You should have grabbed her and run as far and as fast away from here as you could,a small part of me whispered in resignation. Fate had a sardonic tendency to punish me immediately when I tried to be good.
Another surge of Chaos magic tore into the Rakash around Tristan and the Sundered, freeing them from their captors. I didn’t stop to see if they joined the fight.
“You want the power of the Adept?” I challenged Deira, moving toward her and Kaius with single-minded determination. “Then come and get it.”
The Veil was thin here on the Ridge, so thin that the power I could draw with the dagger was enough for someone who had once known the Other like no one else to tear it apart easily.
Plunging me and my former acolytes into Darkness and Chaos.
CHAPTER
46
Rada
Nacin gave me wings.
The stallion needed no urging, sensing my agitation as I guided him out of Dalath and onto the winding road. His powerful body surged beneath me and I buried my face in his mane as we raced away, the wind whipping against my cheeks. We swiftly crossed the dense, shadowy forest separating the village from the farm, yet every second felt agonizingly slow. My heart pounded in sync with the stallion’s hooves, each beat echoing my greatest fear coming true: those dearest to me were paying the price for my sins.
Varien… Briseis… The thought of them in the hands of the Chiasma sent icy dread through me.Blessed Light, protect them!I had not prayed in ages, but now I did, a desperate plea for mercy, though I knew fate was unlikely to grant it.
“Faster!” I urged Nacin. We burst into the farmhouse courtyard, and I leaped off him, barely taking the time to loop his reins around the post by the door with a curt “I’ll be back soon!”. I sprinted inside and hurried to the guest room.
Bane greeted me with a plaintive mewl, weaving around my ankles. I only spared him an absentminded pat as I headed to the cupboard on the far wall. He growled in annoyance, but followed me. The Chaosdagger I had tucked into my belt hummed with energy as I heaved aside the chest of unhallowedlyr-stone splinters. Behind it, I had stored a solid iron rod.
Shooing Bane away, I searched for a distinctive pattern on the wooden floor and inserted the rod’s tip between two floorboards. Leaning on it with all my weight, I pried up the wood. After several tries, the board finally loosened and creaked open. I reached into the hollow beneath. At first, my fingers encountered nothing. Then, a few tendrils of Air magic sizzled over my skin, recognizing my magical signature. My hand found rough-spun cloth. The package I lifted out was nearly as long as I was tall, a simple rope securing the cloth around the weapon.
For a moment, I remained kneeling beside the hole in the floor, Starfire on my lap, my eyes closed. “I had hoped I would never have to use this again,” I said, my gaze finding Bane. The cat blinked his enormous amber eyes at me, then pressed his head against my hand in silent encouragement. I chuckled weakly, scratching behind his ears. “I guess my fight isn’t over yet, my friend,” I whispered.
Nacin’s shrill neigh shattered my melancholy. I sprang to my feet at once, the wrapped weapon in my hands. Unease coursed through me as a loud snarl mingled with the horse’s agitated sounds.
There were ten of them waiting for me in front of the house.
It was foolish, really. They had missed the chance to ambush me inside. But none of the Rakash, clad in dark leather armor and brandishing gleaming weapons, dared to confront the furious war horse by the door, his deadly hooves striking the air.
“Shh, Nacin, there’s nothing to worry about,” I soothed thestallion, stepping slowly onto the packed earth of the courtyard. Bane slinked out behind me, his fur bristling, a menacing growl rumbling from his throat. My eyes flicked from side to side, noting each Rakash’s position.
“It’s dangerous for a pretty little thing to live all alone.” The words, spoken in roughly accented Common, came from the tallest of them—their leader, no doubt. His fur gleamed like hammered iron, charcoal stripes darkening the longer strands that brushed his shoulders like a mane. Etched into the armor across his chest was the sigil of Chaos—a raging flame of black, amethyst, and emerald. Galator’s troops still marched beneath that emblem. Noctis’s fear had been justified; these were no mere outlaws.
“If I were merely a pretty little thing, that might be true,” I replied, keeping Starfire loosely clasped in my hand.
A menacing smile revealed the Rakash’s sharp canines. “The mistress told us who you are—the Lady of Light, the traitorous whore for whom the Fallen One lost the war.” A growling laugh escaped him as he pointed his spear at the surrounding farm buildings. “Betraying him hasn’t gained you much, has it, my queen?”
“Noctis is still your master.” I refused to be daunted by the mockery and the hoarse guffaws echoing around me. With a swift motion, I bent and grabbed the hem of my skirt, tucking it securely under my leather belt for better movement.
“So eager to lift your skirts for us?” taunted a dark-furred Rakash on the left, followed by a renewed chorus of growls and yelps.
Their leader’s smile widened, a dark light gleaming in his slitted yellow eyes. “We do not serve fools and weaklings,” he said. “Galator is our lord now.”
“And the Chiasma.” I discreetly loosened the rope securing the cloth around Starfire.
“As long as our lord wills it.”
Bane hissed threateningly as the Rakash leader took a step toward me. The Rakash laughed. “Mistress Deira told us to bring you to her. But she also said you only need to be alive, not unharmed.”
“Let’s see if fucking you is really worth losing everything,” sneered a yellow-furred Rakash from the right, leering at me. The others quickly joined in with crude suggestions and threats in their own guttural language. I gave no sign I understood their words.
“Do yourself a favor, little queen,” the leader said, his cold eyes fixed on me, not yet joining the fray. “Don’t fight back. We won’t hurt you too much, then.”
