Page 35 of Court of Embers (Dragonesse #2)

Chapter

Eighteen

M aristela stirred her oatmeal, dark circles under her eyes, as Gaelin downed his third mug of strong tea. Doric, almost fully recovered under Kirana’s ministrations, had wolfed his food and now sat idly, his eyes locked on the Historian.

We’d waited two days, as Treza had slept for most of them, and for our allies to return from their scouting missions.

Maristela and Gaelin had reported that the shipments to Iliador had continued, with no sign as to what cargo they contained. Neither had they been able to find out; attempts to bribe ferrymen had yielded nothing. They knew no more of what cargo they delivered than we did.

Doric had reported nothing but quiet to the east. He’d traveled from the southern edge of the Shadowed Stars’ territory all the way to the north of my own lands, and had found no sign of open invasion.

We’d allowed them to rest and eat before we briefed them on our excursion to Koressis Eyrie, leaving out no detail. Treza had filled in the gaps for us, the things we hadn’t seen on our brief sojourn.

Maristela scooped some oatmeal into her spoon, then let it plop back into the bowl. “I don’t think I can eat now,” she murmured.

“So, that brings us to the next order of business.” I myself had regained my appetite, up until I’d thought about Isandoral, all those eyes blinking in the dark. “Treza, we’re lucky you survived, because we need you for this.”

Treza straightened, his face very serious.

“We need to know everything about Ustrael.” I met his gaze squarely. “I realize that her name, and any knowledge about her, is anathema. But it’s of utmost importance that we know everything there is to know, particularly when it comes to worship of such a being.”

I didn’t think Treza could pale any more, but I was wrong.

“Well…I’ve been thinking about that,” he said haltingly, toying with a fork.

“I did do some studies on the gods, you see. Before I joined the Historians, I was considering a priesthood. And you can’t worship Larivor and Naimah, and instruct others on their divinity, without understanding their counterpart. ”

Everyone stared at him, faces ranging from apprehension to fascination.

“The Outsider was the essence of hunger. She was barren, never-ending appetite, a void that could never be filled. There was no light in her being, no fire. Everything a dragon is, she was not.” His lip curled.

“You would be surprised, maybe, to know how many dragonbloods turned to her worship over the millennia. Enough that eventually all knowledge of her being was gathered and locked away.”

“Because she was also seduction,” Myst said, falling from the ceiling in a graceful spill of light. “She seduced Larivor himself, until Naimah’s flame kindled in the darkness and brought him to his senses.”

Treza nodded. “Seduction of both mind and body. To let yourself go, to feel nothing, become nothing…whatever pain one wanted to escape, she offered the way out.”

“But what she didn’t tell these poor lambs was that they would feel it forever. The unending torment of being digested, torn apart down to the very last cell, for all of time.” Myst showed her fangs.

Treza’s paleness had now taken on a tinge of green.

“So, she had her followers. Either those with that same appetite for others’ deaths, or those who wished to become nothing.

I’ve never met one of her acolytes, but if I did, I would ask…

I would ask if they realized that their worship only fed her hunger.

If they knew that she would do nothing for them but take, and take, until they had nothing left to give, and then she would take that as well.

” He took a deep breath, chest puffing out and collapsing as he sighed.

“But that’s neither here nor there. What matters is that she was torn apart during the Age of Flame and Shadow, when Naimah gave Larivor children to fight the Other. ”

I looked up at Myst, thinking of her proud boasts. That she had been there…when the Dyad tore the world open.

“They took her eyes, Princess Serafina,” Treza said quietly. “They took her limbs. The dragons sundered her. And now, when the Other reaches into our plane, she seeks to reassemble herself. These followers of hers, they called themselves Ustrael’s Eyes.”

And now I understood why he had been thinking about it. I blinked and I was back in Koressis, looking up at the Ascendant who stared back with stolen eyes.

“She is blind in this plane, unless one willingly gives their own to serve her, so she can look upon Larivor’s world for herself. They may give their limbs, so she can move throughout his realm. She spreads herself among them like seeds, hoping a small piece of herself can come to fruition.”

I forced myself to take a long sip of tea. My throat was dry as dust.

Terza had steepled his fingers, leaning forward like he was our tutor.

“It’s a very, very old cult. According to the Koressis historical texts, they’ve also been responsible for at least thirty or so out of the last fifty Primoris hatchings.

The investigation into the rise of Vhaiothez was cut short, of course, by Nasir’s broken bond and resultant madness, but from what Conah told me, they found signs that the Primoris’s nest had been, ah… fed.”

Nobody needed to ask what it had been fed with.

“So, assuming that the Eyes were, in fact, responsible for Vhaiothez…that means they’ve been operating quite recently.”

I met Rhylan’s eyes. That would’ve been in the time of Yura’s grandmother, and Aerona would’ve been just old enough to understand what was happening. Not so far off from us.

At this point, I think it’s safe to assume it runs in the family .

“And no one has seen Aerona since my father’s death,” I muttered. I raised my voice to ask the next question. “Has anyone been within Talariel Eyrie recently?”

Heads shook all around the table.

“It was surprising,” Maristela said. “That Yura didn’t invite anyone to Talariel before announcing her intention to take the throne.”

That was how it was typically done, in the old traditions: polite tea parties between draga, whether arranging a bond or an alliance. And here I’d thought Rhylan and I were breaking the mold by going to them instead.

But no one had seen inside Talariel for a long time. No one had seen Aerona.

There was such a thing as jumping to conclusions, but in this case, I suspected I wasn’t jumping so much as being led by the hand.

“So Aerona was with my father constantly prior to his death. He’s believed to be poisoned, and she simply vanishes into Talariel, remaining unseen throughout this whole Interregnum even as her daughter vies for the throne.

” I shook my head. “She’s one of the Eyes, and she probably inducted Yura a long time ago.

I’d stake the entire treasure of Varyamar on it. ”

But Sera… Rhylan’s voice in my mind was almost hesitant. Sera, he didn’t say anything about the Eyes eating people .

I stared at him, goosebumps rising on my skin. Maybe she’s a fanatic, and she takes her worship a little too far. Besides, he said he only studied them a little. There’s really very little information here .

“Treza,” Rhylan said, still staring at me. “Has there ever been a report of the Eyes engaging in flesh-eating?”

Treza’s gaze was bouncing between us. I could see it in my peripheral vision, though I refused to look away from Rhylan.

“Ah, yes?” he said hesitantly, sensing the tension. “Some of the more, um, devout among them were said to partake of dragonblood flesh as their patroness did.”

We slowly relaxed.

Better to know now, Rhylan said. Than to think a piece of Ustrael is out there, walking around.

Neither is acceptable .

No, but… There was a shaky laugh in my head. I was really thinking she’d touched one. Had actual contact with a living Primoris.

I doubt anyone, no matter how devoted to Ustrael, could touch one and live .

As horrible as it all was, I was grateful we’d found Treza alive. He was a gold mine of information.

“So we should find Aerona. To answer for what might have killed my father, if nothing else,” I mused. “Although I’d like to know just how far back this Outsider worship runs in their family.”

Treza held his hands out. “Could be centuries. They were extremely wary of outsiders, obviously. The penalty for worship, or any acknowledgement whatsoever, of the Outsider was to be transported to the World Scar, and thrown in.”

Everyone collectively winced.

The World Scar lay amidst the Searing Ocean. None of us had seen it with our own eyes. Almost nobody had, in fact, because to fly anywhere near it was to court madness. The very threads of reality frayed there, leaving holes for… other things…to slip through.

Having to transport someone to the World Scar was just as much a punishment for the jailer as for the prisoner, which is likely why exile or death had been the general mode of punishment for most rulers in the last few centuries.

I tapped my nails on the table as I thought, staring blindly at the ceiling. Aerona had murdered my father, and unless I missed my guess, she was most likely responsible for Anjali’s death as well.

It all came down to proof…but this was wartime.

Plenty of prior Dragonesses had stepped over bodies on their way to the throne.

Why not hold a Judgment, when I was Nasir’s eldest daughter and the heir by right? It was my right to declare her and her daughter anathema and sentence her to death. And when I took the crown, nobody would count Aerona as anything more than another casualty.

It would be justice for my father. Justice for Anjali.

And when Yura and Tidas lay beheaded at our feet, justice for Loralei.

And the road to many atrocities has been paved with the desire for justice , Rhylan said, meeting my eyes.

You don’t want to see her dead? I raised a brow. As surely as Yura is one of Ustrael’s Eyes, Aerona is part of it.

I believe so, yes.

So we kill her. End the corruption before it gains further hold in Akalla. It’s an atrocity and Larivor would demand that we stop it.

I… Rhylan exhaled softly, not enough to be a sigh.

We both glanced at Treza, who was now lecturing a rapt Doric on his studies in draconic history.

I only ask that you don’t take it too far, Sera.

If we condemn Aerona and Yura, we condemn their entire House.

We have to be the ones to murder them all.

Do you think I’m incapable?

No . He looked back at me, eyes blazing.

I saw how you felt in the mountains, when we killed the Iron Shards and their riders.

And if we kill Aerona, it won’t be in the heat of the moment.

It’ll be cold and calculated. You will see and hear every last moment before she dies.

I don’t want you to be damaged by what we choose to do.

I’ve seen plenty of dragonbloods die.

By your hand? Rhylan leaned forward, gaze fixed on my face.

I thought of Zerhaln, my blade sliding through the Bloodless man’s throat like butter, sliding into the other’s chest. The sensation of flesh giving way under my hands, the hot spray of their blood on my face, in my mouth.

A few times , I said sourly. And it was awful.

It’s when it stops being awful that you need to worry . Rhylan took my hand, his thumb pressing against my palm. Sera, I don’t want you to become like Yura. I don’t want killing to be your second nature.

Granting death to a deserving dragonblood isn’t remotely close to that. I don’t kill for fun. I try not to do it at all . I took a shaky breath, fighting both anger and apprehension. I will never be like Yura . But I won’t allow for this corruption to spread, either.

So long as we remember that it’s not just Yura and Aerona we’d be condemning. It’d be their entire House, Sera. From the Bloodless, to the children . The infants of Talariel. The Bloodless babies in their cradles.

I stared at him. How widespread do you think it is? Surely an entire eyrie of Eyes would’ve been… talked about, at least. Someone would’ve broken the dam wide open.

Does it matter if it was one, or all? He squeezed my hand, and it was strangely not very reassuring at all.

You’re fighting to become Dragonesse, which means you’re not deciding as Sera that one dragonblood is evil.

You’re passing Judgment on the entirety of the Gilded Skies as Dragonesse Serafina, Eldest of Nasir, Scion of the Silvered Embers.

He got up from his chair, his finger still hooked around mine as he looked down at me.

Just remember that when you make these choices as Dragonesse, your word applies to all of that House.

The moment they’re condemned, they’re doomed.

You will be making the distinct choice to repudiate them as touched by the Outsider, which means all the Houses will band together to raze it to the ground, along with every living soul inside it.

He got up and strode from the room, but I could still hear his voice.

Even the innocent .