Page 86 of Acolyte (Tempris #2)

For a moment, he forgot how to breathe. She looked so devastatingly lovely, dressed all in white with the late afternoon sunlight flooding in behind her. And those eyes, that face, the way her dress was at once modest and yet somehow still teased at every curve and—

I should’ve shaved, he thought suddenly. And tucked in his shirt. Found shoes. Granted, Taly wasn’t wearing shoes either, but he’d been killing time for over an hour now. He could’ve at least combed his hair.

“Well?” Taly prompted when he didn’t answer. A smile hovered at the corners of her mouth. “Is there a reason you’re snooping through my closet?”

Boredom. Curiosity. What had begun with a cursory glance inside an open doorway had become a full-fledged investigation once he had seen the sheer number of ballgowns, and jewels, and formal wear—all of it covered with her scent.

As though it had been worn and not just shoved into a dark corner to be forgotten like every other dress she had ever owned.

It was just dumb luck that she had walked in the moment he opened this particular drawer, and since death was now inevitable, he decided he should at least have some fun before she ended him.

Skye finally found his tongue, and despite the danger to his person, plastered on a smirk.

“This is not what I would’ve expected,” he said, holding up a small scrap of lace that didn’t look large enough to cover much of anything, much less the area for which it was intended.

“Considering your hatred for all things satin and lace, I figured you probably wore men’s shorts. I’m pleasantly surprised.”

Taly’s cheeks turned a very fetching shade of pink, but she didn’t rush forward, didn’t squeal and start pummeling him the way he’d expected. She simply pushed herself off the doorframe and began making her way towards him, skirts swishing with each feminine sway of her hips.

When she was close enough for him to feel the heat from her body, she murmured, “I like the way satin feels against my skin.” The teasing smile she gave him made his heart pick up a beat. “It makes me think of sex.”

Heat rushed through him. But before his brain could formulate a response, Taly snapped the drawer closed.

He jumped back, barely escaping with his fingers still intact and laughing when she snatched the pair of undergarments away. The look she gave him—he saw his death there.

“Since when are you this nosy?” she grumbled, tossing the bit of lace on top of the dresser before grabbing his arm and shoving him in front of her.

“I was left unattended for a really long time. I figured rummaging around your closet was safer than trying to clean your study, which” —he turned, and she was still glaring at him as she pulled the closet door closed— “looks like a tornado tore through it. And I’m not even going to touch on that coin…

throne… thing. I thought you were supposed to be the organized one. ”

She shrugged. “Just because you don’t understand a system of organization doesn’t mean it’s lacking. I know where everything is in that room.”

Skye was almost embarrassed by the stab of knee-wobbling relief that shot through him.

What she had, of course, meant to say was that she had some overly complicated system of organization that only made sense to her and other like-minded basket cases, and…

it was nice to see that not everything had changed.

He looked her up and down, noting with no small amount of satisfaction that the color returned to her cheeks. “I like the dress, by the way,” he said as he turned back down the hall. “You look nice.”

There was a small gasp, and he heard her heart stutter. After a moment, she followed, pushing past him. Even the tips of her ears were red as she led them back into what looked like a dining room. There was a set of silver serving dishes on the table, all covered.

“Dinner,” Taly explained. “I found it waiting outside the door.”

The smell of chicken and potatoes and spices hit his nose.

Simple, hearty food. His mouth was already watering, but he shook his head.

He needed to get her talking first. For his own sanity.

“Did you really think that was going to work? That you could just wave a plate under my nose, and my mouth would suddenly be too full to ask questions?”

“I never said that,” she mumbled, though from the look on her face, the thought had crossed her mind.

“Tink—I got stabbed three times today. I think that’s earned me an explanation.”

“For which part? ”

Skye pretended to think. “How about… all of it? Let’s just start with all of it.

The magic, you running away from the manor, the spells Kato found, that time you ran away for a second time in Ebondrift, the Vale relay, Vaughn, how you managed to become a resident of a homicidal Genesis Lord and her court of ghostly minions… Do I really need to keep going?”

Taly picked at her skirts, refusing to look at him. “That list could take a while. Are you sure you don’t want to start with something easier?”

His temper flared, but he stopped. Then took a breath. His ribs ached at the movement. Taly had done a decent job patching him up, but mistlewick venom was painful and long-lasting. It would take a few days for his aether to fully regenerate and his body to heal.

She saw him wince, and her face fell. “I should’ve told you.”

“Yes.”

“A long time ago.”

“You could’ve told me at any point, Taly, but you didn’t.

Instead, you spent a year digging through gate rubbish.

You nearly died because we didn’t know how to treat you for the harpy venom.

You’ve had countless opportunities, and the closest you ever got was in Ebondrift, but even then—you didn’t.

You ran away. Again . You decided you didn’t trust me—”

“Skye, I—”

“You should’ve trusted me.” Taly hung her head. “I shouldn’t have had to find out that you had time magic from Aiden when I accidentally got him too drunk to keep his mouth shut. ”

She attempted a smile. “I suppose that explains a few things. Aiden always was a chatty drunk.”

She had a point, but— “Stop deflecting.”

“I’m not, I…” But then her voice trailed off, because yes, she was—deflecting. “I just wanted to protect you,” she said softly. “That’s all I ever wanted to do.”

His brows rose.

“I know it doesn’t make sense, but I… I don’t even know how to explain any of this anymore.

Everything got so out of hand, and every time I try to think of what I need to say, I just…

” She sighed, slumping down into a chair at the table.

“I wish you could see inside my head sometimes. Everything I need to say is in there, but I just can’t get it out. ”

There was a decanter of something red and fizzy in the middle of the table. Shard wine by the smell of it. Taly never would’ve been able to drink this as a human. Two sips and he would’ve been holding back her hair while she retched.

Though he supposed that wasn’t a concern anymore as he reached for the decanter, filling both their glasses.

“Just start at the beginning,” he said and claimed the chair across from her. “Start with the day in the training yard. Tell me what happened when I discharged your dagger. Tell me why you started screaming.”

And so, she did. She told him about how she suspected now that the encounter in the sparring ring had weakened the hidden wards inscribed on her arm.

How the visions had started soon after. She told him about how panic had taken over once she figured out what they were and the fear that had ruled over every moment of every day for nearly a year.

And even though he’d already guessed at most of the story, hearing how the pieces fit together—it left him speechless.

And heartbroken. He hated every lingering fragment of pain he could still read in the lines of her face and the tension in her body.

The specter of fear he could still see looming behind her eyes.

When she came to the subject of Ebondrift, however, even though he could still see that same pain and fear, it was all he could do not to reach across the table and shake her.

She was scared, she claimed. And her magic was becoming more uncontained.

And then, when Kato confronted her, she was sure she’d been discovered, sure that he was going to reveal her, sure that she was what their enemy wanted.

So, she ran.

There was no mention of the way she’d left him or those few kisses they had shared, the promises she had made that she never intended to keep.

I’ll get some rest, and then we can talk.

But that had been a lie. Just one of many.

His anger must’ve shown because she started babbling, circling back around whenever she seemed to remember a point.

The relay, Vaughn, how she had come to meet the Queen and the year that came after—she explained it all.

It was dark when she finally stopped explaining.

The food had gone cold, the dishes still covered and forgotten on the table. He needed to eat. So did Taly—she had used a lot of magic today, and her movements were sluggish, her skin too pale.

Neither of them reached for their plates.

In the distance, explosions growled, and light flickered beyond the windows like lightning. She had told him about that too, how this single day had been carved out and set aside, cursed to replay the same set of tragic events night after night.

He still wasn’t sure how that made him feel. Wasn’t sure how he felt knowing that was the Schism or that she had been here long enough to catalog each blast.

“So,” he said finally, “I guess I’ll just come right out and say it. You fucked up.”

“Hilarious,” Taly muttered from across the table.

“I mean it. You fucked up so badly, you redefined the standard by which we will judge all other fuckups from now until the end of time.”

She snorted into her wine glass. “I wouldn’t go that far.”