Sapient Salvation 3: The Divining (Sapient Salvation Series)

by Jayne Faith

  Table of Contents

  The Divining

  Copyright

  Also by Jayne Faith

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  The Divining

  SAPIENT SALVATION BOOK 3

  JAYNE FAITH

  Copyright

  Sapient Salvation 3: The Divining

  Copyright © 2015, 2016 by Jayne Faith

  All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to a real person, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the authors.

  Sapient salvation 3: the divining / a novel by Jayne Faith

  Ebook Edition ISBN: 978-0-9970260-1-6

  Edited by: Tia Silverthorne Bach of Indie Books Gone Wild

  Published in the United States of America

  Also by Jayne Faith

  The Seas of Time

  The Laws of Attraction

  Sapient Salvation Series

  Book 1: The Selection

  Book 2: The Awakening

  Book 3: The Divining

  Book 4: The Claiming

  1

  Toric

  I TRIED TO ignore the sinking feeling in my gut when the doors to the royal family dining room swung shut, leaving me alone with Mother, Jeric, Akantha, my sister Cassi, and Cassi’s husband Ralor. As a child, I’d eaten countless meals in the room with my family and attended many family dinners there as an adult, but since my father’s passing, it never felt quite right. Perhaps it was because I had assumed the place at the head of the table, the chair I still thought as his.

  That night I had two new reasons for my discomfort, which made it difficult to act relaxed and engage in family pleasantries. One was Akantha’s presence. It was her first time attending a royal family dinner, and knowing that she had a rightful seat at the table—knowing that I had foolishly made it possible by endorsing her engagement to my brother—was a needle in my side.

  The second reason for my disquiet was one that prevented me from looking across the table at my mother, for fear of betraying my anger. High Priestess Lunaria had recently confirmed to me that Queen Stella was responsible for Maya’s kidnapping after the first Tournament challenge. Maya had been drugged and concealed deep in the palace basement, and I believed Mother had intended the dose to be fatal.

  But I still didn’t know why, and I needed to arm myself with more knowledge—and preferably some damning proof of her actions—before I could confront her.

  My eyes skipped past Mother as I looked around the table. What other secrets were in attendance? What ugly betrayals were concealed behind these faces? My gaze rested briefly on Cassi, and something inside my chest loosened just a bit. Cassi, somehow, had turned out good. She possessed a purity that reminded me a bit of Maya.

  “Jeric, you look as if you could use an herbal tonic,” Mother said. “You’re terribly pale. You look as if you haven’t slept in a week. Has your bride-to-be not ordered you to stay in bed until some color returns to your cheeks?”

  Akantha shifted on her seat and gave Mother a thin, cool smile. “I’ve tried to persuade him to rest, my Lady, but the Tournament has prevented me from staying by his side.”

  “I’m fine, Mother.” Jeric’s voice was raspy, as if he hadn’t spoken in days. “Just a touch of a cold.”

  He muttered something unintelligible under his breath, and I could have sworn that it included Maya’s name. My heart lurched as I glanced at the others to try to discern whether they’d heard it, too. Mother gave a hum of disapproval as she beckoned to one of the servants and ordered a medicinal tonic for my brother. Akantha’s expression didn’t change. Perhaps I’d imagined that Jeric had said Maya’s name.

  Cassi traded a glance with me, concern etched on her face. I couldn’t blame her. Our brother looked terrible, and he was not acting like himself.

  At a casual glance, Jeric appeared to have contracted some sort of wasting disease. He’d lost weight, which had hollowed out his cheeks. The dark smudges under his eyes gave him a haunted look, and his shoulders seemed to have acquired a permanent hunch. His eyes were his only feature that still looked enlivened. But they were glassy and unfocused, as if he were permanently high on one or another of the black market recreational drugs that could be procured in certain districts of Calisto.

  I was convinced his condition had nothing to do with disease or drugs. No, I’d begun to suspect that something else was at play, something that eluded normal diagnosis. I’d been meaning to speak to High Priestess Lunaria about it. Looking at my brother, at how much he’d deteriorated even just since his engagement party, I realized I couldn’t put it off any longer.

  Two servants circled the table, filling our goblets with wine.

  Mother lifted her goblet. “Two royal weddings. The birth of a new grandchild soon, with the promise of many more little ones. Such an exciting time.” She beamed around the table.

  I suppressed a groan. One of the weddings she referred to was mine—at the age of twenty-eight, I was required by law and by the sacred texts to take a Calistan wife. The only thing that could save me from that event was total victory over our enemies, which would initiate the Sequence for the Return to Earthenfell, making a new Calistan queen unnecessary. Upon the Return, the sacred texts demanded that my harem of Earthen women would bear my children. But if the victory did not happen very soon, I would be required to turn my attention to producing a Calistan male heir.

  I reached for my own goblet, using it as an excuse to look away from my mother.

  “All of those things are blessings, to be sure. But the most miraculous blessing of all is the annihilation of several of our enemies,” she continued, as if she’d caught a glimpse of my thoughts. “Every day I pray to the stars and to Mother Earth that we will reclaim our homeland in this lifetime.”

  I mumbled an agreeable noise along with the others as we all raised our goblets and then drank.

  “How is your search progressing, Toric?” Cassi asked.

  She flashed a silent apology to me with her eyes. She knew I had no desire to talk about the prospect of wedding a Calistan woman, but I understood she was trying to prevent Mother from completely dominating the conversation.

  “It is proceeding according to schedule,” I said and stabbed at my plate, gathering a forkful of fresh greens. “And you, sister? Are you and Ralor ready for the little one?”

  She patted her round belly. “Ready does not even begin to describe our feelings.” She reached for Ralor’s hand, and they grinned at each other as if they shared a wonderful secret. “We’re still bickering over names, though.” She playfully stuck out her tongue at her husband.

  Delight for them contrasted with a tight forlorn sensation inside my chest. Somehow, from the foundation of our privileged yet cold childhood, Cassi had achieved real happiness, whereas Jeric and I had . . . what?

  My brother had grown from a manipulative and mean child into a manipulative and mean man. And he had r
ecently faded into a mumbling ghost of himself, seeming to waste away on his deranged obsession over Maya while engaged to a woman who was nearly his equal in cruelty.

  And I, well, I was in love with an Earthen girl but would soon be forced to wed someone I did not care about. My life had a narrowly focused dual purpose: duty to my people and devotion to the sacred texts. Love and happiness were not priorities for the Lord of Calisto and Earth. They simply couldn’t be.

  Still, since Maya’s arrival on Calisto, I couldn’t help furtive moments of dreaming, envisioning a future in which I could marry the woman I loved and live an ordinary life.

  Not that the object of my affection would necessarily agree to the future I dreamed of. Maya and I had not spoken in days. My anger over the secret she’d kept—that Jeric had allowed her to speak with her sister back on Earthenfell through a portal—had faded somewhat as the Priestess had tentatively assured me Maya’s breach shouldn’t cost us Earthenfell. But Maya had made it clear she did not wish to see me.

  Sorrow over the rift between me and Maya flared into anger at my mother and at Jeric for being so stupid with Maya and for bringing Akantha into our midst. My eyes settled on the Mistress of Tournament.

  “Akantha, I’ve been meaning to ask you: however did you come up with the next Tournament challenge for the Offered women?” I gave her a pleasant crinkle of my eyes, knowing full well she had designed the challenge at least in part as an attempt to humiliate me. “It’s quite unorthodox.”

  Mother set down her fork to give a little clap of her hands under her chin. “Yes, Akantha, do tell us about the challenge!”

  I wondered if it was an act, if Mother truly had not heard about the details of the challenge. It hadn’t been publicly announced yet—only I, the Priestess, the Tournament guides, and the Offered had been informed—but surely the news had leaked to one of my mother’s spies.

  “Please do describe in detail how the women’s challenge will work.” I gave Akantha an encouraging nod.

  It was worth any discomfort this discussion might cause me personally to see Akantha squirm. She held all of the power in the Tournament, but I wanted her to answer for her decisions.

  She cleared her throat, cast an uneasy glance around the table, and then tipped her head down as if the contents of her salad plate fascinated her. “The challenge is, ah, one of seduction. Each Offered girl will spend a night with Lord Toric. It will be an opportunity for the girls to show how they might, ah, entice Lord Toric if they were actually part of the harem.”

  My mother’s brows shot halfway up her forehead. If she was feigning surprise about the challenge, she was putting on a decent show.

  “Oh my.” Mother placed a hand on her chest and blinked several times. “That’s . . . positively racy. Highly unorthodox, indeed.” She gave me a long glance, obviously trying to gauge my feelings about the challenge, but I afforded her only the blandest of smiles.

  “I cannot disagree,” I said, my voice flat. “Akantha, tell us how the performances of the women will be measured.”

  The Mistress of Tournament cleared her throat again, but then pulled herself up straight and squared her shoulders. Ah, there was the Akantha I knew.

  “I wanted to add a scientific element to the game, if you will. Collection of actual data that would figure into the determination of ranks of favor.” She glanced around the table with a round-eyed, sincere face. “We will of course observe the challenge as we usually do, but in addition to observation of the girls’ performances, Lord Toric will be monitored for various physiological responses, such as respiration rate and pulse.”

  Jeric snorted. “What about blood flow?” He mumbled. “Are you going to hook up an electrode to his—”

  “Let’s keep this discussion civil,” I cut in loudly enough to drown out his muttering. He went silent and resumed pushing salad greens around on his plate.

  Mother tilted her head at Akantha, giving her the narrow-eyed stare I’d always dreaded as a child. “You’re going to broadcast from the Lord’s bedchamber as women try to arouse him, as well as record his physical reactions to each one? How is this a proper way to treat your Lord?” She shook her head with vigorous disapproval and huffed. “This is downright scandalous. A terrible idea. And considering Toric’s penchant for whips and who-knows-what-else in the bedroom, I can’t—”

  “Enough!” I pounded both fists on the table.

  Everyone jumped and turned to look at me. A faint shadow of regret passed over Mother’s face for the briefest of moments. Or perhaps it was fear. It had been many years since I’d gone into a rage in front of her. Long ago I’d learned to process my anger in less violent ways, but I knew she still thought of me as unstable.

  I knew just as surely that she wasn’t concerned about how Akantha’s challenge would affect me as a man, as her son. No, she was worried that some of the humiliation I would suffer might splash onto her, sullying her in the eyes of all of Calisto. Disgraced again because of her twisted son, the son who was never quite right after nearly four years of torture and yet was allowed to take the throne.

  I pressed my palms to the table top, trying to still my shaking hands. It took every shred of my self-control to keep quiet about what I knew, about how she’d tried to kill Maya.

  Maybe I couldn’t yet show my hand, but I was no longer a child and did not have to stand for such treatment. I tossed my napkin onto the table, and my chair screeched across the floor as I rose abruptly.

  “Toric, wait.” Cassi reached out a hand to me, but I ignored her.

  My sister wasn’t at fault, but I’d have to make it up to her later. I could not stand one more second in the presence of the rest of my wretched family.

  A brief flash of surprise registered on Calvin’s face when I stormed out through the dining room doors. He and North silently fell into step behind me as I stalked through the palace and back to my quarters.

  Victor, my most trusted personal servant, was waiting when I arrived. I hadn’t heard Calvin speak into his earpiece, but someone must have warned Victor that I was in a mood.

  “My Lord, I’ve ordered a light meal and instructed the servants to give you privacy for the remainder of the evening,” he said smoothly, unruffled by my irate stomping. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

  “Send Sytoria in thirty minutes, unless I say otherwise.” My words came out in a growl, but I gave him a glance and a brief nod of acknowledgement and approval.

  He didn’t take offense to my mood—or worse, fear me because of it—which was a relief. Victor always treated me the same, with stoic loyalty and without any judgment. A few of the people I’d left back in the dining room could have taken a lesson from him.

  I hoped that I wouldn’t need Sytoria, that I’d be able to tell Victor I was going to retire to bed alone. But deep down, I knew that was not how the night would go. My love for Maya had enabled me to keep my urges under control for much longer than I’d ever imagined, but it had been a long time since Sytoria had come to my bed, and my recent fight with Maya coupled with a horrible evening . . . it was more than I could take.

  Sytoria arrived at my bedchamber wearing a sinister, heavy-lidded smile and very little else.

  “My Lord, it’s my pleasure to serve you this evening.” Her voice purred at me as she curtsied. The deference of her words was negated by the mocking edge of her tone.

  In a way, Sytoria reminded me of Akantha. Both women loved power and manipulation. Sytoria’s power was in her understanding of me. Nearly every time she came to my bed, she had an uncanny sense for what I needed.

  The punishment and the pleasure were the only things that could soothe the ugly tangled pressure inside me, and Sytoria served both as if she’d been born to do it. Almost as if she’d had a lesson from my long-ago tormentor. From Jade, the nickname I’d given the woman who was the author of my twisted needs.

  Later, after the medic had come to heal the slashes across my back and legs, I lay spread-eagled and
satiated alone in my bed, my mind quiet for once.

  I could feel the pulse of Maya’s energy as she slept. Her energy had mingled with Sytoria’s service of my needs, heightening the pleasure so that I’d almost felt as if I’d somehow taken advantage of the innocent Earthen woman. It was the first time I’d experienced such a thing, and the ecstasy was even more intense because of the new darkness that edged Maya’s energy.

  My dark angel.

  I turned over to my side and squeezed my eyes closed, willing myself to sleep before self-loathing filled me completely.

  2

  Maya

  WITH ONLY ONE more day until the next Tournament challenge, I’d begun to regret my refusal to see Lord Toric since we’d fought. It wasn’t that my anger had faded much. I was still incensed that he’d blown up at me and accused me of violating the Calistan sacred texts by speaking to Lana through the portal. After all, they were not my sacred texts, and it was Lord Toric’s own brother who had made it possible.

  I wanted to see him because, well . . . I supposed I was searching for some shred of reassurance. My strategy for the challenge was bold, and I had no idea how he would react. And in spite of my lingering anger, I missed him terribly.

  I felt like a foolish, lovesick girl, and I told myself over and over that I should control my feelings for the alien Lord and stop acting so ridiculous. I’d been back and forth in my mind too many times to count. For a time, my mind would convince my heart there was no point in wanting to be with Lord Toric when I knew he could never really be just mine. I would resolve that loving him was a path leading only to heartache. And then something would happen between us, and I’d feel his love for me so strongly and surely my own emotions would burst through every barricade I’d built around my heart.