by C. E. Murphy
“You—” Dafydd stumbled on the word, turning a weary gaze to Lara. “Is he right? Does he speak the truth?”
Lara bit her lip unhappily. “Dafydd, he—”
“Lara.” Kelly, at her side, pressed the staff into Lara’s hands, and said, very steadily, “David isn’t there.”
Illusion shattered.
It came apart like crystal hit by stone, fragments rupturing around her. Dafydd’s image schismed and became glittering bits of light before it fell apart. Lara cried out, reaching for the bits of an imagined life, and choking on sobs when they cut her fingers and faded away.
So close, it was so close to what she wanted that she had invested her own truth in it, made it almost real. Her talent had always told her when someone else was lying, as long as they knew they were lying. Never, never in her life had she wrapped truth so carefully that even she couldn’t tell she was lying.
Truthseeker’s gift, she thought, double-edged. Strong enough, now, to make it possible to lie to herself. A little stronger, and maybe Merrick’s illusion would have become reality. Maybe Dafydd would have crossed worlds with her, mortal for the brief time he had left.
And then she, not her world, would have been responsible for his death. Lara shuddered violently, wanting to curl up, curl in, to hide from truth and life itself. But anger flared, a small bright ember that forced her to her feet. Illusion, such a strong illusion, so carefully based in something so close to truth, had almost turned her into a monster, the same way it took star-filled night skies and made them deadly.
Merrick ap Annwn blanched to see her face.
His window between worlds was still open, its closure nothing more than part of the story he’d shaped for her. The story she’d shaped for herself, with all the parts and parcels laid out for Merrick to use. Her envy of Aerin; her awe of the Unseelie palace; her impression of Ioan, who had taken the place Merrick sought as his own. He stepped back, hands lifted, and Lara advanced on him, blazing with rage.
“You shouldn’t have let me go. You should’ve made certain there was nothing that would break the illusion, because now I’m going to do whatever it takes to follow you. I’ll find a way, Merrick. I’ll expose you to your people, to all of them, and you’ll never rule in Annwn.” The world’s true name rang like gunfire, louder even than the crystalline shattering of illusion.
“But only royal blood can open the pathway,” Merrick whispered. “Where I go, you cannot follow. I’ll have my victory, and you’ll be here, lost with your power, alone without a lover, while Annwn becomes my own. Good-bye, Truthseeker. Good riddance.”
He twisted and leaped for the door, its golden outlines rupturing as he passed through. Lara bellowed, “No!” and ran forward, willing her truth to be the only one. Power flared in the staff, responding, finally, to her passion. No, he would not escape her; no, the door would not close; no, this would not be the end of the life she’d dreamed of having.
Music thundered, endless crescendos, and the collapsing door shivered, then froze.
Kelly, behind her, shouted, “Lara!” and in her voice was all the things to be left behind. Family. Friends. The job she loved, the world she knew. Lara went as still as the door, then turned back, breath coming short.
“Don’t look like that.” Kelly came forward, bright-eyed but smiling past the cloth she still held wadded against her cheek. “Don’t look like that. You’re going, I know that. I just wanted to say good-bye.”
“I might not be able to come back.” Falsehood rang in the words and Lara fought the truth before admitting it in a whisper, regrets swelling: “I probably won’t come back. The time difference … even if I came right back it could be years. Your wedding, Kel. I’m going to miss your wedding. I can’t—”
“If I’m getting married.” Kelly’s voice broke, then cleared. “I will someday. And I’ll put a fairy princess doll in your place. Okay? I’ll think of you.” The tears she’d held back spilled down her cheeks. “I’ll think of you all the time. Now go on.” She gave the trembling doorway a sharp nod. “Go.”
Lara laughed, quick crack of a sound edged with loss, and stepped forward to crush her friend in a brief hug. “Thank you. Tell my mom what happened. I love you, Kel. Live happily ever after, okay?”
Kelly’s smile flashed through tears. “You, too. I love you, too, Lar. Now go on. Go rescue your prince. I’ll see you later.”
Unexpected, gratifying truth flared in the promise. The fist around Lara’s heart loosened a little, and she stepped backward, closer to the door. “Count on it.”
One more step, and she walked between worlds.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C. E. (Catie) MURPHY is the author of two urban fantasy series (The Walker Papers and The Negotiator Trilogy) as well as The Inheritors’ Cycle, which includes The Queen’s Bastard and The Pretender’s Crown. Her hobbies include photography and travel, though she rarely pursues enough of either. She was born and raised in Alaska, and now lives in her ancestral home of Ireland with her family and cats.
Truthseeker is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A Del Rey Trade Paperback Original
Copyright © 2010 by C. E. Murphy
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Murphy, C. E. (Catie E.)
Truthseeker / C. E. Murphy.
p. cm.
“A Del Rey trade paperback original”—T.p. verso.
eISBN: 978-0-345-52302-0
1. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. 2. Boston (Mass.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3613.U726T78 2010
813′.6—dc22
2010014981
www.delreybooks.com
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