Page 46 of The Cruel Dawn (Vallendor #2)

In three steps, I’m standing in front of him. With one hand, I grab him by the back of his head and with the other hand yank him closer by his thick neck.

Yes, he is Mera by birth. Golden eyes. Muscular build.

A single orb on his shoulder—the realm of Gathela, the only realm he’s destroyed, known for its beautiful grassy steppes…

and its gleeful murder and torture of children, the elderly, animals, Eserime, trees…

An awful place that I didn’t have the honor of destroying myself.

This man just tried to kill me and Elyn Fynal, the Grand Adjudicator and Lady of Law and Light, the worst person to threaten. My hands cup both of his ears, and I drag this warrior closer to me. “Welcome to your last day alive. Hope you had fun.”

He sneers at me and spits, “You’re not strong enough to—”

I growl and twist his neck.

He crumples to the ground.

“You’ve been here three minutes,” Zephar shouts from behind me, “and you’ve managed to kill one of my warriors?”

He, Shari, and a small contingent of Diminished walk up the path, their hair, dark and wild, shining with the sands of Doom Desert.

They move with the practiced grace of warriors—every step deliberate, every motion purposeful.

Their hands rest on their weapons, ready for the next fight… and it better not be with me.

Zephar’s lips curl into a thin smile as he eyes Carana’s lifeless body at my feet. A flicker of respect hides beneath his scowl—a recognition of my strength. The others stop a few paces behind him and await his next move. Their loyalty is obvious by the way they tightly form at his back.

“Did you see him shoot at us?” I ask, restraining myself from kicking the dead warrior’s corpse.

Zephar raises his eyebrows. “What can I say? He was young and dumb.” He spreads his muscular arms and adds, “And what can I say? I’m old and dumb.”

I step over the dead archer to reach Zephar. He smells like dust and oranges.

Two warriors move Carana’s body out of the way. They’ll dress him and burn him—but I won’t perform death rites, not for a treasonous Mera. Elyn could sentence him posthumously, but we don’t have the time.

“Windwolves and hydrasalts attacked another caravan,” Zephar says. “We hadn’t placed wards on the road they traveled, but I don’t think it matters now. The otherworldly are growing bolder. Seems like they don’t care whether they live or die.”

“Neither did your archer,” Elyn says, nodding to bloody sand left by Carana.

“I would apologize about killing him,” I say, “but I won’t because I warned him and he tried me anyway.”

Zephar shrugs and kisses the top of my head. “Nothing to apologize for. I’ll come up with something to tell his kin.”

“How about the truth?” Elyn says, eyebrow high. “He tried to kill us.”

Shari bounds over to me, and I stoop to nuzzle her face. “I told you that I wouldn’t be gone long,” I say to the wolf.

She licks my cheek, and her coarse tongue sloughs off the first layer of grime from an already-long day—but that lick also sloughs off some of my peeling skin.

I want to cry out from the pain, but I need her affection too much. I dry my tears on her coat and take a few deep breaths.

“Elyn,” I say, scratching behind the wolf’s ear, “remember Shari?”

I need to distract and delay her. She’s thinking about Jadon and Zephar. Will she comment on my entanglement in front of Zephar? Or will our old friendship keep her mouth shut? She’s kept my secrets in the past, and I’ve kept hers.

Look at the wolf, Elyn, and shut up.

The Adjudicator takes a step back from the wolf. “Shari, daughter of Riya. Warden of the Unseen Step. You’ve…grown.”

“So, Elyn,” Zephar says, “do I have you to thank for whisking my love away from Gasho again? There’s always a threat with you.”

“Where corrupted men breathe,” she says, “there will forever be a threat about.”

I take Zephar’s hand. “I’ve been to the Abbey of Mount Devour.”

“What?” He peers at me and whispers, “What happened to you?” He starts to reach for whatever he sees on my forehead but changes his mind, his hand falling to his side.

“The threat against Vallendor is real,” I say. “I also traveled to Linione to see my father.”

Zephar takes a few steps, his eyebrows furrowed. “Why?” He stares at the warriors awaiting his command behind him. “Why are you here with Elyn?”

“We’re all in this fight together,” Elyn says. “We must put aside our differences to save this realm.”

“Is that why you’ve stowed trash in my temple?” he asks.

“Trash?” Elyn looks at him, her head cocked. “Where, exactly, is your temple?”

“The asshole eating our food,” Zephar says. “You didn’t think I’d notice a stranger within our gates?”

“That ‘trash’ is the traitor’s son,” I say. “He’s the Weapon—”

Zephar’s eyes widen. “You’ve put fucking Miasma in the temple—?”

I hold up a hand. “There’s reason.” I tell him about Celedan Docci, the hand tattoo and Jadon’s strings being cut, and the threat that abounds if he’s harmed. “I gave clear instructions to the Sisters,” I continue. “No one will approach him—they’ll die if they do.”

“Understood.” Zephar runs a shaky hand through his hair. His anxiety is a rare thing.

“Thank you for your understanding, Zephar,” Elyn says. “I’ll be sure to let the Council know of your kindness and hospitality.”

Zephar considers her and decides instead to swallow the retort on his tongue. “I’m honored that the Adjudicator is visiting the Sanctum. I’m sure you’ll find it to be the nicest prison in all the realms.”

“There are sixty-seven thousand realms,” Elyn says. “I’ll get back to you on that.”

“Can we not?” I ask, forcing a smile. “We have work—”

“You’re a guest here, Adjudicator,” Zephar says to her. “If you have a better Sanctum to insult, maybe you should go find it.”

Elyn turns to squint at me. “Your taste is so… specific .”

Zephar places his hands on my shoulders. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Elyn holds my gaze. “One day, the Lady of the Verdant Realm will get her shit together and find someone worthy of her station.”

Zephar snorts. “And what does Vallendor’s Grand Librarian know about love? And taste? And life?”

“I know she’s worthy of an equal,” Elyn lobs back.

Zephar squeezes my shoulders. “She’s a prisoner here just as I am.”

Elyn’s smirk blossoms into a smile. “ Kai led the rebellion. You simply… carried her purse .”

Zephar releases me and steps back. Heated waves of anger roll off of him.

I close my eyes and hold up my hands. “Listen—”

“Kai? A word, please?” Hands clasped behind her back, Elyn marches to the overlook.

“Grand Librarian?” she snaps. “I’ve studied under the most esteemed Adjudicators in the Aetherium.

I’ve written the laws of more places than those lands where he’s broken laws.

I’ve saved the lives of the worthy and decreed the deaths of those who’ve caused harm. Grand Librarian? ”

Sweat prickles my underarms, and I feel my heart shrinking in my chest. “Grand Librarian—that’s better than ‘fucking tablet-carrying guttorply.’”

Elyn snorts. “Jail has improved his character, but he remains an ignorant, arrogant guttorply . I know more about this realm and his own order than he ever will.”

I peer at her with my arms folded. “And yet you don’t know shit about how to kill the resurrectors, the Devourers, or Danar Rrivae.”

“Shall I leave you to it, then?” she asks, with ice in her voice.

I groan and squeeze the bridge of my nose. “I don’t miss your bickering with Zee. And you’ve been on a tear. That outburst at Jadon up in the glen?”

“Was I wrong?” she asks.

“Not at all,” I say, “but you could at least be—”

“Nicer? More patient?” Her eyes roll wildly, irritation in every loose tendril of her silver hair. “You’re gonna keep losing, Kai, because if he’s beautiful, you won’t be able to tell that he’s your enemy. He wasn’t good enough for you then, and he sure as fuck isn’t good enough for you now.”

I cross my arms and lower my head. “Which one are we talking about?”

Elyn whispers, “Both of them! Jadon and Zephar. Is it possible for you to fall for someone not set against Supreme? Someone I don’t have to put in jail?”

I chew the inside of my cheek, then look out to the city below.

The temple bell chimes, a call to the faithful that echoes across the rooftops and fades into the dusky hills.

The walkways fill with those faithful now gathering for morning prayers, and the sweet scents of thyme and lavender waft from the temple.

Gashoans move toward the courtyard, their heads bowed, their hands raised in quiet devotion, their voices blending in a soft hum of prayer that rises in the stillness of the morning.

The rhythm of their chanting almost makes me forget that Miasma is tucked in one of the temple’s chambers.

Elyn sighs and says, “Jadon was born to be bad, but Zephar’s spoiled.

His daddy is an asshole, and his momma is an enabler and a climber who only wants to be the mother-in-law of High Lord Megidrail’s only child.

” She shakes her head and sneers. “ His temple? I thought the temple was named after you , to worship you , Celestial. ”

I stare at the scented smoke billowing from the city below. “That wasn’t lost on me.”

“And who was the fucker shooting at us?” Elyn hisses.

My head falls back, and I watch the stars fading from the lightening sky. “Yet another question.” I pause, then add, “I told Jadon about Zephar.”

“Are you gonna tell Zephar about Jadon?”

I sneak a sidelong peek at Elyn. “Both are breathing right now, and neither is bleeding to his death. So I’d say no.”

“Are you gonna tell Zephar that you also destroyed Beaminster with another man—Jadon—or should I?”

I turn to her. “Don’t you dare . And technically , I destroyed Beaminster alone.”

Zephar leads his warriors and Shari up to the pavilion.

Elyn and I stand in silence and watch the priests shuffle into the courtyard with their heads bowed.

The Sisters of the Dusky Hills dance in formation across the courtyard’s mosaic tiles, their movements fluid and graceful, their faces serene, their arms lifted toward the sky.

They twirl in time with the rhythm of guitars and hand drums, their robes flowing out around them.

“In all seriousness…” I squeeze Elyn’s hand. “Thank you for your concern. Feels like old times again.”

Elyn’s lip curls. “Do better, Kai. Stop fucking with the beautiful, toxic assholes.” She pauses, then tugs a lock of my hair. “ Now it feels like old times.”