“I…what happened?” Kaïs sat up, fighting against the sleep that fogged his eyes. She watched them clear like clouds from a silver-bright moon. “Where are we?”
Linn went as close to him as she dared and sat. She drew her knees close to her chest. “We are in the Temple of the Skies,” she said. “The Temple Masters fought against the Cyrilian spies.”
The sharpness returned to his gaze. “And?”
She parted her lips. Hesitated. “It is…complicated.”
He scanned her face and pressed his lips together, allowing the silence between them to sit. He did not prod her for more, as others might have. No—it almost frightened her how much he had grown to know her throughout their time together. How easy it was to be around him, to not need to fill silences with meaningless chatter, but instead, to find the meaninginthe silences.
Linn loosed a breath, hanging her head in shame. “I let the Whitecloaks slip through my fingers. They…they took the jade tablet of the Bei’kin Bookhouse.” She continued, drawing a deep breath and looking up again, “Now they have information on the Heart of the Gods.”
Kaïs’s brows creased. “It seems our journey is not yet over.”
She nodded.
He traced a hand over his stomach, where the long red wound had gaped earlier. “You saved me.” A small smile twisted his mouth. He gestured around them. “Perhaps this is the spiritual dominion of the Sister, and you are still with me.”
She knew vaguely of the Nandjian faith, of how the world was split into a duality of physical and metaphysical with two forces named the Brother and the Sister. Linn curled her lips into a smile. “In Kemeira, we have the belief of yuan,” she said. “It translates to…” She paused to think of the word. “Destiny.We believe some people’s souls are connected by threads of fate.” She looked down, suddenly feeling bashful in this confession.
But Kaïs leaned forward, holding his weight by his elbows. He reached out and touched the tip of her finger with his. “I know,” he said. “I feel it, too.”
Linn tensed. He was so close, she could see the cave’s soft glow gilding the slick black of his hair, feel the heat and power rippling from his body. The instinct of touch had become foreign to her, beaten from her by the hands of traffickers throughout the long, enduring years. Her breath quickened, her muscles tightening to anticipate the nauseating revulsion she’d grown used to at any prolonged or intimate contact. Her eyes flicked up, her senses flared, her body reacting as it would to a threat.
Gently, Kaïs slid his hand along hers, the tips of his fingers warm and roughly calloused. Inch by inch, he unfurled her palm, splaying his own against hers. His gaze never wavered from hers, silver discs of moon against her ink-black night. His touch was a question, his eyes searching hers for permission.
Linn looked at his face, open and steady, and within, she found the answer. Once her rival who’d matched her in swordfighting, then her ally who’d trusted her to fly; now her friend through a thousand trials and dangers. They were warrior souls, connected, against all odds, across time and space and culture. Somewhere, somehow, sometime, their gods—or whatever forces above existed—had woven their fates together.
Her breath steadied, and she found the tension seeping from her shoulders. Linn looked down and slipped her fingers through his, his large palm fitting perfectly against hers, all the scars he held pressing against her own. His touch grounded her like the unmoving earth to her shifting winds; his pale eyes brightened, and meeting them again was like coming home, darkness finding light, yin joining yang.
Kaïs’s black lashes flickered, but otherwise, he held very still. Only the corners of his mouth lifted.
Linn let herself match that smile. Still holding his hand, she said: “We must return to Cyrilia. We must find Ana. And we must take back that jade tablet.”
He nodded. It was that wordless gesture that locked the feeling into place: that he’d been carved from the same stars as she inthis life, stolen and trapped by their enemies, forged into weapons and tools, forced against their will to serve. Now, they were, at last, making a choice of their own, a stance for what they believedin.
Action, and counteraction.
They had come full circle.
“We fight,” Kaïs said. “Together.”
—
Linn and Kaïs followed the light of the paper lanterns as the woman from earlier had instructed Linn to do. The ground shifted to smooth flooring, and then they were met with a set of stone steps that wound up to a long hallway. Sunlight streamed through open-air windows carved with intricate wooden patterns. Wooden beams soared upward into ceilings covered with bright paintings of the Kemeiran gods resting on clouds, watching over the beings on earth. Wielders and givers, fire and water, earth and wind, twined around one another in perfect harmony.
In the center of the hall were a redwood table and chairs, made intricate with fretwork that ran along all of their surfaces. The Temple Masters stood gathered around, conversing in low voices, silken shifts billowing softly in an invisible breeze. Linn noticed that there were several people with partially shaved heads and long braids, dressed in gold-threaded doublets.
In Kemeira, gold was the color of the Emperor and his envoys.A cold shock trickled through her as she averted her gaze. There was no doubt as to who they were: Imperial Messengers.
The Emperor’s men were here.
Ruu’ma shi’sen looked up as Linn and Kaïs approached, and the rest of the gathering fell silent. There were twenty or so people congregated and Linn recognized Ying shi’sen and Rii shi’sen, along with several others who had fought outside.
Linn knelt before the group, inclining her head. By her side, Kaïs did the same.
Ruu’ma spoke. “Wind wielder, your warning helped us save the Temple of the Skies. What is your story? Tell it before the witnesses to the Skies and the eyes of the Emperor.”
Linn looked up. When she spoke, her voice was soft. “Revered Temple Masters, my name is Ko Linnet, a wind wielder of the village of Hu’kian. I met Gen shi’sen at the village of Shan’hak, and together, we tracked down the Cyrilian spies.”
