Alliance Forged (15 page)

Let her go.

If she gets lost it’s her own fault. She should have known better.

A vision of her tripping and hurting herself played out in his mind. It was swiftly followed by the knowledge that two renegade Light Blades were still unaccounted for. Alone she was helpless.

He clenched his fists. Allowing her to walk into danger or come to harm would be wrong. Not only that, but he’d given his word to her brother to protect her all those months ago.

Cursing under his breath Varian went after her. She yelped in surprise as he seized her arm and jerked her around to face him.

“You lack the sense of any sane person, you know that?” he snarled.

Wide-eyed and pale cheeked, but with relief visible on her face, she squared her shoulders.

“I thought I’d lost you.” Her hand lifted toward him and he tensed, but at the last moment she dropped it to her side. “I didn’t want you being out here alone.”

“Did you even consider the risks of following me?” He kept his tone scathing. “There are still two rebel Light Blades roaming the countryside. Given the chance, I’m sure they’d attempt to kill you again.”

Her cheeks lost more of their color but her jaw remained tilted at a defiant angle. “Don’t you care that the same applies to you?”

“Actually, I don’t.” And that was the truth, plain and simple. Red leeched into the edges of his sight. Should their paths cross, nothing would stop him from killing them. The
Na’Chi
inside of him looked forward to the encounter.

“Well, I do.”

Her declaration shocked him into silence for a full dozen heartbeats. He’d anticipated some sort of angry retort, not such impassioned honesty. There was no mistaking the heavy incenselike scent saturating the air around her. It was enough to make the red edging his vision fade.

“It’s your job to care.” He let her go.

Her hand shot out and grabbed his arm. “Yes, it is, but I’m not
here as the
Temple Elect
. I didn’t ask Zaune to bring me out to the burial site so I could comfort you as the
Lady’s
Handmaiden. I’m sorry if I gave you that impression. My faith is so much a part of who I am, I can see how you’d think otherwise, but I came as me—Kymora—because I knew you needed a friend.” Her voice softened. “I care about you!”

Varian stood there feeling peculiar, an uncertain warmth curling in his gut even as he shook his head. A part of him wanted to laugh in disdain at the idea, but another, more selfish part coveted every word.

The yearning made him ache. Made him crave with a hunger so powerful it terrified him. He wanted to pull away, break the physical connection so he could unravel the thread tying her words to his soul.

He couldn’t. He ground his teeth together, hating that he could be so weak.

“Well, there’s a first.” Varian issued a harsh laugh and jerked out of her hold. “Who’d have thought a priestess could lie so convincingly?”

K
YMORA sucked in a shocked breath at the deliberate insult. Derision saturated every word. Her throat tightened at the emotions pouring from his aura. They were all twisted and tangled: fear, disbelief, hope, confusion, anger. All wrestled for dominance.

“I know you don’t mean that.” Half expecting him to block her, she dropped her staff and reached up with both hands to touch the sides of his face, surprised when he let her. Her palms brushed several thin, tight braids of hair on either side of his head.

Among the
Na’Chi
, they were the symbols of his scout status. The small, hard, handmade beads tied at the ends were warm to the touch. Her fingers grazed his ears, moved lower to his jaw. Stubble prickled her skin. Beneath her fingers, the muscles in his jaw flexed, hard with contained anger.

The raised
Na’Chi
markings at his temples were smooth but irregular in size and shape. She traced one hiding in his hairline. They were so much a part of who and what he was.

Unique. Fascinating.

He caught her wrists and just held them still, his grip firm, a good reminder not to test his patience.

“Have I ever told you how I was appointed the
Temple Elect
?” she asked.

This close, she felt his surprise at her change of topic.

“No.” Varian’s reply was barely a hoarse rumble.

“I discovered my Gift when I was six years old.” A small smile hitched the corners of her mouth upward. “My father was finalizing travel arrangements of a shipment of woven rugs for a client. The crafter delivered them on a hand-pushed cart, all rolled up and carefully covered with waterproof hides. He unwrapped one to show my father. The bleater fur was incredibly soft, like the pelt of a newborn
lira
cub. There were so many beautiful colors woven into the patterns….”

Beneath her fingers, Varian’s jaw twitched. “You were able to see?”

“For the first six years of my life.”

“How did you lose your sight?”

“I’m getting to that. As traders, my parents would deliver goods all over the provinces. Mother returned from the Eastern Crags Province a few days before she fell ill. What we didn’t know then was that animals in a village she’d visited were infected with Claret-rash, a sickness that can transfer to humans.”

“I remember Hesia telling me once how
Na’Rei
Savyr ordered the slaughter of a caravan of new slaves infected with Claret-rash so they wouldn’t pass it on to those in his fortress.” Varian’s quiet recount was somber. “Despite her pleas to isolate and treat them, he deemed the effort a waste of resources. He wanted her remedies and supplies used on the
Na’Hord
, his army. Slaves were easily replaced; his soldiers were not.”

Untreated, Claret-rash was a painful way to die. Kymora closed her eyes, her heart aching for the pain the healer must have felt being unable to even try and help those who’d suffered.

She cleared her throat. “By the time the healers in the Eastern Crags realized what was happening and reported it to the Master Healer at Sacred Lake, half the province had become infected.”

“What about your mother?”

She acknowledged his question with a nod. All she sensed from him was curiosity, as if his anger had been put on hold, for the moment.

“Kalan and I were playing in the yard next to my father’s workshop. He was still negotiating with the crafter when I felt a strange explosion of sadness. It was so strong I burst into tears. My father came over and all I could tell him was that mother was hurting.” Kymora took a deep breath. “She’d just discovered the rash covering her body. Her emotional reaction triggered my Gift.”

“Did she have Claret-rash?”

“Oh, yes. Our whole family ended up in isolation. Kalan and father escaped infection—” She cleared her throat to ease the huskiness from her voice. “Mother died from it a week later but not before passing it on to me.

“I don’t remember much of that time. Just snatches of memories, of the hospice, of a healer talking to my father, then nothing. I’d succumbed to the fever. When I woke up, I asked why it was so dark.”

The heavy mint scent of
Vaa’jahn
permeated her memories of that time. The strong herb had been used to wash all the hospice linens and her clothes, the medicinal brews tasted of it, they’d even rubbed the thick unguent over her body, all in an effort to combat the infection. She couldn’t smell it now without remembering that time.

“Very few survived, and those who did woke up blind,” she said, quietly. “One of the less severe consequences of the fever.”

“Less severe?” Varian sounded aghast.

“There were… additional problems. Some people woke but weren’t there in mind or spirit, others were afflicted with paralysis or speech problems, a few had poor or no memory of their lives before
getting Claret-rash. Several even had a combination of these maladies.” She gave a half shrug. “The loss of my sight seemed merciful compared to what happened to others. While I didn’t appreciate it as a child, I grew to understand just how blessed I’d been.”

Kymora slid one hand from Varian’s face to touch the amulet lying on her chest.

“Four years later, Kalan and I were found on a search. He went straight to the Light Blade barracks to begin his training as a warrior. I started my studies at the Temple not long after. My Gift was most suited to serving the
Lady
. By then I’d learnt how to use a staff and all my other senses to compensate for my lack of sight.”

She’d honed her Gift so well the
Temple Elect
at that time had chosen her to help the senior Servants with dispute settlements. Being able to read people’s auras during times of high emotion helped with counseling.

“In a class full of sighted acolytes, book learning and the challenge of performing the required rituals or duties were difficult.” She cringed inwardly at the memories of how her peers disliked being assigned to read the lessons to her so she could memorize them but spoke about it anyway. “Very few wanted to help someone who was… different.”

“Children can be cruel.”

Varian’s voice trailed off as she traced the raised ridge of scar tissue along his cheek. “How old were you when you received that?”

“Fourteen. A
Na’Reish
warrior followed Hesia one day when she brought food to us. As one of the oldest, I was on watch outside the cavern where we were living. Surprise was my only advantage.”

She didn’t have to ask him if he’d killed the warrior.
Na’Reish
demons, of any class, valued the purity of bloodlines to the point of obsession. Had Varian not killed him, Hesia would have died, too, for helping them.

The
Na’Chi
had inherited the prejudice for physical deformities from their
Na’Reish
parentage.

“Your story?” Varian prompted. “How did you end up as
Temple Elect
?”

The knot hardening in her stomach made her consider editing her answer. Not even Kalan knew the full details of what happened after she was appointed as
Temple Elect
, but Varian needed to understand her past to understand his. She moved a few paces away.

“When my predecessor died in his sleep, the Temple Servants and Blade Council considered many of my teachers as his replacement.” Smoothing her thumb over her amulet, she continued. “The
Lady Herself
appeared to the most senior Servant declaring
Her
choice. Me. I hadn’t even achieved Handmaiden status, just went straight from acolyte to
Temple Elect
in one night.”

“That didn’t usually happen?”

She shook her head. “It’s only occurred one other time in recorded history. Then, the acolyte was in her thirties, much more educated in the teachings of the
Lady
, and with years of life experience.” Kymora turned so Varian could see her face as she continued. “Can you imagine the Blade Council’s response to my being appointed? Keep in mind many of the Councilors were those you met the day you claimed sanctuary from me—Benth, Corvas, Davyn, and Yance.”

“All seasoned Light Blade warriors.”

She ticked off her fingers as she went. “I was twenty-one… an acolyte completing my studies… still discovering the limitations of my Gift… and blind.” She licked her lips, her mouth dry. “Suddenly, I was expected to lead as the head of our order. The position demanded I make decisions about religious affairs and give opinions to Councilors who were twice my age.”

“Wasn’t Kalan your
Chosen
then?”

“Not for another two years.”

“All of them were followers of the
Lady
, surely they had faith in
Her
decision?”

“While they couldn’t refuse
Her
choice, the Council debated it for three weeks.” Her pulse throbbed so hard her whole body tingled. She stroked her amulet, lips thinning. “They agreed that the skill involved with my Gift and the insights that came from it would offset the issue of appointing one so young to the position of
Temple Elect
.”

“They needed an excuse to accept your appointment? Condescending idiots!”

His outrage on her behalf heartened Kymora, but still she ducked her head.

“Kymora?” Varian’s hand covered hers, inhibiting her action. “What’s wrong?”

“They might have needed an excuse to value my appointment”—her voice wavered and she cleared her throat twice before being able to continue—“but so did I. I needed them to accept me so badly it was easier to let them believe what they wanted. Although by doing that, everyone assumed I could cope.

“For a while I even convinced myself I could. Eventually the complexities of the issues were way beyond my expertise.” A strangled laugh escaped from her before she could stop it. “I realized too late I couldn’t confide or turn to any of my teachers or other Servants for advice.”

“They wanted a confident leader, not one who had doubts or concerns as real as their own.”

Kymora nodded. “My own desires isolated me.”

“Why do you blame yourself when their lack of faith contributed to the mess as well?”

She gave a half shrug. “I turned to Kalan and Arek for help, but I let them believe they were two of several people I asked for counsel. We talked over problems, made lists of solutions. I spent hours in
the Temple in meditation and prayer. With the
Lady’s
patience and their guidance, I struggled through the two years until Kalan became
Chosen
.

“I’m sure the
Lady
meant it as a lesson in humility, and I took it as such, but that time of my life isn’t something I’m proud of so I’ve kept it to myself.”

Until now, although she didn’t voice those words aloud. For a long moment Varian said nothing; he even stopped rubbing her knuckles. Nothing in his aura hinted at his thoughts; it was as if he’d locked down every emotion. Did he believe her?

“We’re more alike than you think.” Heart beating hard in her chest, Kymora laced her fingers through his. “There’s no need for you to be alone anymore, Varian. Can’t you see that?”

T
HERE’S
no need for you to be alone anymore
.