Page 77 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

Azura turned to Leto. “Why do I even bother? Everything I say just goes in one ear and out the other.”

Taly gulped down the rest of her coffee. Her final test—the thing she had been dreading all week. And it was today. “I take it you’re not going to tell me what it is you want me to do. Or what happens if I fail.”

The Queen’s lips twitched. “No and no.”

Taly grimaced, picking up her fork, and then setting it down. She’d suddenly lost her appetite.

“Oh, don’t look so stricken,” Azura said.

“I’m sure you’ll manage. There’s a bloodthirsty little imp hiding somewhere deep inside of you, just waiting to come out.

Never be afraid to bathe in the blood of your enemies, my dear.

It’s highly underrated. In fact, the nephilim believe it has certain health benefits. ”

Pushing the tray aside, Taly rested her head on the desk. “I just… I don’t even want to know.”

“Leto.” Azura snapped her fingers. “I want her ready in an hour. And make sure the beast” —she waved a hand at Calcifer, who had retreated to his golden coin throne— “remains contained. I don’t want him to come running if he hears the girl scream. ”

“Yes, Majesty,” came Leto’s cool reply as Taly gave a loud groan.

“Oh, and did you remember—”

“They are right here, Majesty.” Leto picked up the flat wooden box she’d brought in with the breakfast tray, drifting over to the side of the desk. When she pulled the lid away, Taly’s eyes widened.

Her hand darted out, snatching the air dagger from the bed of crimson velvet and pressing it to her chest. “Zephyr,” she breathed, savoring the familiar press of the shadow crystal against her palm.

It was a simple little blade, completely worthless and yet so very dear.

She’d been carrying it when she was first brought to the palace, but she hadn’t seen it since.

Her eyes snapped to Azura. “You said you lost my weapons,” she said, not bothering to hide the note of accusation that edged her voice.

Azura shrugged. “Just because something’s lost doesn’t mean it has to stay that way.”

Taly frowned as she reached for one of the two pistols still inside the box. The Queen was lying. Crazy as she was, everything she did or didn’t do always had a purpose. “Why are you giving these back to me now?” she asked, because even that was likely strategic.

Azura threw her hands into the air, doing a very impressive impersonation of someone who had just been insulted.

“Can’t I do something nice? I merely thought you might like to have them today as…

I don’t know. A good luck charm? A totem?

We have far better weapons in the armory, but I know how sentimental you get over your kills. ”

Taly looked up, her hand hovering over the second pistol. “Did you just say kills ?”

But Azura didn’t answer as she turned on her heel, flicked her skirts in a swirl of velvet, and marched out the same way she had entered, calling over her shoulder, “Throne room—one hour. Don’t be late.”

Skye couldn’t believe his eyes. The hallways and rooms he passed were open and airy, not a speck of dust to be seen. And even though it had been night when he left Kato and the others, the midday sun streamed through the windows, casting everything around him in a warm, golden glow.

Everything was new and clean, and… none of it made sense.

He hadn’t stepped through time. He was pretty sure of that.

If this was the past, there would be courtiers loitering in the halls.

But then what was this place? An illusion?

Possibly. He had also heard that the time mages used to be able to create pocket universes, but a place like this—he couldn’t even begin to imagine the amount of magic it would’ve taken to create a place like this.

Not even the near-limitless power of the Time Shard would’ve been able to pull it off. Not alone, anyway.

The rabbit still bounced ahead of him, but its light was starting to fade. Soon, it would go out entirely, and then… he didn’t know what he’d do. Follow the bond? The tug of that thread was stronger now, but indistinct, leading everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Skye turned the corner and found himself at an intersection that diverged into four paths. Taly’s scent was all around him, but it was old. She hadn’t passed this way in at least a day. Maybe more.

The rabbit hesitated, fat crimson drops of blood peeling away from its body and dripping to the floor.

Skye bit his thumb. “Rest now,” he said. It was another command taken from a very small list, and he held out his hand.

Immediately, the little rabbit hopped over, alighting on his palm. Its nose twitched as it began to lick at the single drop of blood pooling on his thumb.

When it was done, Skye placed the simulacrum on his shoulder, snorting when it scurried down the lapel of his coat and into his front pocket. Its head poked out, and it blinked up at him, seeming to say: Hurry up. We don’t have much time.

A light glinted in his peripheral vision, and Skye slipped his sword from its sheath, hesitating when he thought he heard… windchimes?

He listened closer and looked around, his eyes going wide when he saw three pale-blue orbs melt from the shadows.

“I remember you,” he whispered. From the tunnels. They almost looked like… “Fairy fire.”

That was fairy fire. Just like Taly had claimed she had seen outside her window so long ago. Shards, she was going to be intolerable now. She always was when she was right.

They were at the far end of the corridor, and they gave a little hop when he moved forward and let out a chime-like warning when he turned away.

Before he could question his own sanity—after all, these were the same little bastards that had tormented him with Taly’s voice—he forced his feet to move, one in front of the other, following the flicker of that soft, blue light.

The palace seemed endless, so much larger than it appeared from the outside. Left, then right, then straight ahead. Deeper and deeper he went, keeping his footsteps quiet, trying to breathe over the tightness in his chest.

Finally, they entered a corridor longer than the rest, dark save for the thin strip of light shining from beneath a wide, arched doorway at the opposite end of the hall.

That chime-like laughter ceased.

The doors opened on silent hinges.

The very air seemed to hold its breath.

“Yeah, yeah,” Skye said to no one in particular. “I can take a hint.”

Muttering the foulest curse he knew, Skye continued moving forward. For better or worse, he knew where he was now. Knew where he was meant to go.

It was a struggle to relax his grip on his sword, to push down that instinctive urge to run as he continued to move forward, down the hallway and through that door into—the throne room.

The place where this journey had begun.

Like everything else he had encountered, the room was resplendent. Shafts of warm, buttery sunlight streamed through the windows, and roses coiled around ivory columns, each perfect petal somehow delicately edged with gold.

Skye turned in a circle, his eyes darting first to that great golden throne gleaming up atop its dais, then to the three massive chandeliers tinkling high overhead.

Where are you, Taly?

She was close by. He could sense it in the way the bond thrummed, almost whispering in his ear.

A door slammed, and Skye whirled, raising his sword and backing up as the sound of footsteps echoed from the hallway. Someone was approaching, but it wasn’t Taly. The stride was too long, the footfall too heavy.

A figure loomed in the doorway, and Skye recognized the broad shoulders and gold-plated armor well before he heard that all-too-familiar voice drawl, “Well, well, well—what do we have here?”

Skye’s blood ran cold. “Vaughn,” he said as the yellow-eyed shadow mage stepped further into the room. “What are you doing here?”

Vaughn didn’t answer as his eyes slid over the room, a muted sense of awe evident in his expression.

Skye eyed the sword at the man’s waist, the line of daggers strapped to his chest, some streaked with what looked and smelled like fresh blood. Was it Kato’s? He had said he was going to make up an excuse. Keep them busy.

Shards, where was his brother?

“You followed me,” Skye said. Ivain had been right not to trust this man. But what did he want? Why was he here ?

“We were worried when your brother said you were going off on your own,” Vaughn said gently.

Bullshit, Skye thought, retreating another step towards the throne. Vaughn blocked the main doorway, but he knew that most of these throne rooms had a door behind the dais—just one more security measure.

“And where is my brother?” Skye asked, trying to buy time.

Vaughn was older, a brawler. He had focused his training on the physical attributes of shadow magic—prioritizing raw strength at the expense of everything else.

He was a living weapon crafted of flesh and bone rather than crystal and steel, and if it came down to a fight, Skye would lose.

“Your brother is back at the camp,” Vaughn said lightly. As though they weren’t inside a palace that shouldn’t exist. As though he hadn’t followed him here in secret.

“I gave an order not to be disturbed,” Skye pointed out. “One I’m sure Kato passed along.”

“I do not follow your orders, boy.”

Skye gave up another slow, cautious step, quickly schooling his features when he felt the distinct sigh of water magic itch across his skin.

Fuck.

Of course, Vaughn didn’t come alone. Asher was, after all, a water mage, and the only one in their party capable of tracking a shadow mage without giving himself away. Even a simple glamour could obscure sound and scent and sight, making him and anyone standing in his radius effectively invisible.