by Walls, Devri
He shouldered open the next door and his heart dropped. A second later, he felt Kiora coming down the hall. He ran out, shutting the door behind him.
“You’re supposed to be in your room.”
She scowled at him. “Yes, I know. And I would like to know why you and Emane have decided you can lock me up instead of letting me deal with the consequences of my actions.” She choked, her chest jerking.
“Kiora, these are not—”
“Yes, they are!” she screamed at him. “I decided to avoid the prophecy. I decided to put the women and children here, and then I decided to leave them. I decided to go after the Lights first. Me!”
“I agreed with you.”
“But it wasn’t your choice! It was mine. It was all mine, and I…”
She crumbled and Alcander grabbed her, wrapping her in his arms.
“They are dead because of me,” she sobbed, clenching the back of his shirt with both fists.
“Stop,” he whispered.
“Never again.” She shook her head. “I can’t run from this anymore.”
He pulled her back, brushing the hair off her face. “You haven’t run.”
“Yes, I have. I let Dralazar live in Meros, and Emane was kidnapped. I have fought everything that has been asked of me. I have resisted every kill I needed to make. And now I tried to turn my back on the prophecy. Did you see what Emane said to me at the barrier?”
Alcander shook his head.
“He said, ‘I understand.’” She wrapped her arms tightly around herself. “He understood that I was going to let you all die because I couldn’t push past the pain. He was just going to sit there and die, not hating me—just understanding! Alcander, I have run away from everything.”
“You hurt, Kiora. It’s who you are. I understand.”
“I don’t want my weakness to be understood—I want to be strong. This cannot be who I am—not anymore. I have to turn it off.”
Alcander stroked her cheek, looking into her eyes. “Don’t you turn it off—don’t you dare. If I ever see that look in your eyes again, I don’t know what I will do.” Kiora glanced away and he tightened his grip on her, forcing her to hear him. “I mean it, Kiora. I thought I had lost you, and I don’t ever want to go through that again. You are amazing just the way you are, and you are strong enough.
“You don’t have to like it to do it, Kiora. The pain doesn’t have to stop. It won’t stop. You will go through the actions, you will do your duty, and when we get back home…” He hesitated, wondering if he had overstepped, before continuing. “Then you can mourn every action you had to take. But until then, stay with me,” he whispered.
“I have to be stronger.”
He grabbed her chin, kissing her on the forehead. “And you will be. There is a war coming. Are you ready?”
She gripped his wrists. “I am ready.”
“Jasmine will be stopped.”
“Yes. But…”
“But what?”
“I don’t know how. She is stronger than me, Alcander. Even if I had all my magic, I don’t know if I could have held her back. And if I had stopped her, it would have only been because she was fighting Nestor’s magic as well.”
“You will find a way.” His thumbs brushed the tears from her cheeks. “You always do.”
She nodded, taking deep breaths before noticing his wistful smile.
“What?” she asked.
“Earlier, you said you loved me.”
She looked away shyly, her cheeks coloring in a way he loved. “I do.”
“Say it again.”
“I do.”
“No, not that.” He chuckled. “That you love me. Say it again.”
“I love you.”
The frustration and need built up within him. “Look at me, Kiora. I need to see you when you say it.”
She finally turned those beautiful green eyes up to him, still shiny with tears.
“Alcander, I love you.”
Sighing, he pressed his mouth against hers. He wanted to fold her into him and never let go. As he reluctantly broke the kiss, she leaned her forehead against his.
“Alcander,” she whispered.
“Hmmm?”
“I came down here because I need to help you do this.”
He frowned. “I don’t think that is a good idea.”
“I know. But I still need to.”
Taking her hand, he pulled her down the corridor but she stopped, digging in her heels and pulling her hand free of his. She looked at him, her eyes full of dread and her fists clenched at her side.
“No, Alcander. This room.” She pointed. “I saw how fast you ran out of here when you felt my thread. I need to help you with this room.”
Shaking his head, he opened the door, hearing Kiora’s strangled cry of despair behind him. Curled up on the floor was a red-haired winged woman with her arms and wings wrapped around her freckled little boy.
“Ky,” Kiora whispered. She stumbled past Alcander, falling to her knees. Reverently, she ran her fingers over the little boy’s wings.
Alcander put his hand on her shoulder. “We should get them with the others. I will take the mother if you take the boy.”
Kiora nodded, shivering beneath his touch. As respectfully as he could, Alcander released the little boy from his mother’s last embrace. He picked Ky up, laying the boy in Kiora’s waiting arms. His wings hung limp as Kiora pulled him close, kissing his cold forehead. Alcander picked up the mother and they walked side by side down the hall to the next corridor.
“Where will we bury them?”
“We don’t bury them. A winged person would never want to be encased in earth. We send their ashes as high as the fire will take them.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
One Step Behind
THE ROWS OF WOMEN and children in the halls were almost more than Kiora could handle. But she was determined to be strong, pain or not. As she followed Alcander to check more rooms, she was stopped by Lomay, holding up the dull Light—still wrapped in cords.
“I could use your help with this.”
Kiora walked next to Lomay to the main house while Alcander and Emane kept on with the gruesome task. She scowled at the Light in his hand. She hated it. Drustan had tried to warn her, but she had pressed forward anyway. The cost was more than she had been prepared to bear.
Once inside, he set the Light on the table and motioned for her to sit. “I have tried everything I can think of to get the bands off, but I am not having much luck. I thought perhaps you could try.”
“What do you want me to do?”
Lomay pushed a book across to her. “Put your hands on the Light and read this spell.”
Kiora did as she was asked, but the Light just sat there without so much as a blip.
Lomay frowned. “Take the mesh off your talisman and try again.”
Kiora didn’t see what good that could possibly do, but she did it anyway. Again, no response.
Lomay tapped his fingers on the table. “I have tried everything. The cords won’t budge. I have a theory, but I don’t like it.”
“What do you think?”
“There are only a few variations on a binding spell such as this one. I found it odd when you explained what Jasmine had done to contain the Lights because it is a fairly simple spell to undo. I would have expected her to use something more secure. But when I saw the Light in the Wings—” He ran his fingers over the cords. “I could see that your description had been correct. It really was just a simple binding spell.”
“Then why can’t we break it?”
“I think she took a lesson from Nestor the day she killed him.”
Kiora raised her eyebrows.
“Nestor sealed his magic with his life. Upon his death, the magic took effect. I think Jasmine did the opposite.”
“The opposite? You mean, she sealed it with her…life?”
“Indeed.”
“What good does that do?”
“As
long as she is alive, the spell can’t be broken.”
Kiora sank into her chair. “That was why she let us have it,” she said. Jasmine’s actions were making sense as the pieces clicked into place. “She didn’t just want us to kill Aimon. She knew we couldn’t use the Light even if we got it. And if we were gone, she could…” Kiora covered her mouth with her hand, shaking her head. “She planned the whole thing.”
“Probably from the second she realized what we had seen in the Wings of Nestor.”
Kiora shoved the Light off the table, sending it rolling across the floor.
***
THE OTHERS HAD NOT taken the news of the useless Light well. Alcander and Emane were both simmering in their rooms. Kiora lay stretched out on the balcony, desperately trying to find it as relaxing as she once had.
As she watched the water, a dark shadow came into view and for a second her mouth went dry, thinking it was Jasmine coming to try again. But then it floated nearer, cutting through the moonlight. She screamed, scrambling back as a Shifter—half dragon, half man, and very dead—appeared through the water.
Lomay burst into the room. “What?”
Kiora screamed again, pointing. It was one of the Shifters she’d killed.
Lomay muttered words under his breath. The entire barrier flashed, much like it had when Jasmine cast her first spell, turning it black and hiding everything from view.
Shaking her head, Kiora wrapped her arms around her knees, pulling herself into as small of a ball as possible. She had killed so many, and none of them would ever truly go away.
Lomay groaned as he eased himself into a chair. “How are you?”
Kiora was quiet for a moment before she answered. “I tell myself I’m fine. Clearly, I’m lying.”
Lomay nodded. “We all lie to ourselves. I believe it is quite healthy.”
Kiora barked a short laugh. “Is it?”
“Of course, my dear. If we didn’t tell ourselves that everything would be all right despite knowledge to the contrary, we would fall into despair.”
“That is not very encouraging.”
“It should be. Sometimes lies take on a life of their own, changing from lies to a sustainable hope. Which, on occasion, morphs into truth.”
“I am not sure I understand.”
“Someday when you are old and gray, perhaps you will.”
“If I become old and gray.”
“You will.”
“Is that a truth or a lie?”
Lomay shrugged. “Maybe it is a hope.”
Kiora shook her head, laughing despite herself. Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair. “I can’t defeat her, Lomay.”
Lomay leaned forward on his walking stick. “I know.”
“No sustainable hope on that?”
“Not as things are, no. But I have never been one to leave things as they are.”
Sitting up, Kiora leaned her head against the wall. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“Nor should you, my dear.”
Kiora looked back up to the blackened ceiling. “I should have listened. Drustan tried to tell me.”
“We all make mistakes.”
“Not this costly.”
“Oh, I beg to differ, my dear. We all have very long histories with some very expensive mistakes. You see, oftentimes it is those who have made the most costly mistakes who see the steps they are taking so very clearly—because we have taken the same ones before. And now that you have taken them yourself, you too will be able to see them clearly.”
Kiora swallowed against the raw lump in her throat, but it refused to move. “No one should have to pay with their life for me to learn.”
“No, they shouldn’t.”
“I am so sorry.” She blinked, tears pouring down her cheeks. “And I can’t even tell the people who deserve to hear it.”
“But you can save their husbands and their brothers…and their homes. You can save what they fought for and believed in. They sacrificed everything rather than side with Jasmine. You cannot defile that legacy by trying to avoid your destiny any longer.”
“If I somehow manage to end this war…” She bit her lip. “Will this loss hurt less?”
Lomay smiled sorrowfully. “No, my dear. I am afraid this will haunt you forever. But a victory would at least bind up the wound.”
Kiora’s hands fisted at her sides. “But you said yourself—I can’t defeat her.”
“I said you could not defeat her as things are. After the funerals, perhaps something will change.”
There was something in his voice, something that gnawed at her. He sounded resigned, with a hint of fear.
“What are you going to do?” she whispered.
He smiled weakly. “What I should have done before we went to get the Lights. As I said, we all have regrets, Kiora.”
“Lomay…”
He interrupted her with a grunt as he pushed back to his feet. “Nothing more tonight. We have a long day tomorrow. After the bodies are burned, we will need your help to get the Taveans we rescued here safely. You see, your decision was not a complete loss. Just ask the rescued Taveans.” He patted her on the head as he passed. “Sleep.”
Her sleep was fitful, her dreams haunted by a beautiful red-haired winged boy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
To the Sky
LOMAY HAD BUILT AN enclosure outside one of the entrances in which to hold the funeral undetected. The funeral pyres were something Kiora had never seen before. The large wooden structures were strange, each holding one of the departed. Her eyes jumped from body to body.
“Kiora, could you help me light the fires?” Lomay asked.
Kiora swallowed before stepping forward. She took one side while Lomay took the other, walking from one funeral pyre to the next. She paused by Perina’s, touching her hand for a moment before she lit the fire. She also paused at Ky’s, running her hand over the little boy’s feathers. He had made her smile every time she saw him.
She lit each one, whispering her apologies. When she finished, she stepped between Alcander and Emane, watching in silence as the flames licked up and around the lost rebels until it fully engulfed them.
As the flames began to die down, Lomay asked Alcander and Kiora to help take their ashes to the sky. The three of them called the wind, pulling at the flames and sending the ashes spiraling upwards.
Look for the next book in the Solus Series:
Wings of Lomay
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DEVRI WALLS LIVES IN Kuna, Idaho, with her husband, two kids, and one very bouncy Lab. After suffering from an abundance of creativity with not enough places to put it, she turned to writing—which, in the end, turned out to be exactly where she should have been putting it all along.
Devri Walls © copyright 2013
All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
StoneHouse Ink 2013
Boise ID 83713
http://www.stonehouseink.net
First eBook Edition: 2013
First Paperback Edition: 2013
Cover design by Phatpuppy Art
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Published in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Praise for Devri Walls
Title Page
Also by Devri Walls
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
About the Author
Copyright Information