Page 23

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Fuck. Fuck .

This can’t be happening. It’s not possible .

“What did you do, Mage? I’ll rip you to ? —”

“Shut up,” I snap. “Just… shut up. This has to be a mistake.” It’s not fucking possible, dammit!

I bend my head to Tia. Maybe that’s it—maybe she’s not dead. Maybe her body is so badly damaged that her mind has temporarily shut down, leaving me and Leicht, who are both bonded to her, somehow bonded to each other. All we have to do is heal her, and things will go back to normal.

“Talon?” Jaimin gasps, appearing at my side as if I summoned him. He drops to his knees and looks at Tia. “Oh, no. Oh, Talon, I’m?—”

“Heal her,” I demand. “You wanted to know what your purpose was—well, this is it. Heal her.”

He’s already shaking his head before he turns to me. “I’m so sorry, Talon, she’s gon—” His handsome face freezes, blood draining so fast, he sways. “What the…?” He looks at Leicht, then back at me, and takes a shuddering breath. “Say nothing,” he orders urgently. “Reach out to your master now and tell him, but let me do the talking to the priests.” He stands and spins to face away, and I’m confused. Tell Master, but let?—

“You will throw down your weapons and surrender yourselves to our custody,” the bishop demands pompously behind me, and rage surges. A low, threatening growl rumbles from Leicht as he turns his huge head toward them.

“How dare you?” Jaimin replies, and at this moment, he’s not the easygoing companion I know—he’s the plague slayer. The healer kings and queens rush to be of service to. He can handle the bishop.

I reach out to my master, my urgency slamming into his shields.

“Talon? What is it?”

“Tia’s dead.” I clutch her hand and let the tears fall as Master’s shock reverberates through me.

“What? The dragons are unsettled, but I didn’t ? —”

“Leicht is bonded to me.”

His very silence echoes. “Where are you?”

“At the south end of the Queen’s Forest in Camblin. Priests of Wasianth tried to take the stone, then attacked and killed Tia. Tia’s dead.” I have to say it again, because it still doesn’t seem real. How can she be dead? We’ve never even been apart, not really. My head feels so wrong right now.

“I’m coming to you. The dragon riders will be sending someone to check on Leicht—I’ll come with them. Do not let anyone else know about the bond.”

“I think Jaimin guessed.”

“Let’s hope he’s trustworthy. And Talon, I’m so, so sorry.” He cuts the connection before I can tell him I trust Jaimin.

Above me, Leicht is still growling. I want to ask him if he knows which dragon riders are coming, but I don’t want to hear his voice in my head again. I can’t. He’s not supposed to be there.

So, instead, I focus on what’s happening behind me.

“…have in your possession a holy object, and I demand ?—”

“Bishop,” Jaimin’s voice is like ice, “you’re in no position to demand anything. Are you aware of what you’ve done? You’ve murdered a dragon rider. At this precise moment, you’re within a hair of being burned to a crisp by an infuriated dragon—and if, by some freak chance, we convince him not to do that, you’ll still have to deal with the grieving mage whose twin sister you killed. I don’t think anything less than your bloody liver on a plate will appease his sorrow.”

There’s a stuttering breath, and I hear whispers as well, but I don’t turn around. I’m scared to look away from Tia again. I don’t know why, but a part of me still thinks that if I just hold on to her, she can come back.

Even though that’s not possible. You can’t bring back the dead, just reanimate their corpses. Tia would hate that… and it wouldn’t be her.

The stone pulses softly to me, a comforting assurance, but I irritably shove it away. How dare it make itself felt now, after leading my sister to her death?

“H-He fled from a convocation,” the bishop says, but he lacks the strength of his prior conviction now. “He refused to surrender a holy object to the temples.”

“Do you think that merits your murder of his sister?” Jaimin counters, his voice icy steel.

“I-I didn’t… How was I to know the archers would kill her?”

“That’s what archers do,” Coryn points out, and I wonder when he arrived. “If you give a man training and weapons, then order him to use them on people, you can’t be surprised when people die.” He sounds like scary Coryn again, and I resist the temptation to tell him to kill them all.

I want to. I want to see that bishop’s head fly from his body.

But that won’t fix this. It won’t bring Tia back. It will just delay the purpose she gave her life for.

So, instead, I’m going to let Jaimin handle the bishop, and I’m going to wait for my master.

And hold Tia’s hand. Because once I let go, my sister’s gone forever.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Jaimin continues. “You need to send a report to your high priest immediately, because dragons communicate with each other over long distances, and I can assure you, there are dragon riders on their way here now. They’re going to demand answers for why the Temple of Wasianth has killed one of their people, and your high priest won’t be happy if he hasn’t even been told about it.”

A murmur rises among the priests.

“We will wait here for the dragon riders, and then we will continue our journey unmolested. You’ll advise the convocation that it would be in the best interests of all of us, especially the temples, for us to be allowed to continue unhindered. Be very convincing, Bishop, because that may be the only thing that convinces Leicht here not to hunt you down and use your bones to pick his teeth.”

Leicht obligingly increases the volume of his growl, reaching over me and Tia toward the priests behind me. I hope he’s showing them all his teeth.

“Oh, I am.”

I shudder away from that voice. No. No. I didn’t hear him. That’s not possible. It’s a mistake .

“Do you understand me?” Jaimin finishes, and my vision fills with the red-haired acolyte’s face, the stone’s urgency swamping me. I grit my teeth. As much as I want to vindictively ignore it, I can’t. Not when it could lead to our failure and make Tia’s death worthless.

Is he the champion? I ask the stone, only to get a dissent in reply. Just another one of us, then, dragged along on the journey.

Clearing my throat, surprised to find it hurts—how hard did I scream before?—I mutter, “The acolyte.”

At first I’m not even sure if Jaimin hears me, but then he says, “However, as a sign of good faith and to prove our pure intentions, we will honor Mage Silverbright’s earlier offer. One of your acolytes may accompany us.”

I hate every word of that. One of the people responsible for Tia’s murder, riding with us every day? It burns.

There’s a rush of whispers, and I get the strong feeling that the bishop might be preparing to argue. Leicht’s snarl ends that, and the bishop says, through chattering teeth, “I accept your offer. Pen will acco?—”

“No,” Jaimin interrupts. “We will decide which acolyte will accompany us. Since we are making this generous concession, after all.”

“O-Of course. All the acolytes will step forward.”

I stare at Tia’s face. There’s a smear of blood on her jaw, and of course the horrible, hideous arrow in her throat. I want to pull it out, but what if it needs to stay there so she can be healed? I’ve heard of that happening—a blade or arrow preventing too much blood from being lost until a healer can arrive. Jaimin said she’s gone, and I know it’s true—I can feel her absence—but I can’t bring myself to end that tiny smudge of hope.

Just as I can’t let go of her hand.

So I kneel on the muddy road beside her rapidly cooling body, staring at her face, so peaceful and still, while behind me, Jaimin and Coryn make a show of asking the acolytes about themselves.

“It’s settled, then,” Jaimin says at last. “Arimen will come with us. If there are any belongings you’d like to bring with you, collect them now. You’ll camp here with us tonight. Is that horse yours or the temple’s?”

“T-The temple’s, s-sir.” It’s a breathy whisper, terrified and unhappy. Does Arimen not want to trek across the continent on a holy mission? Too fucking bad.

“I’m certain the bishop would be happy to consider her a loan. Though I’ll need to check her first.”

“Of course,” the bishop agrees, seemingly relieved to have things settled. “We’ll return to our temple now, and Arimen will be back in a few hours. I must send that report.”

“Yes. You must,” Jaimin agrees, and somehow, he makes it a threat. I’ve never seen this side of him before, and I wish I could enjoy it more.

I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy anything again. How can I? Half of me is missing.

“Bishop?” another voice says tentatively. “What about the archers?”

“Leave them,” Jaimin orders instantly. “We’ll take care of their remains.”

A shock runs through me. Remains? Did Coryn do that? When? How?

I hear horses moving away and the low murmur of voices, and then Jaimin and Coryn are with me, one on either side.

“The riders will be here by morning, I’m sure,” Jaimin murmurs. “Let’s get off the road and set up camp.”

I shake my head. “I can’t let her go.”

“Don’t worry,” Coryn says softly, patting my shoulder. “You won’t have to.”