Page 42 of The Eye of the Fifth
Win gripped her hands tightly together. ‘Where is she now?’
‘Outside of the estate by the river.’ Naal paused. ‘Do you… wish to see her?’
The hands gripped even tighter. Win’s eyebrows furrowed. The icy mask of indifference she had spent years developing was slipping, and beneath it was a grief too great to completely cover. Naal saw right through to the heart of it, mask or not. ‘No,’ Win finally said, her voice little more than a whisper now. ‘Some things are too fractured to attempt to piece back together.’
Naal knew she was not just talking about Kyraena now. A cold wave washed over her. ‘As you wish,’ she said, her hand grasping the door handle and pulling it open.
‘Naal.’
Eyes stinging at the sound of her name on Winvara’s lips, Naal paused in the doorway.
Win’s voice was as broken as the vase scattered all over the floor as she said, ‘Keep her safe.’
Naal could not help but look at her then. There was barely contained sorrow on Win’s face, and Naal’s heart shattered to witness it. ‘As though she were my own,’ she vowed. ‘By the Four, I swear she will come to no harm.’
Foolish to promise such a thing with war looming ever closer. Yet, as some of the distress in Win’s eyes melted, she did not care. Shewould say anything if it meant alleviating that deep anguish in those eyes she had always loved.
Would always love.
Win nodded once, then looked determinedly out of the window.
Swallowing the hard lump in her throat, Naal forced herself to leave. To shut the door and flee the manor house before she damned Kyraena, damned the whole world to a fate of blood and fire and ash and stayed right there in that room forever with the earthling female who still, after all this time, had her heart.
She would be glad to see the back of Vrethian. Aside from Winvara, there was nothing in this corner of the world that made her soul smile. The humans, specifically in Avaldale, had turned it into a place of ruinous hostility.
As she approached the river, ready to depart for the ship waiting in the harbour, Kyraena was nowhere to be found. Rosary was still there, however. She stood as Naal drew closer.
‘Where is Kyraena?’ Naal asked her cautiously.
Rosary gave a grim smile. ‘It’s just Kyra. She had something she needed to take care of. She said she would meet you in the harbour.’
How had it been a mere hour and Kyraena had already failed at following instruction? Naal pushed the thought away. ‘Where is she?’
Rosary shrugged, though Naal knew her ignorance was a lie. Her loyalty to Kyraena was most vexing, though admittedly admirable. ‘Very well. It was a pleasure meeting you, Rosary. I hope our paths cross again.’
‘I’m sure they will,’ she agreed, then with an amused smirk said, ‘Just a heads up… don’t expect Kyra to be an easy student. She’s not known for her conformity.’
Gallena save her. Naal smiled tightly. ‘I appreciate the warning.’
Swinging her satchel over her shoulder, Rosary paused, her eyes turning glassy. ‘Please… please keep her safe.’
For the second time, Naal bowed her head in a promise, and wondered if Kyraena knew just how much she was loved.
???
Kyra.
Kyra was waiting. Patiently, or as patiently as was possible, for Lady Lilion Perdy.
She’d stopped by her old house to pick up a cloak she’d left behind, less thick and heavy than the one she’d lost that fateful night, but hooded and long enough to sneak into the Arc unnoticed. The pits were void of its normal gambling rabble this early in the evening, and it was eerily quiet below the arena without the stamping of hundreds of feet and hoarse cheers.
Lilion’s office was a shrine. Trinkets of gold, silver, brass and crystal alike all sat on stacked shelves in an orderly fashion. It was like sitting in a museum of splendour, though she knew each item had to have had a bloody history to wind up on Lady Lilion’s shelves. Spoils of her conquests of men and women who had wronged her, compensation for betrayal in the form of these valuable oddities.
Kyra had picked the lock with ease, a little trick Rosary had taught her a long time ago, and slunk into the room to wait for her former employer. The magical barrier at the door had broken as she’d stepped through the threshold, no doubt alerting Lilion to the break-in. But it didn’t matter. The sooner Lilion arrived, the sooner Kyra could turn her back on her and this place of fucking misery and death for good.
The handle pulled down, and the door was cautiously pushed open. Lilion stood there, in her usual sweeping, elegant black, her beady eyes landing on Kyra right away and significantly widening. She closed the door behind her. ‘Kyra… what a pleasant surprise. I didn’t think I would see you again.’
Slowly, Kyra stood.
