Page 83 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

“You took him away from me,” she murmured, tracing that “X” with a gentle finger and smearing the blood that bubbled around the wound.

“So instead of lopping off your head or carving off your limbs and waiting for you to bleed out, I thought I would show you how that felt. I thought I would show you what it feels like to have the thing that you would kill for, the thing you would die for, ripped away.”

Leaning back, she lifted Snowdrop high into the air—and then slammed the dagger into his chest, smiling when she heard the crunch of bone.

Her aether practically purred, and despite the spells holding him in place, Vaughn flinched.

She twisted her blade, and the blood began to bubble.

“It feels like having your chest cleaved open.”

She wrenched her dagger free, and this time, a low whine slipped past the man’s gaping lips.

His eyes had finally gone wide with fear—true genuine terror.

He was breaking through the spells, one by one, and his hands tried to grope for her, the faint pulses of shadow magic around his fingers burning like violet embers.

But it was too slow .

Every movement, every flicker of shadow magic, was too slow. He had underestimated her and her abilities, seen her as nothing more than a child.

And he had been wrong.

Giving her dagger a twirl, Taly placed Snowdrop off to the side and pushed apart the bits of severed cartilage and tissue that were already starting to mend. She felt two more spells pop, and he actually managed to blink.

“You invaded my island,” she said softly. “You killed my friends and neighbors and turned them into monsters. You attacked the only remaining piece of my mother while she did everything she could to save me.”

Taly’s eyes found his as she continued to list off his sins.

“You tried to rape me. You tried to turn me over to my enemy. And now, you’ve killed my friend.

You’ve killed the man that I love.” She viciously blinked back the hot, angry tears that welled in her eyes.

“And that feels like hell, Vaughn. It feels like everything is falling apart with no way to ever put it back together. It feels like drowning in a big, black ocean that has no bottom and no shore and no sun.”

Wrenching back her arm, Taly summoned that fey strength and plunged her fist directly into his chest, between the fractured ribs and shredded flesh. “It feels like having your heart ripped from your body.”

She gave a sharp tug, and something tore. She held up her quarry, gripping it between fingers that still shimmered like molten ore.

Blood for blood , she thought, admiring that tiny pulsating rhythm beating against her palm. A heart for a heart .

She looked back at Vaughn. Normally, he would’ve died almost instantly. But under the effects of her spells, the blood hadn’t even begun to spray. His eyes were wide and frightened, his mouth slowly twisting into a mask of pain and terror.

She held out his heart, letting the blood drip onto his face. “You broke my heart,” she whispered. There was still fear in his eyes—but also a realization. He was going to die. It was decided. “And now I’m going to break yours.”

With that, she squeezed, her fingers still glowing with aether as the rhythm stopped, as that small yet vital part of him turned to dust and scattered on the wind.

And when it was done, she rose to her feet, stumbling back a few steps before releasing the spells.

Blood abruptly sprayed from Vaughn’s chest, staining the ground around him, and his body gave one final jerk before going still.

The arms that had been slowly reaching for her dropped to the ground, and his last breath gurgled from his chest, speckling his lips with red froth.

A warm breeze whipped through the hedges, rustling the leaves. Whipping the dark strands of hair away from Vaughn’s unseeing eyes.

Taly panted as the rage began to recede. Her aether dimmed, contracting in on itself and seeping back into her skin. That voice that had been hissing in her ear finally quieted, allowing the pieces of her and who she was to settle back into place.

Exhaustion slammed into her, and flames erupted in her lungs, searing her from the inside out. Every breath was more painful than the last as she glanced around the clearing, slightly disoriented.

There was blood splattered on the white garden stone, blood staining her hands, her face, her hair.

So red. So warm and sticky.

And Skye…

Skye…

Falling to her knees, Taly began to scream. And when she ran out of breath, she screamed again and again and again.

She screamed for what she had done. For how easy it had been.

How much she had relished that man’s pain.

And all because of Skye. He was gone now.

Taken from her. And now that she no longer had that rage and fury to keep the grief at bay, all she could do was scream and curse and beg for the Shards to take her too.

Her voice grew hoarse, but she continued to silently wail, doubled over and clutching her sides as her tears soaked the ground.

All this time, he had been the thing pulling her forward.

The chance to see him smile, to hear his laugh, to tell him things it had taken her far too long to understand—that’s what had kept her from crumbling.

That’s what had kept her going day after day, and without him… without him, she was—

Something tugged at her braid, but she waved it away, too lost to care. Because how was she supposed to go on? How was she supposed to live in a world that didn’t have him in it? She didn’t like that world. She didn’t want it.

That thing nipped at her ear, and she lashed out, snarling as she —

Stopped. Frozen as surely as if she’d been caught in one of her own snares.

A tiny red rabbit with violet jewel-like eyes blinked up at her.

She blinked back.

As if in answer, the rabbit gave a tiny squeal of joy, then a hop, before evaporating in a cloud of mist.

“Taly?”

Taly’s breath left her in a whoosh, and the pain and anguish dissolved, replaced by something more tenuous. A fragile, sparkling ember of hope.

She turned, slowly, as though in a daze.

And then somehow, she managed to stagger to her feet, staring with wide eyes at the figure that emerged from a break in the hedges.

Dark hair, green eyes, lean but powerfully built. The crest for House Ghislain stamped into his armor was speckled with blood.

“Skye?” She had to mouth the word, unable to find her voice.

His eyes found hers, and that smile, small and disbelieving at first but quickly widening, had her racing forward, running as fast as he was running to meet her. They collided somewhere in the middle, and he lifted her up, wrapping his arms so tightly around her she could barely breathe.

But she didn’t care. Because she was holding onto him just as tightly, relishing the feel of his racing heart pressed against hers.

He was here. He was alive. And she wasn’t sure if she was laughing or crying as the full weight of those long months apart, all that time spent missing him and worrying about him and watching him die in a countless number of ways, finally crashed into her .

They were both shaking when her feet finally touched the ground, and it was an effort not to pull him back to her when he leaned away slightly.

Some of the blood on her hands had rubbed off on him, staining his cheeks and mixing with the blood that had already soaked through the leather of his armor.

Leaving one arm banded around her waist, he brought a hand up and gently tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

There was a faint look of wonderment shining in those impossibly green eyes, and Taly held her breath as he traced the arch of her ear, then her cheek, noting each change.

He even touched the tip of her nose, and she couldn’t help but snort.

There was nothing different about her nose.

It still had that damned bump right in the middle of the bridge from when he had tripped and sent them both tumbling down the stairs as children.

“Don’t tell me,” Skye said at last, and Shards that voice. Oh, how she had missed that voice. “You changed your hair.”

At that, she was crying again, and he pulled her to him, letting her bury her face in the crook of his neck as he held her.

“I wouldn’t get too sentimental,” he said, pressing his nose to her hair and breathing her in. She felt his whole body relax, as if he’d just been relieved of some great weight. “After all, you still have to explain this mess to me, and I plan to be quite furious.”

Taly cried harder, and Skye had to pry her away far enough so that he could look her over. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

She shook her head, saying tearfully, “No.”

“Are you sure? I heard screaming and— ”

“Believe me, my dear,” a new voice drawled, “she’s perfectly fine.”

Skye’s reaction was immediate. In a blur of motion, he twisted his body, shoving Taly behind him and reaching to draw his sword in a single, fluid movement.

Taly grabbed his wrist, staying his hand. “Don’t worry about her,” she said, looking up at the woman that sat on top of one of the hedges, merrily dangling her feet. “That’s just the Queen.”

“What?” Skye glanced at her over his shoulder.

“It’s a long story,” Taly muttered.

Azura grinned and hopped off the hedge, a wisp of aether curling around her body as she gently floated to the ground. Her skirts puffed around her like a cloud. “Now, my dear, what sort of introduction is that?”

“Fine,” Taly snapped. “Skye, this is the woman that’s been holding me captive for the past year.”

Skye sucked in a breath, but before he could say anything, Azura groaned dramatically, saying, “There you go again with that ‘I’m a prisoner,’ and ‘Az, why won’t you let me go?

’ nonsense . ” She turned to Skye. His expression was cold and cautious, but Taly knew him well enough to see the confusion in his eyes as he glanced between the two women.

“You have no idea just what I’ve had to endure all these long months.

After everything I’ve done for the girl, and not even a thank you. ”

“You shot me with an arrow,” Taly barked.

“You healed,” Azura snapped back. Then, to Skye, she said sweetly, “As for you, I apologize for the confusion. You see, I know you, but you don’t seem to know me—at least not yet. And, if we’re being honest, that’s Taly’s fault. She never brings you here in the right order.”

Azura dropped into a curtsey, and Taly was pretty sure the look of bewilderment on Skye’s face was a perfect match to the one she’d worn that first day at the palace gates.

“I believe introductions are in order,” the Queen said, rising. “I’m—”

“I know who you are,” Skye cut in, pushing Taly more firmly behind him. “You’re Azura Raine. You’re the woman responsible for the Schism.”