CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
While refreshing herself in a stream, Ayal looked up to the mountain, which rose from the edge of the wood. The peaks kissed the blue of the sky, and she was certain wisdom could be found there. Each step higher was a promise whispered into the stone.
—THE AYALYA
“Is Amber not joining us this evening?” Sapphire asked. The little communication device was absent from the center of the round table.
“Amber has things to attend to,” Diamond replied imperiously. “If we want to fund our further ventures, then it’s best to allow him to continue uninterrupted. We cannot all drop everything to meet the histrionic whims of a single member. You called this emergency meeting, Sapphire. It’s quite out of the ordinary.”
“Well this situation is out of the ordinary,” Sapphire snapped. “Constables rummaging around the temples, throwing things into even more chaos. It’s unprecedented. The temples have played their part already.” The annoyed Reaper’s cloth mask featured a peculiar duality: Looked at one way, it portrayed a weeping countenance, eyes and mouth pulled down in apparent misery. But perceived another way, the eyes danced with mirth and the mouth was midlaugh.
“You think me responsible for the trouble at the temples, Sapphire?” Jade sounded more amused than insulted.
“I know you are responsible. Never forget, I have eyes and ears in nooks and crannies around town, too.”
“Well then you should see and hear the truth. All of this is a means to an end. A little theatre, isn’t that what we do?” Jade spread his hands apart. “We have each been given tasks to carry out. I am simply doing my part.”
Sapphire leaned forward, bony hands gripping one another tightly. “Your part seems to expand daily. As does your disrespect for this body.”
Pearl shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Jade refused to respond.
Diamond cleared his throat to take back control of the conversation. “The plan is working, so we stick to the plan. It is well organized and effective. We have growing numbers moving to our side. Let’s stay the course.”
He turned to Sapphire. “We have the constables well in hand. This display is just that—misdirection, distraction. Show the audience something wondrous in one hand while the other picks their pocket. You cannot have forgotten the tricks of your youth, have you?”
Sapphire, a childhood pickpocket? Surprising, but the more Jade thought about it, the more it made sense. He filed this information away. Diamond was the only one who knew all of their true identities. Jade knew who Sapphire was and was pretty certain about Amber, but the others were still cloaked in mystery. For now.
“The struggle that this body has fought against for so long is more dire than ever,” Diamond said with the conviction of a man overtaken by zealotry. Jade was well familiar with the sensation. “We are needed more than we ever have been, and the eve of victory is nigh.”
Sapphire’s arms crossed. A scowl no doubt lay beneath the mask.
“We must not falter,” Diamond said. “We are so close.”
Jade nodded, secure in the knowledge that the statement was true—far more true than anyone else at this table knew.
Darvyn awoke the day of the Yaly Classic to find the suite bathed in quiet with midmorning sunshine streaming in through the window. He rolled over on his side to avoid the glare, relieved to find his body healed. He ran a hand over his ribs, remembering the intense pain of the day before, grateful his Song had returned while he’d slept.
Then the dream came back to him. Snatches of Kyara’s voice echoed in his mind. He tried to grab hold of them, but they evaded his grasp. He concentrated on the memory, certain she had told him something vital.
Her face appeared in his mind. Her lips were so often downturned but when she smiled … He dropped his head into his hands, allowing himself to be lost in the memory. She was fierce and deadly, braver than anyone he’d ever met. And despite wielding the power of death, her heart was pure.
His chest ached, not from any physical pain but from loss, from finally finding someone he didn’t have to hide from only to be torn from her after such a short time.
Her words from the dream suddenly came back clearly. He jumped to his feet. Hearing her voice could not have been simply a projection from his mind. Darvyn had visited the World Between often enough to recognize it—and having lost his Song the day before so quickly and brutally was certainly enough trauma to have thinned the space between worlds, allowing him to communicate with her.
It was odd not to have seen her, though. Her voice had sounded far away. Maybe it was something the Physicks were doing to her. She’d said they were draining her Song.
He raced around the room, throwing his belongings into his bag. He must find the others and tell them he needed to go to Dahlinea. The job in Melbain was not done, but he could not waste another moment now that he had knowledge of Kyara’s location.
He opened the door to the sitting room to find Lizvette and Tai, her sitting on the edge of the couch, appearing ready to flee at any moment, him pacing the floor restlessly. Both looked at him sharply. Lizvette’s shoulders sagged in relief.
A questioning smile inched across Tai’s face. “You all right, mate?”
“Good as new,” Darvyn said, tapping his finger on the door frame. A vibrating energy pulsed through him. He wouldn’t be able to still himself until he was on his way to Kyara.
“Going somewhere?” Lizvette asked, brows raised, noting the bag slung across his back.
Darvyn nodded solemnly. “I need to head to Dahlinea ahead of schedule.”
Tai’s gaze was intense. “Has something happened?”
“‘Ahead of schedule’?” Lizvette looked back and forth between them with narrowing eyes. “We had no plans to go to Dahlinea at all.”
“Well, duchess, you see,” Tai began, wincing, “Darvyn and I were given an additional mission.” Lizvette frowned. “By the Goddess,” he added hastily. “Top secret, but it seems like it’s time you knew.”
When no one spoke, she spread her arms expectantly. “Well?”
Tai exhaled loudly. “Queen Jasminda’s family is alive.”
Lizvette’s fingers flew to her mouth on a gasp. Darvyn looked away, his face burning with shame. Of course Tai would assume that was the only reason. In truth, Darvyn had been thinking of nothing but Kyara.
“I met them two years ago,” Tai continued. “Her father and twin brothers.” He closed his eyes. “I watched them die on my ship, killed by a Physick who was hunting them.” When his eyes opened again they were red, rimmed with tears. “But somehow they survived.”
“How?” Lizvette asked.
Tai shook his head. Darvyn stared at the ground, his guilty eyes unseeing. For the first time in his life, pure selfishness was his only motive. Not Oola’s mission. Not bringing the Dominionists who’d helped orchestrate the temple bombing to justice. Not even determining where the next attack would be. Though he’d made vows he intended to keep, they all faded when compared with the thought of Kyara at the mercy of the same vile mages who had killed his mother …
No vow could stop him from pursuing Kyara a moment longer.
He squeezed his jaw tight to hold in the rage that was forming, a rage that had no outlet until he found her and made sure she was safe.
“So that is the real reason you were sent?” Lizvette asked Tai. Darvyn struggled to bring himself back into the conversation.
“Yes.”
“And you knew this, too?” She looked over at Darvyn, but he had a hard time meeting her eyes.
“I did,” he said through clenched teeth. “But there’s something else.”
Both looked at him with trust in their eyes. He swallowed the knot in his throat as his own eyes filled with tears. Shame was heavy on his shoulders, but it would not deter him. Nothing would.
“I need to tell you about Kyara.”
He forced out the story of the assassin he’d met in the desert, a woman who had been tasked with capturing him. He showed them the pendant he wore that had stayed her hand when she was about to strike. Told of how she’d had the matching half of his pendant given to her by his own mother, who’d taken Kyara in long after Darvyn had been sent to live with the Keepers for his own safety.
When he’d been taken prisoner in Lagrimar’s glass castle, she had risked herself to save him. Now there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her.
“I don’t know if I can make you understand,” he said, squeezing the back of his neck.
“I understand.” Tai’s voice was low. “You love her.”
Darvyn looked into the other man’s eyes. Comprehension lived there, more than he’d given Tai credit for.
A wave of exhaustion tugged at his knees, and he leaned back against the wall.
“You must be hungry,” Lizvette said, rising and walking toward the telephone. “We can’t go anywhere until you’ve at least had breakfast.”
Darvyn’s stomach rumbled just then, punctuating her words. An extra few minutes for food couldn’t hurt. Much.
But Tai’s brows furrowed. He swiveled around to face her. “We?”
She held up a finger as she called for room service. When she’d replaced the handset, she squared her shoulders and faced Tai. Darvyn sighed. He really didn’t need their bickering right now. His Song grazed their emotions, then jumped away sharply. Best for him not to get involved in whatever was going on there.
“Yes. It is possible that Queen Jasminda’s family is being held in the same place as Darvyn’s Kyara,” Lizvette said.
His Kyara. He liked the sound of that.
“Possible, yes,” Tai said cautiously.
“As that is the best lead we have for the Goddess’s mission, it seems prudent to follow up on it immediately.” Her hands fluttered in front of her as she moved to the window. “My chance to catch my father is likely gone. The race begins in under an hour, and when Clove shows up right as the river, he’ll know he cannot trust me. I don’t know how he’ll react to that. I don’t think I should stay if you all are leaving.”
Tai ran his hands through his hair, making it stand up in blue tufts. He muttered to himself in what must be Raunian and began to pace again. “You know I won’t let him harm you, don’t you?”
The emotions in the room were in flux again, and Darvyn let go of his Song completely. “What’s happened to Clove?” he asked.
Lizvette clutched the neck of her gown, appearing flustered. It was Tai who growled out the story of Nirall’s scheme for Lizvette to sabotage the race by harming Clove. Vanesse had stuck close by her side all morning, and the Foreign Service had not let the pilot out of their sight.
“I owe Queen Jasminda a debt,” Lizvette said quietly. “If I would not be in the way, I would very much like the chance to repay it in some small measure. I’m certain the return of her family would be of great comfort to her.”
“Perhaps it would help with your situation,” Darvyn said.
Lizvette crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “I’m not looking for praise or gratitude. You don’t even have to tell her I did anything. I simply want to help.”
Darvyn held up his hands in apology. Tai glared at him, and Darvyn was never more grateful for the knock at the door and the arrival of breakfast.
When the bellman left, Lizvette spoke up. “If we leave during the race, we’ll arrive in Dahlinea before it ends.” She left unspoken what her father might do to her if she stayed in Melbain and Clove won. Tai looked ready to fight someone.
“Should we leave Vanesse and Clove a note?” she asked.
“No, considering how easily Nirall was able to get in here,” Tai replied. “We’ll leave a message with Zivel or one of his men.”
“So we’re agreed? We go to Dahlinea to find Kyara and search for Jasminda’s family.” Lizvette blinked, waiting for a response.
Tai took a deep breath before nodding slowly. He seemed reluctant to bring Lizvette along, but Darvyn was glad she’d be with them. Though he knew she didn’t yet believe it, she’d done well so far and brought a wealth of knowledge and experience they lacked.
He closed his eyes and pictured Kyara. I’m coming for you. Please hold on.