Truth of Embers

by Caitlyn McFarland

Rhys sterilized the short blade by heating his fingers and running them slowly down the metal. He let it cool for a moment, then pulled Kai’s hair farther out of the way, letting the strands run through his fingers.

  Kai tensed. Thanks to Owain’s torturers, she knew exactly how much being sliced open would hurt. Rhys twined their minds tightly together and tensed to make the cut.

  “So, Kai. How do you find Cadarnle? Not so hot, is it?” Cadoc grinned, wide and wicked.

  She was so caught off guard by the awful joke and his “all hail my wit” expression that a bubble of laughter escaped her. She didn’t noticed that Rhys had begun the cut until it was finished, blood spilling from a burning line down the back of her neck, just to the left of her spine.

  Cadoc’s long-fingered hand tightened over hers when she jerked, and his voice gentled. “The first bit is done.”

  “The easy bit,” Kai said through gritted teeth.

  “Just keep your eyes on me. It’s easy. I’m so handsome that my face overwhelms all perception of time.”

  Another little bubble of laughter. Then Rhys slid the dagger into the cut and levered one end out as gently as he could. Careful as he was—and she could feel that he was trying—Kai couldn’t hold in a quiet, high-pitched whimper of pain.

  Rhys plucked the thing from her neck and tossed it onto the bed, a flat black rectangle that glimmered, wet with blood. “It’s done.”

  Kai clung to Cadoc’s hand. The cut still burned and she couldn’t move her neck.

  “Rhys. We have to move,” Ashem said.

  “I can only work so fast, Commander.” Rhys reached into a small bag strapped to his thigh and pulled out cotton, disinfectant and gauze. He cleaned and wrapped the wound as Cadoc kept up a steady stream of murmured nonsense.

  Kai forced herself to breathe. To feel nothing. She was Wingless. It would heal soon enough.

  When Rhys was finished, Kai released Cadoc. His fingers were white from the pressure of her grip. “Sorry.”

  He gave her a rueful smile and shook his fingers. “Who needs hands?”

  Sorrow. Guilt. It was her fault he’d lost his other hand, but the longer they stayed in this room, the more vividly she could imagine Owain bursting in with his guards. More emotions to shove behind the door. More emptiness.

  Rhys noticed. “Kai...”

  She turned to face him. The pain in her neck was fading. Now that Rhys was here, she could think again. This couldn’t just be a rescue.

  This was an opportunity, and Rhys had to know it. Between Juli, Ashem and Kavar they could move through Cadarnle unseen.

  “What’s your plan to kill Owain?”

  Rhys’s gaze flicked to Kavar, still staring at Juli like he was starving and she was a doe with a broken leg. It was off-putting.

  She followed Rhys’s thoughts. Killing Owain had not been part of the deal. Kavar would expose himself as a traitor before agreeing to it, and without him they’d never find their way through the maze that was Cadarnle.

  “We aren’t. Not tonight.”

  Kai’s eyes widened. “Are you kidding?” she mouthed. “We can’t leave him alive. You’re inside Cadarnle. You could end the war tonight, like you wanted.” She shuddered. “Owain is warped. He’s convinced that every sick thing he does is justified and he’s so freaking charismatic that he’s got other people believing it, too. You have to take him out.”

  Rhys glanced from Kavar back to her, obviously torn. “He let us in and led us to you. I swore to let Owain live. For tonight.”

  Kai’s nostrils flared. “There’s honor and there’s stupidity.”

  “Rhys.” Cadoc’s voice held an edge. “We’ve got to get Seren.”

  The words seemed to snap Kavar out of his reverie. His eyes narrowed. “The Seeress was not part of the deal.”

  Kai looked from Kavar to Rhys. Even if Seren hadn’t been part of the deal, she’d have been part of the plan. Rhys would never leave her.

  Cadoc’s amethyst eyes luminesced. “She sundering is now.”

  Kavar strode across the room, glaring at Rhys. “You get her.” He jabbed a finger at Kai. “Not the other one. Owain keeps the Seeress, or I wake the guards outside and you all die.”

  Chapter Eight

  The Deal

  Cadoc shoved Kavar with his good hand. “Seren leaves with us, or I slide a knife between your ribs before you can squeak.” Ancients, was Kavar mad? As if Rhys would leave Seren behind. As if any of them would. Owain wouldn’t kill her in revenge for Rhys taking Kai—not the invaluable Seeress—but he could still hurt her.

  The biting fear that had threatened to eat him alive for two weeks was only natural concern for the Seeress, of course. Nothing more.

  It couldn’t be anything more.

  “We should do it anyway,” Morwenna said from beside the door, her eyes fixed on the hall outside. “We’re here. We should kill him and Owain.”

  “She’s right.” Cadoc turned to Rhys, who regarded him with serious eyes. “We’ve got the chance, Rhys. We can’t let this war go on.”

  Rhys shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Kavar cut him off with a humorless laugh. “Of course. You should kill me.” His eyes fixed on Ashem. “Go ahead. It’s your job.”

  Ashem frowned. Morwenna, however, turned from the hall and drew her sword. “If you insist.”

  “No.” Ashem grabbed Morwenna’s hand. “He’s kept his promise. We will keep ours.”

  Without warning, Kavar collapsed. Shocked, Cadoc looked from his prone form to Juli, who still stared into the middle distance and swayed a little.

  “He wouldn’t have let us go,” she said, her voice monotone and lifeless. “He wouldn’t be persuaded. I know where she is. I—I can hold the minds he was holding for a few minutes.”

  Ashem did not look happy about that. Cadoc wondered how many minds she had under her control, and what the consequences would be if she took on one too many.

  Stars grant they didn’t find out.

  Juli bent and pulled a flat, carved stone from Kavar’s pocket. She held out her hand toward Rhys, gaze somewhere else entirely. “Unlock Kai’s chains and follow me.”

  Rhys took the stone and pressed it to a matching indentation on each of Kai’s cuffs and the collar around her neck. As soon as they were unlocked, Kai snatched them off and hurled them onto the bed next to the thing Rhys had pulled from her neck.

  Rhys dropped the keystone onto Kavar’s chest and took Kai’s hand.

  “The dragons of Cadarnle will wake soon. We’ve got to hurry.” Juli glided from the room like a ghost, Ashem close behind.

  The empty look in her eyes made Cadoc shiver. He made sure Rhys and Kai followed Ashem, then exchanged a glance with Morwenna and fell in behind.

  Juli, with the golden lioness mask pushed up over her hair, drifted through halls, descending stairs and turning corners until Cadoc was lost. She stumbled. Ashem caught her, but even from where he stood several feet away, Cadoc could tell that her hands shook. Sweat glistened on her face, and he caught Ashem’s whisper. “You’re doing too much, jāné del-am. Without Kavar—”

  “I will do this.” Her voice was still flat, but it had taken on an edge as hard as diamonds. Cadoc supposed he couldn’t be surprised that the woman who bonded to Ashem would be one determined to do the impossible.

  They descended tunnels and stairs until they had to be half a mile underground. Finally, they came to the end of a long, narrow hall, and Juli stopped and pointed to a door. “She’s there. She’s...sick.”

  The way she paused before the word sick made Cadoc grip the hilt of the dagger at his thigh.

  “We don’t have Kavar to unlock the door,” Kai whispered.

  “Ashem can do it,” Juli said.

  Cadoc glanced at the vee command
er. “Will that work?” Ashem and Kavar were identical twins. It could be that whatever allowed Kavar to unlock the doors of Cadarnle would be fooled by the same genetics.

  “There’s one way to know.” Ashem lifted one hand, the other clasping Juli’s.

  “Wait.” Cadoc glanced down the eerily empty hall. There was no one else in sight, so he left Morwenna at the back and went to stand beside the door. Ashem and Rhys were so occupied with hovering over their mates that they hadn’t even drawn their weapons. Cadoc slid his dagger from its sheath. “Might want to get yours out, too, Chief.”

  Ashem’s lips thinned and he let go of Juli’s hand to draw his own dagger—short, broad and curved as opposed to the Elementals’ long, needlelike blades. He eased Juli back and laid his hand against the door.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  Then there was a click, and it swung open.

  Cadoc pivoted around the corner. Instead of a room containing Seren, he found himself in a short hall, face-to-face with six fully conscious guards.

  Cadoc swore and backed up a step, almost running into Rhys, who’d left Kai with Juli and drawn his daggers, as well.

  “Try not to kill them.” Rhys sounded tired to his bones. “I’ve had enough death.”

  The guards charged. Cadoc leaned out of the way of the first one’s blade and knocked him on the head. The guard fell back, stunned, and another took his place.

  Fighting was never easy in cramped quarters. Cadoc took a slice right below his eye and kicked his attacker in the knee. Bone crunched. Cadoc grimaced. If he had to choose a least favorite part of hand-to-hand combat, it would be the sound of breaking bones.

  Once they’d taken care of four of the guards, Morwenna squeezed in beside Rhys and Ashem. Seeing that their opponents were fully occupied, Cadoc darted past the fighting and through the archway that led to the spacious room beyond.

  Where the rest of Cadarnle bordered on bitterly cold, this room held a damp heat. It amplified the cloyingly sweet smell someone had deployed to cover the stench of sickness. Cadoc had to swallow down a gag as he took in his surroundings.

  One wall was taken up by a huge fireplace filled with a roaring fire despite the early hour. The flickering light danced off gold-veined walls, which had been carved in bas-relief scenes of dragons in flight. One corner of the room was taken up by an enormous four-poster bed.

  A scrawny old man cowered next to the bed. His gray hair tufted around his ears, the same color as his nightshirt. “No, leave me alone! I only did what he told me to!”

  Cadoc ignored him, strode to the bed and threw back the heavy golden curtains. The smell of sweat and sickness rolled out to greet him, but he hardly noticed.

  “Seren.” She lay on the bed with no veil, no gloves. Her red-gold hair was spread around her, but it was dull and lifeless. Her skin looked like wax.

  For a horrifying moment, Cadoc thought she was dead. He leaned down to touch her wrist and check for a pulse, then caught himself.

  He could not touch her.

  Behind him, Ashem entered the room. The Azhdahā walked straight up to the cowering old man and touched a finger to his forehead. The man collapsed, asleep.

  Ashem spared one bleak look for Seren before addressing Cadoc. “Juliet is losing her hold. If she slips, the backlash will damage her mind. We’re going.”

  Rhys and Morwenna came in, and Cadoc caught Rhys’s grin. “All alive.” The smile faded as he caught sight of his sister. “Sunder me.”

  “Is—Stars. Does she have a pulse? I can’t tell.” Cadoc could barely get the words out. The world felt like it was falling in around him, folding into blackness piece by piece. An unheartsworn male, he was forbidden to make contact with Seren’s skin. If he did, there was a risk she could heartswear to him. If a gold dragon became heartsworn, they lost the Sight.

  Not ideal when there was only one gold dragon and they were in the midst of a war.

  Rhys leaned over and picked up Seren’s wrist. A pause, then, “She’s alive. But her heartbeat is faint and erratic. We need to get her somewhere safe so we can stabilize her.”

  The world unfolded and Cadoc forced himself to move. Seren was alive. Everything would be all right.

  He helped Rhys use the heavy blankets from Seren’s bed to wrap her in a cocoon, careful not to touch.

  “Can you take her?” Rhys asked.

  Pushing away his misgivings, Cadoc lifted Seren’s limp body and cradled her to his chest. If he was honest with himself—something he generally tried to avoid—he savored her weight in his arms. The more fool him.

  Ancients, she was so light. Owain had only had her for two weeks, but damage had been done.

  They filed back into the hall where Juli and Kai waited. Juli had turned nearly as gray and waxy as Seren, but straightened when she saw them. Ashem positioned himself in front with Juli. Cadoc walked just behind Ashem, carrying Seren. Behind him, Rhys put an arm around Kai’s waist. Morwenna guarded the rear.

  “Run,” Ashem said through gritted teeth. “They’re starting to stir.” He swept Juli into his arms and, Cadoc assumed, getting his directions from Juli through their heartswearing bond, dashed back the way they’d come.

  Cadoc followed. They wound through corridors, climbing until Cadoc’s legs burned and even Seren’s barely there weight made it feel as if he’d tied boulders to his wrists and elbows. Breath rasped in his lungs. Behind him, Kai stumbled, but picked herself up before Rhys could do what Ashem had done with Juli.

  “I can’t,” Juli whispered as they neared the top. “There are so many. They’re slippery. They want to wake up.”

  “Just a little farther, Jules,” Kai panted.

  Abruptly, Ashem stopped and swore, looking down at Juli. “Let them go. Now or both of us will have to deal with the consequences.”

  Juli let out a small sob. Nothing happened that Cadoc could see, but Ashem’s face cleared. Then he started running again.

  They burst out of the passage Kavar had brought them down, sprinting toward the two guards at the end of the tunnel, who, though Ashem had told Juli to let go of all the sleeping minds, were still unconscious.

  From down in the depths, Cadoc heard shouting.

  * * *

  Juli panted, tears stinging her eyes. So many minds. She’d had them one moment, but when she’d let one go, they’d all slid through her fingers like water, taking her magic and energy with them. If Ashem wasn’t already carrying her, she would’ve collapsed. She leaned against him, breathing in the anchoring scent of cardamom and mint.

  Events in the tunnels were a blur. After she’d taken on more than a few dozen minds, she couldn’t remember anything, and she was too tired to even lift her head and look around for Kai. “Please tell me we’ve got her.”

  “Yes. You have succeeded.” Ashem’s thought was so fiercely triumphant that Juli mustered the energy to look around. Cold wind blasted her face. Above her were a thousand, thousand stars.

  They’d made it out of Cadarnle.

  “But not away.” Ashem’s hand was warm on her back. He addressed the others, everyone breathing hard from their race through Cadarnle. “We need to transform, secure you, the Seeress and Kai. Then we’ll fly and see if we can outrun Owain’s army.”

  Kai. Joy filled Juli. They’d gotten Kai. Ashem was there. Everything was going to be all right.

  “She isn’t running anywhere.”

  The cold voice froze Juli’s blood. Kavar materialized out of the shadows of the boulders that concealed the entrance. Juli gaped at him. When had he woken? He must have thrown off her power a while ago to beat them up here.

  Rhys and Kai were closest to him. In one untraceably fast motion, Kavar grabbed Kai’s arm and jerked her against his chest, a dagger at her throat. Rhys made an inhuman noise and leaped forward, but Kavar p
ressed on the dagger and a dark droplet of blood welled from Kai’s neck.

  “Don’t.” Rhys held up his hands, sounded gutted. “Please. Ancients, please.”

  “No!” Juli gathered what little power remained to her and threw it at Kavar, aiming a spear of pain at his mind that would leave him writhing in the snow.

  Nothing happened. She was too drained.

  Kavar flashed his teeth at her. “Sleepy, delbar-am?”

  Rhys lunged, but Morwenna crashed into him, straining to hold him back. Rhys’s eyes were wild, feral. “Let her go!”

  Kavar smiled. His gaze slid to Juli. He didn’t need to speak. For this, she didn’t even need their bond.

  Unexpectedly, tears burned Juli’s eyes. She had suspected this was coming—in fact, she had counted on it. But now that the time had come, she wished she’d been wrong. Ashem had been gone for weeks, and she’d only been reunited with him hours ago. She didn’t want to leave him.

  But her wants didn’t matter. They could not waste this chance.

  “Kavar.” Juli stepped forward. Ashem caught her arm. She caught his hand and squeezed. “Remember the plan. There’s no other way to find out what’s going on in Cadarnle.”

  Despite her words and the fact that he’d agreed earlier, however reluctantly, the muscles of Ashem’s jaw jumped. Then he moved. One second he was holding her hand. The next, too fast to see, he’d knocked Kai from Kavar’s grip and sent her flying into the snow. He grasped Kavar’s chin in one hand, the top of his head in the other.

  Ashem was going to snap his brother’s neck. “I don’t care what we talked about. I cannot let you go. Not so soon. Not with him.”

  Juli stared, still dazed. Shouts echoed behind them, growing louder.

  “If you’re going to kill him, do it and be done,” Rhys said, his voice like gravel as he lifted Kai from the snow. “This game between you two has gone on long enough.”

  Juli watched Ashem, half horrified, half relieved. The pain would be...great. She knew that. Unbearable. But after having both of them in her head for weeks, ripping her in two directions like dogs fighting over a bone, perhaps it would be better to have a rest. If she survived, her soul would be lesser. She knew enough about heartswearing to know that anything that took Kavar away, be it sundering or death, would slice away part of her, as well.