28: THE OLDEST VANÉ

(Kihrin’s story)

I’d always wondered why the vané tolerated a defensive shield that cut off magical transportation.

They hadn’t.

They simply had their own Gatestone network. Maybe not the same as what House D’Aramarin created back in Quur, but close enough.

When Teraeth and I appeared at the Well of Spirals, we came alone. Everyone agreed it best to leave Janel and Thurvishar back in Saraval. Our task was no less urgent than it had been two weeks before,¹ but we didn’t think it would help our cause any to have two of us arrested for trespassing as humans in a place where no human was allowed to go.

I wasn’t sure about my own presence, but Teraeth assured me I was more vané than not, no matter where I’d grown up.

At first, I thought we’d arrived in a manicured garden, but the longer I stared, the odder it looked. It was as if someone had taken a single, lovely little garden scene—reflecting pool, flowering hedges built in fantastic shapes, delicately wrought hanging lamps—and then duplicated it exactly a thousand times so it filled up the entire meadow with the same scene repeated. Around each garden area swirled a collection of vané in all colors, wandering in identical green robes. The sky overhead was darkening with the setting sun, the clouds limned pink and orange against a sky without a trace of green.

“The sky…”

“Is the wrong color, I know. It’s an illusion.”

“What is this place?”

“Now that is a long conversation.” Teraeth used the tone he saved for moments when he had no intention of explaining something anytime soon. Or preferably, ever.

“No, really,” I pressed. “What is this place? Why would my mother come here?”

Teraeth didn’t answer. Instead, he grabbed my arm and pointed with his chin to a garden scene. “Look. Over there.”

A crowd had gathered at a reflecting pool. I couldn’t help but notice the crowd included royal guards and someone I assumed was likely King Kelanis. They seemed preoccupied with a flowering hedge bent over toward the pool, dropping so low the flowers nearly touched the water. Next to the manicured base sat a triangular …

I blinked. “Taja! That’s my harp!”

Teraeth whispered, “No, no, no. Don’t just walk over there. We still don’t know—”

I ignored him. For the better part of four years, the mystery of what had happened to my harp, Valathea, had haunted me. Seeing that harp here, in a place where it had no business being, brought it all back. I couldn’t ignore that.

Maybe it wasn’t the same harp. Maybe all vané harps looked the same. How many had I ever seen, after all? Just Valathea. But the closer I walked, the more convinced I was that this was the same harp General Milligreest had given me, later stolen.

Honestly, I didn’t even pay attention to the fact King Kelanis stood right there. To be fair, he didn’t pay attention to me either.

The flowers touched the water. The entire hedge broke apart, spilling flower petals down into the pond—

—along with a naked woman.

I stared, because this defied any definition of normal I possessed. The flowers sank into the dark waters and vanished. The topiary, free from its cargo, straightened again.

The woman had pale white skin, with lilac fingertips and violet cloudcurl hair. Her slender face looked delicate as porcelain. She landed in the water, curled up in a fetal position, and made inarticulate noises. The water wasn’t … water. It didn’t flow right, or rather it flowed far too well. The liquid slipped off her body, leaving her flesh above the water perfectly dry. Small rainbow flashes flared up over the liquid, then dissipated as mysteriously.

Teraeth joined me. “There’s a problem. We need to leave right now.”

The woman in the water put her hands over her head and whimpered.

“There’s a problem,” Teraeth repeated, his voice urgent. “We’ll come back later.”

I sensed movement behind us, and a second later, a woman’s voice said, “Well, what have we here?”

Teraeth cursed under his breath. I looked back and froze.

It was Queen Miyane.

At least, I felt safe assuming this was Queen Miyane. She dressed entirely in a gown formed from silver knotted links—too intricate to pass as “simple” mail—interwoven with delicate enameled blue orchids the same color as her hair, cropped to just below her jawline. Silver dusted her dark skin, and, her eyes shared their color with the deep blue sea. A blue diamond drop rested in the center of her forehead, sparkling in the setting sun.

Queen Miyane, potential suspect for the person who ambushed us and left us in the Blight. A whole lot of royal guards stood by her side.

Her eyes narrowed as she regarded us. “I didn’t expect to see you again.”

Teraeth stepped forward. “It has been a few years, Your Majesty.”

Right. Teraeth had met the queen. I never had. At least not while conscious.

So this was a problem.

Queen Miyane could order her soldiers to remove us before the king even realized we were there. And then we were back at square one—more likely worse, since she wouldn’t be content with exile this time. Unless we caught the king’s attention …

I casually ran my hand across the harp’s strings.

It made the same sound I’d fallen in love with the first time I’d heard it—the most beautiful silver tone.

The king looked up; our eyes met. Kelanis was a slim, pretty man with dark bronze skin, green eyes, and copper cloudcurl hair he wore short and trim. He looked a lot like his deceased mother, Khaevatz, if a bit lighter in coloring due to his Kirpis father.² He wore long silk robes whose color and cut suggested falling leaves. The robes opened in the front to reveal more sumptuous needlework, sewn on to body-hugging silks.

Kelanis’s eyes widened, and he motioned for us to approach. Queen Miyane sighed and turned back to us, gesturing. “Shall we?”

The soldiers with her made it clear this wasn’t a request. Still, we were about to see the king, which meant our job was almost over. Even if Kelanis didn’t believe his wife had arranged our original kidnapping, he’d still know the Immortals expected him to complete the ritual.

Teraeth seemed about to protest, so I grabbed his arm. “Of course,” I said. “We’d be delighted.”

The crowd’s attention fixated on the woman in the pool, but they parted for the queen. Kelanis returned his focus to the woman in the water.

“Give her a moment, Your Majesty,” a vané in long green robes told the king. “Rarely have I seen a tsali dormant for this long. Valathea needs time to adjust.”

“Valathea?” I said before I could stop myself.

“Focus,” Teraeth whispered.

The king stepped away from the pool and took a towel from an attendant. He wiped his hands as he smiled at Miyane. “Now what have you found, my dear? These couldn’t be the messengers trying to reach us so urgently, could they?” He looked at us and blinked. “Why are you dressed like thriss?”

“Because they were kind enough to offer us a change of clothing after we clawed our way out of the Korthaen Blight, Your Majesty,” Teraeth said.

“Don’t ask us how or why we ended up in the Blight,” I added, “because we’ve no idea. It seems someone didn’t want us to reach you.” I somehow managed to not look at Queen Miyane. Besides, there was always the chance we were wrong. Or she’d been framed. Thurvishar’s drugged memory of a hair color hardly constituted definitive proof.

“I see.” King Kelanis studied us, clearly concerned. “I was told there were four of you. Did your friends not survive?”

“No, they’re—”

“They were injured,” Teraeth said. “We left them back with the thriss.”

I didn’t correct him. I could see the logic in lying. We didn’t know who’d done this. We didn’t know if the guilty party was present.

“This is all distressing,” King Kelanis said. “We will naturally have you put under our protection. I will not see this happening again.”

“That’s not necessary,” Teraeth said. “We’re not going to be here that long.” His whole body had tensed, as though he planned to pull knives or run or both.

I could only agree, but …

“Apologies if this is inappropriate, but what’s going on with the woman?” I pointed toward the lavender-haired figure in the pool.

The king seemed taken aback. “Oh yes. You were not raised here, were you? Please, step forward. See for yourself.”

Teraeth put his hand to his neck and clutched at the arrowhead necklace he wore. He stared at me as though trying to communicate telepathically, but other than sensing his fervent desire to leave, I didn’t understand what he wanted. I gave him an apologetic half smile and stepped forward beside King Kelanis at the pool.

“Do you know what a tsali is?” King Kelanis asked.

Attendants were helping the young woman step from the pool, giving her a green robe to wrap around herself. She reminded me of a newborn foal, struggling to take her first steps, eyes not quite focusing. And maybe it was my imagination, but I did feel like I knew her. Which made no sense.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m familiar.”

“The woman there”—the king pointed to Valathea—“her souls were trapped in a tsali. But we have transferred her souls into a new body.” Kelanis leaned toward me. “I am excited to meet her; she is my aunt. We all thought her dead. She was supposed to have died out in the Blight.”

“Grown her a new body…” In my shock at the idea, I turned to face Kelanis fully.

Which was when I noticed his necklace and finally understood Teraeth’s warning. King Kelanis wore a necklace of star tear diamonds. But not just any necklace of star tears.

My necklace of star tear diamonds.

Kelanis notice my stare and smiled softly. He touched one of the jewels. “Can you blame me?” he said. “I didn’t think you’d miss it. After all, you were supposed to have died out in the Blight too.”

The sound of unsheathing blades made me glance away. All the soldiers had drawn their swords. Queen Miyane in particular had hers lying across the smooth skin of Teraeth’s neck.

We’d all assumed King Kelanis wouldn’t have bothered to hide our kidnapping if he’d been involved himself.

And as it happened, we’d all been wrong.