The hours passed just as he had instructed. Ferro left her to freshen up and the young Pillar brought her food. Eira made an attempt at getting his name, but the man ignored her. She might have Ferro’s confidence, but it seemed the rest of the Pillars were still skeptical of her.
That night, the bed was too soft and the pale moonlight that streamed through her window was too bright for her to sleep. It felt like she had been sleeping for days, weeks even—one long, horrible nightmare that she had finally woken from. That nightmare had started back on Solaris, the night Marcus died.
Now she was awake, and sleeping felt like wasting more time. Eira stared out her window down at the grounds. She never saw anyone walking the lavish gardens below, or on the hills beyond. No animals…not even a bird.
Eira spent the whole night staring out the window. Twice the moon dipped behind the clouds and the world seemed to blur a moment. Eira blinked, rubbed her eyes, and kept watching. Was she just tired? Or…
When the dawn rose, she put her hand on the glass. Even though the sunlight streamed through the window, brightening her room, the glass didn’t warm. She moved her hand from pane to pane. The metal was icy to the touch. It should be warming due to sunlight.
What she saw wasn’t real. The scenery beyond her room was some kind of intricate illusion. She laced her fingers and held her hands together tightly to keep herself from smashing the glass to confirm her theory. If the scene beyond was fake then she could be anywhere.
I could still be in Risen.
Closing her eyes, she tried to grab onto the sharpened sense of magic she’d had since leaving the pit. She could feelsomethingvibrating behind the glass. Her brow knit with focus. She focused on that thrumming sensation that hovered around her. She was learning magic was an almost sentient thing. It lived in stone, water, fire, and in the air itself; it had been strung throughout their world and sorcerers merely tugged on the threads.
Eira slowly opened her lids and stared at the illusion. She imagined a dozen invisible, magic hands stretching from her back. The unreal fingers knotted in the magic. Pull? Tug? What did she do now? Was any of this real or was it all in her head?
Sweat rolled down her neck.
She made the mistake of blinking. For a second, just as her eyes were about to close, there was a wobble. There was a stone wall where the green pastures had once been. But when Eira opened her eyes again, it was gone.
Her second attempt was interrupted by the door to her room opening for Ferro.
“Oh, good, you’re already awake, my dear.”
I’m not “your dear;” I’m your undoing. The smile she plastered on her face was the antithesis to the cutting thought.
“I was so excited to work with you today—to prove myself to the Champion—that I couldn’t sleep.” She motioned to the window. “Plus, I wanted to wake with the dawn.”
“And what a lovely dawn it is.”
“Indeed. I think the sun shines brighter on Meru.” Eira stood. “Are we far from Risen? The air seems fresher and crisper here.”
His smile thinned and panic settled into her gut. Had she overstepped? Did he now know she was onto them?
“I think you are simply correct in that Yargen shines her light brighter on her chosen land. Even our air is better for it.” Ferro crossed to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Come, I’ve arranged an important meeting for you today.”
“Oh?”
“You’ll see when we arrive.”
Ferro escorted her out, blindfolded, of course, and through the halls. They went down two flights of stairs and then through what Eira suspected was a long tunnel. The top of her head kept brushing against the ceiling and the walls were so close that Ferro’s side pressed against hers. Eira imagined the long, skinny tunnels she and Ducot traversed to get to the home of the Court of Shadows. Were the Pillars operating much like the shadows? Eira imagined layers of webs suspended at different levels underneath the streets of Risen. The city was ancient. It had been built on itself for years. Fathoming that there might be cities underneath cities wasn’t all that difficult and she felt foolish for not thinking of it sooner. Yet another useful piece of information to take back to the Specters.
Up a small flight of stairs, Eira could feel the shift of the air as the space opened. They finally came to a stop and Ferro removed her blindfold. They were in an empty room, save for three men.
One was the Champion, and he was flanked by two other Pillars Eira didn’t recognize.
“It is good to see you again, Eira,” the Champion said with that unnerving fatherly smile of his.
Eira dropped to her knee and put on her most pious voice. “I am not worthy of being before you, Your Grace.”
“You are not,” the light-haired elfin to the Champion’s right sneered.
“But her recognizing such speaks volumes to the progress she’s made,” the Champion said. “Stand, Eira. You are here to demonstrate the powers my son has told me so much about.”
Son?Eira looked between the Champion and Ferro in shock. Ferro was the Champion’s son.
“Forgive me, darling.” Ferro just kept giving her new pet names, as though he were in a competition with himself to find out what she hated most. Darling was slightly better than pet. But she’d love to punch in his teeth for either. “I lied to you. But only because you couldn’t understand the glory of my parentage. No one could know.”
