Page 71 of Court of Talons
“Go,” he manages finally, pushing me away mere seconds before I’m reduced to begging for his body. I rock back on my heels, dazed. “Go. But make no mistake, Talia—this isn’t done between us.”
A cry goes up among the servants around the well.
I wheel away from Fortiss and flee back into the light.
Chapter 29
“Where have youbeen?”
Caleb yanks me into our cell then sticks his head out the door, ensuring that no one is following me. Having torn off the servant’s cloak, I look perfectly normal, normal and boy-like, but his panic unnerves me even more than my racing heart and kiss-bruised lips.
“Why? What’s happened?” I ask.
“A servant fell to her death this night,” he spits. “Herdeath. We thought…I mean it could have been you. It could have.” He runs his hands through his hair, standing it up on end. “It wasn’t, but it could have.”
“I…” I don’t have anything to say to that, the events of the night crashing together in my mind. Nazar turns and regards me curiously as well. My priest and my squire, I suddenly think. If there’s another attempt on my life, they both may just as easily be caught by an arrow or fist. I swallow, feeling the weight of the obligation to protect them. I need to tell them about Rihad. About the fallen warriors. I won’t tell them aboutthe marauders, though. Not yet. Not until we’re well away from Trilion, reminding ourselves how very close we came to death.
“The attempt on Merritt’s life was ordered by Rihad,” I say to Nazar, and Caleb goes rigid beside us. “And it’s not the only one. A warrior of the Ninth House has also fallen, and one from the Eleventh. The Fourth and the Fifth too. A warrior of the Third House may yet fall.”
“What are you saying?” Real fear lifts Caleb’s voice to a quavery yelp. Nazar merely watches me.
“Fortiss apparently went out to the borderlands to try and—I don’t know, stop it somehow, though he clearly failed.” I add this last as coldly as I can, forcing away his earnest face and his sweet apology from my mind. “He believes his uncle has merelyforetoldthe deaths, but they’re coming too quickly. The hardest hit are the eastern border houses.”
“Fortiss used the word foretelling?” Nazar’s question is quiet, and I frown at him. Surely this is the least of the concerns before us, but there’s so much I don’t know about the priest that I can’t let my ignorance stand in the way of our safety. He’s proven himself both wise and knowledgeable several times over.
“He did,” I say. “And you can bet he’s likely toforetella few more killings before he’s done. The Tenth House is at risk, Nazar. We should go now with the men we have.”
“What, you mean leave?Now?” Caleb’s mouth opens and shuts several times as he tries to work through what I’m saying.
“You’re certain,” Nazar says. It isn’t a question.
I nod. There’s more, so much more. But that will have to wait until Nazar and I are alone. As it is, my squire’s doing his level best not to explode with panic.
“Youspiedon the Lord Protector and found all this out?” he seems to finally realize. “You could have beenkilled. Arrested.”
I squint at him. “How is that different than any other day within these walls?”
“But—”
“Squire Caleb,” Nazar says quietly. “I fear the warrior of the Tenth House may have indeed been noticed, having seen so much. Could you…” He pauses, letting Caleb see the worry on his face. “Could you use the skills you’ve amply displayed to make sure his name isn’t on anyone’s tongues? You must have a care not to be noticed.”
Caleb straightens with pride and purpose, his fear no match for his eagerness to please Nazar. “Consider it done,” he says staunchly. “No one will see me, I assure you. No one ever does.”
My heart twists at the simple, frank admission, then Caleb is gone.
The moment he clears the doorway, I pull Nazar’s tunic off my body in one rough movement.
“You’ll strain the stitches in your shoulder,” Nazar comments mildly.
“That’s the least of my problems.” I blow out a long breath, thinking again of the Savasci. The women who pledged to help me in my hour of need, but they hadn’t seen what I’d seen. They didn’t truly know what we were facing.
But what we had to fight…
I close my eyes and steady myself, and my words, when they finally come, seem to take far more effort than they should. “Nazar, I…I saw something. Someone. In Rihad’s chamber. A creature that stood in the fire.”
Nazar’s eyes flash with an emotion I can’t discern, but his voice is calm. “What did you see, specifically?” he asks. “What words were spoken?”
I try to recount the entire horrible scene. By the end, Nazar’s face has grown more pinched, his gaze now hard and flat. “I don’t know this creature—and I would, were it ever to have attacked the Exalted Imperium. It isn’t in any of my teachings of the Light.”