Kingdom of Ash
Page 10
“You were a Prince of Adarlan long before you became its king.”
Dorian’s magic churned to ice, colder than the night around him. “Then consider me trying to atone for years of bad behavior.”
Gavin held his gaze for a moment that stretched into eternity. A true king, that’s what the man before him was. A king not only in title, but in spirit. As few had been since Gavin was laid to rest beneath the foundations of the castle he’d built along the Avery.
Dorian withstood the weight of Gavin’s stare. Let the king see what remained of him, mark the pale band around his throat.
Then Gavin blinked once, the only sign of his permission to continue.
Dorian swallowed. “Where is the third key?”
Gavin stiffened. “I am forbidden to say.”
“Forbidden, or won’t?” He supposed he should be kneeling, should keep his tone respectful. How many legends about Gavin had he read as a child? How many times had he run through the castle, pretending to be the king before him?
Dorian pulled the Amulet of Orynth from his jacket, letting it sway in the bitter wind. A silent, ghostly song leaked from the gold-and-blue medallion—speaking in languages that did not exist. “Brannon Galathynius defied the gods by putting the key in here with a warning to Aelin. The least you could do is give me a direction.”
Gavin’s edges blurred, but held. Not much time. For either of them. “Brannon Galathynius was an arrogant bastard. I have seen what interfering with the gods’ plans brings about. It will not end well.”
“Your wife, not the gods, brought this about.”
Gavin bared his teeth. And though the man was long dead, Dorian’s magic flared again, readying to strike.
“My mate,” Gavin snarled, “is the cost of this. My mate, should the keys be retrieved, will vanish forever. Do you know what that is like, young king? To have eternity—and then have it ripped away?”
Dorian didn’t bother to reply. “You don’t wish me to find the third key because it will mean the end of Elena.”
Gavin said nothing.
Dorian let out a growl. “Countless people will die if the keys aren’t put back in the gate.” He shoved the Amulet of Orynth back into his jacket, and once again ignored the otherworldly hum pulsing against his bones. “You can’t be that selfish.”
Gavin remained silent, the wind shifting his dark hair. But his eyes flickered—just barely.
“Tell me where,” Dorian breathed. He had mere minutes until even Vesta came looking for him. “Tell me where the third key is.”
“Your life will be forfeit, too. If you retrieve the keys and forge the Lock. Your soul will be claimed as well. Not one scrap of you will live on in the Afterworld.”
“There’s no one who would really care about that anyway.” He certainly didn’t. And he’d certainly deserved that sort of end, when he’d failed so many times. With all he’d done.
Gavin studied him for a long moment. Dorian held still beneath that fierce stare. A warrior who had survived the second of Erawan’s wars.
“Elena helped Aelin,” Dorian pressed, his breath curling in the space between them. “She didn’t balk from it, even knowing what it meant for her fate. And neither did Aelin, who will have neither a long life with her own mate, nor eternity with him.” As I will not have, either. His heart began thundering, his magic rising with it. “And yet you would. You would run from it.”
Gavin’s teeth flashed. “Erawan could be defeated without sealing the gate.”
“Tell me how, and I will find a way to do it.”
Yet Gavin fell silent again, his hands clenching at his sides.
Dorian snorted softly. “If you knew, it would have been done long ago.” Gavin shook his head, but Dorian plunged ahead. “Your friends died battling Erawan’s hordes. Help me avoid the same fate for my own. It might already be too late for some of them.” His stomach churned.
Had Chaol made it to the southern continent? Perhaps it would be better if his friend never returned, if he stayed safe in Antica. Even if Chaol would never do such a thing.
Dorian glanced toward the rocky corner he’d rounded. Not much time left.
“And what of Adarlan?” Gavin demanded. “You would leave it kingless?” The question said enough of Gavin’s opinion regarding Hollin. “This is how you would atone for years spent idling as its Crown Prince?”
Dorian took the verbal blow. It was nothing but truth, dealt by a man who had served its nameless god. “Does it really matter anymore?”
“Adarlan was my pride.”
“It is no longer worthy of it,” Dorian snapped. “It hasn’t been for a long, long time. Perhaps it deserves to fall into ruin.”
Gavin angled his head. “The words of a reckless, arrogant boy. Do you think you are the only one who has endured loss?”
“And yet your own fear of loss makes you choose one woman over the fate of the world.”
“If you had the choice—your woman or Erilea—would you have chosen any differently?”
Sorscha or the world. The question rang hollow. Some of the fire within him banked. Yet Dorian dared to say, “You’d delude yourself about the path ahead, yet you served the god of truth.” Chaol had told him of their discovery in the catacombs beneath Rifthold’s sewers this spring. The forgotten bone temple where Gavin’s deathbed confession had been written. “What does he have to say about Elena’s role in this?”
“The All-Seeing One does not claim kinship with those spineless creatures,” Gavin growled.
Dorian could have sworn a dusty, bone-dry wind rattled through the pass. “Then what is he?”
“Can there not be many gods, from many places? Some born of this world, some born elsewhere?”
“That’s a question to debate at another time,” Dorian ground out. “When we’re not at war.” He took a long breath. Another one. “Please,” he breathed. “Please help me save my friends. Help me make it right.”
It was all he really had left—this task.
Gavin again watched him, weighed him. Dorian withstood it. Let him read whatever truth was written on his soul.
Pain clouded the king’s face. Pain, and regret, as Gavin finally said, “The key is at Morath.”
Dorian’s mouth went dry. “Where in Morath?”
“I don’t know.” Dorian believed him. The raw dread in Gavin’s eyes confirmed it. The ancient king nodded to Damaris. “That sword is not ornamental. Let it guide you, if you cannot trust yourself.”
“It really tells the truth?”
“It was blessed by the All-Seeing One himself, after I swore myself to him.” Gavin shrugged, a half-tamed gesture. As if the man had never really left the wilds of Adarlan where he’d risen from war leader to High King. “You’ll still have to learn for yourself what is truth and what is lie.”
“But Damaris will help me find the key at Morath?” To break into Erawan’s stronghold, where all those collars were made …
Gavin’s mouth tightened. “I cannot say. But I will tell you this: do not venture toward Morath just yet. Until you are ready.”
“I’m ready now.” A fool’s lie. Gavin knew it, too. It was an effort not to touch his neck, the pale band forever marring his skin.
“Morath is no mere keep,” Gavin said. “It is a hell, and it is not kind to reckless young men.” Dorian stiffened, but Gavin went on, “You will know when you are truly ready. Remain at this camp, if you can convince your companions. The path will find you here.”
Gavin’s edges warped further, his face turning murky.
Dorian dared a step forward. “Am I human?”
Gavin’s sapphire eyes softened—just barely. “I’m not the person who can answer that.”
And then the king was gone.
CHAPTER 5
The commander in the alley had claimed his latest orders had been dispatched from Doranelle.
None of them knew whether to believe him.
Sitting around a tiny fire in a dusty field on the outskirts of a ramshackle city, the blood long since washed from his hands, Lorcan Salvaterre again mulled over the logic of it.
Dorian’s magic churned to ice, colder than the night around him. “Then consider me trying to atone for years of bad behavior.”
Gavin held his gaze for a moment that stretched into eternity. A true king, that’s what the man before him was. A king not only in title, but in spirit. As few had been since Gavin was laid to rest beneath the foundations of the castle he’d built along the Avery.
Dorian withstood the weight of Gavin’s stare. Let the king see what remained of him, mark the pale band around his throat.
Then Gavin blinked once, the only sign of his permission to continue.
Dorian swallowed. “Where is the third key?”
Gavin stiffened. “I am forbidden to say.”
“Forbidden, or won’t?” He supposed he should be kneeling, should keep his tone respectful. How many legends about Gavin had he read as a child? How many times had he run through the castle, pretending to be the king before him?
Dorian pulled the Amulet of Orynth from his jacket, letting it sway in the bitter wind. A silent, ghostly song leaked from the gold-and-blue medallion—speaking in languages that did not exist. “Brannon Galathynius defied the gods by putting the key in here with a warning to Aelin. The least you could do is give me a direction.”
Gavin’s edges blurred, but held. Not much time. For either of them. “Brannon Galathynius was an arrogant bastard. I have seen what interfering with the gods’ plans brings about. It will not end well.”
“Your wife, not the gods, brought this about.”
Gavin bared his teeth. And though the man was long dead, Dorian’s magic flared again, readying to strike.
“My mate,” Gavin snarled, “is the cost of this. My mate, should the keys be retrieved, will vanish forever. Do you know what that is like, young king? To have eternity—and then have it ripped away?”
Dorian didn’t bother to reply. “You don’t wish me to find the third key because it will mean the end of Elena.”
Gavin said nothing.
Dorian let out a growl. “Countless people will die if the keys aren’t put back in the gate.” He shoved the Amulet of Orynth back into his jacket, and once again ignored the otherworldly hum pulsing against his bones. “You can’t be that selfish.”
Gavin remained silent, the wind shifting his dark hair. But his eyes flickered—just barely.
“Tell me where,” Dorian breathed. He had mere minutes until even Vesta came looking for him. “Tell me where the third key is.”
“Your life will be forfeit, too. If you retrieve the keys and forge the Lock. Your soul will be claimed as well. Not one scrap of you will live on in the Afterworld.”
“There’s no one who would really care about that anyway.” He certainly didn’t. And he’d certainly deserved that sort of end, when he’d failed so many times. With all he’d done.
Gavin studied him for a long moment. Dorian held still beneath that fierce stare. A warrior who had survived the second of Erawan’s wars.
“Elena helped Aelin,” Dorian pressed, his breath curling in the space between them. “She didn’t balk from it, even knowing what it meant for her fate. And neither did Aelin, who will have neither a long life with her own mate, nor eternity with him.” As I will not have, either. His heart began thundering, his magic rising with it. “And yet you would. You would run from it.”
Gavin’s teeth flashed. “Erawan could be defeated without sealing the gate.”
“Tell me how, and I will find a way to do it.”
Yet Gavin fell silent again, his hands clenching at his sides.
Dorian snorted softly. “If you knew, it would have been done long ago.” Gavin shook his head, but Dorian plunged ahead. “Your friends died battling Erawan’s hordes. Help me avoid the same fate for my own. It might already be too late for some of them.” His stomach churned.
Had Chaol made it to the southern continent? Perhaps it would be better if his friend never returned, if he stayed safe in Antica. Even if Chaol would never do such a thing.
Dorian glanced toward the rocky corner he’d rounded. Not much time left.
“And what of Adarlan?” Gavin demanded. “You would leave it kingless?” The question said enough of Gavin’s opinion regarding Hollin. “This is how you would atone for years spent idling as its Crown Prince?”
Dorian took the verbal blow. It was nothing but truth, dealt by a man who had served its nameless god. “Does it really matter anymore?”
“Adarlan was my pride.”
“It is no longer worthy of it,” Dorian snapped. “It hasn’t been for a long, long time. Perhaps it deserves to fall into ruin.”
Gavin angled his head. “The words of a reckless, arrogant boy. Do you think you are the only one who has endured loss?”
“And yet your own fear of loss makes you choose one woman over the fate of the world.”
“If you had the choice—your woman or Erilea—would you have chosen any differently?”
Sorscha or the world. The question rang hollow. Some of the fire within him banked. Yet Dorian dared to say, “You’d delude yourself about the path ahead, yet you served the god of truth.” Chaol had told him of their discovery in the catacombs beneath Rifthold’s sewers this spring. The forgotten bone temple where Gavin’s deathbed confession had been written. “What does he have to say about Elena’s role in this?”
“The All-Seeing One does not claim kinship with those spineless creatures,” Gavin growled.
Dorian could have sworn a dusty, bone-dry wind rattled through the pass. “Then what is he?”
“Can there not be many gods, from many places? Some born of this world, some born elsewhere?”
“That’s a question to debate at another time,” Dorian ground out. “When we’re not at war.” He took a long breath. Another one. “Please,” he breathed. “Please help me save my friends. Help me make it right.”
It was all he really had left—this task.
Gavin again watched him, weighed him. Dorian withstood it. Let him read whatever truth was written on his soul.
Pain clouded the king’s face. Pain, and regret, as Gavin finally said, “The key is at Morath.”
Dorian’s mouth went dry. “Where in Morath?”
“I don’t know.” Dorian believed him. The raw dread in Gavin’s eyes confirmed it. The ancient king nodded to Damaris. “That sword is not ornamental. Let it guide you, if you cannot trust yourself.”
“It really tells the truth?”
“It was blessed by the All-Seeing One himself, after I swore myself to him.” Gavin shrugged, a half-tamed gesture. As if the man had never really left the wilds of Adarlan where he’d risen from war leader to High King. “You’ll still have to learn for yourself what is truth and what is lie.”
“But Damaris will help me find the key at Morath?” To break into Erawan’s stronghold, where all those collars were made …
Gavin’s mouth tightened. “I cannot say. But I will tell you this: do not venture toward Morath just yet. Until you are ready.”
“I’m ready now.” A fool’s lie. Gavin knew it, too. It was an effort not to touch his neck, the pale band forever marring his skin.
“Morath is no mere keep,” Gavin said. “It is a hell, and it is not kind to reckless young men.” Dorian stiffened, but Gavin went on, “You will know when you are truly ready. Remain at this camp, if you can convince your companions. The path will find you here.”
Gavin’s edges warped further, his face turning murky.
Dorian dared a step forward. “Am I human?”
Gavin’s sapphire eyes softened—just barely. “I’m not the person who can answer that.”
And then the king was gone.
CHAPTER 5
The commander in the alley had claimed his latest orders had been dispatched from Doranelle.
None of them knew whether to believe him.
Sitting around a tiny fire in a dusty field on the outskirts of a ramshackle city, the blood long since washed from his hands, Lorcan Salvaterre again mulled over the logic of it.
