Page 64 of The Eye of the Fifth
‘Are you alright?’ Kyra broke the absent silence.
Naal looked up. Very few asked her that question because in the eyes of most, her strength never wavered. It could not waver. ‘I have lived a long life,’ she said. ‘I have seen many harrowing things: wars and uprisings, death and betrayal. So much blood spilt. And yet… I have never witnessed a butchery quite like this.’
The Great Earthling War had been just that… a war. Death was inevitable. This had been an unprovoked massacre. ‘I knew war was coming, Kyra,’ she continued quietly. ‘I knew the Empress was biding her time, waiting to strike. But… I must admit, I did not anticipate that evenshecould be this merciless.’
‘Will you retaliate?’
It would be all Azar deserved. But when the time came, it would be the Empress that suffered redemption, not her innocent subjects. ‘If I did, I’d be an impulsive fool.’
The door opened, and one by one her trusted inner circle trickled into the little room. Zuriel led them, her chin raised with importance. She had always been that way, for as long as Naal could remember. It was a trait she had certainly not attained from herself.
But then, Naal had raised her, not birthed nor made her.
Zuriel had come into this world in this very temple. Born to a fae female and fathered by a careless and cruel akee male who upheld the virtues and conceited ideologies of his forebears. He’d forced himself upon the barely-of-age girl and left her to deal with the repercussions.
Seventy-two years ago, underneath Gallena’s crystal shrine, that same young female had collapsed from intervals of pain, mere minutes away from giving birth, her belly swollen and heavy. She had been a girl of few words, most of which were to beg Naal to save her child’s life, even if it meant losing her own. That had ultimately been the unfortunate outcome, and that tiny babe, with her feeble, featherless wings still stuck together, took her first strangled breath as her mother took her last. The babe had wailed then, as if she had known the female that had brought her into the world was now leaving it, and her, behind.
‘Save her,’ the mother had rasped before her soul departed. ‘He’ll want her… dead. Save her from him… keep her safe… please.’
Naal swore to the girl that she would honour her dying wish, to raise the innocent babe as though she were her own. It had been Gallena’s will to do so, Naal had known it as she’d looked into the depths of the infant’s eyes and was hit with an adoration such as she had never known. An unexplored universe of boundless love.
It had never been Naal’s intention to be a mother. But she thanked Gallena every day that she was.
Zuriel was the youngest Eternal in the order, a furiously fast flyer and strong and loyal to her very core. But as half fae, half akee, she was constantly trying to prove to everyone, including Naal, that she belonged.
Naal had never been able to truly convince Zuriel that she did.
Behind Zuriel came Maida Lorafiel, Naal’s Third in command. Maida was a dear friend, and possibly the most talented healer she had ever encountered. She did not hesitate to embrace Naal the moment she stepped into the room with a tight squeeze that was silent yet said so much. An aroma of varying herbs and concocted potions clung to her rich, mahogany skin, stained floating robes and white wings like a strange perfume.
Maida disentangled herself from Naal and took the seat opposite Kyra. ‘You must be the Earth Warden.’
Kyra grimaced. ‘Apparently so.’
‘There is noapparentlyabout it. You either are or you are not. I should hope you are, otherwise your being here becomes quite pointless.’
A little stunned, Kyra opened her mouth, closed it, then narrowed her eyes. ‘Iamthe Earth Warden.’
Maida nodded approvingly. ‘That’s better. What do they call you, girl?’
‘Kyra,’ she replied hesitantly.
‘You come to Maida if you need anything, Kyra. If your bleed cramps your stomach, or your arm gets broken in combat with this brute,’ she nodded toward the black-winged Eternal who had just sat down beside her, ‘You come to me. There is not a single ailment I cannot help with,’ she finished boastfully. Kyra nodded once in response, but the cool apprehension on her face considerably warmed.
To her left, Mankar frowned at her implication of an accidental injury at his hand, but ignored it and smiled kindly at Kyra. It did not quite reach his eyes.
Eternals were not often a huge bulking mass of muscle like he was, and though his reputation as a fiercely formidable warrior was indisputable, he was perhaps the gentlest of souls to walk the Mothers’ lands. His sister, on the other hand, was quite the opposite.
‘Where is Nysari?’ Naal asked as Zuriel closed the door, noticing the lack of a steely white-head in their midst.
‘Disobeying,’ Zuriel muttered under her breath as she took the place beside Kyra.
Mankar shot her a reproachful glare, then leaned forward to look at Naal. ‘Nys remains on the summit with the hawks. She has grown anxious of another attack.’
‘As have we all, but her place is here, not playing lookout. Thepramahhas requested her presence and she ignores the call,’ said Zuriel bitterly.
Ignoring her, Naal told Mankar, ‘I trust you will pass on the accounts of this meeting to her after its end?’
‘I will,’ Mankar promised.
