Sapient Salvation 2: The Awakening (Sapient Salvation Series)

by Jayne Faith

  When the strange white moving chair arrived for me, I was actually glad to see it, as my preparations had depleted my energy.

  I clasped my hands together in my lap under the light blanket that was spread over my legs, squeezing my fingers tight as my heart seemed to knock around in my chest like a restless little beast ready to spring forth and make its galloping escape.

  My two guards took me up the same elevator as before, and just like last time, Lord Toric stood waiting for me. In one hand he carried a small lantern with a lit candle. Something about it delighted me. Perhaps it was knowing that he’d put thought into the ambiance of our encounter. At the same time, the sight of the candle tugged at my heart as I remembered the Selection and after, when Mother, Lana, and I had gone home to our little candlelit house. And then when we’d stood with our arms around each other and tears streaming from our eyes as we tried to absorb the shock of knowing our lives would be terribly changed from that day on.

  I took a deep breath, pulling myself into the present.

  “My Lord.” I inclined my head for a long moment, my heart tapping away.

  “You are looking very well, Maya.” His words were formal, but his voice was resonant and warm. He raised his chin and looked at the guards. “Once we’re outside, the door should stay closed. No interruptions unless absolutely necessary.”

  His orders sent a thrill tingling through me. We would truly be alone out on the garden balcony.

  I took over the control of my chair. As if our minds were on the same wavelength, we both waited until we were in the garden, the door closed behind us, and then we began to speak at the same time.

  “I see you’re wearing—” Lord Toric began, just as I gasped and started to comment on the beauty of the garden.

  “I’m sorry, my Lord, I did not mean to interrupt you,” I said.

  I couldn’t help my wide-eyed staring. Strings of tiny crystal lights had been strung among the lower branches of the trees, and even though it wasn’t yet full dark, the effect was absolutely magical. I felt as if I were in a little fairy land.

  “I apologize for interrupting you,” he said. “I only wished to extend a compliment. I see you’re wearing the dress from Earthenfell. You look beautiful.”

  My breath died in my throat as I quickly looked up at him. His eyes glowed with intensity in the low light. He stretched out the fingers of one hand toward me and grasped my hand, which disappeared in his much larger one.

  “Thank you,” I managed to say, my cheeks heating under his attention. I was hyper-aware of his skin against mine.

  As if in a dream, I pushed the blanket aside, stepped off the chair, and left the control on the seat.

  “I should like to spend some time under the power my own two feet,” I said, my voice a bit airy.

  His mouth quirked and he nodded. “As you wish.”

  He kept hold of my hand as he guided me on a path through the trees, grasses, and flowers. The breeze rustled the fronds and leaves, surrounding us with dry whispers and reminding me that although this place was beautiful, none of the plants were real.

  At times, nothing on Calisto seemed truly real.

  I let my eyelids drift closed for a long beat, allowing Lord Toric to lead me, and for the briefest of moments, I imagined that we were on Earthenfell. It was the night of a fete, and we walked alone in the moonlit orchard.

  My daydream was so vivid my heart lurched and my eyelids sprang open. The wishful vision disappeared from my mind’s eye but left a glowing point in the center of my chest that expanded through me in a warm wave.

  If only we could forget the Tournament, open a portal, and allow the Obligates to go home. If only everyone could simply go on as before, living in peace.

  And would I go home if given the freedom to do so?

  My mind actually wavered for a moment at the question. I gave my head a small shake.

  Yes, of course I would go home if I could. Wouldn’t I?

  I glanced at Lord Toric. The tiny crystal lights accentuated the planes of his regally handsome face but washed out all color. Even the intense aquamarine of his eyes rendered to just another shade of gray. It somehow made him less imposing, less distant, as if he and I were created from the same palette.

  “Your thoughts have taken a serious turn,” he said, the slight rise of the last word making it something in between a statement and a question.

  I smiled, trying to cover my self-consciousness. “I suppose they have. How can you tell?”

  Faint stars began to peek through the foliage in the darker part of the sky directly overhead, and I had the sense that we were nearing the edge of the terrace, or at least the edge of the planted area. Before Lord Toric could answer my question, the path we followed ended abruptly at a chin-high wall. I gasped as I caught the broad vista of lights below and the rosy-orange horizon.

  There was a stool with two steps pushed up against the wall and I pulled ahead of him, tugging his hand, as I hurried to it.

  He chuckled at my eagerness as I quickly gathered up some of the fabric of my dress in my free hand and lifted it so I could go up the steps.

  Able to see the full view with the help of the stepstool, I lost my breath for a moment.

  A warm-toned purple sliver of the larger of Calisto’s two suns still shone over the line of the horizon. The sky was awash with violet and pink, fading to rosy oranges higher up, and melting into pale violet-blue sky directly above.

  “It was just about this time of day the first time I saw you,” Lord Toric said.

  He’d come to stand next to me, his forearms crossed upon the top of the wall and his face in profile as he looked out over the city below. With me on the stepstool, he and I were nearly eye-to-eye.

  He turned to me. “And you were wearing that dress.”

  My lips parted, and I inhaled softly and allowed my gaze to roam his face. “Yes, you were on your balcony when I came through the portal. I saw you too, though I didn’t know it was you at the time.”

  A half-smile touched his lips, and he looked down at the top of his wall, where he was tracing a crack, back and forth, with the side of his thumb. “I didn’t know your name yet, but in my mind I called you the ‘dark angel.’”

  I pulled my head back in surprise even as pleasure at such an intimate and unexpected confession zinged through me. “And how did you arrive at such a nickname?”

  He half turned toward me, dropping one arm to his side but still leaning the other elbow upon the wall. For a moment, he regarded me from under half-lowered lids. “It was the feeling I got from you, the energy you emanated—you still emanate. You are angelic in your beauty and innocence, but there is also darkness in your depths.”

  My hand crept to my throat as heat rose from my chest and over my face. I was grateful for the growing darkness so Lord Toric couldn’t see how flushed my face surely was at that moment.

  I swallowed and moistened my dry lips with a flick of my tongue. “I’m not . . . I don’t know what to say, my Lord.”

  His gaze slanted away, and he shifted his weight. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have revealed my thoughts. I didn’t intend to make you uncomfortable.”

  “No, I appreciate it, and I thank you for the compliment. It’s just . . . no one has ever said such a thing about me. And frankly I’m not sure what to make of the darkness you allude to.” I tilted my head, wondering if perhaps he meant something different than I had assumed. “I certainly don’t feel particularly dark.”

  Even as I said the words, something pinged through me. I thought of the conflicting emotions in my heart. My deep anger over the Tournament and its treatment of Obligates as disposable things that warred with my undeniable attraction to Lord Toric and the conviction that we had some importance in each other’s lives that was yet to be fully revealed.

  “It is something you have yet to discover in yourself, then,” he said. His hand covered mine for a moment. “But please put it from your mind. I said it only so that you would know yo
u made an impression on me. Before, your thoughts were already in a serious place. Is there something you wished to speak about?”

  “Ah, you do somehow seem to read me,” I said, relieved to have recovered at least a little of my composure. “Yes, I do need to ask you: what happened to my guide, Iris? She was dragged from my room by those men, the Monitors, and Tullock said she—” I pressed my fingertips to my lips, cutting off my own words. I couldn’t bring myself to repeat what Tullock had told me, that Iris might be executed for attempting to reveal something dangerous to me. I shook my head and dropped my hand. “Please tell me that nothing terrible has happened to her. I’m sure she was only trying to help me, and I couldn’t stand it if any harm came to her. She doesn’t deserve to be in prison. Please . . . isn’t there something you can do?”

  I gave him a pleading look. It was hardly my place to ask for favors, but if Lord Toric couldn’t help Iris, then no one could.

  He sighed heavily, and my heart sank a few inches. “The implant monitoring system has independent authority. I’m so sorry for the upset this has caused you, but if your guide was taken away by the Monitors, it was for good reason.”

  Frustration zagged a hot bolt through my chest. “But you’re the Lord of Calisto, surely . . .” I let out a frustrated noise through clamped teeth.

  “Maya, you must know by now that even as Lord I cannot control all things.” His manner sharpened, his tone taking on a commanding edge. “Absolute power is easily abused, and our governing system is structured with that in mind.”

  I did my best to dampen my outrage. “But Lord Toric,” I said evenly. “She was trying to warn me of an enemy. Maybe she knows who was behind my abduction, who drugged me and stuffed me into storage. She said that there is someone high up who wishes me harm, or something to that effect.”

  He turned to me fully, his face tensed. “What exactly did she say?”

  I combed my memory for the precise phrasing she’d used. “She said . . . she said someone very high up, someone in . . . I think she started to say ‘in the royal family,’ but her implant must have triggered because she fell to the ground screaming.”

  I wrapped my arms tightly around my stomach, chilled by the memory and also expecting that the conversation might trigger my own implant at any second.

  “Someone in the royal family? And you did not think to tell me immediately?” Sudden anger strained his voice.

  I drew back, startled by the abrupt shift in his demeanor. He planted his hands on his hips and turned away, muttering.

  “I’m sorry, my Lord. It happened as I was preparing to enter the challenge. Then in the throne room, the Oracle . . . Well, you were there.” I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself but suddenly a bit fearful. “It was rather stupid of me to forget that detail until now. But perhaps it could be used to help Iris? If she has important information about someone in the royal family, someone who was trying to interfere with the Tournament by harming me? That interference would violate your sacred texts, if I’m not mistaken, my Lord?”

  I tried to keep my words and tone respectful.

  His face was tilted down, his eyes hidden in shadow, but I saw his jaw muscles flex several times.

  He finally looked up at me, though it was too dark to properly read his mood by his expression. “I’m not angry at you. But unfortunately I must cut our time short and address this immediately. For your own safety, and possibly to help Iris, as well.”

  I nodded but still kept my arms crossed around my ribs. I couldn’t help my suspicion that there was much more he wasn’t telling me. And I couldn’t help feeling that despite what he said, he actually was a bit angry with me.

  “Do you have any idea who she might have been talking about?” I asked in a tiny voice. I doubted he would tell me even if he did suspect someone, but if there were any chance Lord Toric suspected his brother, I wanted to know.

  “I don’t,” he said flatly.

  He offered me his hand, indicating I should step off the stool. As soon as my shoes hit the ground, he let go and went ahead, leading me quickly back on the path. He held branches aside for me to pass but didn’t touch me.

  “Thank you for anything you can do for Iris,” I said.

  He gave me a curt nod but was obviously distracted. “The guards will see you safely back to your room.”

  And with that, he was out the door and out of sight. I stood for a moment, looking after him and then lifted the blanket and chair control so I could sit down.

  All the way back to my room, my stomach tightened with regret that our time together had not been the pleasant evening I’d anticipated. It seemed to let in all of my fears about my own fate, too.

  Would I even see Lord Toric again before the next deadly challenge of the Tournament?

  12

  Toric

  MY BLOOD SEEMED to churn and race within my body as I left Maya at the garden. I had to get away from her before I exploded in a rage.

  Iris had tried to warn Maya, had tried to tell her that she had an enemy within my own family. And I was almost certain now that it was not Akantha, for the Mistress of Tournament wasn’t yet part of the royal family. Akantha’s engagement to Jeric had been announced only hours before Iris’s warning.

  It suddenly seemed very clear. The one behind Maya’s kidnapping, the figure represented in the Oracle’s vision . . . it could only be my brother.

  Jeric likely had no idea how important Maya was to our future, to the destiny of our people. But he somehow knew she was important to me, and he couldn’t just allow me to have that in my life. He never could.

  It had been that way since we were children. He used my vulnerabilities to torment me. And without fail, as soon as he discovered something I valued, he had to take it from me. Or destroy it.

  Would he really kill an innocent Earthen just to spite me? It seemed extreme, but Iris had all but spelled it out.

  I gave my guards no explanation, and I did not alert them to where I was headed, but they followed close on my heels, keeping up as I stalked through the palace toward the royal apartments.

  When I reached Jeric’s door, I didn’t bother with the bell or the intercom. I beat the side of my fist against the door until the wall rattled.

  The door flew open, and Jeric stood there, shirtless and already red-faced and irate. “Have you gone insane? What’s possessed you to—”

  I rammed into his chest with my shoulder, and he let out a grunt and stumbled backward. I kicked the door closed with my heel and bore down on him.

  “It was you,” I seethed. “You poisoned her and left her for dead, didn’t you?”

  His hand was pressed to his chest where I’d hit him, and he stared at me with a twisted expression that was half-outrage and half-puzzlement. He must have just bathed, as his hair was combed back from his face and still wet.

  “Who?” He bellowed the word at me.

  “Maya!” I shouted back.

  That sent a jolt through him, and I saw his eyes widen. Just barely, but it was enough.

  I lunged at him and swung. He tried to jerk back out of the way, and my knuckles landed just under his jawbone on the side of his throat. It wasn’t the clean blow I was going for, but it was enough to make him curl over, probably more in surprise than pain.

  He gagged and coughed and then straightened.

  We stood facing each other, squaring off, our chests heaving. I could hear my pulse pounding in my head.

  “You going to punch me again?” he said softly. “Maybe you’d prefer it if I fetched some whips. Or would that just arouse you?”

  Rage flashed through me, and I lunged again. I didn’t bother swinging. I backed him up against the wall and closed my hands around his neck.

  He clawed at my hands, but my strength was fueled by my anger. He began punching at my torso and managed to box me in the ear. When his knee connected with my stomach, it knocked the breath out of me and I had to let go.

  He shoved his foot into my low
er abdomen, and I tripped, nearly going feet up over a chair.

  He slid down the wall, panting and rubbing the side of his neck where I’d punched him.

  He barked a short laugh. “You’ve truly lost it, brother. Your lust has finally gone to your head. Made you paranoid.”

  “I’m not paranoid,” I wheezed, still trying to gain my breath back. “I saw you with her in the ballroom after the first challenge. Trying to gain her trust. And then you poisoned her.”

  He gave me a long hard look. “So, you think I hurt your precious little Earthen plaything. But you have no proof, and you won’t find any. It wasn’t me.”

  Faint tendrils of doubt tried to creep through me, but I shoved them away. Jeric was a liar. Manipulation and torment had been his way since we were children.

  “You can’t prove it,” he said again. “I’ve never harmed her in any way.”

  “You probably didn’t. Not directly. It would be easy enough for you to find someone to do it for you.” I pushed a palm against my knee for leverage and rose to my feet.

  He stood too, eyeing me warily. When I didn’t come after him, he planted his hands on his hips and gave me a smirk. “Go pound your aggression into your harem women. You can line them up one by one. After all, that’s what they’re for. It’s all you really have. Your lust and your whips.”

  I leveled him with a glare, fixing his smug face in my mind and vowing I would have him punished, and then turned and left.

  He was right about one thing. I had no real proof.

  I needed Iris.

  *

  I wasn’t able to get into the palace jail until the next morning, and I did my best to hide my shock as I stood outside Iris’s cell.

  “I c—can’t say more, my L—Lord. Even if I wanted to. My im—implant has been adjusted. It is even more difficult to speak such things n—now,” Iris said with obvious effort. Her face was ashen and slack, and one of her eyelids sagged a little.

  She was on her cot, propped up against the wall of her cell. A tray of untouched food sat on the floor.