cover much ground on horseback.
“I can,” he argued. “That’s not it. That’s not the problem. Dari. Dari, listen to me.” His blue eyes glittered with a wild excitement she hadn’t seen from him before, and something in his expression disturbed her even more deeply than the fear Nic was about to topple from his mount, senseless and seizing from his old injuries.
When he spoke again, his voice had a new depth and resonance. “Aron saw Kate, Dari. He saw your sister.”
Dari gazed at her husband, wondering if he was about to fall into a fit after all. “What?”
“It was Kate who came to Aron at the Ruined Keep.” Nic straightened himself until he no longer seemed on the edge of collapse. “And I think Aron has seen her before.”
Dari’s heart began a strange, uneven beating as she glanced from Nic to Aron to Stormbreaker and Snakekiller. Lord Ross and Lord Cobb were making their way between ranks of soldiers and guild fighters, leading their mounts behind them. Close behind them came Blath and Iko, still dotted with vanishing golden fur and feathers from their flight. Swords and shields rattled as they pushed their way through, and the two lords and two Sabor finally came to a halt beside Stormbreaker and Snakekiller just as Aron put his palm on Nic’s knee. “I’ve never seen Kate,” Aron said. “You’re confused. I saw—”
Nic grabbed Aron’s hand. “You saw Dari, asking you to kill her. What kind of sense does that make, Aron?”
“None, but—”
“Kill me,” Nic repeated, once more studying Dari with his unnaturally bright eyes. A soft red glow seeped around his shoulders, arms, and neck, his graal energy coming to life as if he wanted to join with her on the other side of the Veil, so she might see what he saw, feel what he felt, and understand him. “That’s the plea of someone who’s trapped, someone hopeless and in so much pain she can’t see any other salvation.”
He spoke with such conviction that Dari felt the agony of his memories as her own. Her hand rose to her throat, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Snakekiller fold her arms and look away from Nic.
Dear Gods.
I wonder how many times he begged her for Mercy, and she refused to grant it because she knew who he was.
“I never had the courage to face death outright,” Nic said, as if to vindicate Snakekiller, but he was speaking only to Dari. “Your twin sister would. Kate’s begging for release—and she’s been begging for it since the first time she appeared to Aron.”
“But I’ve never seen her before.” Aron moved back from Nic and opened his arms like he was pleading his case to Lord Baldric and Lord Cobb. “I can accept that the vision I had at the Ruined Keep was Kate, that it might have been Kate who helped me, but that was the only time.”
“If Nic is correct, it wasn’t.” Stormbreaker reached for Snakekiller, but she wouldn’t accept his comfort. “You reported another vision, from earlier that night, Aron.” Thunder rumbled in the distance, and a flash of lightning played off Stormbreaker’s free hand and bounced between the crossed hilts of his swords. “You thought you saw Dari with the false goddess, and you said the goddess was bleeding away the color of Dari’s essence.”
Kill me….
Aron’s arms drifted to his sides even as Dari’s hand moved upward, until her fingers covered her mouth. It was the only way she could keep from screaming.
“The Lady Provost of Thorn has Kate,” Nic said. “You haven’t been able to find her because she hasn’t remained in one location. Lady Pravda is traveling with her—and she’s using Kate’s energy to increase her own abilities.” Nic’s tone remained gentle, but his words beat at Dari like brutal punches. “Kate’s mind-talents have allowed Lady Pravda to travel over distance and spy on Triune at will. You caught her the day you came to Stone, Aron—but you and anyone who could see Lady Pravda could have seen Kate, too. Lady Pravda would have forced to her to assume a disguise.”
Aron tensed as he seemed to grasp the reality that Dari was still fighting. “Kate took the form of another god. A religious figure that I wouldn’t question.”
“You, or anyone else.” Snakekiller’s voice came out in a low growl, and she still refused to look at Nic or let her brother get a step closer to her. “Kate chose to present herself as Cayn, the god