Page 48 of House of Dusk
Or maybe the Ember King in those stories was a lie, as Halimede’s oath suggested. If so, maybe the real Faithful Maiden was not the brave and loyal woman of legend. Maybe she was in fact Faithless.
Which led to the second part of Nilos’s accusation. Another troubling tidbit she had not shared with Timeus.The secrets of the Embraced are always held close.Was he saying that the Maiden—whether Faithless or Faithful—had been Embraced? That instead of dying tragically in Heraklion’s arms, she somehow managed to make her way to Stara Bron so that some long-dead agia—perhaps the Cerydon that Halimede spoke of?—could burn her past away?
Why? What had she done that was so terrible?
And if that was true, how had her bones ended up far to the south, in Bassara, so treasured that her defenders would rather fight a war than yield them to Hierax? That question rankled most of all.Furies take the man.
“You’re right,” said Timeus. “I’ll try that. Sorry.” A rustle, as he turned on his side. “It’s just so strange, the way the world works. I thought when I came to Stara Bron it would be boring. Not boring in a bad way,” he corrected, hastily, “but, you know, mostly prayers and chores. Not fighting skotoi and rescuing babies from serpent cultists! Rhea will be so jealous! She’s probably still in training, sticking arrows in straw dummies.”
“There’s nothing wrong with prayers and chores. And you’d have been safer if you stayed at Stara Bron.” She grimaced. “I shouldn’t have gotten you into this.”
“No,” he protested. “This has been the best week of my life!”
She shushed him. “You’ll undo all our goodwill if you wake that baby.”
“Sorry,” he whispered. “But it’s true, sister. I never thought I’d actually do anything worthwhile. I once overheard Mother telling Rhea that I must have been a wastrel in my last life, because I wasn’t amounting to much in this one.”
“Your mother sounds like a fool,” said Sephre, too tired to be tactful. “You’re doing a fine job with this life, from what I see. Skotos-slayer, remember?”
Silence. Then, softly, “Thank you, sister.”
And finally, blessedly, a rumble of sleeping breaths.
She ought to take her own advice. But Sephre had no peaceful thoughts. She tried to imagine herself in the garden at Stara Bron, the sunlight filtering green through the vines, the air heavy with pollen and summer sweetness. But dark coiling shapes rippled in the shadows. She could imagine she heard them now, beyond the tight stone walls of the cottage.
And when she counted, all she could see were the bodies, tumbled in the streets of a city across the sea. A city that no longer existed. A city she had helped kill.
Groaning, she flipped onto her other side. She needed sleep, or tomorrow would be unbearable. In spite of herself, she thought of Nilos’s wine. His wry smile.You needed the sleep.
If she’d thought to bring dreamfast with her, she would have taken it. But instead, she had only the hollow echoes of her own skull, the rattle of her fears, and the holy flame kindling in her chest.
It was the flame she turned to, in the end, desperate.Please. Make it stop. Just let me sleep.
The sparks rose, warm and hungry. Her thoughts fell to ash, and darkness swam up to claim her.
CHAPTER 14
SEPHRE
Sephre released her breath as the heavy wooden doors of Stara Bron thudded closed behind her. It had been a long, tiring two days traveling back from Kessely, made heavier by the burden of everything Nilos had thrust on her.
The world needs the Serpent. The same way it needs the moon, and the sun, and the sea.
She did not want to believe it. She had no reason to believe it. Nilos himself had told her not to trust him. Fates, she’d come to Stara Bron to make things simpler. To remove herself from having to make decisions with fatal consequences. To grow old, pulling weeds and brewing tonics. A sulky outrage simmered in Sephre’s chest. Damn that man, for dumping this tangle on her.
She needed to speak to Halimede. The agia would know what to do. She would take Nilos’s searing accusations and render them into fancies, dust to be swept away from the clear path of the truth. Or, if itwastrue, if Sephre truly did carry some fragment of the Serpent’s power within her, then Halimede would deal with it. She’d have no excuse not to grant her the Embrace. To burn away that impurity and prevent Nilos from claiming it and restoring the Serpent to power.
Pausing only to set down her travel pack, Sephre led Timeus from the courtyard, through the cloister, then up the steps that led to the heights. Halimede should be in her office, preparing for the evening prayers.
Sephre gave herself no time to rest, ignoring the stitch in her side as she propelled herself up the stairs, Timeus hastening to follow. She barely even paused to rap at the door. Halimede would forgive her, when she’d heard their tale.
She thrust herself into the room. “Agia, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have to tell you what—”
Sephre stopped so abruptly that Timeus, hard on her heels, slammed into her. Thankfully she still had some of her old instincts, and managed to catch herself against the doorway. All the air seemed suddenly gone from her lungs. She stared at the woman behind the desk.
“Beroe?” Sephre found a thimbleful of breath, rallying herself. The woman must be visiting Halimede on temple business. But then why was she sitting at the agia’s desk? Why did she make Sephre think suddenly of a spider, crouched in the center of her web?
“Where’s the agia?” Sephre demanded. “I must speak with her.”
