Page 34 of Fateless

He gazed at the body on the altar, and the coldness in his eyes filled me with dread. “Jeran said that you gave the soulstone to him,” Vahn went on, as Jeran shook his head violently, his gaze pleading. “And that you told him to deliver it for you. It was obvious that he was lying. Still, in a way, I am glad. I would rather he be lying here, that the life I end to bring back the true ruler of the empire is not yours.”

Horror flooded me as I realized what he was saying. That would have been me on the altar. If Jeran hadn’t ambushed me and Raithe hadn’t found me tonight, I would be the one chained to that table. My reward for bringing back the soulstone.

I felt sick. Everything I knew had been turned upside down. Jeran had betrayed me. Vahn had been lying to me my whole life. He was not only a member of the Circle, he was its leader.

“We waste time, Vahn,” one of the Circle members hissed. “We are so close. We have the soulstone. We have the life that must be traded. The kingwillrise tonight—we have waited too long to fail now. Now there is only one last thread that must be cut.” He pointed a withered finger at me. “The Fateless must die. She is a threat to our king’s new empire. Kill her. You know it must be done.”

“The last time I checked,” Vahn said, his voice colder thanice, “Iled the ma’jhet, not you. We have a sacrifice. We have the soulstone. The Fateless is a fly, a thorn, a speck of dust in the glory of the Deathless King. The instability she could bring to the empire might never come to pass.”

My heart pounded. It sounded like Vahn was trying to convince himself. Hope fluttered within me. I had to believe that even in this horrible situation, he wouldn’t go through with whatever the Circle was planning.

“She is Fateless,” a woman’s voice droned, hard and unyielding. “You know what that means. You know we cannot risk it, Vahn. We are the last of the ma’jhet. Family, children, partners, everything we love must be sacrificed to the king if he calls for it.” Her skull mask turned toward me, hatred shining through the hollow eye sockets. “You know what must be done.”

“Vahn.” I met his gaze, saw the conflict within. “Don’t,” I whispered. “Please. You’re the only family I have.”

He hesitated, a muscle working in his jaw. For just a moment, a ripple of emotions crossed his face: sorrow, anger, regret. I remembered all the moments I’d had with him; the times he had looked at me with pride, the small gestures of affection and love.

Vahn closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, a stranger stared back at me, cold and resolved. “I am sorry, Sparrow,” he said again, and raised his arm. I caught the glint of metal and wood in his hand, a crossbow, pointed at me, and went numb with disbelief. “I truly wish that you had not been the Fateless.”

Suddenly, something lunged in front of me, filling my vision. I heard a metallic clang as the crossbow bolt struck the copper shield of an elite guardian. Held by the iylvahn. Raithestraightened, and though I couldn’t see his face, I could picture his searing, icy gaze on the Circle members below.

“Kahjai!” one of the robed figures screeched, sounding almost panicked. “The Fateless led it here! Traitor!”

Raithe darted forward in a blur, leaping onto the altar. His sword flashed, and the Circle member who had spoken toppled backward, his head leaving his shoulders halfway down. The skull mask hit the ground, shattering against the stones, and pandemonium erupted.

My heart lodged in my throat. I needed to run, but my legs were frozen, my body numb from what I’d just seen and heard. As Raithe stepped forward, plunging his sword into the back of another robed figure who had turned to flee, Vahn raised his head, his dark eyes shining with terrible determination. Raithe spun on him, raising his bloody sword, as Vahn calmly drew the knife across Jeran’s throat.

No!My stomach heaved, and everything around me seemed to slow. On the altar, Jeran’s body spasmed. He made a few strangled choking sounds, red liquid bubbling from his lips and running down his neck, before his eyes glazed over, staring up at nothing.

The black soulstone pulsed once, and for a split second, everything—light, heat, emotion—seemed to be sucked into it. I felt cold, as if all the warmth had been drawn out of me. The torches guttered, casting flickering shadows over the room, and in the eerie light, I saw Raithe spring across the altar over Jeran’s motionless corpse and aim his sword at Vahn’s neck. I cried out just as the torches flickered and died, plunging the chamber intocomplete darkness.

The black soulstone flared, casting everything in an eerie red light. Vahn stood in the same spot, his own sword now raised to meet the iylvahn’s, their blades pressed together.

“You’re too late.” Vahn’s tone was soft, triumphant; he stepped back, smiling, and the red light turned his face into a terrifying mask. “The king has come.”

On the altar behind Raithe, Jeran’s body dissolved, his flesh turning to dust and leaving behind only a skeleton. The particles rose in a glittering cloud and swirled around the soulstone, which was pulsing like a frantic heartbeat. Raithe spun, his blade flashing, and struck the glowing stone from the air. Instead of shattering, it flew to the edge of the altar and stopped as if it had hit a wall. The cloud of dust followed, swirling into the shape of a man, tall and broad shouldered, his features were blurred. Within the swirling cloud, the soulstone pulsed one final time and then shattered, sending shards of black rock flying in every direction.

A ripple of power went through the room, causing the floor to shake and the walls to tremble. I felt the vibrations through my boots, felt the ground heave under me, and staggered back. Cracks slithered across the floor and snaked up the walls, sand rained from the ceiling, and chunks of rock began smashing into the altar from above. The three remaining Circle members, who had scattered to the edges of the chamber when Raithe attacked, fell to their knees.

“He comes.” Vahn’s calm, triumphant voice reached me through the chaos. He wasn’t talking to me, but to the iylvahn,who stood at the edge of the altar, gazing up at the swirling cloud. The look on Raithe’s face chilled me; one of dismay and weary resignation. “You’ve failed, kahjai. The king rises, and he will destroy this world and remake it in his own image. Run now, iylvahn. Run while you can. Soon, it won’t matter where you go.”

Raithe’s eyes hardened. He glanced back at Vahn, as if contemplating whether to attack him, and my stomach twisted. Vahn simply smiled, half raising his arms, as if inviting him to try.

At the edge of the chamber, one of the Circle members screamed. His hood fell off as he arched back, mouth open in a tortured wail. Abruptly, the skin of his face dissolved into dust, which was immediately sucked into the swirling cloud over the altar. The skeleton beneath the robes collapsed to the floor. I dug my shaking fingers into the pillar to keep myself from bolting from the room.

Raithe made his decision. Spinning from Vahn, he leaped from the altar and ran for the door at my back. As he passed the dust storm, I saw a grimace cross his face, as if he expected to be struck down, turned to dust and bones himself in the blink of an eye. But he passed the swirling cloud without incident and continued across the room.

The dust solidified, and a man stepped down onto the altar, naked except for a gold loincloth belted around his waist. He was very tall, standing virtually head and shoulders over everyone else. Jet-black hair fell to his shoulders; his skin was a darkened bronze, and his physique was powerful. He turned his head, observing the scene around him, and his eyes were two fathomless black pits, empty of pity or understanding.

As I backed away, Vahn’s gaze met mine across the chamber. Regret glimmered there, but only for a heartbeat before it vanished and cold determination took its place. In that moment, the Guildmaster of Kovass, the man who had raised me and taught me everything I knew about being a thief, vanished—only the leader of the ma’jhet, the elite advisors to the Deathless King, remained.

Then Raithe was leaping up the stairs, his eyes telling me to run, and I did. We fled the chamber of the Circle and the Deathless King, the images of Vahn’s cold eyes and Jeran’s corpse seared into my mind forever.

Thirteen

When we slipped back through the secret door, we found the guild’s basement was in shambles. Rubble littered the ground, and pieces of the walls and roof were strewn across the floor. I didn’t understand what was happening until the ground beneath me trembled, causing several shelves to crash to the ground and spill their contents everywhere.

“Maederyss forgive me.” Raithe leaned back against the bricks, his eyes blank, his expression dazed. Slowly, he slid down the wall until he was sitting, resting his arms on his knees and bowing his head. “I tried, but I couldn’t stop it.”

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