“Thank you.” She took a step away, not yet ready to turn and leave him behind. “But for what it’s worth, I’m immensely flattered. You know you could have any woman you wanted.”
“You don’t have to tell me.” He chuckled with a playful, sexy arrogance. “But you could also have any man, Eira. Don’t sell yourself short.”
“I’m working on that, too.”
“Good.”
“Maybe, once the tournament is over and all the dust has settled…you and I could find some time, once I’ve had an opportunity to have some proper discussions with myself. If the interest is still there.” Her tone was as casual as she felt. No promises, expectation, or pressure. It would be what it would be…or it would be nothing more than a brief, stolen kiss in the moonlight.
“I think I’d like that,” he said with a note of finality. Yet neither of them moved away. They continued standing on the packed earth of the village, a nighttime breeze emphasizing the space between them. A gap so easily closed with one falter of self-control. One more moment of reckless abandon and she would be—
“Sleep well, Olivin.”
“You too, Eira.”
They parted ways. Her lips still burning and head still light. Eira waited for the moment when guilt for what she’d done would crash upon her. But it never came. Cullen was sortinghimself as much as she was. She wasn’t going to hold herself back for him. What would be, would be. She’d leave it in fate’s hands.
38
Everyone was still fast asleep as Eira crept upstairs. Fortunately, she made it to her room without waking anyone. Eira stripped out of her clothes from the day, dressing for night. When she dropped her soiled clothes onto the pile in the corner, her eyes snagged on the pair of trousers she’d worn the day she left Risen. The events of that day returned to her with force. But there was a new angle to them. Things she hadn’t seen before her time with Olivin.
A woman with steely eyes…like Olivin’s. Who would be a few years his senior.
A Pillar who had every reason to go after Yonlin.
Righteous wrath, that was what the female cleric who had attended to Yonlin had said that day. The same words the woman in the crowd had used when she’d thrown the rock at Eira. Lumeria’s knights had escorted the woman away…but they could’ve been secret Pillars. Given how fast the rumors had been spreading of Eira and the flame, it wasn’t a stretch to think the Pillars were staging opportunities to fuel them. There had been enough time for a lone rider to make it to Warich ahead of their plodding carriages…
Wynry would’ve seen Eira dancing with her brother when Eira was still pretending to be Ferro’s pet. She knew what Eira looked like. Her heart hammering, Eira practically lunged for her trousers. The rock the woman had thrown, that she had so carelessly shoved in her pocket and thought nothing more of, was still there. Seeing it with new eyes, she realized it looked like the same type of stone that the sculptures in Ulvarth’s throne room had been made from.
During her first day she had listened for echoes in the buildings around her. In the coliseum. But what she’d needed might have been right under her nose.
Taking a breath, Eira allowed her magic to seep into the stone for the first time, immediately feeling foolish for not listening earlier when voices blossomed in her mind.
Do not weep, my child, Ulvarth said.
Forgive me, Father, for my weakness, a woman’s voice replied. She had a deeper resonance than most. Eira wasn’t sure if the similarity to Olivin’s voice was actually there, or if she was imagining it in the hopes that the voice she heard was his sister and meant the stone would be some kind of significant lead.
We will discard our halls below, for our thrones above. Ulvarth was as frustratingly cryptic as ever.But it heartens me to see you weep for our first home together.
I know once the deed is done, we will rule. We will return to her holy temple, as we were meant to.
But first, we will show the people of this land our power. There was malicious glee to Ulvarth’s voice.We will expunge the followers of Raspian from Meru with her might. We shall show those that would stand with their twisted treaty the cleansing flames of Yargen and turn the seat of their power to rubble.
They will know fear and awe, the woman Eira assumed was Wynry said with reverence.
We will show them all. But first, we will cleanse this place of our presence as we will cleanse the hearts of the people above. They shall soon know of our impending return. We will rise once more as her mighty swords. Then, we will bring down the castle on the hill Raspian has infiltrated. When their eyes are on their foolish treaty, we shall destroy their throne in Risen.
Silence. And then an explosion had Eira dropping the stone and clutching her ears. Once her head stopped ringing, she straightened and crossed to the window. She could barely see Meru’s house and all the windows were dark.
Did she go back to Olivin?
No, he was likely asleep by now and she didn’t want to risk waking the other competitors in the process of getting back to him. She didn’t know how she could reach Deneya, or Vi, either. She could make some kind of a scene, perhaps? But any erratic behavior could tip Ulvarth off to her discovery.
Eira pulled at her fingers, popping her knuckles restlessly. The best path was patience. It would have to wait until the morning. Hopefully she could find Deneya sometime before the game and tell her of the discovery. If not, there was still one more day. The treaty wasn’t going to be signed until the day after the final game.There was still time…
Her eyes dragged back to the coliseum, a dark silhouette against the night sky. The mentions of fighting in the streets from Deneya…the strange immolations Alyss had read about in her paper… The Pillars were already putting the first parts of their plans into action—rising as “mighty swords.”
Next was Risen, if she didn’t stop them first.
