A Time of Blood (Of Blood and Bone #2) - John Gwynne Page 0,57

of life that we left behind over a hundred years ago.”

“You should be silent,” Sariel said furiously. “This should be discussed in the Ben-Elim’s council.”

Some jeers from the crowd, spreading. Riv knew who had started them: White-Wings allied to Kol set the task before this meeting had been convened.

“Why not speak freely, now?” Kol said. “I have nothing to hide. Do you, Sariel?”

All eyes in the chamber turned upon the dark-haired Ben-Elim, whose face twitched.

“Of course not,” Sariel said.

Kol is cunning, and a master of misdirection.

“And we are the Ben-Elim, protectors of these people, not their rulers. That is why we need to elect a new Lord Protector.”

Sariel stared at Kol, eyes wide with shock. They slowly narrowed.

“Stop this,” Sariel said.

“These are not mere words,” Kol said, continuing to ignore Sariel. “I am proposing a new order, one that embraces these Banished Lands and the people who dwell within it, a land and people that we have come to value, to respect, to love.”

Love! Does Kol even know what that word means? He talks well, though, but then, he always has.

“And here is a symbol of my commitment to forge this new world.” Kol looked up at Riv.

Riv took a deep breath.

She had kept herself hidden since her return to Drassil, Kol flying her in during the dead of night, and hiding her away in the tower above the keep, once Israfil’s chambers, but now taken by Kol.

Others were following Kol’s gaze, looking upwards into the heights of the domed chamber.

Riv hesitated in the shadows of the alcove, knew that her world was about to change again.

How am I here? How have I let myself become so ensnared in this mess, in Kol’s scheming? But whatever I do, wherever I go, I will be reviled and hunted. This is a chance to change that. A very slim chance, granted.

Deep down she knew there was more to her choices than self-preservation. Her eyes searched out Aphra, saw her staring up at her, then she looked to Bleda, felt the anger and hardness within her soften, just for a moment.

She stepped out of the alcove and dropped into the huge expanse of the chamber, arms open wide, and let herself fall.

People in the chamber gasped, pointed, a scream here and there.

And then Riv spread her wings.

A pulse of her wings checked her fall and for a moment she hovered high above the crowd, then tucked her wings in tight, dropping into a dive. A grin split her face, for despite everything, she loved to fly. People leaped away as she sped towards the ground, at the last moment spreading her wings wide to swoop low over the crowd, spinning in the air, spiralling up and looping so that she was behind and above Kol, where she hovered for long moments with slow, powerful beats of her wings, letting all see the colour of her wings, the shape of her body, taking in the fact that she was not a Ben-Elim. That she was a woman and a half-breed. But a half-breed with feathered wings, not the skin and leather that the Kadoshim spawned.

And she was wearing a black cuirass with two white wings embossed upon it, and a short-sword at her hip, the uniform of the White-Wings, Drassil’s elite troops.

Then she touched down, wings folding behind her shoulders, and she stood next to Kol.

Things looked a lot different now that she was upon the ground. Her distance had given her a certain objectivity and detachment from the proceedings. Now she could see the looks on people’s faces, hear their individual mutterings, smell their fear. It felt overwhelming.

A deep breath to keep the anger at bay.

Remember the plan.

“What is this?” Sariel said, revulsion twisting his face. He strode forwards, his hand going to the sword at his hip.

Riv forced herself to remain still and calm, which was a lot harder to do than it had sounded when she and Kol had spoken of this moment, of how she must react. Especially when a Ben-Elim was coming at her, murder in his eyes. Her fingers twitched for her sword, but she kept her arm rigid at her side.

As one, the Ben-Elim behind Kol took a step forwards, the White-Wings to either side of him also moving, shields snapping up with an echoing crack. And suddenly Ben-Elim were circling above them, Kol’s followers dropping lower.

Sariel paused, looking about and up.

“What are you doing, Kol?” His eyes were drawn back to Riv. “This thing is an