Page 65

Morgana

I throw myself under the desk without a second thought, folding myself up into the deep footwell to make myself as small as I can.

Panic sweeps through me when I see the fae—for lack of a better hiding place—have piled behind the door.

Whoever’s on their way will notice the trio as soon as they come in and close the door behind them.

The fae will have to kill another Temple member, and who knows if they’ll manage it before they make a noise and wake up the whole hall?

I swallow, readying my sun beams in case I need to help, when the door starts to creak open.

Then it stops, hovering ajar for a few moments before closing again.

The fae visibly relax, fanning back out across the room.

“Do you think they’ll come back?” I ask, climbing out from under the desk.

“It was another senior cleric,” Eryx says. “And right now she’s gone to sort out whatever it is she’s realized she’s forgotten.”

I remember Eryx’s sensic ability, and gratitude floods through me.

“Good thinking,” I say. I am about to dive back into searching the shelves when Eryx frowns and moves toward the window.

Both Leon and Alastor are looking in that direction too, something making them tense as they stare beyond the far wall of the complex.

“What is it?” I say, frustrated by my weak human eyesight. I push my way toward the window and see there, past the wall, figures fighting.

“Is that Harman and the others?” I ask, my blood running cold.

“The guards must have discovered them,” Eryx says grimly, glancing toward the door. “But no one’s realized we’re inside too, otherwise the alarm would have been raised by now.”

I stare hard at the distant fight, trying to make out what’s happening. The clerics are easy to identify thanks to their red robes, and there seem to be a lot of them.

“Are they losing?” I ask, my panic rising.

“Hard to tell,” Alastor says, and he sounds as tense as I feel. “The fact most of the clerics are twin-blessed isn’t exactly helping.”

“That’s enough, Alastor. We need to focus on finding the codex and getting out of here,” Leon says.

But Alastor ignores him, gasping and rushing to the window.

“What happened?” I demand. “I can hardly make out anything from here.”

“It’s Harman,” Alastor says, looking pale. “He’s injured. I can’t tell how badly.”

My panic spikes, my mind filling with images of my brother lying pale and lifeless in the fields around Bastion—just another person to bury. Am I destined to have everyone in my family stolen from me?

“We have to go help them,” I say, fighting to keep my voice quiet and even.

“We don’t have the codex yet,” Eryx grunts.

“I know that,” I snap. It’s the whole reason why we’re here, and it makes no sense to abandon the search as long as our presence remains undetected. But I also can’t bear the thought of losing the only family I have.

I turn toward Leon, a desperate plan forming.

“Leon, will you go help them?”

His face twists in surprise. “And leave you here? That’s not happening.”

“Please,” I beg. “With your terrial power, you could wipe out half those clerics in minutes. Then our side would have the advantage again.”

“My priority is keeping you safe, Ana,” he says, his gray eyes blazing with determination. “Not the Hand. Not even my own soldiers. You’re it .”

And the way he says that last line makes me feel like he means so much more. But I won’t relent.

“I saved your brother, now you have to do the same for me,” I demand.

Leon’s eyes darken, and I suspect he’s dangerously close to shutting himself off from me, disappearing into the role of warrior and soldier. If he does, it won’t matter what I say—none of my appeals will reach him.

“That wasn’t our deal,” he says.

“Then do it because it’s safer for us all,” I say quickly. “Hyllus was supposed to relay the signal to Harman if we needed a diversion to get out of here. If they’re both preoccupied, they can’t do that, and we might end up trapped even if we do find the codex.”

Leon’s clearly torn, and he glances at his soldiers, a question in his eyes.

“I swear we’ll keep her safe, captain,” Eryx says.

Alastor nods. “Go, quickly.”

“Alright,” Leon looks back down at me, and I see a flash of fear on his face. “I’ll put the acolytes in as deep a trance as I can before I go, but it won’t last long. You need to be fast.”

“See you on the other side,” I say with a smile I hope tells him it’s going to be okay.

Leon gives me one last, longing look, then slips from the room.

As soon as he’s gone, we resume the search. But I’m conscious of how slowly we’re having to move, picking through piles of books without making any loud noises. I don’t risk looking out the window again. I’ve done what I can to help Harman and the others, and I can’t afford to be distracted.

In a fit of frustration, I summon my orbital magic, pulling an entire row of books off a high shelf and bringing them down to spin around me.

“Watch out,” Alastor whispers furiously as he ducks a heavy tome. I ignore him, focused on how fast I can read the books’ covers like this, rotating through them just slowly enough to catch the first few words of their titles.

I abandon that batch and reach for another. This time, I’m only three books in when I see the telltale letters.

The Codex of Atolus .

It’s bound in thick brown leather, a braided cord tied around it.

“It’s here,” I hiss in triumph—and disbelief—as I grab it from the air. “It was just…here. In among the others. It can’t be that easy, can it?”

Alastor takes the book from my hands, cautiously flicking through it—checking for hidden protections or traps, I assume. “This is it,” he confirms.

“Would Caledon really leave something so precious stacked on a random shelf like that?” Eryx says suspiciously.

Alastor shrugs. “Harman said he found what he wanted already. Maybe this isn’t so precious to him anymore.”

“Well, we’ve got it. Let’s not stand around scratching our asses,” Eryx says. “Leon’s sensic magic will only last so long.”

I fling the books back onto the shelves with my magic, and we exit the room, making our way quickly and quietly down the aisle toward the sanctuary door.

“What are you doing?”

I freeze, and so does the blood in my veins, because I recognize the voice.

Sophos .

The bearer is coming up the aisle toward us, frowning. At the moment, I’m shielded behind Alastor and Eryx, but the moment he sees my face, all gloam will break loose.

“Why aren’t you praying with the others?” he demands.

“Erm…” Alastor stalls, and I glance at the acolytes, surprised no one’s been startled out of their trance. Then I recall Sophos’s aesteri power and realize he must have a bubble of silence around us so as not to disturb them.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sophos says. “There’s an attack on the northern wall. We need to gather as many senior clerics as possible to get down there and?—”

Four feet from Alastor and Eryx, he stops.

I risk peering between their shoulders to see suspicion flooding Sophos’s features.

I don’t know if he’s noticed the fae’s glamours or recognized them from Otscold.

Either way, Eryx and Alastor see his expression too and immediately reach for the blades beneath their robes.

Eryx manages to draw his before Sophos attacks, but he’s still too late.

He screams, dropping his sword and clapping his hands over his ears as blood starts to leak from them.

I know that magic—Sophos has used it on me before.

And as Eryx falls to his knees, I realize it also means the bubble of silence around us is gone.

A dozen acolytes snap their heads around toward us, ripped from their trance by Eryx’s scream.

Shouts of warning ripple through the nearest rows, and when I look back toward Alastor, he’s lunging at Sophos with his blade.

The bearer is forced to dance backward. I shove the codex under my arm, readying my sun beam power with one hand, reaching out to grab Eryx under the shoulder with another.

But he’s not there.

Instead, an acolyte stands in front of me, a dark-haired girl holding Eryx’s dropped sword.

The blade is covered in blood. Eryx lies on the floor in front of her, blood welling from his throat.

He frowns up at the girl, confusion on his face, and whispers something that sounds like a name.

Then his eyes fall closed, and he goes still.

I rip the sword out of the acolyte’s hand with my orbital magic, smashing the pommel against her temple as it flies past. She goes down, stunned, and instinctively I reach for Eryx’s celestial flame.

I know I can’t heal him from a wound like this. I know it’s not within my power to save him. And yet I still try. When I find nothing left inside him—not a flicker or spark—only endless darkness, something inside me breaks.

I flood my magic into my veins until they’re coursing with heat and spin around.

“Alastor!” I scream. “Duck!”

The blond fae is still swinging his sword after Sophos, but he throws himself to the ground without hesitation. I release twin blasts of sunlight from my hands, golden rays exploding from my palms. They sear across the sanctuary, glancing off Sophos’s robes as he spins away.

When the sun beams hit the end wall, they burrow into the stone, leaving two smoking craters.

An acolyte in the aisle beside me lifts a shaking hand, his eyes wide with horror as he points at me.

“Heretic!” he screeches. “Solari abomination!”