Page 103 of The Eye of the Fifth
Kyra’s dagger, always stowed beneath her pillow, was gripped in her hand quicker than the bunk groaned with her shifting weight, as she jumped to her feet and brandished it in front of her.
The cabin was pitch black. But she knew that voice without needing to ignite the gaslamp swinging above the bunk.
A dim, warm light suddenly illuminated the cabin. But it was not coming from the lamp.
It was coming fromher.
The setting sun itself had crept under her skin and was shining beneath it, emitting a subtle yet shimmering golden gleam.
Xusyn’s power.
But the monster within was not purring. In fact, she could barely feel it there at all.
She couldn’t ponder it, not as the dense darkness was banished, revealing a towering figure in the corner of the cabin. Kyra’s heart thundered in her chest. ‘You.’
The Fire Warden stepped forward, his wide eyes raking over Kyra’s glowing skin as though she were an alien creature of unfathomable beauty he just could not comprehend.
His gaze met hers, unblinking. ‘Who else knows?’
The dagger remained a barrier between them. ‘Knows what?’
‘This,’ he said simply, gesturing softly at her. Every damn glowing part. ‘You.’
Kyra didn’t reply, instead silently begging the monster beneath her skin to dim. It ignored her completely. In fact, she could have sworn, as if just to spite her, that it glowed a little brighter.
The Fire Warden took a step forward. ‘Who knows you can wield the power of the sun, Kyra Daeiros?’
Kyra couldn’t make sense of the quiet desperation on his face. As though the way in which she answered was critical.
She hadn’t admitted it even to herself. Though she’d known for some time that it was not just earth magic that had attached itself to her soul.
The day she’d destroyed the mercenaries in that alleyway, she’d known. It had flared unfathomably bright beneath her eyelids as the earth simultaneously gripped her to the ground. Then again at the top of the Floating Mountains with Naal, it had shone. Controlling her. Begging for release.
Every kill she’d ever made, every rush of jubilant triumph had come fromit. Never satiated. Always wanting more and more andmore. An abyss that could never be filled.
The earth magic was different. She’d learned to differentiate the two since her power had come forth. Roheia’s power was docile. It workedwithher, whereas the sun… the sun wanted complete control.
She hadn’t even told Naal. But she was sure the Air Warden knew, had guessed that day on the Peak. ‘No one,’ she whispered. ‘No one knows.’
Something like relief flitted across the Fire Warden’s face. ‘Keep it that way.’
‘Don’t give me orders,’ Kyra snapped at him, forgetting her fear. ‘What the fuck are you even doing here? Why are you projecting to me?’
He surveyed her, then after a moment, the shadows in his eyes fractionally lifted. She could have sworn the corners of his mouth pulled. ‘I thought it would be a nice way to pass the time.’
‘Do you not have other things to do where you are?’ Kyra asked coldly. ‘No more cities to decimate or lives to destroy?’
The phantom smile vanished. ‘Where do you think I am?’
‘At the side of your beloved Empress, I would have thought. Ready to relay every word of this conversation. Surely you’re here by her order?’
‘I am not in Dracyg.’
‘Where, then?’
‘Somewhere even the Empress of Zarynth cannot reach.’
‘Where?’
