By Vengeance Guided (The Lost Shrines Book 1)

by Amberlyn Holland

  Fear began to cool the righteous anger. What had Gui shared with Daen? How much of the valley's secret knowledge had been spilled? What, exactly, had Wyn come to find? Had she inadvertently showed it to him when she'd welcomed him within the Circle?

  "There is something odd here, but it isn't like any magic or sorcery or witchery I have ever seen. They say they remember the old ways better than most."

  "You believe those old wives’ stories?"

  "I haven't found a better explanation yet."

  Still, Wyn was keeping some of her secrets. Why? What game was he playing, telling one story to Daen and another to her?

  "And your lack of knowledge, it has nothing to do with Lia, herself?" Again, Wyn remained silent. "Gui suggested the two of you have become inappropriately close."

  "You wanted answers." Wyn's growl now had a knife-edged danger to it. "In a tight-knit, tight-lipped community like this, I had to get close to find the truth."

  Fury boiled over inside of her, sparking off a torrent of dark, fierce emotions that washed away any logic or reason. The look of shock and surprise both men wore when she barreled around the corner was mildly satisfying but Lia wanted more. She wanted answers and she wanted blood.

  "What truths? What could you possibly need to know that you had to send a spy for, Daen?"

  The Prince straightened his shoulders, the faint wrinkles around his eyes tightening. But he wasn't the real target of her pain-filled fury and before he could lie to her, she turned on his cohort.

  "And you. You spied on me. You lied to me, Wyn." The barest hint of flinch in his blue eyes made her pause. "That's not even your name, is it? Another lie."

  "In a way. My name is Caerwyn. Wyn was a childhood nickname." He rolled a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug but his eyes held hers, a silent plea she steeled herself to ignore. "Not everything was a lie, Lia."

  "Maybe not but I notice you still haven't offered a surname. Or even an origin. You're still hiding more than you’re telling me, Wy—Caerwyn."

  Daen took that moment to step forward and remind them of his all but forgotten presence. His eyes narrowed chillingly while he watched the by-play between the two of them. A blind man couldn't miss the passion and pain that could only be fallout from two lovers.

  "Yes, Caerwyn. Why don't you tell her who you really are? Or, better yet, why don't you show her?"

  The snarl that burst from Wyn shocked her and she took half a step back, and he turned with violent fury to growl at Daen. "Stay out of this."

  "I think she has the right to know what exactly she's been sleeping with."

  What. Not who. Wyn's eyes looked torn between haunted dread and furious anger when they flicked from Daen to Lia and back.

  How dark were the secrets her lover was keeping? Did she really want to know?

  *****

  Caerwyn wanted to throttle Daen.

  More, he wanted to reach out and sooth Lia. Wanted to reassure her that everything was fine. Wanted to wipe the flickering wariness and hurt and betrayal from her face.

  He knew what would happen if he reached for her and he didn't want to see her recoil away from him. His hands flexed, futile and useless, at his side and he kept his sharp, dark focus on Daen, instead.

  "I don't think here, now, is the best time or place for this conversation."

  The Prince didn't even flinch at his danger-edged voice. He stepped into Caerwyn, daring him with an unspoken challenge.

  "You made a promise to me, Caerwyn. I'm just asking you to live up to it."

  "I only promised to look into your concerns. I told you that you might not like what I found. That you wouldn't have any say in the outcome."

  "What about me? Do I have a say?" Lia pushed between the two men. "Do I get a say in the fact that you lied to me? That you inserted yourself into my life to spy on me? To do what, judge me?"

  Caerwyn helplessly glanced at Daen, hoping for help in digging out from under the weight of too accurate observations. But little sanity seemed to be left in the Prince. His eyes were intense. Consumed with an obsession that burned from him like a beacon.

  So Caerwyn did the only thing he could. He fell back on the truth.

  "He believes you bewitched him. Used sorcery to make him fall in love with you. I'm here to find proof."

  The scathing look she cast over him left him raw with regrets. The hurt and suspicion radiating from her was a dark and dismal replacement for the warm welcome he'd had only too briefly from her.

  "Do you believe that?" Her mouth pinched white when she asked.

  He remembered the dark herbarium. The self-doubt and self-flagellation she'd tortured herself with over something she hadn't even done.

  "No. No, I don't believe that." His throat twisted tight, the words scraping out in hoarse rasps. He willed her to trust him as she stared up at him, searching for the truth. Skepticism lined her face, pulling her mouth into a hard, straight line.

  "She's got you, too." Daen broke into their quiet moment, harsh, surprised and bitter. "Don't you see she has you under her spell, as well? You have to Judge her. Now. Before it's too late for both of us."

  He glared at Daen over the top of Lia's head. "No. I don't have to do anything."

  The smile he got in return was full of madness, empty of sense or humanity. Caer braced himself for a fight, whether physical or verbal.

  Instead, Daen began to chant.

  Icy fear rolled down Caerwyn's spine when he recognized the ancient, familiar sounds. Words the Prince should not, could not, know.

  "Daen. Don't do this."

  Panic welled and the glittering sparks of his Attribute awakening flashed through him. He looked to Lia, who had stepped away, just out of reach, confused and uncertain when she glanced between the two men.

  Then it was too late. Power rippled through the air and twisted its way around him, through him, wrapping him in a prickly inferno.

  The alteration of his body and mind was a swift, painful shift. His brain went numb, his body burned and the Attribute wrested control of both.

  Caerwyn wanted to moan in misery when the wings burst from his skin, shredding his shirt in their wake, but even that was denied him. The Attribute ruthlessly suppressed everything that was Caerwyn.

  When the transformation was complete, Caer longed to look at Lia, to see her reaction, to reassure her. To reassure himself. Instead, Vengeance turned toward the one who'd called it forth.

  "What do you seek?"

  The traditional words echoed tonelessly around them.

  "I seek vengeance." Dark, haunted intensity stared back from Daen's eyes as he spoke with nothing but burning anger.

  "For what do you seek vengeance?"

  "I seek vengeance for the sorcery used against me. For the tampering of my soul, my mind and my emotions. For the binding of my free will and for the damage it has wrought." For a moment, the lunacy receded, and Daen's voice dropped to a nearly inaudible whisper. "I seek freedom."

  Then the prince drew himself up, regal and mad. "I seek vengeance against the one responsible for my pain."

  A long finger pointed at Lia and she took an involuntary step back when the prince and Wyn turned toward her.

  "Liadan d'Hara, stand and be Judged."

  The part that was still Caerwyn couldn't help but approve of the annoyed scowl Lia scorched him with. Even faced with an aspect that had made powerful men tremble, she remained strong and defiant.

  The shadows, however, had already begun to wrap themselves around her, twisting in a dark curtain that held her steady, opened her soul to be Judged for the crime.

  Relief poured through him like clear spring water when the atlas of her soul unfolded, unmarked by guilt.

  The shadows spooled back into him when the Attribute spoke.

  "You have been Judged, Liadan d'Hara. Innocent."

  Daen squawked in outrage but already the Attribute turned to him, whispers of shadows threading around the prince. "Stand, Prince of Galwei."


  Daen's soul did not open for Judgment, but a constellation of influences sparkled in the darkness surrounding him. Vengeance spun out connections and links and Wyn began to understand exactly what had happened.

  His Attribute used the shadows like knives, slicing through the star chart it had assembled until satisfied.

  Daen slumped, falling to one knee, head bowed and breath heaving from his body.

  The cold fog slithered out of Caer and his wings curled back, slipping under the tattered remains of his shirt. He shifted his weight to keep him upright as usual disorientation hit him both physically and mentally.

  Once sure he wouldn't fall over, Caer stepped next to Daen and laid a steadying hand on the man's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

  "Not exactly. But I think I will be."

  The prince didn't look up when he spoke and his laugh sounded a little forced when he answered, but it was enough for now.

  Unable to avoid it any longer, Caer turned to face Lia.

  She stood, still rooted to the spot where his Attribute had Judged her. Her face was pale and her hands shook where she clasped them in front of her stomach. Her eyes narrowed into slits and her mouth pinched with determination.

  "What. Was. That?"

  How could he begin to answer?

  "It was his Attribute."

  Caer winced when Daen answered for him. The prince's voice sounded a little steadier, but he wasn't sure now was the best time for him to be chiming in.

  "You're Milesan?"

  Her face and her voice blanked of any emotion when she asked and he had no idea how she felt about this latest revelation. After the morning's disclosures, however, honesty seemed the best way to go.

  "Yes. I am Caerwyn, Lord of Alwyn. Lord of Vengeance. Lord of Justice."

  Milesans made most people nervous. At the very least. Uncomfortable, scared, terrified. Those were all responses he was used to receiving when people realized he was a Lord of the Milesan. The reaction when they actually saw his Attribute was usually much more visceral.

  Lia's face eased, her posture relaxed, and she nodded absently. "Well, that explains some things."

  Caer blinked at her, unsure how to respond. He offered Daen a hand and helped him struggle back up to his feet, to give himself a moment. The prince groaned, wrapped his arms around his waist and shook his head.

  "Could someone explain it to me, then, because I think I missed a few pages."

  "Foremost, Lia is innocent."

  Caer considered her lack of surprise and the valley's numerous secrets. "At least, she's not the one guilty of using sorcery against you."

  "But someone did?"

  "Yes. A love philter. A dark, potent one that leads to obsession and madness."

  Daen rubbed his fingers across his eyes. "It seemed to work well. I think I owe both of you an apology."

  "No," Lia jumped in. She didn't look at Caer when she spoke but he had no doubt the censure in her voice was aimed more than halfway at him. "I don't think any of us behaved very well. Or were thinking clearly. Why would someone want to do this, though?"

  Caer shrugged. "I think he wanted exactly what he got. A chaotic political situation he could push and prod in the direction he wanted it to go in. My arrival threw his plans into disorder."

  "He? Who, he?" Lia demanded.

  At the same time, Daen's regal bearing returned and his back straightened into a sharp line. "Who did this? Was he punished?"

  Caerwyn held his hands up to hold off the wash of raised voices. Everything was always so clear to him in the moments after, it was hard to believe everyone couldn't see what his Attribute made obvious.

  "Gui. Gui was responsible for the web of sorcery. It—there's links to someone else involved, but the Attribute felt it had enough to answer the request. It's harder to Judge a person not present. Distance makes things less clear."

  "I want answers," Lia snarled, fierce and angry. "Let's go find him so you can Judge him some more."

  "It doesn't work that way, the request was fulfilled, the Attribute won't respond to Daen again. Besides, Gui is outside of the valley. Thankfully, he was still close enough that magic found him and passed Judgment."

  He shuddered at the memory of the last time he'd had to track someone down. His Attribute had pressed him to search for three days with little food or water or rest. His shoulders and back had ached for weeks after with the exertion of flying.

  "What do you mean he's out of the valley? Where? Why?"

  Caer shrugged. He had his own guess as to where Gui was heading but no proof.

  "I don't know where. The perspective is…different when the Attribute takes over. I only get the impression of distance without a sense of direction. I don't get motivations, either. Simply guilty or innocent."

  His eyes slid away from Lia, not ready to think about what he'd seen. He doubted she'd be willing to share the reason right now, considering his own secrets and lies.

  "I may know why."

  Daen still looked a bit wobbly on his feet, his face drawn tight with exhaustion.

  "He came to me last night, hinting more about the secret relationship between you two. I think he was trying to push me over the edge. Get me to do something reckless and permanent. He succeeded but I don't think this plan was what he'd been hoping to achieve. He tried to talk me out of it but I was adamant. Obsessed."

  The last word was offered with a self-depreciating smile.

  "He had to guess what would happen if you invoked Judgment."

  Lia sighed with frustration.

  "He probably ran at first light. No one would have paid any attention if he'd gone out riding alone. He does it every morning. Mostly to sneak off and plot against me."

  "If he was Judged, then he was also punished, right?" Temper seethed deep in Daen's eyes when he glared sharply at Caerwyn.

  "In a way. The magic binding you was twisted back on Gui. At some point in the next year, he will fall in love with something unattainable. My Attribute warped the magic enough to ensure a person wasn't the object."

  "That's it?" Lia asked, incredulous. "He'll fall in love?"

  Daen, however, looked thoughtful. "You said the obsession and the madness would keep getting worse?"

  "Much, much worse."

  The prince nodded.

  "Then I think it's a fitting punishment."

  -9-

  Lia walked stiffly back toward the manor, her body tight with anger and frustration. For the moment, she did her best to ignore the two men silently trailing behind her. Too much had happened, too much new information twisted and tied itself in a knot of confusion.

  Wyn was not who or what he'd let her believe.

  Gui had been so much worse than she had thought.

  And Daen had been as much a victim as she and the valley.

  A glance at the prince made her shiver. He'd obviously meant it when he declared he was satisfied with Gui's punishment. The madness and burning focus consuming him when he'd confronted them less than an hour before left him looking wrung out and exhausted now that it was over.

  Less than an hour. It was surreal that so much of her world had been shaken in such a short time.

  She'd known Caer wasn't telling her everything, but this… The man she…the man she had been sleeping with had been a complete and total lie. She'd begun to trust Wyn. Shared some of her secrets with him.

  None of it had been real.

  Ignoring the ache of loneliness, the pang of losing something she'd never truly had, Lia tried to figure out how badly she’d screwed up. How much had she given away? How much more at risk were her people and her valley?

  The way Caerwyn looked at her after Judging her made her think he'd seen more than he let on. Much more than she had already shared.

  A snake of dismay wound itself through her stomach, across her chest and tightened around her heart.

  The d'Hara family had kept their little corner of the world safe and secret for millennia. In the space of a few short y
ears, Lia and her sister had brought it to the brink of destruction and exposure.

  Poor Tanis.

  What a legacy they were leaving her. Now Lia had to tell the little girl that Gui had disappeared from her world, as well. He hadn't been much of a father but Tanis hadn't had much stability in her short life. Now, another underpinning had been jerked away.

  Lia searched out Tanis and her nanny, finding Gabrielle folding linens in the nursery. But there was no sign of the little girl.

  "Where's Tanis? Out picking berries with Nel?"

  "Oh, no." The older woman smiled. "Her father took her for a ride then a picnic in the forest. Said he wanted to spend more time with his daughter. Good to see he's finally learning priorities."

  Glacial fear froze her heart. The air in her lungs nearly choked her as she listened to Gabrielle. She shook her head in a vain effort to deny what she was hearing.

  A warm hand settled low on her back and Lia let herself rest into it. She knew it was Caerwyn. Knew she couldn't trust the support. But, Goddess, she needed it.

  Gui had Tanis. He'd taken her niece who knew where. Or why.

  "Is something wrong, milady?" The nanny finally noticed Lia's distress and the girl’s concern snapped the Handmaiden out of her fog. She didn't have time to be upset. She had to fix this.

  "Yes. Find Nel and Keneally. Tell them to meet me in the stables. I'm going after Gui."

  She turned and ran into a wall of men. Wyn stood right behind her and Daen at his side. Both men blocked the doorway.

  "What are you doing? Get out of my way. I have to find them. Bring her back."

  "I know, but they are already out of the valley. We don't know which way they went yet. Chances are, Gui is the one responsible for the attack on you. You can't go after them alone. It would be better if we knew where to start before we go chasing after them."

  Lia narrowed her eyes and let the frustration, pain and anger of the morning burn through her glare. "Do you think I'm being overemotional? Reckless? Immature?"

  Caer shook his head and frowned at her. "No. I think you're acting like someone who's putting a loved one first. The way anyone would."

  Anguish flickered, there and gone. The same bleakness she'd seen when he talked of his parents. Perhaps not everything had been a lie after all.