The Temple of Ardyn (Song of the Swords Book 2)

by Tameri Etherton

  He gathered the shadows tighter and opened the door slowly. Two guards lay unconscious and slumped against the wall. He hurried past them to the far end of the battlements, where another pair of guards was splayed on the ground. Of the hooded man, there was no sign. He glanced to the other side of the castle, where he saw several men patrolling.If the stranger did not go that way,then where?

  His gaze lifted to the sky where he spied a single speck disappearing into the distance.

  Within the space of a heartbeat, Valterys shook off his shadows and took on the form of a levon. He lifted into the air, beating his wings hard to catch an updraft, focusing his sights on the barely visible dot and flew as fast as the bird would allow. Several times, he thought he’d lost his prey, but would catch sight of him once more. His wings ached with the brutal pace. His chest heaved with labored breathing, but he continued on until the evening sky turned a dusky shade of crimson and he lost the hooded man to darkness.

  He screeched into the sky, the levon’s cry echoing to the clouds.

  Taking stock of his surroundings, he turned toward the west, but not Caer Idris. At the Spine of Ohlin, he banked north. His levon’s eyes scanned the land for a suitable offering and Valterys dove with frightening speed toward a young maiden alone in a field. Without any warning, he transformed into a man and plunged a dagger into her heart. He covered her mouth with his, absorbing the scream. Her struggle lasted only a minute until she fell limp into his arms.

  She would make his flight longer, but he dared not visit Rykoto without a proper meal.

  He touched down on the snowy ground and shifted into a man, adjusting the dead girl as he did. Her blood stained his clothing in a long line of crimson. It reminded him of Rykoto’s lips and he smiled. His god would be pleased with the offering.

  Once Rykoto had feasted, he turned his fire eyes on Valterys. He held himself still, thinking of the hooded man and the assassin, not Marissa.

  “You have something to say?” Rykoto drawled the words, pulling them from the air and Valterys shuddered. He wasn’t sure exactly how far into his soul his god would delve.

  “The Shadow Assassin—I have seen him. Do you know who controls him?”

  A hiss came from the flames and Rykoto’s image flickered to nothingness.

  “My Lord?” Valterys begged, “Please. I need to know who hunts my daughter. If he is successful, it won’t bode well for any of us. As you well know.” Valterys regretted the last as soon as the words were said.

  Heat seared his face and bare forearms. “Yes, as I well know. And, my son, there is much else I know. You share the bed of my queen. She carries a son in her womb. My brother seeks vengeance against me. My lover guides the one who is sent to destroy me. Is there no one I can trust? No one who will honor me as I am meant to be honored?”

  The shaking in his legs reached Valterys’s throat and his voice trembled. “I honor you, Great Lord. Yes, I have shared your queen’s bed. That doesn’t mean we do not honor you. Quite the opposite.”

  The image returned, Rykoto’s weary eyes capturing Valterys in his lie.

  “Our goal has only ever been your freedom. From this we will not waver. Allow us our comforts with each other until you claim your queen. She is yours, my lord, as ever she has been. What can I do to prove my honor?”

  Rykoto sucked in a breath and a blast of cool air from outside the temple swirled around Valterys. “Bring me the blood and the blade of the one they call the Eirielle by mid-summer. Fail me, and I will devour not just you, but your son and my queen, leaving your throne without an heir.”

  “As you wish, it will be done.”

  Valterys fled the temple, cursing his lack of willpower. The tryst with Marissa had been foolish and had angered their god, forcing an impossible timeline. He flew blind, his thoughts whirling with plans. Rykoto needed Taryn by mid-summer, four moonturns hence.

  Impossible.

  Somehow, he had to make it possible. His life depended on it.

  Valterys blinked at the sight of moonlight glancing off the ocean. It wasn’t the Western Sea before him, but the Summer Seas. He’d returned to Talaith.

  Marissa.

  The gods help him, but he loved her. Had probably loved her far longer than he’d ever realized. Marissa used people to get what she wanted, he knew, and her ultimate goal was immortality. If he could give her what Rykoto had promised, she’d be his for all time. To do that, he needed Taryn. Needed her powers to be fully realized. He’d give her the training Zakael had withheld, and in the process he would take from her as much as Rykoto would tolerate.

  The god needed her blood and her blade to be restored. Valterys needed her power to overthrow the god.

  It was a brilliant plan.

  Chapter 28

  HUSHED voices brought Taryn from the darkness. She recognized Carga’s gentle tone and small hands massaged her limbs. When she tried to move, her leaden body resisted. Her mind drifted in and out of shadow, where there was no movement. The faces of those who came before her mingled with those who were yet to be. She drifted in a sea of in-between.

  She stood on the edge of a great precipice. Beyond her toes lay a bright vastness of empty space. Above her, only darkness. The land was barren of all living things. Tears burned her cheeks. She had caused the destruction, she was certain of it. How and why she didn’t know, only that the destruction was done by her hand.

  An immense sadness fell upon her.

  She leaned out into the nothingness and let herself fall. Down, down, she went until the ground rushed up to meet her. This would be the end of all her troubles. She welcomed death. She took it into her breast to nurture it. Death didn’t frighten her—in it she would be free. The thick air choked her lungs until she couldn’t open her mouth to breathe. Wind swept her hair and gown away from her, taut against her skin, tangling in the chaotic air above her rapidly descending form. Soon. It would be over soon. No more responsibility. No more worry or cares. No fear. Of the darkness. Of the light. Of herself.

  A thought.

  A face, and eyes the color of summer moss. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.

  “No,” she said aloud.

  Her fall stopped. Taryn hung in the air, shreds of her tattered gown spinning against a breeze. Her silver hair settled and then drifted again in every direction. In the harsh light, her Glamour glittered like tiny silver sequins against her skin.

  A memory.

  Long lost yet recovered in the depths of her soul. With a slight shake, she became a great beast with silver scales and long, sharp claws. Immense leathery wings beat hard against the hot air. She flew into the darkness, spewing flames from her fanged snout. An exquisite thrill ran through her, delighting her senses. Sights were sharper, sounds clearer. She’d found her freedom.

  “Darennsai, cara del tienden. Come back to us, Taryn. You have much left to do.” Carga’s voice beckoned from beyond the veil of Taryn’s weightless void.

  She called out to her friend, “I am here!” But no sound came from her lips.

  There is yet time. Dream, still. When you awaken, there is much to be done. For now, rest, little one.Daknys’s soft voice echoed in Taryn’s mind.Dream, my beloved daughter.

  Taryn returned to the warmth and comfort of her living death. There was yet time. She need not hurry.

  The touch of Kaida’s fur brought her once more from the darkness.

  “Hey, fur ball,” she said to the grierbas, wincing at the burn in her throat. “What are you doing here?”

  Your pack mates are concerned for you.Kaida snuggled beside Taryn’s fevered body.As am I. She whimpered and laid her face next to Taryn’s.

  What happened to me?

  The tree-things do not know. They feared you would move beyond the veils.

  How long have I been asleep?

  What is time to a grierbas? Kaida growled.

  Taryn suppressed a laugh. The effort hurt, and she closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around Kaida.

&nbs
p; Thank you for watching over me, my friend. Tell them I will return, but I need a little more rest.

  The next time she woke, it was to complete darkness. Outside her curtained windows, trees howled from a fierce wind. She stared up at the ceiling for quite some time before finding the courage to pull herself to an upright position.

  At her movement, Illanr jumped up excitedly. “Darennsai, you are awake!” She ran from the room, returning moments later with Carga. “Look, Great Lady.” Illanr put a hand to Taryn’s forehead. “Her fever is gone.”

  Several drossfire-filled sconces flared to life and Taryn blinked against their brightness. Carga pressed her fingertips to Taryn’s temples, sending ShantiMari flowing through her body. “Welcome back, my sister.” Her face was drawn, with a new tightness around her eyes.

  “How long was I gone?” Taryn took small sips of the water Illanr handed her.

  “Several weeks. I was afraid we were going to lose you.”

  Taryn rubbed her head. “I had the most peculiar dreams.” Then, remembering, she asked, “Rhoane? Is he well?”

  “He was only gone a few days.” She pushed aside matted hair from Taryn’s forehead. “He came to see you every day. He is very worried about you. As are we all.”

  “I think I would like to get up.”

  “In time. First, you need to eat. Your body will be weak from lack of nourishment.”

  “I need a bath.” She ran a hand through her dingy hair.

  “I will have Illanr and Carld prepare one for you after you eat.” She stood to go. “I must inform His Majesty you have returned. He has been quite vexed with your situation.”

  “Really?” Taryn was surprised. “I did not think he liked me.”

  “We Eleri are reserved in our emotions, but do not mistake that for uncaring.” She left the room and Taryn laid her head on the pillow. Tiny green shoots grew out of the four posters of her bed, each with a small leaf attached.

  With the morning sun came a parade of visitors, all eager to see to her well-being. When King Stephan entered carrying a bouquet of wildflowers, he blushed when Taryn asked where they came from, confessing he’d picked them that morning. Tears stung her eyes at his simple kindness. Eoghan and Bressal stayed almost as long as the king until Carga shooed them out, and they finally left.

  When the room was quiet, Taryn asked in a small voice, “Why has Rhoane not come to see me?”

  “He had some business to attend to today.” Carga would not meet Taryn’s look.

  “Do not lie to me.” Taryn’s anger pulsed in her throat. “What has happened to him?”

  Carga took a long breath, and smoothed her hair from her face before giving Taryn and even stare. “Rhoane is purified, but he is still broken. There is a darkness in him that has taken hold. He either cannot or will not remove it.” She sighed. “You were gone for so long. I am afraid he holds himself responsible.”

  “Did he really come to see me every day?”

  “Yes, Taryn, he did.” Carga pulled a chair next to the bed. “You must regain your strength, Darennsai. You need to think about yourself now and how you can complete your tasks alone.”

  Taryn searched her face. “You think he will not recover. The prophecy says—” she started, but Carga interrupted.

  “Prophecies are there as guideposts, nothing more. They are not an exact plan. Only you can make your fortune or failure in this world.”

  “I will not leave him.”

  “You must. Aelinae is more important than just one man.”

  “Not to me.”

  “And that is why you will fail,” Carga said with disgust and left the room.

  “Do you think I’ll fail?” Taryn asked Kaida.

  The grierbas lifted her head to gaze at Taryn and yawned.What do I know about the fortunes of man?

  “Apparently, about as much as me.”

  IT TOOK another week before Taryn had the strength to leave the Weirren. While she lay in-between, memories resurfaced from all those months ago, including her secret meeting with the Eleri queen. She rode a gentle mare to the wall, not trusting herself on Niko just yet, and dismounted carefully. Her muscles ached from the unaccustomed actions of riding, having atrophied over the past month, but she had to see Aislinn.

  The wall shimmered before her, a great expanse of ShantiMari that tugged at Taryn with irritating urgency.

  “I knew you would seek me out, but it is still not time, mi carae.”

  “Your First Son is broken and the purification has not healed him. Is there anything you can do to help?”

  Aislinn was as lovely as the first time Taryn had met her, yet the sorrow in her eyes had doubled. “Alas, I cannot. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give a loved one is to do nothing.”

  “That, I cannot do. He is my love, my life. I will not give up on him!”

  “Trust in yourself, mi carae. Do what you need to strengthen your powers. Rhoane will benefit from this. Seek your father. You are ready.” She slipped through the wall, leaving Taryn seething at the empty air.

  A peculiar noise, like the shifting of leathery wings, came from just over her shoulder, but when she looked, the forest was as it had been. Leaves canopied beneath a blustery sky; emerald fronds crowded the forest floor, bedecked with buds of white, red, blue, and yellow that resembled gems set upon a velvety lawn. Nothing was out of place and yet a disquiet nudged at her. A sense of something important she was forgetting.

  She rode away from the wall, frustrated with the Eleri. Not just them but everyone on Aelinae, including the gods. She peered through the branches, wishing Brandt were there to advise her. Never had she needed him more than she did right then. She took the moonstone from her pocket and kissed it.Guide me, Grandfather, for I am lost.

  Silence answered.

  Later that afternoon, Eoghan echoed Carga and Aislinn’s advice. He traced the runes on her wrist, his tricolored eyes, so similar to Verdaine’s, clouded with worry. “You must let him go,” he said. “He will return to you, but you must release him so he may find his way back.”

  It took her several days to gather the courage to seek out Rhoane. She slipped into his room and found him sitting at his desk, staring out the window. “Hey,” she said in a quiet voice.

  He looked up, surprise clear on his features, and, dare she hope, joy. But as quick as it came, it disappeared. Taryn stifled a gasp at his appearance. From his sunken cheeks and wild, frightened eyes, he looked to have been the one in a coma.

  “Taryn.” His voice, once so musical and full of life, scratched at her ears. He wavered for a moment before getting up to greet her. “You look well.” He kissed her cheek and then turned away to avoid seeing the tears in her eyes.

  “I have missed you.” It tore at her heart to see him broken. “Look,” she said, pulling her hair back. “I am full Eleri now.”

  He traced a finger over the delicate points of her ears and she shuddered. The gesture sent waves of wild lust pulsing through her. His lips were too close, his scent too fresh.

  “No,” Rhoane said, his voice coming from far away, “you are something much more.” It sounded as if the effort to speak was too much. He ran his hand through her hair and the faintest of smiles lifted the corner of his lips.

  “I will be leaving the Weirren soon.” His eyes flicked to hers for only a moment, then back to her silken hair. “I need to go to my father and learn about his power.”

  “Yes, that is what you must do.”

  She held his face between her hands. “I know you are in there. Come back to the light, my love. I can not fix you. Only you can do what I failed to do. I can not save you, mi carae.” Her voice caught on a sob. “When you find yourself, come back to me.” She fought against her desire to hold him in her arms, to suffuse him with her power. To heal what was broken.

  His hands cupped her face, a long thumb tracing her lips while his fingers caressed her as if he were a blind man committing her features to memory. “I remember you.” Tears rolled down
her cheeks, over his hands. He kissed his thumb and placed it on her lips, then put his forehead to hers and said, “When next we meet, may it be in sweetness and not sorrow.”

  “When next we meet,” she completed the Eleri saying.

  The next morning, Taryn left the Weirren early with only Kaida as her companion. She’d said her goodbyes the previous night and slipped out while everyone slept. As she lifted each veil, a part of her stayed behind. When she reached the glen and closed the final veil, she did not look back as she turned to the west and her father.

  Chapter 29

  RHOANE crouched in the shadows until Taryn left the vier. When he could no longer see her riding west, he stretched his cramped body and returned to where he’d left Fayngaar. His great stallion nickered as he approached and Rhoane pet his muzzle. A movement to his right caught his attention and Rhoane swung about, reaching for a sword that was not there.

  “Bressal.” Rhoane remained wary. “Come to tell me you were right?” He was exhausted and in no mood for his brother’s gloating.

  “Nay, my lord. Just the opposite, in fact.”

  Rhoane glanced at him, surprised. “Why the change of heart?” He pulled himself into the saddle and guided his horse in step with the other man.

  “I was there, at the ceremony.” His gaze drifted into the distance. “And afterward when she lay between this world and the next.”

  “As was I. Yet I cannot think of what you mean.”

  “I do not deny that I will never understand the workings of the female mind, nor shall I ever try. But this I know for sure. Taryn would gladly lay down her sword and her life for you.” He chuckled sardonically. “In a way, she already has.”

  When Rhoane looked pointedly at him, Bressal explained, “I saw her life before this one. She was happy there and would have remained so had Brandt not brought her back. She could very easily return to where she came from, but she stays. She has accepted every condition put upon her by you, her mother, our father, everyone, and why? For you.” Bressal’s tone took on a harshness Rhoane knew all too well, touched with a protectiveness he’d not heard in too many seasons. Not since their mother was living. “She deserves better than you, that is for certes.”