Page 35 of Storm of Fury
Don’t dabble in dangerous magics or the Keepers will come to lock you away….
Or worse, kill you.
They were legendary: an ancient order ofdrekiwarriors who had banded together after the fall of the mother-goddess Tiamat, to prevent another agent of Chaos from rising.
The younger of the warriors eyed him curiously. “He knows too much.”
Zorja cut Illarion a sharp glance. “He is a clan prince with powerful allies.”
“And my disappearance would not go unremarked.” Which was technically true. Marduk failed to mention that nobody even knew where he was. It was clear Zorja hesitated to kill him, but the Keepers of Order were renowned for their fight against the agents of Chaos. He wasn’t quite certain what lengths they would go to in order to keep the existence of their captive unknown. “Who is the woman?”
The queen’s lips thinned.
“I already know too much,” he pointed out. “And the more you don’t tell me, the more I’m going to want to know.” He flashed her his most dazzling smile. “I am the most curious of all my family.”
“She is my ward.”
“It seems a strange way to treat one that has been gifted into your guardianship,” he said diplomatically.
Zorja snapped her fingers at a handmaid he’d barely noticed, calling for wine. “Did you not see her eyes?”
“I could hardly miss them.”
“She is locked away for her own protection,” the queen replied. “There are those who would kill her if they knew of her existence. And… others who would seek to use her. She is drawn to dangerous magic, and I must protect her at all costs.”
“Chaos magic.”
“Yes.” The queen accepted a goblet of wine, then her eyes grew canny. “How did you find her? I’ve laid runes around this entire peninsula that deceive and suggest others should keep away. No one knows of her existence. And any who stumble upon us are discouraged.”
“Killed, you mean?” He sipped at the wine. An excellent vintage.
“As you would have been,” she said.
“Had I not alerted you to my identity.”
Zorja nodded.
He took another sip, considering how to put the story into words. “I’ve always been able to hear her song. It drifts on the winds, almost on the verge of hearing at times. A few notes that chill me to the bone. A longing to listen to more. An urge I cannot deny. It fills my dreams, and when I was exiled from my mother’s court, I set out to find the owner of such a song. I felt your wards, but they slipped like gossamer from my skin. There is only the song. And nothing else.” He released a laugh. “It’s taken me ten years to finally track her down. I thought perhaps it was the Goddess, trying to show me the woman who would be my true flame, but…. There was no bond. No connection. Or not the one I expected.”
“She is not your true flame.”
“How could you be so certain?” he demanded, putting the goblet down with a clunk.
“Because,” Zorja said, leaning forward on her throne, “she is your sister. I named her Ishtar, after the goddess, and when she was born it was clear she was Chaos-blighted. Her eyes fair glowed with the magic. Your mother insisted she should be put to death. But,” the queen drew herself up, “I could not bear to see a baby murdered. And so I stole her from your court and brought her here to raise in secret, hoping I could somehow counter her power and teach her to bedreki.”
The breath exploded from him and he half pushed to his feet. “I have anothersister?”
The two keepers set their hands to their swords, but Zorja waved them away.
“A sister you shared a womb with,” she confirmed.
The words rocked him to the core.
And they also somehow filled a hole within him that he’d never known existed. A gaping emptiness in his soul that had always taunted him, though he’d not known the reason.
“I have a twin sister,” he whispered, half to himself.
But the queen slammed her goblet of wine down upon the edge of the throne. “I was wrong, Marduk. Ishtar’s magicisdangerous. But I could not let her suffer, and so I owe a debt to the world to keep her away from such power. She must remain locked away from her magic. Her powers are so immense, I fear she could break the world.”
