Page 23

“No. I know what you’re going to say, and I know the intention behind the words.

We are in crisis, councilor Miriam. The men in this room are now a part of an ever-smaller cohort of warriors who can command Divhs of great stature.

How many do we have in the Protectorate now?

Twenty? Thirty? Losing five as we have tonight makes a difference.

Even if they recover swiftly, I can’t use them in battle.

When you have such a small army to level against an unknown threat, we don’t have the luxury of secrets.

From this point forward, the rules that you followed under Lord Protector Rihad are no longer merely dangerous, they’re treasonous. ”

A startled gasp rises up from the councilors and maybe one or two soldiers, but none of the lords flinch.

“And no, I know that’s not your intention,” Fortiss continues, “but I need you to understand what my intention is. And that is to save the Protectorate from the enemy that Lord Rihad has invited onto our doorstep. He’s made the call and it, whatever in the blighted path it is, has answered.

I thank the Light that you were there to stop today’s attack and keep as many warriors in the fight…

but who else will be targeted, and where?

And if we bring them together here to take up arms in Trilion, will their houses be at risk? ”

No matter how much I want to just watch him command the room, Fortiss’s words fade into the background as I reach Tennet. I sidle up beside him to the left, my hand slipping under his elbow as he sways again.

“This isn’t just sickness from your flight on Ayne, is it?” I whisper as he swings his head toward me, his gaze not quite fixing on me as his jaw tenses.

“I’m not injured,” he mutters between clenched teeth.

“And don’t think I don’t see what Fortiss is trying to do up there.

He’s attempting to talk himself into not using the lords of the houses in this fight.

Protecting them, in some way. That’s not acceptable.

The Protectorate is ours to defend as much as it’s his—lest he forget, he’s a house lord, too. ”

“Sure he is—there you go. That’s good, stay upright.

” I shift my stance wider so I can take more of his weight.

I’m not surprised when Caleb steps up to the other side of Tennet.

The two of us lock eyes as Tennet lists again, and Caleb wraps his right arm around Tennet’s waist as I grip Tennet’s right forearm, forcing him to look at me.

“Tennet, where are your rooms? Where did they put you and your men?”

“He can’t—he can’t keep us from defending our land. Our people. He…”

“There you go.” With Caleb’s help, I muscle Tennet out of the chamber and into the hallway.

Caleb grunts as Tennet swoons, and one of the two guards at the door steps up smartly, looking briefly to me.

At my nod of assent, he bends down and tucks his shoulder into Tennet’s gut, lifting him over one shoulder.

The guard staggers a little, then he stands tall.

“He’s out,” Caleb says, also bent nearly double to get a look at Tennet’s face. “I have no idea where Fortiss stashed him and his men, but?—”

“We’ll take him to Nazar’s chambers.” I direct the guards, and Caleb and I follow close behind. Nazar’s still back in the great hall with Fortiss, but there won’t be much he can do with Tennet anyway until he wakes up.

Once we reach Nazar’s rooms, the guard deposits Tennet on a low couch near a window, the view looking out over the vast plain.

Caleb busies himself at the hearth, stoking the fire there to a cheerier glow.

The moon has tucked itself behind clouds now, and with the fire leaping again, there’s nothing much to see outside.

“He can’t …” Tennet’s low moan jerks my attention back down, and I drop to a crouch beside the bed, physically pushing him down as he tries to rise. Worse, his pallor has given way to a low, rosy flush, and when I move my hand to his cheek, I grimace.

“He’s too hot. Get water or something.”

“On it.” Caleb darts away but doesn’t leave the room—instead, he moves deeper into Nazar’s personal sleeping room, where the man doubtless has some provisions stashed. I certainly do in my own chambers.

Meanwhile, I loosen the collar of Tennet’s tunic, setting my jaw as I see his skin is an even darker red beneath his clothes, as if there’s a fire burning away at him from within. I move to his belt and unsling it, but the tunic is all in one piece, and Tennet’s as heavy as an ox. “Caleb, come on!”

“Coming!” Caleb rushes out of Nazar’s room again and skids to a stop beside me, stowing the large flagon of—something—next to where Tennet’s lying on the couch. “What in the blighted path happened to him? The others didn’t look like this, did they?”

“Who knows what they look like now? Help me get this thing off him.” Given that Caleb has only one arm, we both tug Tennet into a seated position again, then throw his weight on Caleb while I yank at the man’s tunic, peeling it up his back and over his head and shoulders.

“If he was truly injured, we would’ve had to cut it off,” I grunt as I finally pull the garment free.

I scowl down at it. “Not great for a towel, either. And I don’t know how much poison got on this. ”

“Blood and stone .” Caleb pushes Tennet back onto the cushions then turns to me all in one motion, ripping the tunic out of my hands and tossing it halfway across the room.

“I didn’t think about poison. Don’t move.

” He races back into Nazar’s bedchamber and emerges moments later with an armful of towels.

Throwing the pile down next to the flagon, he grabs the topmost one and dunks it in the water, then thrusts it at me.

“Clean off. I don’t want to have to deal with two fainting warriors if I don’t have to. ”

I dutifully wipe down my hands and, for good measure, the front of my tunic while Caleb ministers to Tennet, who’s at least done us the favor of passing out again.

But as Caleb shifts back for more water, I sweep a hard glance over Tennet’s bared chest. The skin is as pristine as Fortiss’s—smooth and unscarred, but that angry red blotch at his neck…

In my mind’s eye, I see him crouched over the neck of his Divh, streaking through the sky toward the roiling mass of snakes. “His back,” I blurt. “They got to his back.”

Not wasting anymore time, I thrust my hands under Tennet’s armpits and haul him toward me. Once again, I’m reminded at how unreasonably heavy the man is, and before I can stabilize myself, the crushing weight of him comes down on me, and we both crash to the floor.

“Blighted Dark ,” Caleb curses. “Don’t move!”

To my shock, I hear the slide of steel on level as Caleb rips his knife free from his belt, and Tennet jerks above me a moment later.

I clasp the man to me hard as Caleb slashes down, my stomach roiling as a high-pitched, unearthly chitter fills the room.

Caleb continues his cursing as he half stumbles, half throws himself across the chamber toward the fire, and the leap of the flame in the grate puts out the nattering squeak for good.

“Stone and blood, blood and stone, blight and blast…” He sucks in a deep breath and thuds back, picking up another towel, dunking it, and pressing it into Tennet’s back—nearly crushing me in the process.

“Did you see that, Talia? How did you know ? Blighted stone and bloody dark…” Caleb throws down the first towel beside my head and grabs a second one, and I twist my neck enough to see the heavy crimson stain and char marring the cloth.

“Mmf,” I manage. “Get me…mmf.”

“ Light ,” Caleb blurts, suddenly refocusing on me. “Talia, sorry—let me?—”

But even as he drops his towel and lurches for us, the pressure on my chest eases, Tennet lifting up just enough to stare down at me with wild blue eyes.

“You!” he blurts, the heat of his body increasing a hundred-fold with that one word.

His mouth twists grotesquely, and words spew out of him like fire.

“The Light burns to and through you, lighting the paths between the worlds from talonstone to grounding stone. What is dead is now awakened. You who wear the winged crown, fire and ash will be your legacy, and shadow yours to command. For you are warrior and you are death?—”

“ Tennet !” I scream, loud enough that my own ears ring. He shakes himself, hard, and his eyes slowly clear. He blinks as he stares down at me, and I see that for the moment, at least, he’s back among the living.

He grins at me, his body still an immovable weight pinning me down. “Well, it didn’t take long for me to get you on your back, I see.”

Clearly, what’s left of that life will be short and painful.