Page 15 of Stone Sentinels

Unsteady legs carry me to the desk in Pyre’s bedchamber and I breathe deeply to fight the nausea that rushes through me. The mirror in my hand feels as though it grows colder by the second, like feeling a thick sheet of ice with my bare hands. Its frame is bronze, decorated with intricate, ornate patterns that remind me of paintings I once saw in the mortal realm. I stare into the mirror’s reflection and sense an eerie shift within myself, as if the mirror reaches for something inside me. Many catoptromancers have found themselves ensnared by their own reflections.

For the first time since I was a young child, I feel grateful that I wasn’t given the gifts that plagued my brother through the years of our youth. My brother…

This mirror means I’m one step closer to finding Theren and getting the answers I’ve yearned for since we lost the war. I stand up from the desk and tuck the artifact into my tunic before I exit Pyre’s private quarters. When I turn away from the door, Dragan steps from the shadows, an impassive expression on his face. My heart thunders wildly in my chest and I do my best not to gasp my surprise.

“If you’re looking for Pyre, he’s been outside since sunrise,” the gargoyle rumbles. “But I think you knew that. Didn’t you, Cambion?”

“I did.”

“Then why are you sneaking around his private chamber?”

“I wasn’t aware that I was,” I say lamely. “But if I’m to be questioned for going into Pyre’s quarters, shouldn’t you also be questioned for borrowing Revenant’s key to the library to read books on your kind when the others are asleep?”

Dragan walks up to me and points to the two chairs facing the fire. “Let’s talk, Cambion. It’s been long overdue.”

He takes a seat and looks at me expectantly.

Fuck.

***

DRAGAN

The arrogant elf only sits when he feels ready, and that pisses me off. I lean back in the chair, ready to hear Cambion’s excuse for sneaking into Pyre’s room. While Cambion has always been secretive... this feels different. I can feel the guilt and shame coming off him in waves of regret and mortification. He stares at me as if he’s waiting for me to hurl accusations at him. Why he feels the need to isolate and victimize himself further is beyond my comprehension.

“For your information, I had Pyre’s permission to go into the library at night. So have Kolvar, Aima, and Eilish. Not just Revenant, though he’s the only one of us with the key,” I explain. “But you weren’t permitted to enter his quarters which begs the question of why you’re here.”

“Since when do we ask for permission for anything?” I demand. “We’re kings.”

“We’re only alive because Pyre made it that way.” I stand up to tower over my companion—not to intimidate him, but he needs to see he’s not the biggest asshole in the room. “You’re hiding something, and I’m going to find out what it is.”

“You always jump to the worst conclusions,” he responds. His response isn’t a denial and that’s Cambion’s tell. When he’s lying and you call him on it, he’ll never deny the accusation. He’ll simply reroute the conversation.

“If what you’re doing puts our plans or our lives in danger, I’ll have you exiled,” I say.

“Exiled?” he repeats with a smile. “Where to, exactly?”

“One of the territories here in The Veil, a place where you’ll be too busy fighting for your life to get in our way.”

“That would be extreme, even for you.”

I grit my teeth. “We’re close to getting this right. We’re close to figuring out what we’re up against and then figuring out how to eliminate whatever threat that is.”

“How close?” he demands, eyeing me narrowly.

I shrug. “Eilish and I are sorting through the prophecies, and the others are working with us to figure out what Morrigan, Theren, and Variant have planned. And when we’re not scouring through dusty shelves and old scrolls, we’re training in the clearing so we’re ready for the next attack.”

“Attack?” he echoes, brow pinched tight. “What attack?”

“See? You’re so consumed with your own bullshit that you haven’t heard a word we’ve been saying. The attack on theThrest, the place where Variant’s soldiers have been taking the fae,yourpeople. Revenant knows how to infiltrate their ranks.”

“How?”

“The same way he did when we were in Variant’s castle. He can get us close enough for Noni to lead us to the location—”

“And then what?” Cambion shouts as he shakes his head and looks pissed off. “Risk the lives of whatever creatures may be trapped inside? Don’t push Variant into doing something drastic.”

“Whatever they’re suffering now may beworsethan death! They’re your people, you fuck.”

---