A Prince Among Killers - By J. B. Redmond Page 0,66

seemed like another false dream.

Helmets.

Scabbards and bridles.

Someone was coming.

The Guard was riding toward them. A plentiful lot of them, bearing banners and leading what looked like a royal procession as gaudy and huge as any Nic had ever seen in Dyn Mab.

Emotion flowed out of Nic until his insides felt as cold as his outsides. He let himself fall, intending to crawl to the food and water and try to drag it back under tree-cover without attracting attention.

Brother save me, what if this is my mother, come to reclaim me after all?

He would almost submit to such a horror, if it would save Snakekiller’s life.

Maybe he could cover the provisions and Snakekiller and himself with leaves and branches, and hope the procession passed by without noticing them—but the fit seized him before he ever reached his goal.

Nic’s last thought was of Kestrel and Snakekiller, wound together like one person, but crying out to him in two pitiful, fading voices.

I’m coming, he thought as the edges of his thoughts frayed into nothing. I’m almost there.

CHAPTER FIFTY

ARON

Aron had no idea how long he had been alone in the dark when Iko came into the silent space and brought him a loaf of bread, a pear, some cheese, and some water. Aron blinked at the sun-ringed outline of the Sabor standing in the doorway, and accepted the food. “Thank you.”

Iko closed the door, but remained in the room with Aron.

A rustling of leather told Aron that Iko had seated himself on the floor, so he did the same. Then he consumed the gifts Iko had presented with greedy precision, even though he couldn’t see them. As he washed the last bites down with the fresh, cool water, Iko spoke.

“I believe gods are real, but I do not believe gods make mistakes, or do anything by accident—or that they do evil. That’s why you’ve put yourself here, is it not? To better understand the nature of fate, and what fate might require of you?”

“I’m… not sure. About any of that.” Aron dusted crumbs off his mouth and chest, then leaned his head against the wall behind him, grateful for the absolute darkness. The black curtain of nothingness surrounding him felt like a shield between him and Iko, or between him and the world.

Though for some reason, he didn’t mind Iko’s presence. He even welcomed it, and was intrigued by the fact Iko seemed in the mood for conversation.

“Do you believe the gods show themselves to people?” Aron asked, hopeful that the Sabor might answer him.

“Yes,” Iko said without a hint of annoyance. “But so do evil things who would have you believe they are gods.”

Aron licked a remaining crumb off his bottom lip, staring wide-eyed into the darkness. “Evil things like …”

“Tricksters and misbegots.” The air rustled, and Aron imagined the shrug of Iko’s shoulder. “Liars who would use you for their own purposes.”

Aron pondered this for a few seconds, then found it unusually easy to take the next risk. “I see the Goddess in my dreams.”

“I know.”

The response startled Aron.

He didn’t want to begin to guess how Iko knew what happened in his sleep, but he was struck by the memory of Dari in her Stregan form, and how she seemed to be complete and whole on both sides of the Veil at the same time. Who knew what Sabor could really do with their mind-talents?

“Have you seen the Goddess, Iko?”

“No,” the Sabor said. “My allegiance lies with Cayn, who guides me and shepherds all of my people.”

Aron couldn’t help touching his cheek against ill fortune—and against ever having an outright vision of Cayn. “If the creature I’m seeing in my dreams isn’t a Goddess, if the light I see from the Shrine sometimes isn’t a holy light, what do you think it might be?”

There was no hesitation before Iko said, “I do not know.”

The simple admission made Aron like Iko more, rather like the day Iko told him he would protect Tek even if he let Aron take a beating. “Do you think—do you think if I seek out the Goddess when I’m awake, I could find out?”

“Perhaps.”

“Stormbreaker and Dari don’t see what I see,” Aron said. “They’re not certain anything is there, in the Shrine.”

“Are you certain?”

Aron gave this some contemplation, and realized he was certain. Absolutely sure, and his graal lent more force to his conviction. He knew Stormbreaker and Dari allowed for the possibility that he was, indeed, seeing something in the Shrine, but they put little stock in

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