“Kado.” She swallowed. “I owe you an apology.” When he did not reply aside from a quick look her way, she continued. “When we first met, you told me who you were and I panicked. I saw you as a threat, even though I knew you’d saved Katrine. I allowed you to be imprisoned. I’m sorry.”
He barked a short, caustic laugh. “Did Katrine put you up to this?”
“To what?”
When he did not reply, she paused, searching for the right way to make amends. “You asked me once what I knew of your father. Do you still want to know?”
He looked up at her. His face was so like Nero’s, but Kado’s dark eyes were round with an innocence that she'd never seen in Nero.
“Katrine told me he died in the war with Maenor, but that he died fighting for Maenor,” Kado said.
“Fighting for Rhael,” Rayna corrected. “Maenor was never really our enemy. Rhael was, and his family. Maenorens were his people, but to Rhael, they were nothing but arrow-fodder.”
“And Nero, why did he join him?”
Rayna exhaled, trying to decide where to begin. “I wasn’t here when it happened, but I know the facts. The truth is, Nero’s betrayal started long before the war.”
“What do you mean?”
Rayna glanced at Marielana walking ahead of them.
She was within ear shot, but made no move to join the conversation.
“Nero was once one of the most powerful people in Fenear,” Rayna began. “He was Beta to Eron the Blackclawed, my grandfather who was Alpha before Bayne and Silver. Nero was a fierce warrior, he came from a well-respected family, and everyone expected great things from him.”
“So what happened?” Kado growled impatiently.
Rayna’s brow furrowed. Silver had recently told Rayna more of Nero’s history, seeking to soothe Rayna’s anger and confusion after she’d returned to find Thera killed by his hand. “He fell in love with my aunt.”
“Silver?”
“Yes. But, she loved Bayne. She rejected Nero, and he was never the same after that. Eventually, Bayne and Silver came to power, Nero resigned rather than serve as their Beta, and became the man that I knew him to be: bitter, cruel, and isolated. I think some part of Silver blames herself for the way Nero turned out, but she shouldn’t. Nero made his choices. My aunt never made him any promises, and never owed him anything.”
“No one is owed the affection of another. Even I know that,” Kado muttered.
“I don’t know why Nero didn’t. Maybe he did, but chose to be hateful instead. Anyway, during the war, tensions were high. Nero took the opportunity to challenge my uncle’s claim. Bayne defeated him, but stayed his killing blow.”
“Why?”
“My uncle...” Rayna swallowed hard, holding back tears. “Bayne was a good man. Killing someone over a position—it happens sometimes—but it is not considered honorable if there’s another choice. Roxen intervened on Nero’s behalf, and reminded Bayne of the right thing to do.”
“So Bayne let Nero live, and then he betrayed you all. Your uncle was a sentimental fool.”
Rayna stopped in her tracks. “Don't ever speak that way of Bayne again.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Sensitive subject?”
Rayna forced her anger out with a quick breath. “I thought you wanted to know about Nero?”
He nodded for her to continue.
“The other night, when I spoke to you in the brig, I mentioned our former lead healer, Thera. She and my aunt helped Nero after the fight. But, when he was left alone with Thera…” The tears could not be stopped now. Rayna had not discovered Thera’s mutilated body, but she'd seen it in her visions.
“I see,” Kado said.
“Thera was so important to the pack, to me. And, she was Roxen’s mother.”
“My father killed Roxen’s mother?”
“And then, Roxen killed your father.”
“He must really hate me.”
Rayna shook her head. “Roxen is a good man. He’s better than good, actually. He doesn’t hate you, but it probably isn’t easy to see you, I'll wager.”
“I don’t know why I’m here,” Kado admitted. “I should’ve stayed in my cell..”
“No. I’m glad you’re here. Not only because you saved Katrine, but despite the shocked reactions of the pack, the white wolf stands for hope. And hope is exactly what we needed.”
“Well said, Rayna.” Marielana had led them to a small pond.
Frog eggs crowded around moss-coated stones and the scent of water lilies carried on the breeze.
“Please sit, both of you,” the Priestess said.
They obeyed, sitting on either side of Marielana at water’s edge.
The Priestess settled herself cross-legged between them. “Now, I'll tell you what I know about the white wolf. I am sorry for waiting this long, but I wanted to be sure. Which reminds me, could you shift for me please, Kado?”
Kado sighed, but relented. A moment later, his human form had been replaced by a pure white wolf.
“Dear Goddess.” Rayna covered her mouth as she took in Kado's other self in such close proximity.
His fur shone with unnatural brightness, a bright white that made Ice Wolves look dull. His coat dazzled like a faceted gemstone.
There was no doubt that incredible magic lay within him.
Marielana dipped her hand into the pond water behind her. She flicked a few drops onto Kado’s snout, murmuring something under her breath.
Kado’s whiskers twitched. What was that for?
“My apologies, you may re-take your human form. I had to be sure there was no glamor causing us to perceive your wolf form differently than it truly is.”
“You thought Terayan might have been trying to trick us?” Rayna asked. “Could he do that?” Her thoughts turned to Kellan's warning about Channon.
Perhaps she could ask Marielana to perform the same magic on Channon? Even as the thought crossed her mind, guilt lashed her chest.
She trusted Channon. She could not let Terayan's manipulations taint that.
Kado sat back down as a boy, wiping pond water from his face.
“I do not believe there is a glamor strong enough to fool a seer, but one can never be too careful where Tallis Terayan is concerned.” Marielana dipped her veiled head to Kado. “Again, my apologies. But now, I may speak freely. You must have many questions.”
“I—er. Yes, I do, but I don’t know where to start.”
“I do,” Rayna said. “How do you know more about the white wolf story than any of the rest of us? It’s a Fenearen story.”
“Yes, the story is Fenearen, but the facts belong to all of us. What I know is a mixture of research, magical discovery, and a certain degree of conjecture.”
“And what has your research told you about what the white wolf really is? Is it true that the coat is a sign from Lumae and Wolnor that Kado is meant to be a hero?”
Marielana pulled back her veil, revealing a playful smile. “Rayna, I would’ve thought you’d know by now that heroes are not born. Our fates are our own. Kado’s fur, and the magic it reveals, is a sort of magical echo—a twist of fate, like you being born into a seer line.”
“Magical echo of what?” Kado asked.
“Rayna, tell Kado what you know of the veil. After all, you’re closer to it than I.”
“The veil is everything and everywhere,” Rayna explained. “It runs through all of time and space in every realm, connecting them, but keeping them separate as well.”
“Rayna and I are twice-blessed seers. We are born of bloodlines doubly touched by magic: once by the divine powers of our respective nations, and again as descendants of seers created to watch over and protect Osterna. Our power allows us to see through the veil, to see times and places hidden to most. It allowed Rayna to pass through the veil itself, into another world, where she saved her friend Channon. You, too, are twice blessed.”
“I’m a seer?” Kado asked.
“No, seers are strictly
female, and born of four bloodlines only.”
Marielana’s words reminded Rayna of her dream from the night before, and the promise she had made Camila. Once Marielana had explained what she knew of Kado’s abilities, Rayna would ask her what she knew of the other seers.
“Before the first seers were created,” said Marielana, “before the four tribes were bestowed with the power of the four directions, an enormous work of magic changed Osterna forever. It is because of that spell, that you’re here today with fur as white as snow.”
“How can something that happened thousands of year ago influence me? What sort of magic could be so powerful?” asked Kado.
Marielana spoke in a reverent whisper. “A god-binding spell.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Terayan surveyed the nobles gathered in Tenavar's great hall from his throne.
Amblin sat beside him, the three other Council places left conspicuously empty.
Yards of black silk draped over the three unoccupied chairs.
Lords and ladies offered flowers beneath the dais, heads bowed in mourning as they took their places.
Once all were settled, Terayan stood.
“Thank you all for coming here today.” He looked away, as if overcome with emotion. “The Republic has never known such wise and gracious Councilors as Anders Amollo, General Paullus Caere, and Vazzur Darien. Their loss—their murders,” he raised his voice to a shout, “must be avenged!”
Applause and cheers echoed his proclamation.
“Thanks to Councilor Laevul's investigation, a wine-seller, Doric Hall, has confessed to the killings.”
“Traitor!” someone shouted.
“Hang him!” screamed another.
Terayan raised his hand to calm the enraged crowd. “You have my solemn word that the assassin will pay for his crimes, but, my people and friends, I must be candid. Executing Hall will not fully right this wrong. No, we must punish those who hired him.”
“Is it true?” A woman called from the front row. Her impossibly tall coiffure shook as she spoke. “Is the pretender Markus Seperun behind these attacks?”
Terayan stopped the smile his lips intended. Clearly Amblin's whisper-campaigns were serving their purpose. “I am afraid so.”
At the official confirmation of Maenor's involvement, the assembly again erupted with vitriol. Several of the men banged their breastplates, or raised their decorative swords.
Terayan laughed internally. None of these dandies had ever fought in a war—that was the work of peasants and lesser sons.
“My lords and ladies, as the sole survivors of this attempt to destroy our great nation's leadership, Councilor Laevul and I believe there is no other option, but to declare war on Maenor and their savage allies.”
His words elicited a frenzied cheer.
Terayan all but screamed to be heard over the cacophony. “Without a quorum of Councilors, the decision falls to you, brave nobles. What say you? To war?”
“TO WAR!” Men and women alike parroted his words back to him, building into a chant. “To war! To war!”
Terayan glanced at Amblin. Our Maenoren allies loyal to the old regime are poised to play their part in destabilizing Seperun's rule. Now all that remains is to recover the white wolf. Are you prepared?
Amblin's wormy smiled broadened. I believe Kado Aronak is overdue for another lesson.
Rayna scrunched her nose, considering Marielana’s words. God-binding spell? What could it mean to bind a god?
“What is a god-binding spell?” Kado asked quietly, like a student concerned he was asking a question to which the whole class already knew the answer.
“It is exactly what it sounds like,” said Marielana with maddening calm. “It refers to magic—old, powerful magic—that binds a divine being to a human form. It has happened four times in the history of Osterna. Surely you know the events of which I speak, Rayna?”
Shocked out of her private thoughts, Rayna started. “I—er…”
Marielana smiled. “It isn’t a riddle. I’m speaking of the founding of the four nations.”
“Oh, of course.” Rayna shook her head to clear it. “Wolnor sent his four favorite creations—the demigods Alvo, Lumae, Camila, and Igar—to Osterna, to imbue the four chosen tribes with the power of the four directions.”
“But,” said Kado. “Isn’t that just a story? Something made up to entertain children, or frighten enemies?”
“That is what the Republic wants you to think, Kado Aronak, that the old myths are nothing but propaganda. But you know better than that now.” Marielana’s tone was kind, but Kado pursed his lips as if chastised all the same.
“So,” Rayna spoke to herself as much as the others, “when Wolnor sent the Four Wanderers to Osterna, they were bound to a human form. But, they still had their god-like abilities. What I don’t understand is what this has to do with Kado.”
“I spoke of the veil.” Marielana turned toward the pond. “Imagine this pond’s surface is the veil: A still, but permeable, layer separating the realms of air and water.”
“But the veil isn’t permeable,” said Rayna. “You told me that sending Channon’s living soul and body through the veil tore a hole through it.”
“Indeed,” Marielana said. “But millennia ago, the veil was a different beast, and the lines between the realms were far less distinct. Wolnor sent the Wanderers through without damaging the veil, but that does not mean there were not consequences.” She palmed a pebble. “This stone represents powerful magic, such as that used to incarnate the Wanderers.” Marielana dropped the stone into the pond.
It fell through the pond’s surface, landing on the muddy bottom.
“I don’t understand,” Rayna said.
“I think I do.” Kado’s dark eyes tracked the pond’s surface, where rings disturbed the formerly placid surface. “The veil wasn’t pierced, but it was disturbed.”
This was a new side to Kado Rayna had not seen. Something about the mystery unfolding around them, the questions being posed and answered, seemed to focus him.
“Precisely.” Marielana dropped in three more stones in quick succession. “When powerful magic disrupts the veil, there are echoes of that magic. It reverberates through time and space—an after-image of the original. Knowing precisely when such echoes appear can be difficult—see how the rings interfere with one another, altering their paths? But, sometimes, there are telling features of the original event that are mirrored in its after-effects.”
“Features like the color of a coat?” Rayna asked.
“So.” Kado’s broad face scrunched in thought. “Lumae had a white wolf coat. The white wolf hero from a thousand years ago was what? Her reincarnation?”
“No. The rings are not the stone.” Marielana tapped her finger against her thigh thoughtfully. “Aspects of the magic that gave Lumae her power in human form reverberated through the veil, attaching themselves to souls that existed in different times and places. The hero the Fenearens speak of was one such soul. You are another. You're not a third coming of the Goddess, but rather a vessel for her power, as Rayna and I are vessels for our seer line. You are twice-blessed as we are, but your blessing is one of chance, not genealogy.”
“But what does it mean? What kind of powers am I supposed to have?”
“The answer to that question is one only you can discover, Kado.”
“How? How can I build on these powers?”
“I believe the path will come to you in time. For now, we have a more pressing issue.”
“More pressing than the white wolf?” Rayna scoffed.
“Before his escape, Kado was Terayan’s prisoner. We must assume that Terayan knew who and what Kado was, and had some purpose in mind for him.”
“He did.” Kado growled. “Making me kill.”
“Beyond that, I’m afraid.” Marielana squeezed his shoulder, though he pulled away. “I think Terayan forced you to kill for his own sick entertainment, perverting a scion of Lumae into a k
iller likely gave him satisfaction. But I do not believe Terayan would throw you away for entertainment alone. He would be aware of the divine magic running through your veins, and must’ve been planning to utilize it in some way.”
“You mean as a…” Rayna cast her gaze to the ground. “A sacrifice?”
Marielana nodded. “Perhaps, but to what end I cannot say. Which is precisely why you and I need to discover Terayan’s plot, Rayna.”
Happy to steer the conversation away from Kado, Rayna shared what she had learned the previous night. “Three of the Founders came to me last night. They said we had to find the fourth seer. Maybe she can help us learn Terayan’s mind?”
“Yes, my own visions have led me to much the same conclusion.”
“But,” said Rayna. “Why did they tell me to find the fourth? Why skip the third?”
“Ah.” Marielana sighed. “I had wondered when you would ask me that. Rayna, the third seer line, that of Maenor, is extinct.”
“Extinct?” Rayna's heart pounded. “How? The Demetrians, or—” She broke off at Marielana’s pitying expression.
“The Maenoren seer line died with its last descendant: Morna Helena.”
The name hit Rayna like a slap in the face. She exhaled. “Morna…”
“Who was Morna Helena?” Kado demanded. “Why do we care she's dead?”
“Rhael Demetrian’s adviser and lover,” Marielana said matter-of-factly.
“I remember the first time I saw her.” Rayna swallowed. “A shiver ran up my spine. It was like I knew her. I think in some way, I always knew that she and I were…” How was she to end that thought? What was Morna to her? An object of pity, an enemy, or a lost sister?
“Are you sure she was the last? She had no family at all?”
“None close enough to carry the magic,” Marielana answered.
“What happened to this Morna Helena?” Kado asked.
“She tried to kill me.” Rayna blinked away a foolish tear. Was it guilt she felt, or something else? “Mina shot an arrow through her heart.”
“Morna was lost to us long before then, Rayna. Her misguided love for Rhael Demetrian had twisted her soul so that her divine blood ran like poison through her veins.”
Twice Blessed Page 36
