Page 54 of A Dawn of Gods & Fury

Gesine did warn me there might be unforeseen consequences to the end of the blood curse. I guess this is one. “But Elisaf is alive and we know he was turned.” By Zander himself—a secret kept to this day, though the law preventing it no longer matters now that the blood curse is gone.

“Aye, he was turned.” Abarrane nods. “That fact stumped His Highness for a time, too, until he started to ask what makes Elisaf different from the others and the answer is you.”

“Me?”

“He was healed by a key caster after a grif shredded him to pieces.”

“So you think I saved him from this?” I hear the doubt in my own voice.

“Lord Telor should have been dead before they reached him, and yet he is now resting in Gaellar’s tent. The elemental could sense traces of something powerful while she was healing him. She found the same thing in Elisaf. There is something special about your touch.” She shrugs. “Ask her yourself, but that is the only explanation we can find for any of it.”

I think back to all those I’ve healed. Elisaf, Lord Telor, Zander … Atticus. Will he benefit from this too?

“On second thought, I think I will accept that healing you suggested this morning.” Jarek holds his hands out to the sides, wearing a smug grin.

“As long as that is all that was suggested this morning while sharing a bed.” Abarrane narrows her gaze at her previous Second. “Speaking of those who should be dead …” She leads us to another tent, throwing the flap aside. “Look what we found wallowing in his own filth when we went to search for Atticus.”

A male lies on a cot, his olive complexion ashen, his lengthy brown hair in disarray. The skin around his shoulder is marred by angry red streaks.

My mouth gapes. “I know him.” Know is not the right word. “He was there the night Atticus took the arrow. He was the one who tried to stop us from leaving.”

“That is Kazimir, Atticus’s arse licker,” Jarek confirms.

“Kazimir can hear you talking about him,” the man croaks, cracking his eyelids and rolling his head toward us. Dried blood speckles his beard. “You, I know, unfortunately.” His gaze veers from Jarek to me. “And you, I escorted from the rift to Cirilea, so I know your face well, and I did not see it outside the Goat’s Knoll that night.”

Of course he would recognize Princess Romeria. “Different face, but I promise you, it was me.” How close is he to Atticus, anyway? Does he know what his dear friend did with his brother’s betrothed on that escort south?

“That’s a trick I’d like to learn.” He pulls himself up with a wince. “I heard whisperings of the new Ybarisan queen with silver eyes while they thought me unconscious. They say she is a key caster and that she killed her own mother to claim the throne.”

“I killed Queen Neilina to stop a war we don’t need so we can fight a war we have no choice in fighting because of Queen Neilina,” I counter evenly.

“And which war is that? The one you caused with your blood?” There’s challenge in his tone.

I’m beginning to see why Atticus kept this soldier so close—they’re both smug asses who always have an answer. “The poison is no longer an issue, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“I may have.” He runs his tongue over his teeth as if a reminder. “And why is that?”

Because I opened the nymphaeum, unleashing all our new problems. The weight of that truth is not lost to me.

“His Highness insisted we bring him with us to see what he could share of Atticus.” Abarrane sneers at the soldier. “I was happy to leave him there to suffer.”

Kazimir smooths a hand over his jaw, but it doesn’t hide the smirk. “Always a joy to be in your presence, Abarrane.”

“Did you find Atticus?” A quick glance around shows me he isn’t here.

“No.” Abarrane shakes her head. “Kazimir witnessed him struck down in a deadly blow from an ax. We searched for his body but could not find it.”

“Kier took it as a trophy,” Jarek says.

My insides twist at the thought. There’s no love lost between us—especially after what I observed in Cirilea under Atticus’s reign, of mortals dangling from city lights—but it would wound Zander.

“A king’s corpse does King Cheral little good,” Abarrane counters. “But we do think he might have survived. Romeria healed him. That might have been enough to keep him alive until he reaches Kier.”

“Do they have healers there?” I feel Kazimir studying me.

“I do not see how. It is a mortal realm, and the waters between Ybaris and Kier are impassable. But our connection with Kier was severed many centuries ago. We know little and have cared little of what goes on across that border.”

“How do we find out if they have him?” I ask.

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