Page 156 of Kissed By the Gods
His prominent eyebrows fly up, cresting halfway up his forehead before he narrows his eyes on me, raking them down from my hair to my toes. When he makes eye contact again, he’s almost in awe. “Selencian?”
Wordlessly, my mouth dry as if the entire desert has taken root there, I nod.
His eyes fly back to the Elder. “You’ve taken in a Selencian Altor?”
The Elder inclines his head.
“Why? You never have before.”
Before? A giddy zing of excitement travels up my spine, intertwined deeply, interchangeably, with dread. There are answers here, but I don’t think I will like what they are. Vaeloria prances restlessly, her hooves pawing at the moving sand beneath her feet. Her wings rustle out and then she tucks them back. She wants answers, too.
“Are we sharing knowledge, Aruveth? Or are we flying back the way we came?” The Elder counters.
Aruveth seals his lips, considering.
“Have you had more Altor come of age in recent seasons, Aruveth? More than ever before? Many more?”
Aruveth looks agitated, but he gives a quick nod. “Many.”
“Something is coming, Aruveth. The Kher’zenn are coming,” the Elder continues, his voice conveying an urgency that I’ve never heard before. Not once. Not when I was doomed to fight for my life in the arena; not when I left to climb Elandors Veil; not when I was pleading for the Archons to go after a near-dead Ryot; not when I was attacked or lost in the Veil during trainings.
Not. Once.
A shiver wracks my body, despite the heat. It comes on in a fully-body wave, and I don’t think it started from within me. I think it started from Vaeloria.
“The last time we had a veilstrider among us was during the last great invasion. The gods are trying to prepare us, sending us more warriors. More gifted. But I fear …” The Elder trails off, and his cloudy eyes fall to the distance, looking out at the clear, calm Ebonmere Sea. Across that peaceful stretch of blue, the Kher’zenn lurk.
Aruveth’s dark brown eyes search the Elder’s pale ones. I don’t know what he’s looking for there, but he turns and uses his hands to sign to a man behind him that has a larkling perched on his shoulder. Aruveth’s fingers move in a beautiful, practiced way, but I don’t know what he’s saying. Judging by the puzzled looks from the other Stormriven men, they don’t know what he’s saying, either. The other man places a tiny scroll in the larkling’s talons and raises his arm to the sky. The bird lifts with a perfect grace that’s no less mesmerizing, no less magical, for having now flown myself.
Aruveth turns back to me as the larkling flies with jarring speed for Amarune.
“Tell me, veilstrider, what did you see of the Kher’zenn?”
“They fly for Aish. Soon. Within weeks.”
Aruveth’s skin pales, and that looks strange with his dark complexion. “Impossible,” he murmurs.
So everyone keeps saying. Is it ridiculous to trust a vision from a little girl given to you in another realm altogether? Maybe, but I don’t waver.
“I don’t want everyone to die,” I tell him, repeating Bri’s pleading.
But before he can speak, the larkling returns with a quiet hum, landing on the other man’s outstretched arm. The man uncurls the note clasped in its talons and passes it to Aruveth.
When he looks at us again, it’s with grim resolve.
“Welcome to Aish, Faraengardians.” He turns to me with a little bow. “And Selencian.” His eyes turn to Rissa and his expression is borderline hateful. Ryot wraps an arm around her, protectively.
“We extend our hospitality with open arms,” Aruveth says, ostensibly speaking to all of us. But he’s looking directly at Rissa. “But do not mistake our hospitality for naiveté. A betrayal will be met with deadly force.”
He turns again, and his beast lifts into the air with seamless grace, expecting us to follow.
I expel the breath I’ve been holding. The Elder and Sigurd also lift into the hot desert sky, followed one-by-one by the others. Until there’s only Ryot, Rissa, and myself on the shifting sands with two impatient beasts.
“Leina,” Ryot says, but I ignore him. Vaeloria launches into the air, following the others to Amarune.
To answers.
“It is as we suspected. Faraengard has not changed—nor does it intend to. I will complete my years of service here, as is my duty. But those of you in Amarune should not hope for good news.”
