Page 146 of The Eye of the Fifth
Never against one of her own.
The Eye of the Fifth had been in her mind’s eye the moment she had awoken. Only now did she understand why.
Ire boiled in her blood, but there had to be an explanation. Naal wanted to believe she knew Kyra well enough to be sure that this abominable use of lethal power had not been intentional.
If Kyra’s blast had been any more potent, if it had hit Zuriel any higher than it did, it would have fractured her neck in several places.
Instant death.
Maida had told her that mere minutes ago. That Zuriel was lucky to be alive.
‘Naal?’
She tore her gaze from her daughter’s still face. ‘What?’
Maida nodded over her shoulder. ‘Nysari is here.’
Indeed, Nysari swept into the room, black wings tucked tight. She glanced at Zuriel on the healer’s table, her expression stony. ‘You called for me,pramah?’
‘I did,’ said Naal quietly, turning to face her Third. ‘Kyra has fled. You are the best hunter among us. Find her. Bring her back.’
Nysari nodded once. ‘Do I have permission to actuallyhuntshould the girl refuse to come?’ She glanced at Zuriel. ‘An eye for an eye?’
Naal gave her shoot-happy Third a withering look. ‘No, Nys. Bring her back unharmed. There is more at play here than just a fight gone wrong.’
‘As you wish. I will project when I find her,’ said Nysari, then backed out of the room without a look back.
Naal glanced at Mankar. He had been the one who had found Zuriel, and was now leaning against the wall, his eyes glued to Zuriel’s face. Not a word had passed his lips. ‘Mankar, go with Nysari,’ Naal ordered. ‘It will not do to stay here.’
Silently, Mankar nodded. He moved to Zuriel’s side, ran the back of his forefinger over her pale cheek, then departed after his sister.
Leaning against her desk, with her arms folded tightly across her chest, Maida said, ‘This cannot go unpunished, Naal. Earth Warden or not, Kyra attacked Zuriel.’
‘There is more at play,’ Naal mumbled again, an effort to convince herself more than anyone else.
Maida huffed out a breath. ‘I should like to think so. A fight in the crypts, I ask you.’ She shook her head. ‘What could they possibly have to fight about? And why has Kyra fled?’
Naal settled herself into the armchair by the fire, summoning the words that did not yet feel real enough. ‘Kyra has stolen the Eye of the Fifth, Maida. Zuriel tried to stop her.’
‘Goddess, no.Why?’ Silence fell between them. ‘Do you believe the Earth Warden to be working for Azar?’
‘I don’t know.’ It was as unlikely as one of her own Eternals working for the Empress. And yet-
‘Perhaps she is and does not know it?’ Maida offered. ‘Could there be an imperi in the Fire Queen’s employ that we do not know about?’
Naal ran a hand over her face and said again, ‘I don’t know.’
One hundred and fifty years ago, when Gedeon Dewmaul had been named Fire Warden under the watchful eye of his tyrant mother, Naal had hastened to the Tomb of the Mothers. Only a Warden could open those doors, and if Zarynth’s Queen ever ordered her fire wielding son to steal that which was soundly resting beneath the waves, then Droria’s continuing freedom would be compromised. Naal had known such ambition was not too vast for the Empress through Orro Myrso’s findings over his years in Zarynth.
Naal had stolen the Eye before it was too late, almost damning herself to a life imprisoned in the tomb in the process. She’d acted out of fear, fear of what Empress Azar might attempt with the Eye of the Fifth in her possession.
Great guilt had settled in her heart since that day, guilt that she still had not shaken. She knew Gallena had disapproved. She’d felt it in the wind the moment she’d resurfaced the water with the Eye of the Fifth clutched in her fist. But the deed had been done.
It had been a necessary act of meddling. She’d told herself that every day.
Only Zuriel, Maida, Orro, Nysari and Mankar had known of what horrors lay in Gallena’s Temple.
Kyra’s true reason for her midnight expedition with Kawai was now thrown into light. She’d tried to steal the Eye herself. Perhaps felt Naal’s own magic trapped within the tomb’s walls and concluded that it wasshewho had taken it from its prison.
