Page 210 of The Eye of the Fifth
A bright white light was shining on the past now, illuminating all that had been cast in shadow. ‘Lilion was working for Azar the whole time,’ Kyra said quietly. ‘She must have known of the prophecy long before I even knew her.Everythingwas contrived. When I was seventeen she changed the rules in the pits fromfirst to falltofight to kill.But years went by and it still didn’t trigger my magic. So, she made Oslan fight me. But I submitted to death that day, rather than kill him, and still my magic remained dormant.’ She forced herself to take a steadying breath. ‘So she sent the mercenaries after me. They were the ones that killed my parents.’ Tears sprang in her eyes. ‘I have no doubt now that even that was on Lilion’s order. That she is the reason they’re dead. Perhaps she thought that in killing them, the grief would trigger my magic. I was only ten. And… she would have known that once I found that out, once I knew who had killed them, that I never would have left a single one of them alive. The whole time she was trying to propel the prophecy along. And that’s what did it. That fury is what finally unlocked my magic.’
Gedeon was frowning. ‘Why did Lilion never try to control you? We know Wardens can be controlled, the Water Warden was under the Lorish King’s influence for most of his life. Why did Lilion not just force you to relinquish your power the moment she met you?’
Kyra had no answer. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Perhaps she tried and couldn’t? I’ve read that those with a strong will are harder, if not impossible for imperis to control.’
Kyra didn’t care. Not as another realisation rocked thunderously through her. ‘Gedeon, I bargained for Oslan’s freedom with the Eye of the Fifth. I gave it to Lilion, thinking she only wanted it as a fucking trophy. But it was forher.It was for Azar.’
Gedeon glowered at the horizon. ‘And the Fifth shall watch as it is undone.’He exhaled.‘She means to use the Eye in the wars to come. To set Dohra free as vengeance on the Four is exacted.’
A stunned quiet fell, static between them.
Then, Kyra said in little more than a whisper, ‘She still can’t do that without us.’
Up until this point, neither of them had mentioned the bond. As though the very thought of it had awakened something within her, shefelt a tug behind her navel. Felt the inexplicable cord that tethered her to him, waiting to be ignited.
‘I knew too, Gedeon,’ she told him. No more secrets. Nothing but truth, from here on out. ‘I think I suspected for a while. I knew there was more to our projections than the simple fact of us both being Wardens, but I ignored it. And then, the night of your trial when I saw you in the flesh… it was like the sun in me called to the night in you and… it terrified me. I think I probably knew what it was then, but still I ignored it. I didn’t want to admit to myself what I knew it could be. And then you almost died in your own fire.’ Kyra wrapped her arms around herself. ‘And I couldn’t let that happen. Despite barely knowing you, despite feeling like I should havehatedyou for who you are, for everything you’ve lived for, I knew I could never let you die. My sun magic couldn’t bring just anyone back from near-death. It’s like it wasmadefor you. A tether that brought you back to this world. A balance to your night.’
She half-sobbed, ‘I was in love with Kawai. I really did love him. And after admitting to myself thatyouwere my mate, I hated you for ruining that. Because it was ruined. Forever. How could I ever love him, how could I ever give him all of me when I’m destined for someone else?’ She swiped her cheeks of tears. ‘I don’t hate you anymore, Gedeon. But I don’t love you either. We don’t know each other. Our souls do, I suppose… but I don’t want fate to decide who it is I ought to love. Even without the prophecy now keeping us from accepting it… I don’t know if I would. So much of my life has been willed by the divine, dictated by fucking Gods and Goddesses. If there’s one thing I want to choose for myself… it’s who I give my heart to.’
There it was. Out in the open. She felt no remorse for saying what had been weighing on her heart and soul. Only liberation, for finally being able to do so.
Gedeon was very still at her side. ‘You never have to explain yourself to me. Your heart is your own, and always will be.’
That was all he said.
But then his expression was falling, remorse darkening his features like a foreboding storm. ‘Kyra… if there had been any other way to save Rosary’s life, I would have done it.’
Her eyes instantly filled. So much of her wanted to blame him. To shove him from the rocks into the churning waves, to claw at his throat again until she drew blood. But there was another part of her that was so tired. Beyond any vengeance or blame. That part of her was not angry. It didn’t want to fight anymore. It craved, above everything else, peace.
A wholly new sensation. She met his gaze.
‘I know,’ she said, and meant it. In the night of his eyes, something softened.
???
Phaenon.
Naal.
Sometime in the earliest hours of morning when the sun still slumbered, a hawk’s cry pierced through the temple. Naal did not need to hear the second one before she flung the sheets from her body and clothed herself in a robe and mothsilk cloak. She eyed the leather sheath hanging on the wall, then donned that too, buckling it around her waist and slicing her sword inside it before bolting upstairs.
The hawk’s cry was an alert. That an Eternal had come home.
At least she knew without needing to see him that Gedeon was alive. She prayed the same could be said for Kyra.
And even Rosary.
Let her be with them, Mother. For all she has done, let the poor girl be unharmed. Let their mission have been successful.
Gallena did not reply.
Naal paused outside Winvara’s door, fist aloft. If she woke her and Kyra wasnotwith Gedeon…
She shook the thought away. Win would skin her alive if she chose not to involve her, regardless of the outcome. Her knuckles rapped on the wood.
The door swung open almost instantly. Win was before her in little more than a nightgown. Her hair hung in spirals around her shoulders. ‘I heard,’ she said bluntly, then began slinging a cloak and furs over her arms. ‘The whole of Phaenon probably did.’
