Page 64 of The Oracle of Dusk

“No.”

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty, I won’t let you fall into any pit traps.”

“You had best be joking.”

“Hmmm, who knows?”

“If you’re doing this to prove a point about your capabilities, consider the message received loud and clear.”

Her laughter echoed in the chamber.

“It’s not far now.”

She stopped, releasing his hand. The sound of grinding metal against metal presaged a flash of light. He squinted against the suddenness of it before his eyes properly adjusted. And then widened as shock rooted him to the spot.

“Oh, good. I was worried the stories about this were just myths,” Aurora sighed. “Come on. I need to find some kind of weapon to defend myself on the road.”

“Yes, of course…” he replied, dumbstruck.

He stumbled into the glittering hoard of ancient artefacts, his jaw slack. Even one of these was often enough to suffice for a princess’ dowry. Several were displayed in places of honour in Altanus’ royal palace, the dowries of several royal spouses over the generations. Every single one could mean discovering an ancient technology that would change the fate of a kingdom. The last one that his father had collected contained instructions on how to treat torchlight fever. It had come too late to save Theron’s elder brother, but that knowledge had been used to treat tens of thousands of children, and even spared some of the adults for whom the fever was a death sentence.

How in the world had Orithyia kept such a hoard to herself all this time? More importantly, why would the high priestess of Knowledge refuse to disburse the gifts her goddess had bestowed on the world? Even if the hoard’s existence wasn’t enough to take down the high priestess, the secrecy of it would tarnish her reputation.

An irrepressible grin spread on his face. Blackmail of this calibre was usually impossible to attain without a great deal of bloodshed and gold. But his little fairy had gifted it to him for nothing.

It was almost too good to be true. Was this the beginning of some labyrinthine plot by Orithyia? Or had the Triad finally answered his prayers?

What could not be denied was that if someone meant to entrap him, they’d laid the perfect bait. As Aurora picked through the hoard, ignoring him entirely, he wondered whether she’d been put in his path to destroy him…or save him.

Theron couldn’t wait to find out.

Chapter 13

Therewasasayingthat one should never meet one’s heroes. Perhaps they should also say that one should never meet infamous historical figures. Especially the tragic ones.

King Theron of Aureum. For millennia, very little had been known about the first calamity, until a cache of documents had been uncovered in the parched desert of Altanus. Documents that, though badly fragmented, detailed the tragic fate of the last king of Aureum, and the first monarch to die during the first calamity. Cursed by Justice for harming the first hero of the holy sword, his story was often retold in fiction as a morality play on the perils of hubris.

Aurora had been able to shove that to a dark corner of her mind for most of the day, instead delighting in properly seeing and experiencing the ancient city of Boreas. Of experiencing it withtheTheron himself. If she ever returned home, she would have such stories to tell. So many misconceptions about the past that she would be able to resolve. And when the myths of the basement treasure hoard of the temple of Knowledge had been confirmed, her heart had soared.

The basement existed in her time, but it had long been used as storage. The treasure had been a marvellous find, made even more so by the number and variety of Pre-Sundering artefacts. Marvellous, and heartbreaking, because all those treasures would be lost in the intervening millennia. She fervently wished she could take them with her, protect them in some way, preserve them from what was to come.

It was a sentiment she was feeling towards her companion as both she and Theron left the basement to find that the sun was about to disappear beneath the horizon. She’d found something that would protect her, an ancient shield made of pure energy in the guise of a pendant. But how was she supposed to protect the man beside her? As he took her hand in his, shared a conspiratorial smile, and led the way back to the palace, she couldn’t escape the dawning horror that he was no longer just a story to her. Theron was here, a real flesh and blood man.

One whose fate was as grim as her own.

One who was ultimately meant for another. And a princess no less.

Aurora had not missed his subtle flirting, nor the unmistakable closeness of his person. She had not been immune to the pleasing scent of his perfume, nor his lingering glances. Neither was she immune to the rugged appeal of his face, nor his overwhelming size and the gentleness of his touch. The only things about him that were not overly pleasing were his barely-pointed ears, small and mostly-rounded that they were. A pity that they were so ugly, given the rest of him. But despite her fascination with his physical appeal, she was no fool. Today had been a test.

Could Theron be trusted as her new ally? If she provided him with secrets and useful information, would he reciprocate with assistance when she needed it in slaying Drakon? Would he betray her to win favour within Viridis? Or would he attempt to seduce her for more information, and then discard her when he assumed she had no more use? Aurora had met and spurned enough of those types as Phaedra’s only true friend to be wary of all flattery and temptations sent her way.

As he pulled her close, out of the way of a pool of standing water, she wondered if she had what it took to play along with such a seduction while keeping her heart locked away. It had been easy to turn down the advances of those who’d hoped to reach Phaedra through her. She’d had an imperial princess to shield her from any and all consequences, and no true incentive to keep around such noxious parasites. But could she afford to turn her nose up at these games when she had no other allies, no protection, and Phaedra’s future hanging in the balance?

Aurora needed someone with power and influence to reach Drakon before he became the calamity. If Orithyia wouldn’t or couldn’t be that person, then maybe this doomed king, whose fate she might be able to change, would be more interested in her knowledge. He would leave the vivarium soon enough, and when he met her outside the queendom of Viridis, she hoped he would be inclined to assist her.

But could she live with the person she would become by stepping into the fetid swamp of court intrigues and calculated seductions?

Could she afford not to?

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