Page 120 of Kingdom of the Two Moons

“We will, my lord, if you regard us as worthy.”

“I will decide on your fate when I deem fit,” Caryan answers, then turns on his heel and walks out.

Riven follows him, leaving Ronin and Kyrith with the warriors.

As soon as they are alone and the soundproof doors shut behind them Riven asks, “Where the hells have you been? I’ve been worried.”

He has been. When they returned, Caryan vanished, saying heneeded to see to something, leaving Riven and the others with the spies. A little longer and Riven would have left with Kyrith and Ronin to comb the area looking for him.

Then Caryan returned… with Melody’s scent clinging to him. The scent of her blood and fear.

Caryan lets Riven’s tone pass and says, “She ran off. I barely saved her from a sand worm.”

Riven doesn’t know what to say. What’s worse—that she tried to run off again and nearly got killed, or the fact that a sand worm has shown up here? A monster that could easily kill elves. In fact, Caryan is one of the few creatures who could walk away from such an encounter alive, which was another reason Gatilla kept him—to fight against those dark scavengers that had started to impregnate their world and thrive in it due to the imbalance she caused.

“But how did she get out?”

“She broke through my wards.”

Riven’s eyes widen. Caryan’s wards are some of the most ancient and complicated he’s ever encountered. It would have taken a master of crafting magic a week or more to break through some of them. For her to just undo the magic…

Impossible. Or another of hertalents. Not that Riven’s ever heard of a talent like this before. It’s a frightening idea to entertain, what she might be able to do with it.

She is so young though. Elves normally take half a century to even unlock the basic potential of their magic. To wield it is another thing entirely.

When Caryan turns and Riven sees his face, he knows his brother is thinking the same.

“A sand worm?” he says instead.

“There will be more.” Caryan just looks tired when he states that fact.

The sight touches Riven, once again evokes those dark thoughts he fights so hard to push back—that maybe Caryan has slain too many such monsters in his long life. That he indeed is tired.

“And the blood?” Riven asks when Caryan doesn’t offeranything more.Melody’s blood. He needs to ask. Needs to know whether she is alright.

“She had some cuts.”

Riven watches him closely, but Caryan’s eyes reveal nothing.

“Those Palisandrean soldiers—do they know who slipped through your ward wall? Do they know about the Nefarians? Are there more?” Caryan would know because he drank their blood. And even if Palisandre hates the Nefarians, it wasn’t unheard of that Lorvil, high king of Palisandre, might bond with his enemies to pursue a greater objective.

But Caryan shakes his head. “No. Whoever slipped through wasn’t from Palisandre. They know nothing about the Nefarians breaching my ward wall and invading my kingdom.”

“They came for her then,” Riven gathers. For Melody.

“Palisandre suspects that she’s here. They haven’t confirmed it though,” Caryan says.

“But how do they know?”

“One of the oracles told them.”

“I would have never expected them to change sides,” Riven voices his thoughts.The Palisandrean soldiers.They even mentioned a sort of cult, right under the Palisandrean king’s nose. If this is as large as they said it is…

Caryan turns his head to him. “Desperate times lead to desperate decisions. They’re tired of death.”

“I don’t like them,” Riven counters, his tone serious. “I don’t trust them. Men who change sides so quickly tend to do it again.”

“It won’t matter as soon as they pledge themselves to me.”

---