“Thank you for your wisdom and insight, Killian. As always, it is so very helpful.”
He smirked; then prickles rushed across his skin, the sensation so intense, it hurt. Rolling off the bed, he strode to the window, shoving aside the curtains to look out over the ocean, eyes drawn east to the dark horizon. Blood roared through his veins, his heart beating like a battering ram inside his chest.
“It will be you who wins this war, Killian. It has to be you. The Marked need to lead, not to be led. It’s what the gods want. It’s why they chose us.”
Killian only vaguely heard Malahi’s voice, twitching as her hand caught hold of his forearm. “I need to go into the city.”
Her fingers tightened. “Send one of the guards.”
“It’s getting dark, so it’s better I go. Besides”—he forced a grin onto his face—“if I’m not at the dinner table, you won’t have to worry about me squabbling with Helene.”
Malahi didn’t laugh, only looked up at him, her eyes searching his before she finally looked away, shoulders bowing. “Fine. Go.”
“I won’t be long.”
Retrieving his sword, Killian abandoned Malahi to her courtiers and allowed the compulsion guiding his steps to drag him out into the rapidly approaching night.
18
LYDIA
A blast of pressure hit Lydia in the chest, tossing her backward. The impact knocked the wind out of her lungs, warm water closing over her head, and she thrashed for several painful seconds trying to gain her footing. Then spent several more seconds coming to terms with the fact that she was no longer underground.
Mud oozed between her toes as she stood, body shaking. A blast of wind hit her wet torso, the air stinking like a fetid swamp, and she hunched down in the warm water, taking in her blurry surroundings but struggling to process them. She was alive. But where was she?
Keeping low in the water, Lydia turned in a circle, searching the trees surrounding the spring for any signs of life, but she could see nothing in the shadows. Nothing that gave her even the slightest clue to where the xenthier had taken her. So she looked up. The sunlight was faint: dusk or dawn.
It had been an hour past dawn in Celendrial, which meant if the sun was rising here, she had to be on the western coast of Sibern—it was the only place in the Empire that wouldn’t be in full daylight. And Sibern wasn’t the worst place to be. All she would need to do was find her way to one of the port towns and secure passage on a ship back to Celendrial, which she should be able to do on credit using her father’s name. Then it was only a matter of getting to her father before Vibius murdered him.
Lucius would pay. And blackmail or not, so would his henchman of a legatus.
I do know you. Marcus’s words echoed in her thoughts, and she dug deep into her mind, the memories of playing among the library shelves with a young boy so faded as to be nearly useless.
And she had more pressing concerns. Sibern was a wild place full of wolves and bears and mountain lions, with nights that would turn cold even in the summer. And she was barefoot wearing only a silken bathrobe.
“It will be fine,” she muttered. “You just need to follow the spring down to the coast. It can’t be that far. Just wait for the sun to come up and start walking.”
Lydia stared at the faint glow of the sun, waiting for it to brighten. Waiting for it to illuminate whatever place the xenthier had deposited her.
Waiting.
But around her, the forest grew almost imperceptibly darker, and a tremor stole over her body.
It was not dawn. She was not facing east. The spring was not flowing to the western coast of Sibern.
It was dusk.
Which meant she was on the far side of the world.
The Dark Shores.
The forest around Lydia spun, her knees trembling beneath her, and she lowered herself into the water, gripping the slimy stones for balance.
Her chest tightened painfully, her breath coming in fast little gasps that didn’t give her enough air. She’d never been outside Celendor. Never traveled with anything less than a full escort. And now she was in an entirely foreign place with no clothing. No coin. No knowledge of who or what she might encounter.
The Maarin will be here. You just need to find them. They will help you.