Dissident (Forbidden Things Book 1)

by Nikki Mccormack

  “You understand correctly. If our fates were not intertwined, I would not be here.”

  Yiloch’s gaze snapped up, boring into the Murak priest. “Then tell me, who will betray me?”

  Suac Chozai reached a tattooed arm across the table and touched Yiloch’s chest. One finger, tipped with a thick cracked nail, came to rest upon the ring that lay hidden under Yiloch’s shirt, pressing it against his skin. “Your greatest downfall shall come from here,” he stated with conviction.

  Defensive rage, wild and unreasoning, blazed to life in Yiloch. He wanted to tear the man’s hand off. To leap across the table and strike him down. Chozai drew back from him, apparently alarmed by the change in his bearing. The ring, Indigo’s ring, burned against his skin for a few seconds, blazing with the intensity of emotion symbolized by that delicate band. Every second he had spent with her, all of the sacrifices she had made and risks she had taken for him, rushed to the forefront of his mind. His ascard ability flared up, taking on a life of its own so that he had to fight back control.

  Ian, with his extreme sensitivity to ascard in others, tensed, his eyes growing wide.

  “All this talk of foresight,” Yiloch snarled, fury driving the words past his lips. “I saw that display out there. I thought the Kudaness considered it sacrilege to use ascard.”

  He attacked their religion, seeking to repay some of the turmoil that the suac’s accusation caused him. It worked. Suac Chozai’s copper eyes flashed and his two warriors stepped into a wider stance, shifting their weapons out of ceremonial position to something far more threatening. Adran’s hand dropped to his sword hilt and he too moved into a more aggressive posture.

  Yiloch felt calm washing over and through him then. He glanced at Ian, whose pale eyes had taken on a certain inward facing intensity. The manipulation was unsolicited and unwanted, but not necessarily unwise.

  Chozai followed his gaze, reading something different into the glance. He motioned to his warriors who returned to their prior stance. The suac wasn’t fool enough to pit his men against the power of a creator, and Ian’s exceptional strength with ascard had become well known in the time since Yiloch took the city from his father. Ironically, several of the acts that earned Ian the respect he now held were Indigo’s accomplishments in truth, but allowing Ian to take credit for them increased his influence and allowed her to keep her power hidden. It also made the youth into an effective political asset.

  “My visions are not obtained through manipulation of the power of the gods. They are gifted to me,” he turned a sneer on Ian, not so wary of that power that he wasn’t willing too express his disdain, “not stolen.”

  The tightness in his tone exposed the depth of his anger. Yiloch felt a hint of satisfaction at accomplishing his goal. If the suac, as representative of the Murak un Ani, had no more respect to offer him, the tenuous relationship between their people was not apt to change anytime soon, certainly not for the better.

  “Suac Chozai, I need more to build a military alliance on than prophecy and brash accusations. I have an empire to fortify that Emperor Rylan made a fair effort at destroying the foundations of and a dangerous criminal to bring to justice. There are also some lords who have not yet pledged loyalty and I need my army at hand until they are brought to heel, preferably with as little bloodshed as possible. There is still much to be done to secure my rule. If you can offer me no greater proof of your need, or of my own, if you cannot even offer respect to my rank, then I think we are done here. You are welcome to return and present your case again if these things change. For now, I can offer you refreshment and rest if you so desire, but nothing more.”

  Suac Chozai’s expression darkened, growing more and more hostile while he spoke. Yiloch felt a touch of unease at disregarding the man’s foresights and confidence in their accuracy, but, as Emperor, he couldn’t allow any man to disrespect him. Gambling resources on such uncertain information might also make his subjects wonder if he shared the madness that his father suffered from in the end.

  Chozai’s lip lifted in an animalistic snarl, exposing one sharpened canine. “You will destroy yourself and your empire with your arrogance,” he stated.

  “The same way you will destroy your people if your visions read true,” Yiloch returned. “You have not offered me enough sound information to work with. As I said, come to me with more and I will reconsider my position.”

  The suac narrowed his eyes and gave a curt nod. “So it shall be.”

  He turned away from Yiloch and his warriors fell in behind him. Yiloch watched Suac Chozai let himself from the room, making no move to follow them. The suac hadn’t stood on ceremony, nor had he behaved in a manner that acknowledged Lyran custom. As such, it seemed appropriate to let him show himself out. The usher would see to him from there.

  Yiloch turned to Ian when the door shut again. “The foretelling he did, where did he draw his power from?”

  Ian stared at the door, lips pressed in a troubled line. After a few seconds, he looked at Yiloch and shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t sense him connecting to his inner aspect or drawing on ascard around him, and he wasn’t masking anything that I could tell.”

  Yiloch nodded and turned to gaze at the closed door. Silence reigned within the room. Several minutes passed before Adran coughed and Yiloch met his worried amber eyes. His slightly darker skin and dusty blond hair betrayed his impure blood, but he was a lifetime friend and advisor. Lineage carried little weight before the value of the trust that existed between them.

  “The suac didn’t look pleased,” Adran commented, his tone conveying a suggestion of displeasure with the way Yiloch handled the situation.

  Yiloch nodded once, dismissing the underlying message. “I’ve been thinking, Adran,” he began, walking around the table and stepping up to another map. This one depicted the allied kingdom of Caithin across the Gilded Straight. “We need healers in our army. Not borrowed healers, but our own formally trained healers.”

  Adran walked to the other side of the table and rested his hands on it. His fingers tapped the surface a few times, the only outward show of his annoyance with the change of subject. “We could ask King Jerrin for an instructor, though it might be of more benefit to see if we could send some of our adepts to train at their academy.”

  Yiloch touched the city of Demin with one finger, trying to ignore the ache in his chest at the thought of her there. “Discuss it with Ferin and see what he thinks of sending adepts to Caithin for training. Ask him how many he would send and who, then prepare a missive to King Jerrin and bring it to me.”

  “My lord,” Adran inclined his head, the concern in his eyes taking on a more personal nature.

  Yiloch looked away. They had been friends and more far too long for him to expect Adran to miss the distress that hid behind his carefully managed expression, well concealed from anyone else, but he had no wish to discuss it until his head was clearer. Besides, there were far more urgent matters to worry about. “Any news of Myac?’

  “Not yet.”

  He nodded, hiding the chill of dread that always came with thoughts of the dangerous adept who had almost killed Indigo. “You may both go.”

  The two men left him to himself in the map room, Adran lingering in the doorway a few seconds before moving on. When the door shut, Yiloch reached down the collar of his shirt and drew out the ring that hung there. Two clear stones nestled in a delicate band on either side of a large stone the color of her eyes, the color of her name.

  “Indigo,” he murmured, letting the name roll off his lips like a caress.

  Holding the ring, he closed his eyes and let every touch they had shared, every kiss and intimate moment, play back in his mind. Extraordinary power filled her, hidden beneath a gentle beauty and charming vulnerability. She helped him take the throne from his father, using her uncommonly strong ascard connection to assist him to the point that it had almost cost her life more than once. She offered him her all because she loved him and, even tho
ugh his motives for using her power had been somewhat selfish in the beginning, he couldn’t help reciprocating her love by the end. Still, she was Caithin, and the exalted pure blood of Lyran royalty was part of its power. He could not ask her to be his bride, not without losing the faith of his people, and she had her own battles to fight, so she returned to Caithin, leaving him with only the ring and a deep aching in his chest.

  No. Betrayal couldn’t come from Indigo. How could she turn against him after what they had gone through together? His trust in her made him suspicious of everything the suac said after he implicated her. Still, as he played the ring about in his fingers, a deep disquiet took root in his heart that hadn’t been there before.

  CONTINUED…

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I am fortunate to be surrounded by many amazing people who have believed in me and supported me along this road. I may not mention all of you, there’s only so much space after all, but each of you holds a special place in my heart.

  I want to offer thanks to the following people.

  To Michael for his years of supporting my dreams and willingness to let me read him every book I wrote.

  To my mom Linda for loving these characters as much as I do and helping me struggle through endless edits to get to this point.

  To Rick and Ann for always being willing to read and give feedback on my books and for always believing in me.

  To my good friend and fellow author Eldritch Black for sharing long rides to the coffee shop full of cathartic rants and commiseration every Thursday and for being an amazing writing companion.

  To Aradia for knowing I would succeed from the first time we met and being an inspiration in your dedication to your own art.

  To my cover artist, Raquel, and my interior designer, Brian, thank you both for your fantastic work and for your patience with me as I learn this process.

  I must also offer thanks to my sixth grade teacher, Mr. Johnson, for being so pleased and excited when I told you I was going to be an author and to my eighth grade algebra teacher, Mr. Siebenlist, for almost letting me flunk because you were so delighted that I was writing books in class rather than notes.

  AUTHOR BIO

  Nikki started writing her first novel at the age of 12, which she still has tucked in a briefcase in her home office. She now lives in the magnificent Pacific Northwest tending to her sweet horse, two manipulative cats, and a crazy dog. She feeds her imagination by sitting on the ocean in her kayak gazing out across the never-ending water or hanging from a rope in a cave, embraced by darkness and the sound of dripping water. She finds peace through practicing iaido or shooting her longbow.

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  Thank you for taking time to read this novel. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it.

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  For more about me and my work visit me at

  http://nikkimccormack.com

  Thank you for taking time to read this novel. Please leave a review if you enjoyed it.

  Other Books by Nikki McCormack

  Forbidden Things – An Epic Fantasy Series

  Book One: Dissident

  Book Two: Exile

  Book Three: Apostate

  CLOCKWORK ENTERPRISES – A Young Adult Steampunk Series

  Book One: The Girl and the Clockwork Cat

  Book Two: The Girl and the Clockwork Conspiracy

  Short stories by Nikki McCormack

  In Silence Waiting

  Making Monsters

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2015 Nikki McCormack

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any format, by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior consent from the copyright owner and publisher of this book.

  Published by

  Elysium Books

  Seattle, WA

  Written by Nikki McCormack (https://nikkimccormack.com/)

  Cover Design by Raquel Neira (http://kellieart.deviantart.com/)

  Interior Design by Brian C. Short

  First Edition 2015