Page 44 of Vow of the Shadow King

“What does it matter what the king wants?” My voice sounds almost too harsh to belong to me. I can’t help it. The stone around my heart is grinding, agonizing. If I don’t find help soon, I don’t know what will happen. “You were sent to serve me, not him.”

Yok shakes his head. “I always serve the king, in whatever way I can.” He tips his chin. “The king bade me keep you safe, so that’s what I will do. I . . . I shouldn’t have let you venture into thegrakanak-gaakt. I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

I study him silently. Try as I might, I cannot get a sense off him, not with my gods-gift locked down. But I don’t need my gift to see the resolute loyalty in his face. Were I not so desperate, I’d admire the boy. As it is . . .

With a little smile and gentle sigh, I lean out of the room, keeping one hand pressed to the wall inside the door. “You’re a good soul, Guardsman Yok,” I say, reaching out and taking him by the hand. He tries to pull back, but I firm my grip. “I am lucky to be in your care.”

With that, I sendcalminto him. Yok’s eyes widen. He opens his mouth, begins to speak, to shout. Before more than a strangled sound can emerge, he topples to the ground, unconscious at my feet.

I stare down at him, panting softly. The boy deserved better than this. By now the pain in my chest is so great, however, I can scarcely think of anything else. But I can’t leave an unconscious guard’s body lying outside my door either.

I grasp his ankles and drag. He’s heavier than he looks. It takes everything I have to get him into the bedroom. Any moment, I expect someone to turn the corner at the end of the passage and catch me in the act. No one comes, however, and I manage to get him inside. Then I draw the door shut and slip silently away down the passage.

I must find that garden. I must find that circle of tall crystals. I must find relief. If it’s the last thing I do.

18

VOR

We are a solemn, silent party as we ride our morleth back up through the city late thatdimness.

Toz did his best to communicate what we’d found in the temple. Hael held her tongue, and I could not bear to speak of it. Not yet. Toz’s report was enough. No one spoke unless necessary for the whole journey home. Even Sul was uncharacteristically silent. He rides on the bow of Hael’s saddle, wrapped tight in her arms, his head thrown back against her shoulder, his eyes closed. He looks very gray and grim by the time we reach the palace.

I dismount Knar, allowing the beast to slip away to his own dimension, and hasten to help Sul down. As soon as her feet are on the ground, Hael reaches for him, her manner almost possessive. “Take him to the infirmary at once,” I tell her.

“Yes, my King. I’ve got him,” Hael says and turns for the steps. She pauses, however, and looks back at me. “What about you? Madame Ar should check you over, make certain you haven’t inhaled anyraog.”

I shudder. But I know I don’t haveraogin my system. Not this time at least. “Don’t worry, Hael. I’ll be along shortly. I have something I must see to first.”

Hael gives me a shrewd look. I don’t like it and turn away hastily to speak a word to Toz and the others. I urge them all to report at once to Ar, then hasten up the front steps and into the palace before anyone can question me. My face must be grim indeed. The household folk I meet as I stride through the winding corridors hastily avert their eyes or bow their heads. I spare none of them a word or a look. My steps carry me swiftly to the west wing of the palace. I know exactly where I’m going.

Fury burns in my breast. It’s been growing by the hour, ever since I looked upon that dead girl in the circle of crystals. The devastation of Hoknath was bad enough, but that particular horror? That one will remain with me all the days of my life.

I come to a certain door, brace myself before it, and pound three times with my fist. The sound echoes hollowly against the stones, underscored by my own hard breathing. Perhaps I should think better of this, should wait to have this encounter when I’m in a calmer state of mind. But I cannot wait. Not a moment more.

The door opens. A wide-eyed child peers up at me. Her mouth opens in a little circle of terror. “Where is your mistress?” I demand.

The child swallows hard. “The queen has given orders that she’s not to be dis—”

I push through with a growl. Roh’s set of rooms are humble indeed, scarcely what one would expect from a dowager queen. Indeed, if one didn’t know any better, it would be easy to believe this was the cell of a priestess. All is dark, with only a singlelorstcrystal to illuminate the whole of the space. By its light, I see my stepmother seated before a stone washbasin. She’s cleaning her hands. Slowly, methodically.

She looks up at me. Her eyes flash in the crystal glow. “So, Vor. You’re back.”

I stare at her hands. At the two great cuts slicing across both her palms. Even as I watch, even as she lifts them from the water, blood wells again. She picks up a cloth, grips it tight. A blue stain seeps through the white.

“What have you done?” I demand.

She tilts her head at me. “What haveyoudone? Have you found my son?”

“He is home. Safe.”

Roh lets out a little breath, then lifts one bleeding hand to make a holy sign. “Praise be to the Deeper Dark. And the people of Hoknath? What word of them?”

I stare at her. In that eerie pale glow, I see the sacrificed woman again. Her desecrated body. Her blood spilled to feed theurzulstones. “I think you know,” I growl. “I think you know what happened in Hoknath. Did Targ have anything to do with it?”

Roh purses her lips and turns to her basin once more. She takes the cloth, dabs gently at her wounds, and only a faint tightness around her eyes reveals her pain. “You’ll have to be more specific, Vor. I cannot read your mind and prefer not to speak in riddles.”

“The ceremony. Theva-jor.”I stride a little closer, my hands trembling with the urge to grab her by the shoulders, to force her to look at me. “They were stone, Roh. Solid stone. From the inside out.”

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