Page 43 of The Eye of the Fifth
She ran her hand along the shelf behind Lilion’s desk, knocking every trinket off its surface, each landing on the stone floor with a ringing clang. Some were glass, and they smashed brilliantly.
Lilion’s expression hardened. ‘Is there a reason you have returned, or are you simply here to destroy my office?’
‘Oh, this?’ Kyra said innocently, knocking another trophy from its home. ‘This is just to piss you off.’
Lilion moved into the room with delicately controlled grace. ‘I am glad you survived.’
‘Why? Already thinking about how much people might pay to see theEarth Wardenfight?’
‘So, Miss Talbot was telling the truth,’ Lilion said in a hushed voice, an odd excitement twinkling in her eyes. ‘How wonderful.’
‘I didn’t think you believed in the Four,’ Kyra said, frowning.
Lilion fiddled with a black ring on her gloved hand. ‘Just because I do not have faith in the Four does not mean I deny their existence. To do so would be folly. You are a prime example of Their power, standing before me.’ She looked up, and Kyra was horrified to see tears glistening in her eyes. ‘I am so proud of you, Kyra.’
‘Proud?’Kyra repeated angrily. ‘Being the Earth Warden hasnothingto do with you. I may be a wanted criminal but at least I’m finally free of your bullshit.’
‘I begged for your freedom today, need I remind you,’ Lilion said coldly. ‘I offered the Governors more than the Arc is worth for your release. You mean a great deal to me. Realise that and we may be friends once more.’
‘Friends? You made me fight my own brother! You would have had me kill him. What sort offrienddoes that?’
‘Your brother was a pawn,’ Lilion said cruelly, waving a dismissive hand. ‘I wanted to make you aqueen.’
Quick as a flash of lightning, Kyra drew her dagger, its tip pointing straight at Lilion’s heart. ‘Release him from his oath.’
Lilion stepped forward until the blade made contact with her dress, shallowly piercing the bone corset beneath. ‘Ah. So,thatis why you are here. Do it, then, little wolf. If I die, his servitude will end. But what then? Do you imagine you will be allowed to simply walk out of the Arc with your dear brother in tow, without any repercussions for my death? You have escaped justice today already… do you truly want to test fate again?’
The blade was perfectly positioned. It would be easy, too easy to drive it through silk, skin and bone and puncture Lilion’s black heart.If it had been just her own life on the line, perhaps she would have done it.
But Oslan deserved his freedom without punishment.
She would give him that. Reluctantly, she lowered the blade. ‘Name your price, then.’
A deranged sort of victory flitted over Lilion’s features. She stared at Kyra, calculating. ‘Your brother is one of my best. He is favoured among women and men alike. To lose him would put me at a disadvantage, especially since I’ve lost you too, little wolf.’
Kyra gritted her teeth. ‘Name. Your. Price.’
Lilion moved away from her now, pacing slowly. ‘There is only one thing in all of Droria that is worth your brother’s freedom.’
‘Just fucking tell me what-’
‘I want the Eye of the Fifth.’ Lilion had stopped pacing, and watched Kyra with the smallest smile on her lips. A smile that showed no kindness, only barely checked malice.
Kyra blinked at her. Surely she had not heard right. ‘The… the Eye of the Fifth?’
Memories of scary stories her father would tell them when they were children surfaced in her mind. The miraqni, a demon race born from the Fifth Element, the Void, imprisoned in a black crystal by the combined power of the Four Mothers to save Droria from inescapable nothingness. The dawning of the Age of Mothers, and consequently, the end of the Old Gods reign.
Those creatures feasted on mortals, both flesh and essence alike, leaving no trace their prey had even lived. As a child, the mere thought of them had been terrifying enough to lay awake at night, imagining the creatures of nothing hiding in the dark corners of her room, waiting for the right moment to strike and kill.
Kyra had not thought about it for a long time. The legend of the Eye had fallen to the banks of history, many in Droria even denying any truth in the tale at all. Very few still lived that had witnessed the Void Ages with their own eyes, after all.
Ancient chronicles cited it had been a time of unending chaos. Days with no nights, and nights with no days, no order of equilibrium to be found. There had been no Four Mothers then, no elemental goddessesoverseeing balance in the realm, no separate lands pertaining to each element. Just one Droria united under the mighty Gods, Xados and Xusyn, the omnipotent divines of Night and Day.
Magic had not been used with caution in those days. Elemental magic could be tapped into, but only by the most powerful of beings. Dohra, a female with a desire to explore a deeper, darker kind of magic, discovered the powers of the Void. With her unrivalled power, she reigned the lands as a conduit for the Old Gods, creating the miraqni and plunging the world into a place of darkness and terror.
Thus began the Void Ages.
Dohra’s reign only faltered when four powerful mortals rose to challenge her, charged with the magic of the other four elements. Roheia, channelling earth; Gallena, channelling air; Corla, channelling water, and Eraura, channelling fire. Together, they banished Dohra to the Eye with her abominable creations.
