Page 105 of Sanctifier

Taryel’s universe was Ru, and Ru alone. He had to stop her. Not because the world needed saving, and not because Lady Bellenet demanded it. He had to stop her because he couldn’t bear to lose her.

He pressed his nose to Ru’s cheek, letting his breath brush her skin. She was molten hot, even in that frigid room.

“Ru,” he said, his lips against her ear. “Please come back. For now, at least. Remember, your friends are here in the palace. Your brother Simon.”

An unbidden image came to him then, of a life without Ru in it. He knew that life well; he had lived it for a thousand years. He had simply existed from moment to moment, often wishing for death but too cowardly to end his own life. And then he had felt her, though he hadn’t known it at the time. A shimmering beacon at his core. And when he saw her for the first time, he saw a frightened woman with the power of a god’s heart at her fingertips. A woman he knew by heart, soul-deep.

From that moment, he had loved her.

There was no choice but to love her. Not because the artifact urged him, though it had brought them together. Not because he felt with every part of his being that he was meant for her. No, Taryel loved herdespiteall that.

Because in Ru, he saw, for the first time, a kindred soul.

The sphere of darkness had expanded now to caress Ru’s hair, and Taryel knew that in a moment, it would begin to consume him, too.

Part of him wanted to let her end it, to burn them all. It was what he deserved. He and Hugon D’Luc and Lady Bellenet. But their time would come soon enough. And perhaps Ru hadn’t found her solution yet, a way to save the world. But she would. He had faith in her, at least.

“Remember your brother,” Taryel murmured in her ear. “Sybeth, Rosylla. You’re losing control. If you don’t stop, the artifact will kill them.Youwill kill them. You’ll kill me.”

A shudder ran through her then. Ru gasped, then crumpled. Her full weight fell into Taryel, and he caught her, cradling her head as it lolled against his shoulder.

The artifact tumbled from her hand, clattering to the floor. And as it fell, the darkness dissipated, so quickly and completelythat, in a moment, it was gone, as if absorbed back into the stone itself.

“Ru,” Taryel said, brushing her hair out of her face. Her eyelids fluttered, and she scowled as if dreaming.

“Don’t destroy the world just yet,” he murmured, smiling in broken relief. “Not without me, anyway.”

CHAPTER 39

Everything hurt. Her arms and legs, her eyes, her head; her throat burned as if she had been guzzling scalding water. Ru whimpered in pain, forgetting where she was. Had she fallen asleep? Then she heard the steadydripdripof water on the cave floor, and everything came rushing back.

But something was different, something strange. She hadn’t fallen to the floor unconscious, as she had so often done in demonstrations. Something held her. Something… Someone warm.

“You’re all right,” said a deep voice, faintly accented.

Her eyes flickered open, but she saw only darkness. She started, heart beating wildly in her chest. “Taryel?” she gasped, reaching blindly for him. “Gwyn, Arch, where…”

“They are safe,” said another voice, resonant in the quiet. Lord D’Luc. “As is the rest of the palace, thanks to Taryel.”

Ru wanted to leap up and strangle Hugon, wanted to take the artifact in her hands again, and burn them all. But she couldn’t see, couldn’t move. And as she tried to sit up, a wave of nausea stopped her.

“What happened?” she murmured so that only Taryel could hear. She felt his arms around her and knew that she wassprawled on the floor, propped against his chest. “When did you get here?”

“You called me,” he replied, and something in him sounded broken. “You lost control.”

“I didn’t mean to. I didn’t… I wouldn’t.”

“I know,” he murmured. “I know.”

“Taryel.” Lady Bellenet’s voice was like cracked glass.

Ru shuddered at the sound. “Give me the artifact,” she breathed, clutching at Taryel. “Let me end this.”

“Later,” he said gently. “You’re delirious.”

Then he stood, lifting Ru and helping her to a sitting position, where she curled around herself on the cold stone. She blinked hard, trying to see. She heard his booted footsteps moving across the room, and death seemed to echo at his heels.

There was a scrape of stone on stone — Taryel retrieving the artifact.

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