The Goddess watched me with concerned eyes. “It must feel so confusing,” she said gently. “But you’re going to be all right. I swear. You don’t have to be alone in this. I know the role I played. And I’m sorry for it.”
I stared at my feet, poking out from the blanket. My hands opened and closed in my lap. Then I lifted my arms. My skin was so new, I was almost pink.
“Are you hurt?” the Goddess asked. “We can’t stay here. But we’ll take you with us. Protect you. Can you walk?”
We can’t stay here? Why can’t we stay here? Anger rushed through me, fiery and overwhelming, ready to consume my small body. I pulled the edges of my blanket closer. I still didn’t understand. Where were we? Who were they? And why did I want to crawl into the arms of the God who seemed to shine the color yellow?
I glared at the God and Goddess. “You said you had no choice. But what is it that you have done? What am I?”
The Goddess began to cry, but I felt no sympathy for her. “You were part of the God known as Shiviel,” she said, “Guardian of the Yellow Ray. Now you’re not. Now you’re new.”
“New?” I asked, horror filling me. “I’m not new. I can feel it. I’m ancient. I always was. I can feel where you cut … where you cut me apart.” Shiviel. Shiviel. I had to get back to Shiviel.
I could see it now. Heaven. Earth. The Hall of Records. The Light. The War. I wasn’t new. “I remember,” my voice shook. “Remember too much.I can’t be new. I’ve been here for so long. If I were new, I wouldn’t have died. I wouldn’t have felt it. My death.”
“You’re right,” the God said. “You are ancient. We were brothers once. We protected each other. And I swear I will protect you now. I will amend this. You don’t have to be afraid.”
“Why should I believe you?” I spat. They were the ones who had cut me. “I sense memories. Of another world. Another plane of existence. Of light. A light that did not burn.” It was becoming clearer. All of it. Who I’d been. Who I was. A Guardian. “But I am not Shiviel. Not anymore. I am … other.”
A light flashed. Yellow. Yellow light. Blinding. Too much.
Awoman tore through with wild, unkempt black hair, and a beauty mark above her mouth. The vorakh who murdered my parents.
“NO! ” I screamed. “NO! ”
“I’ll still get you,” she said. “I’m close now. Closer than you know.” A smile spread across her face, one embedded with a promise. Of death.“You won’t get away from me this time, Turiel.”
My eyes sprang open again, and I was kicking and flailing and shouting. “I’m not Turiel. I’m not Turiel!”
“Tristan,” Naria said. “Tristan, stop! It’s me! It’s Naria.” I gasped, coldness clinging to every inch of my body. “What the hell,” she said. “What’s wrong with you?”
“C-Can you get me a blanket,” I asked weakly.
Rolling her eyes, she walked to the closet and pulled out a spare. She climbed into the bed with me, wrapping her legs around mine, her arms across my waist as she pulled the blanket over the two of us.
“Body heat will help,” she said quietly, her eyes searching mine.
I burst into tears. “You know what you just saw?”
She nodded. “I know. I’ve known. I figured it out.”
“And you didn’t tell anyone?”
She leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Obviously not. I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to tell anyone.” She pushed back my hair, her face softening. “It’s okay. I’m here with you.”
I buried my face against her neck and breathed in her floral scent, trying to push the vision out of my mind. But when I closed my eyes, I saw the vorakh again, and all I could hear was her telling me she was coming to get me.
Coming to get Turiel.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
LYRIANA
“Careful,” Auriel said, reaching for my hand. I’d lost my balance, stepping onto a series of rocks at the top of a Korterian hill. The grass had grown so tall the rocks were hidden, and I’d been taken by surprise more than once as we crossed the border back into Lumeria. And back into a regular sense of time. A task made more difficult since my boots were still wet from crossing a ravine at the Afeyan border.
I grasped Auriel’s hand, and took a deep breath, my free hand sliding reassuringly behind my back over the hilt of the red shard.
