Page 54 of An Honored Vow

Out of all the places Kairn could have gone, he chose the island that I knew so well.

My teeth gritted against each other. I had been too quick to listen to Vrail that day. She had urged me not to chase Kairn through the portal. She had said that it was useless, too dangerous to justify since we had no way to know where Kairn had gone.

But my instincts had been right.

Where else would a dog go except back to the cage his master had made him?

I pushed the guilt from my mind as I saw Kairn enter the throne room through his own eyes. Damien sat perfectly straight in his gold throne, his blond hair accentuating the cheekbones that had only grown starker since he’d claimed the crown. His jade eye and his black eye tracked Kairn across the marbled tile until the Blade reached the dais. Kairn threw Nikolai to the ground like he was nothing and knelt before his king.

The other members of the Arsenal stood behind the throne, each one wearing a gleaming fastener at the necks of their cloaks. It had only been days in this memory since Gerarda and I had killed the Dagger, Shield, and Bow during the battle of Volcar, but Damien had already appointed three more men. All just as nasty and brutal looking as the last. All with one black eye and amber pupil.

Damien stood. The scar along his magic eye pulled taut as he looked down at Nikolai with disgust. His scowl became a faint smile as he turned his attention back to Kairn.

“Finally, one of my weapons has come home a success.” Damien grabbed the canister of wine beside his throne and poured two glasses. He picked up his own goblet, savoring a sip, before motioning for Kairn to pick up his own. The Blade was still a servant, after all.

Damien snapped his hands at the guards stationed along the entry. They moved in unison to pull the tall white doors open just wide enough for a gangly young man with a red velvet cushion to scurry through. He clambered up to Damien on knobby legs that could barely hold his weight. Kairn’s gaze focused on the red marks along his skin. The scars looked as if hot oil had dripped along the flesh and was left to burn.

“Look.” Riven pointed at something in the memory. Kairn’s attention had turned from the young servant to the items on the velvet cushion.

Five gleaming pendants sat on the lush fabric. Each a perfect copy of the one Kairn had worn on his chest.

Damien’s lips thinned. “Only five?” He looked like he wanted to spit at the boy. “I told the smith I wanted as many as he could fashion.”

The servant paled. “Th-this was all he could do with th-the measurements you gave him.”

Damien lifted his chin. “There is nothing left?”

The boy shook his head rather than speaking.

“Nothing left of what?” Elaran murmured but none of us answered her. We just watched as Damien dismissed the servant and let the cushion sit on the table beside his throne.

His long finger traced the edge of the middle pendant. “Our enemy may have regained some semblance of their old power.” He tapped the glass covering the pearlescent material inside the pendant. “But I have reawakened an even older enemy.”

Kairn’s viewpoint shifted as he looked Damien in the eyes. “You expect us to fight this war on two fronts?”

“Not at all.” Damien smirked as he picked up a pendant and fastened it to the middle of Kairn’s chest. “Thewaateyshirakare the natural enemy of the Fae, and these pendants will make them … understand that our objectives are aligned.”

Feron took a step forward, his eyes narrowing as he studied Damien. One Elvish word had revealed so much. Damien had meant for thewaateyshirakto return. And he didn’t just know their name or how devastating they were, he thought he could use them to his advantage.

“Can you reason with thewaateyshirak?” I asked Feron. “Do they speak like us? Do they have some kind of language we don’t know?”

Feron didn’t answer; he merely took another step forward, refusing to look away from the memory.

Damien pinned three more pendants to his Arsenal. His hand lingered over the fifth before he assessed the last member. The Bow was brawny but young, pocks still dotting his cheeks and only a few hairs growing on his chin.

“You’re stationed in Koratha, correct?” Damien asked.

The Bow nodded.

“Then I shall keep this.” Damien slipped the pendant into his pocket. “There are only five of them after all.”

Kairn looked down at his chest to study his pendant for the first time. I squinted as if that would make Kairn’s memory clearer or compel him to ask Damien all the questions I wanted him to answer.

Riven noticed the peculiar sheen of the material inset into the pendant. “What is it?”

Feron shook his head. “I have never seen it before. But I will ask Vrail when we return. She may have come across a description that I do not recall.”

Damien addressed the four members who had pendants pinned to their chests. “Keep them on you at all times and use them only when needed.”

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