very dangerous. I have requested that Her Majesty speak to you about tethers during this evening’s lecture.

They are there to guide you into the dream and out, and you were allowing yours to fray.

In the future, I do hope you dream more responsibly. ”

Taly was a little shaky as she pushed to her feet, and every step was agony as she made to follow. But still she smiled.

And decided not to tell the Lady Leto Graylin that she’d figured out what she was.