by Rae Brooks
Leif and Taeru both frowned in unison. She wasn’t sure if they were frowning at the nature of the story, or the fact that she was taking it so seriously. Rather than worrying about it, she decided to continue. “I read the book twice, and I got to about the halfway mark before we left. I brought it with me, in-in case I got bored while in Telandus. But, after arriving in Telandus, I decided to pick it up again. I found this. A half-written book. And reading the words, I was even more concerned.”
Taeru glanced up at her. She knew then that he was considering what she’d said. Whatever was happening to him, it was making him vulnerable, and he knew that the war would destroy something—he’d only wondered what. “Perhaps you have the book mistaken with another. An unfinished edition would be rare, but not impossible to come by,” Taeru offered weakly.
“My bookmark was still within the book when I found it. I thought the same thing—I wondered if I’d lost the book, and after all, in Telandus it would be easier to find, perhaps. But, when I read the words—I knew that something was amiss. There is no way the book was changed. I kept it with me for the entire journey, and I remember placing it on the shelf where I found it. You have to believe me! I am not mad!”
Leif let out a breath, and he picked the book up, thumbing backwards until words appeared on the pages. His mouth twitched as he read them. “Well, is it the same book? Are the words, aside from what is missing, the same as the ones you read before?”
“No,” she answered swiftly, “they are entirely different.” She watched the words on the pages, and instinctively knew what they said. “The entire book changed. Now it talks about lands that are in unsettled peace, and that a war will come soon. It… talks about a prince… of one of the kingdoms, and how he left to the other kingdom, trying to stop the war—because he is the descendant of the hero written about before.” Her words were shaking, as these were the ones that sounded truly mad.
Taeru stared at her, and his eyes shimmered with anguish. “You think this book is about me?” he hissed. “That’s absurd, Aela.”
“Read it, then! The words are about you. I knew everything before I found out. I didn’t want to believe it either, but all of it is talking about you, brother!” The words choked in her throat, and she narrowed her eyes.
Taeru shook his head violently. “That would mean that I wasn’t… that I’m not…”
“I don’t know what it says of your origins, brother, but I know that father loves you, and he continues to. I know that you are, and always have been, my brother. All I want from this book is to make sure that you aren’t killed. I don’t even care about the rest… I just…” Tears burned in her eyes, and surprisingly, he stepped forward and hugged her.
Leif’s fingers continued to trace the words of the book. He couldn’t possibly have been reading it all so quickly, so Aela assumed he was trying to believe her. When Taeru stepped away from her, she gently stole the book from Leif. Then, she moved through the pages until she was staring at the words that she had been so panicked over.
“It says that…” She kept flipping, wishing that she would have marked the place in the book. The idea of looking at the words again frightened her. “See—it says everything, it talks about you using the mask to protect citizens, it talks about your…relationship. Ryo and me. It says it all here—but here!” She paused, throwing her finger down on a few of the words.
Leif was the one who read them aloud. “As ages past, a single Magister—a Magister with no faith in the land—grew weary of the peace. This Magister placed seeds within the world, through people, and through places, and with those seeds, worked to destroy the boy, who knew nothing of his past or his future.” Leif’s eyes flickered to Taeru.
Aela had read the words too many times to be surprised by them now. She looked to Taeru, and his brow furrowed. Leif, though, made a face. Suddenly, he was flipping through the pages, moving to the blank ones. And there, under each of their gazes, the words were burned into the pages—new, unread words. Aela let out a quick gasp, and Leif dropped the book onto the table, stepping back. “This isn’t possible,” he snarled.
“Let me see it,” Taeru snapped. He yanked the book off the table, and then he flipped to the pages that were newly written. The orange burn of the etching faded until the words were black against the page like the others, leaving plenty blank pages left to be filled. “Through a twist of fate that the Magister, nor any man, could have expected… the boy’s sister discovered the book of peace, and she declared what she found in the book to her brother. The knowledge would forever alter the course of the following events. The knowledge would show the desperate hero, and all involved with him, that the war was an absolute—that the war would not only be a foolish loss of life, but that it would bring about the ultimate destruction of all of their land.” He stopped reading, and the book hung in his hands.
When Aela glanced across to Leif, and his jaw was clenched. His eyes had changed though, and she could see the inability to disbelieve glowing in them. Leif and her brother had their proof, and they knew that this war would kill Taeru Lassau—and destroy all that they loved. For Aela, the two went hand in hand. “We came here to ensure that there was no plan in place for when our lands fought,” she told Leif, “perhaps if we just tell father that he wouldn’t win.”
“It would only be temporary,” Taeru said. “Father would see it as a threat. He would strengthen his army. He would feel obligated to protect his people. Besides, the lie would be discovered and, if not you, sister, Leif would be held accountable for it. Judging from your relationship, I imagine you wouldn’t much care for that.” His words were teasing, and yet they were sharp with direction.
She frowned, and Leif and she glanced to one another for a moment. “There is no relationship. Well, no relationship beyond friends!” she snapped.
“It isn’t my business,” Taeru declared flatly. “The point remains that we cannot let this fall on Leif. Yet, going through Lavus seems impossible as well.” His voice had the slightest bit of desperation in it, but she could hear his determination as well. Taeru wasn’t going to let this happen. “I came here with the intention of changing things. When I saw the state of the people in Dark District, I wanted to renew their faith. Perhaps I also thought that if I caused enough trouble here that Lavus would forget about the war—but he hasn’t. He cares nothing for his citizens.”
“You have renewed their faith,” Aela said quickly. “I can see it in the eyes of the people.” Her voice was filled with admiration that she had only felt, never expressed, up until this point. Even as a girl, she had never seen Taeru as she did now. He was a hero in every way a person could be a hero.
Taeru let out a breath. “That does me little good, now. They will still die if I am unable to stop this war from happening. For now, the impasse remains, and we should take advantage of that fact. At least I know what I’m fighting, now.”
“The Magister is intentionally engineering things, though,” Leif said irately, “shouldn’t that be a bit of a deal breaker?”
“It’s part of the curse. I assume that means this Magister can do what she—or he, will,” Taeru said. “Keep the book, sister. Perhaps when I dream this moon, I can make more sense of the words the Magister says to me. For now, I should return.”
Aela nodded her head. “Be safe. I will see if I can’t find books on the Magisters, to find out which one precisely we are dealing with,” she promised.
He nodded. “I’ll ask Calis to check the library in the Shining District, as well,” he said softly.
Aela’s eye twitched, and Leif let out a bit of shocked breath. He tried to hide it, but Aela had become accustomed to reading him without his words. “You can’t explain this to him. If he gets too involved, then he will figure out who we are—who you are. We can’t risk that, no matter what your feelings may be. Explaining this is not an option.” Aela crossed her arms to impress the accuracy of Leif’s statement upon her brother.
For a moment, Taeru
stood there, as though he wasn’t sure what Leif had just said to him. Then, there was the strangest smile on his face. The smile was pained, while simultaneously being entirely whimsical. The crooked smile that Aela had only seen on those lips a few times—the one that made his dimples most prominent, and the one that no one in Elyst could resist. “He won’t ask,” he said softly.
Then, he was gone.
“Trust is the beginning and the end of deception.”
-A Hero’s Peace v.ii
Chapter xxxv
Taeru Lassau
Taeru’s entire body felt so tense that he was worried his body might twist into an actual knot. The past cycle had been terrible. First, he had discovered that his sister—his own little sister—was in Telandus. The one place in the world where she would be anything other than safe. She had dressed up as a boy and accompanied Leif Firenz, another of Taeru’s friends, to Telandus on an errand for their father. At first, he’d been angry at Leif, but when he considered his sister—Taeru did not doubt that Firenz had little say in the matter. And he hadn’t even wanted to consider the fact that Leif nearly had his lips on Aela when he’d gone to see the two of them.
His little sister—with a man! He had thought, considering he’d left when she was only a child, that he would never have to handle that. Yet, seeing her with Leif had inspired protectiveness in him that had long since lay dormant. He felt protective of Alyx, of course, but nothing could compare to what a brother felt for his sister.
A sister, he reminded himself, who had left the safety of Cathalar to come to Telandus—no doubt due to his own choices. If he hadn’t been so careless, then perhaps he could have convinced Aela that following him was a fool’s errand before he’d left. He’d thought he had done so, but apparently, she had not wanted to listen. Guilt coursed through him like an uncharted river. His dream had been true—Aela had thrown herself into danger because of him.
Why was it that no matter how hard he tried, he seemed to consistently put those he cared about into danger? He buried his face in his hands at the thought. He couldn’t worry about it—not now. The failing that his nightmares had held over his head was finally tangible, and though he didn’t know how—he knew that he had been fighting it this whole time. And though it wouldn’t help him in this matter, his efforts within Dark District finally seemed to have worked.
The people there seemed happy, which was not anything Taeru could have said about them when he’d originally arrived in Telandus. Too bad there was nothing he could do to change the lives of the people in the Shining District—well, save one. He hoped. Calis was doing so much for him, and Taeru couldn’t even tell him the truth. But he would—he just had to find a way to stop this war, first.
Now, he waited for Calis and Aela, or Aelic rather, on an uninhabited piece of land owned by Manali. They had both refused to allow him to go get the books—Magisters forbid he had to do anything on his own. After all, he couldn’t help but think—if he truly was the illegitimate son of this hero—it was his responsibility and not theirs. Aela said that the hero in the original version of her book had done this on his own, and yet Taeru was relying on nearly everyone for assistance.
Perhaps that was part of the reason that he felt as though he was failing. But how could he accomplish this on his own? He would never have seen that book, and if he had, then he certainly wouldn’t have involved the others. But now, Aela had forcibly involved herself, and while she was involved—Taeru needed the help of Calis. Truth be told, Calis had already seen too much to be left out of this as well. Everyone around him lately had been desperately helpful. He was fortunate that he’d managed to keep Alyx and Juliet out of this. The last thing they needed was another black mark against their name if anything about Taeru was discovered.
Another few moments yielded Aela, and she had a small sack under her arm. He imagined it was full of the books that she had been collecting for half the cycle. She waved to him, and he nodded. He hadn’t lied when he’d said she made a terrible boy. She was a very delicate male, he thought. Her eyes were too big, too sweet to belong to another man. Oh, how he’d missed her. To think that she had come all the way to Telandus, partially to find him, his heart felt so happy that he nearly forgot her life was at risk. “Tae—” Upon his angry look, she rephrased. “Kilik!”
She glanced around in obvious annoyance. “I see no one. I assume that is why you chose this location. People may be able to see us, but not hear us.”
“I didn’t choose it,” he offered nonchalantly. She was going to ask what he meant, and he knew that, but he hoped that it would wait for another few moments. His sister had been vocal about her disapproval of Calis, though she had no real reason to disapprove.
Without Calis, Taeru would surely have fallen to pieces. His nightmares had been close to destroying him before Calis had—ah, shown his affections. Aela narrowed her eyes, though, clearly aware of where this was going. “Then why are we here?” she asked.
He stared at her impassively. He partly wished Calis would arrive and stop this conversation before it started, but as this prince seemed to be running a bit late—Taeru would have to assuage the situation directly. “Well, we’re here for the reasons you said. It would be impossible for someone to overhear us without being seen,” he pointed out graciously.
“He is coming, isn’t he? You let him choose the location?” Her voice was so riddled with distrust and anger that he hardly recognized. In fact, if she kept this up—then she might be able to pass for suitable boy.
Letting out a breath, he ran a hand through his hair absently. “He?” he asked tetchily. “I assume you mean Calis. I don’t see why you feel the need to demonize even pronouns that refer to him. He has been absurdly…” Suddenly, Taeru realized that this was a bad route to go. His cheeks heated up at the thought of what Calis had been for him. “…helpful to me.” He finally finished inadequately.
“Taeru,” she said gently, “he is a Tsrali. I know that you think he isn’t a bad person, but he is still the enemy.” Her head moved as she tried to determine whether or not it was safe to speak. “He doesn’t know who you are. How do you know he isn’t with you for the sake of finding that out?”
A frown warped across his lips as he looked at her. “He isn’t,” he said self-assuredly. “You were a witness to that. Why is that Feil can believe it, but you can’t?” Then, he blinked and looked around. “Where is your suitor, anyway?”
This time, Aela was the one with the red cheeks. She floundered, as though Taeru had just said something terribly inappropriate. She even gasped a few times, or she breathed hard enough to classify it as gasping. “He-he isn’t a suitor! He is just a very good friend. Why can’t you understand that?”
“Because I walked into a room just as the two of you were embracing one another. I saw his expression, and I saw yours. I’m not a fool.” She frowned, and she shook her head in obvious irritation. “So where is he?”
“He said he would be better served to investigate around the city. He doesn’t think it is wise for all of us to be in the same place.” The way she spoke, Taeru could tell that his sister had come to regard Leif’s word as fact. He smiled at the thought. So he felt a bit protective, but he had always been fond of Leif growing up. Ryo hadn’t, but Taeru had been.
Taeru nodded his head, conceding the point as a good one. “I wish you weren’t involving the prince,” Aela said softly. “I don’t trust him, brother.”
“I do,” he said.
As if on cue, Taeru glanced up to see Calis—or the person he assumed was Calis riding a white horse. The white horse didn’t fit very nice with the small cart that it drew. Calis was wearing more clothes than usual, with a cloak that obscured his features. He disposed of it when he reached them, though. He offered a patronizing glance at Aela before he hopped off the horse. She snorted with disapproval.
When Taeru moved around to examine the cart, which could not have been easy to draw from the Shining District to this location, Lee
appeared. He eased out of the cart with a half-smile. The two of them had discovered little from their visit to the corrupted obelisk, though Lee was convinced that it was the work of a Magister. That had been helpful to Taeru, who was unable to show Lee or the prince the book. “How did you bring a cart? I thought the idea was to be cautious?” Taeru asked.
“Well,” Calis said, with a far more cheerful voice than the one he usually spoke in, “we actually acquired the cart once we were in Dark District.” He pulled the back off the cart so that books spilled out onto the ground. There were so many of them, and most were leather bound and in fantastic condition—well, they were before they were spilled onto the ground. There were even more still stuck in the cart. “We collected these in a hidden location within Dark District for a few suns, though. It was easy to be stealthy when we took our time,” Calis continued, before he offered Lee an acquiescent glance.
Taeru let out a shocked cry. “Won’t someone notice all these missing?”
“Show off,” Aela mumbled from a few paces away. The few times that Aela and Calis had been together—the two of them had consistently found a matter about which to fight. Calis chose to ignore her on this sun, though.
“No one in the castle reads,” Calis said.
“Calis included,” Lee offered cheerfully. The two of them glared at each other for a fraction of a moment, but then their gazes returned to Taeru. Taeru felt just a touch of jealousy for the relationship that the two of them had. It was so open, and so comfortable, and while he loved Calis’s affections—he would have loved for that sort of honest relationship with him. “But it is a shame that there are so many books in the castle—as no one deems reading worthy of their time.”
This piqued Aela’s interest, and she cast a coy glance towards Lee. Those were words that were after her own heart. She’d said the same of the Cathalar library many times. So many books—with so little interest. “Well, this is everything I found on Light and the Magisters. I also brought a few erotic novels to shock incase the reading gets boring. I can’t believe those were in the castle library. That had to have been a long missed practical joke,” Calis asserted. Taeru tried to suppress his laughter, and he failed, miserably.