Shadowborn

by Katie MacAlister

  And then she was gone.

  A sob caught in my throat, tears burning my eyes. My hands and heart and soul were suddenly empty of Kiriah’s light. Hallow fell to his knees, his body bowed. Thorn hopped on the ground next to him.

  Deo looked as thunderstruck as I felt. I threw myself on Hallow, clutching his shoulders, wanting to protect him, and kiss him, and watch his eyes light with laughter. I knew then that we had failed, that we weren’t strong enough to defeat Nezu, and just as surely as Kiriah’s sun would rise in the morn, Nezu would destroy us.

  Nezu snarled in his strange language, regaining his feet right at the moment that Deo’s chaos ran dry. He spat an oath, then said in that horrible, grating voice, “Did you think it would be so easy? I am not such a fool—”

  Tears fell from my eyes onto Hallow’s bent head where he knelt doubled over, my vision blurring.

  Nezu stopped speaking, an indescribable expression crawling over his face. Deo, panting, his shoulders sagging, had started toward him with his sword in hand but now stumbled and stopped, staring when the altar behind Nezu shifted, moving as if it was liquid so that it spread out under Nezu’s feet.

  “This cannot be! You are not of this plane!” He stared down at the blackness moving up his legs in incomprehension, then fury filled his face, causing a red corona to form around him that snapped out at us, tearing into my soul. I cried out and pulled Hallow to me even as he struggled against me, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me tight against his body, twisting so as to protect me.

  Nezu’s gaze caught mine, holding it with a power that made every part of my being scream in agony. “You will not—”

  And then he was gone. The altar, which had sucked him into its inky depths, stood before us solid and immovable once again, with the light of the Eidolon’s torches glinting off it.

  Chapter 16

  “Do we say ‘By Allegria’s nipples’ now when we wish to exclaim about something?”

  Quinn, his jerkin covered in blood, one arm hanging lower than the other, and his hair matted with dirt and sweat, staggered over to where I knelt next to Hallow, trying to peel his tunic off over his head so I could see the wounds in his back.

  I paused in that act to glare at Quinn.

  He dropped to his knees, grimacing in what I assumed was meant to be a smile.

  “I am not Kiriah. Don’t you think I’d know if I was a goddess? I’m her priest, that’s all. Nezu clearly was in Eris too long and confused me with her because she sometimes favors me with her power. Hallow, stop struggling. I must check your wounds to see what sort of damage the chaos did to you. It was very clever of you to release it upon the altar, protecting the All-Father inside from Nezu, but I saw how much pain it caused you.”

  He said something that was too muffled to understand. I finally managed to pull the tunic off, exposing his glorious chest. I braced myself to find it scarred and bloody from the battle he’d had within himself, but to my surprise—and utmost pleasure—there was no damage. “It’s just your chest,” I said, looking up to catch his gaze. His eyes, his wonderful, dancing blue eyes, looked weary but triumphant, and so filled with love it made me feel as if Kiriah was blessing me anew.

  “Just my chest?” He smiled, his eye crinkles making my insides flip flop with happiness. He sighed in mock regret. “And to think you used to write odes to my chest. How a year of marriage changes things.”

  “I have a nice chest,” Quinn said, then toppled forward onto his face. “Many women have said so. Ow.”

  “Your chest fills my soul with joy, my heart with love, and my body with profound lust,” I said, unable to keep from caressing the lovely planes of it as the soft golden curls tickled my fingers. “As you well know. What I meant was that I expected the chaos to harm you. It looked as if it was consuming you.

  “It was,” he said, pulling me forward into a kiss that steamed my lips and lit a fire in my blood. “I couldn’t control it any longer. I hoped the moonstone would allow me to direct it, but that was all I could hope for. Until you saved me.”

  “Is there a healer about?” Quinn asked, moaning softly.

  “I saved you?” I shook my head, remembering the need I’d felt to bathe Hallow in Kiriah’s light. “Oh, that. I wasn’t sure—it just seemed to me that if Kiriah’s light brought life to Alba, then it must protect you.”

  “It did much more than protect me,” he said, his eyes crinkling again as he kissed my fingers, then turned my hand over so my palm was up. He placed on it a curved metal object, dull gray that was singed black in spots.

  “That’s…that’s your cuff. The one with the runes. Goddess, did I blow those off you like I did myself when I channeled Kiriah in Abet? But I didn’t channel her this time. She just fed me her power.” Horror filled me at the thought of the chaos running amok inside Hallow, uncontrolled by his cuffs. I got to my feet, saying quickly, “Don’t move. Just stay quiet. I’ll get Deo, and we’ll make you another cuff so that the chaos won’t harm you—”

  “You could fetch a healer for me while you’re at it,” Quinn said, managing to roll himself over onto his back and wave a feeble hand in the air.

  “My heart, my heart, for someone who apparently has a goddess living inside her, at times you are exceptionally unaware of what goes on around you.” He got to his feet and put his hands on my shoulders before planting a kiss on my forehead. “You did more than just protect me with your light—you burned the chaos out of me. It was consuming me, but then your light destroyed it just as surely as it would have destroyed me. If you need any further proof that you are Kir—”

  I clapped a hand over his mouth, furious, irritated, and so in love my eyes swam with tears of gratitude. “Don’t say it!”

  “Kiriah would find me a healer. She likes me,” drifted up from our feet.

  “I would know if I was a goddess!” I told Hallow, who just kissed my fingers where they lay across his lips. “Look at me! I’m not even glowing anymore. I’m just plain old me, a priestess and a lightweaver, born of a poor, ignorant, superstitious family. A goddess wouldn’t pick someone like me if she wished to hide from Nezu, not that I understand that. Why would the goddesses feel the need to be mortal?”

  “That is something I very much wish to know, and I suspect we will find out. But first, Lord Israel is approaching, and he does not look happy.”

  “Of course I’m not happy. May Kiriah blast that thane and all his horde—just as I was about to best him and drain him of the last of his power, he retreated into the spirit realm again. How is one supposed to fight a spirit if he keeps running away?”

  “Are you, by chance, a healer?” Quinn asked softly when Ella squatted next to him, tsking over the blood covering him.

  “No, but I do know how to make you sing with happiness when I flex…er…” She gave a soft cough, blushed, and busied herself dabbing at his wounds.

  “You!” Deo stomped over from where he’d been allowing Idril to fuss over the few scratches he’d endured during the fight with the Eidolon. He limped slightly, but the anger in his eyes was reflected in his glowing runes. “You are Kiriah Sunbringer! It was your sister who refused me aid when I called upon her! What good is a boon if there is a condition upon its use? I demand you make her explain herself!”

  “I told him using the boon would do no good, but he heeds not my counsel,” Lord Israel said to no one in particular.

  “I am going to say this just one more time, and then I expect everyone to let it drop, because I’m already getting tired of this.” I leaped onto the altar and turned to face the people who were slowly recovering from the fight. Torches bobbed as the Askia milled around in the background, hauling the wounded and dead to one side, while the few who were mobile moved forward to form a semicircle. Light flickered and moved with the breeze from the shore, making shadows dance eerily. Despite that, I lifted my chin and said in a near shout
, “Nezu was wrong! I am not Kiriah Sunbringer! I am her priestess, and a lightweaver, and yes, sometimes I am blessed in her sight, but blessed does not a goddess make! Half the time I can’t even pull her power—she only seems to give it to me when it pleases her, which again, is not something I would do if I had her abilities! And I swear, if just one more person tells me I’m Kiriah, I will smite them!”

  “You do know that only goddesses can smite others at will,” Deo pointed out, but some of the anger in his face eased.

  I pointed at him. “You’re going to be first if you keep that up!”

  “Allegria!” he roared, outraged.

  “Well, stop being so annoying,” I snapped, taking Hallow’s offered hand and jumping down off the altar. “It’s as much as a sane woman can bear.”

  “Ah, my heart,” Hallow said, giving me a swift kiss before turning me and gently pushing me up the incline to the road. “I can see that you will ever keep me on my toes what with all the smiting, and chest odes, and swing usage there is in our future.”

  “There is much that remains to be done,” Deo said an hour later as we headed north while several men with torches led the way. Those of us who were Fireborn disliked traveling at night, but no one wanted to remain at the altar, even if the Askia would have allowed it. As it was, they had hustled us out of there as quickly as they could manage, saying not one word about what had happened. “I have made a list.”

  “How very scholarly of you,” I said. “The next thing we know, you will read a book.”

  “I read books all the time, priestling,” he said with lofty disregard of the fact that he’d told me the year before that he never understood the attraction that ‘dusty old tomes’ held for Hallow. “Idril suggested I make a list, so that we might prioritize the many claims on my attention. First and foremost, I must reclaim Starfall for my mother. Lyl will not go unpunished for what he has done.”

  “No, the first thing on the list is returning to Aryia, so that I may take my father’s place leading the tribe,” Idril insisted, steering her horse close enough that she could smack him on the thigh.

  “Then, of course, we must free my mother from whatever hold the water talkers have on her,” he continued, absently rubbing his thigh.

  “First the Tribe of Idril, then Starfall, then the queen,” Idril corrected.

  “What about the thane?” I asked, glancing at Hallow. He’d been silent for the last half hour, but he didn’t look as if he was ailing. His back wounds had healed up—no doubt thanks to Kiriah’s blessed light—and he said that he could no longer feel the chaos magic within him. “He could pop out of the spirit world at any time and attack again.”

  “For what purpose?” Deo asked.

  I thought about that. “Well…he doesn’t like us. Revenge?”

  “It’s possible, but not very probable,” Deo allowed. “In any case, the Eidolon are the arcanist’s problem. As Master of Kelos, he should have the ability to deal with them.”

  “Yes, well, until Lyl gives him back Thorn’s staff and relinquishes that title, the point is moot,” I said, nudging Hallow’s calf with the toe of my boot. Buttercup didn’t appreciate my riding her so close to Penn in order to do so, and tried to nip the horse on the shoulder.

  “Hmm?” Hallow looked over to me, frowning at Buttercup’s bared teeth. “No,” he told her, moving Penn to the side a smidgen. “He has done nothing wrong, and you may not take out your bad temper on him.”

  Penn nodded his head in agreement.

  “The Eidolon?” I asked Hallow.

  “What about them?”

  “Are they going to attack again?” I searched his eyes, but there was no shadow of pain in them, no sign of anything worrying him. Perhaps he was tired, or just introspective after the confrontation with Nezu.

  He thought about that question. “That’s hard to say. They have no reason to now that Nezu is out of their reach. But the Eidolon are not noted for their willingness to let slights to their honor merely fade away, so they might wish to seek revenge.”

  “Add the Eidolon to your list,” I told Deo.

  “No. They are your problem, not mine,” he answered, stubborn as ever. “Last on the list is to return to Eris and destroy any Harborym who remain there.”

  It seemed to me that there was much more to be done, but my mind was too tired to pull together my own list of tasks.

  It was morning, and Kiriah—the real one, not me—sent the sun to warm the lands and the hearts of her people just as we arrived back at Nether Wallop. I was exhausted, but oddly contented at the same time when I stood in the main room of Red Eva’s house, watching Hallow negotiate a bedchamber for us. Idril and Quinn—whose natural healing abilities had healed up the worst of his injuries—were arguing over whose turn it was for the room with the two ceiling hooks when Lord Israel entered the room, glancing around it.

  He stopped next to me, his eyes shadowed. I’d never felt comfortable with him, not since he’d first tried to have me imprisoned and beheaded, then later succeeded in having me banished from my own temple.

  “She fought like the warrior she truly was,” he said softly, his eyes watching Deo when the latter took Idril’s hand and hauled her, still protesting that Quinn didn’t deserve the two-hook room, into the nearest bedchamber.

  I looked at Israel in confusion for a moment, wondering if he was talking about Kiriah. Then my eyes burned. I blinked rapidly a few times. “She was a remarkable woman. I owe her much.”

  “You do. We all do. Alba has been diminished with her leaving it. I would not have you think that her death was senseless, however. Her actions protected many lives.”

  I said nothing, just folded my hands and sent a prayer to Kiriah that would she let her beloved priestess Sandorillan know how many lives she’d touched.

  Lord Israel turned his head to consider me, his dark amber eyes examining my face with an impersonal, almost detached air. “You deny that Kiriah Sunbringer lives within you. And yet, you have done more than even her most favored supplicants. Sandor told me when she took you in that you were a special child, one whose praises I would some day sing. She said there was much about you that most people would never see.”

  I blinked again, pained at the thought of Sandor. “I had no idea she felt that way. She gave me no idea of that—all I ever seemed to do was give her grief,” I said, rubbing away an errant tear with one knuckle. “I tried her patience endlessly. She was forever lecturing me about the proper way a priestess conducted herself, and she denied me the right to train so that I could fight the Harborym. I’ve always felt I was a failure in her eyes, her troublesome priest who ran off to be a soldier.”

  He was silent for a moment, then awkwardly patted my hand. “She loved you greatly, and took much pride in you. If you carry that certainty in your heart, you will never shame her.”

  My throat ached with the knot of tears that wanted to form. Unable to speak for a moment, I simply nodded and moved over to join Hallow, who was collecting some food and a skin of wine from one of Eva’s man minxes.

  “Red Eva says we may have the room as long as we wish to remain here,” Hallow said, handing me bread, cheese, a couple of apples, and a huge bunch of grapes. He gathered up our bags, and the wine, and gestured toward the room we’d had before. I followed him, pausing at the door to look back at Lord Israel.

  He stood alone in the middle of the room, his expression bleak.

  “The queen—” I stopped, unsure of what I wanted to say.

  He raised an eyebrow in question.

  I hesitated for a few seconds, then gave a little mental shake of my head. “We will not let her remain bespelled.”

  He said nothing, but gave a little nod of his head, then turned on his heel and strode out of the house.

  Fireborn

  Have you read all the books in the Born Prophecy series by Katie MacAlis
ter?

  TWO REALMS AT WAR

  Thousands of years ago, the twin gods Kiriah and Bellias made a wager as to who could raise the best civilization. Kiriah created the Fireborn, the children of light, who would wield the power of the sun and the blessings of nature. Bellias nurtured the Starborn, the children of the heavens, who would harness the arcane power that rippled across the night sky and flowed through all living things. And so the battle began . . .

  THREE FATES ENTWINED

  As the war between the Fireborn and Starborn enters the Fourth Age, three unlikely heroes emerge. Allegria is a young priestess who longs to honor the goddess of the sun with her battle skills rather than her prayers. Hallow is an apprentice without a master, eager to explore his power over the stars. And Deo is the chosen one, a child of both worlds who could be the key to bringing peace across the land—or the ultimate weapon in the war to end all wars . . .

  ONE PROPHECY FULFILLED

  The time has come for these three companions to choose sides—and seal their fates—in the thrilling first novel of the epic Born Prophecy saga by bestselling author Katie MacAlister.

  Starborn

  THE ILLUSION OF PEACE

  The battle for sovereignty among the seven lands of Alba has ended. The prophecy of Peace appears to have come true. But appearances can be deceptive. A new battle is brewing. Its outcome is dependent on the retrieval of a sacred triad of artifacts. . .

  THE REALITY OF CHAOS

  The hunt for the three precious moonstones begins. For Allegria, Fireborn lightweaver, and her Starborn lover Hallow, it means saving more than worlds. It means rescuing their friend Deo, prisoner in the shadowlands of Eris, where the secrets of the moonstones are buried. Steering Allegria and Hallow in their ocean quest is a mysterious lifebound captain. And he’s setting sail with a warning: no mere mortal has ever survived the journey to Eris, let alone come back alive . . .