More quiet halls and darkened passages.They found the door they needed, leading out to a shadowed indoor balcony wrapping around an enormous circular room.They each crouched and edged up to the wooden balustrade, watched by the ruby eyes of a winged statue of Sowelan tall enough to peek over the second floor.A column of light shone through the opening to the ground floor, sunrays redirected from above them by countless hanging mirrors, illuminating the altar room below.
And there, fire and water clashed.
Nalu actually chuckled.“I told you letting the – ” He gritted his jaw and cursed, still bound by Kai’s ward.Small victories.“ – the lady live was a mistake.”
A horde of sun priests lined the perimeter of the room, robes in red and orange and gold illuminated by the dawn light; their faces were rapt, eyes intent and mouths open, as they watched two small figures dancing around one another in the middle of the room.
Ione and Lina.
And Lina.
And Lina –
Menon quivered within him, a cobra flaring its hood.
Whispers rasped on all sides of him, Nalu and Etan, eagerly placing bets.Hilo spotted River beside a sculpture of volcanic glass.A pair of priests stood on either side of him, guarding but not restraining him, their own attention focused on the fight.
“Duck,” Hilo hissed – and below, Ione spun out of the way of a violent whorl of flame.“I’m nearly certain I know that one,” he said, nudging Kai.“One of Ione’s, or…?”He squinted.“Actually, hang on – ”
“She – ” Kai swallowed and shut his eyes, his head light.He bowed, his forehead knocking against the wooden rail, and forced his eyes open.“She isn’t – ”
Ione rolled, narrowly missing another attack.She whipped a torrent of water at Lina, temporarily subduing her, but with a bright burst Lina freed herself.
How had he not realised?How hadIonenot realised?This was what he’d been feeling, this tugging in his gut, the sickening sensation of his own blood coursing through him.
The pull, magnetic and undeniable, of one god to another.
It was Etan who voiced it, grim but clearly awed: “That’s Sowelan.”
A voice boomed from the altar – Rigel, Soliz’s Archpriest.In response, Lina flinched, going stock-still and sending him a fearful look.Kai watched her even though it hurt, even though it made his head pound, his skull feel too tight.Slowly Lina faced Ione again, her movements stilted, her face drawn as she summoned a weak wall of flame.
Lina was fighting Sowelan.Lina was trying torejectSowelan.
He cried out, the magnetism feeling like his flesh was being pulled from his bones, and suddenly he was on his back and away from the edge of the mezzanine, the others crowded above him, Etan’s hand clamped over his mouth.
“Quiet, you idiot,” he whispered.He shot a nervous glance towards the balustrade.“I’m calling it.We’re leaving.”
“What?!”Hilo hissed.“We’ve come this far – ”
“And what d’you want us to do?Swoop down there and fight a god and hundreds of Moths, when this one can’t even control his fucking mouth?”He dragged Kai to his feet.“Come.Forget the others.”
“I’mfine.”Kai swatted him away, hating that his knees trembled to hold his own weight.“Leave if you want, but I’m not going anywhere without – ”
“Your man’s gone.”Hilo had crept to the edge again, his face pressed against the rails.“The pricks minding him haven’t even noticed.”
Footsteps, the sigh of a door grazing against carpet.And then River was there, arms opening, pulling Kai into a fierce hug.For a second Kai froze, a deluge of emotions hitting him, and then he wrapped his arms around River’s waist and – to hell with his brothers, with anyone watching – buried his face in the crook of River’s neck.
“One out of two en’t bad,” Nalu mused.“Let’s quit while we’re ahead.”
That woke Kai up.“Fuck off, Lulu.”He disentangled himself but kept hold of River’s arms, feeling startlingly grounded with him near.“Right,” he murmured.He couldn’t help but grin.“What’s the shtory?”
“What’s the shcandal?”River shot back, cracking an exhausted smile.“About time you got here.”
“We had to argue over it first.”
“I’m glad it was settled in our favour.Although they’re all so distracted by the fight, none of them stopped me from coming up here when I heard you.”He jutted his chin to the sun-bright room below.“They summoned Sowelan into Lina; Ione’s trying to wake her back up, and the priests are considering it a test of their new weapon.”
“I’m all caught up, then.”Kai squeezed his arms and let him go, his stomach jolting when he turned towards the edge of the mezzanine.Towards Sowelan.Stop, he demanded inwardly, rubbing his face.Don’t do this.Not here.He loosed a breath.“Etan and Nalu, distract the priests.Hilo, keep Lina busy.”He pointed at him.“Donothurt her.Am I clear?”
