Lorelle of the Dark, page 8
Lorelle felt like she was spinning.
“I watched you bang that coin against the gateway. Do you want to know why it didn't work?” he asked.
A cold foreboding filled her. He had been there. He’d been in the palace, in the Thuros room, and she’d never noticed him.
“Why?” she said.
“Because it’s a fake,” he said in a stage whisper.
She thrust her hand into the pouch and pulled out the Plunnos. “I took this off a Reader.”
“I know.”
She swallowed. He had been there, too! How long had he been watching her?
He seemed to read her mind. “Yes, I have been following you. I wanted to see what kind of woman you are.”
“It’s not a fake,” she said through her teeth, clutching the coin in her hand. She just couldn’t believe that. It had to work.
“Look at it. Look at the scrapes on it.”
She glanced down at the scars on the coin, the scratches and dents she’d made slamming it against the Thuros.
“A Plunnos is one of the most powerful artifacts the Giants ever made,” the Nox said. “No sword or axe or hammer made by mortals could scar it. Only five mages working the five streams at once could hope to affect it. Do you really think you could dent it like soft gold?”
“The Reader said—” Lorelle whispered.
“Did she?” He interrupted her with a wry smile. “What else did she say?”
She could barely breathe. He’d heard the Reader’s warning.
“Readers want you to jump at glimmers. They want you to look at their left hand so you don’t see what they’re doing with their right. So, if you want to listen to her, go ahead. Go back and bang that coin against the Thuros. You’ll get the same results.”
Hot shame warmed her cheeks.
“This is your choice. Stumble about, blind in the dark, or let me teach you how to see. You want a Plunnos? I’ll take you to one.” He held out his hand.
Her heart hammered.
She glanced down at the Plunnos clutched in her hand. Had the Reader lied? Or was the Nox lying to her now?
“I see you need time to think,” the Nox said. “I will offer you three chances. This was the first.” His cloak of shadows swirled as he turned.
“Wait!” She raced after him. He turned the corner before she could reach him, and she dashed after, emerging from the alley into the darkened street. It was empty.
The only thing she saw was a hundred silent, mocking shadows.
Chapter Eight
Khyven
Khyven slowly climbed up the steps and walked the long hallway back to the meeting room. He hadn’t found Lorelle. He’d run to the Thuros room, but she hadn’t been there. He had, however, found a sleeping pallet and some blankets. She’d been sleeping in that room, beneath that eerie archway. That he, Slayter, and Vohn didn’t know that didn’t bode well. Lorelle was slipping away from them.
Plagued by his thoughts, Khyven silently opened the door to the meeting room and found Vohn and Slayter arguing, as usual.
“… not to mention you have two outsiders running the kingdom,” Slayter was saying in his lackadaisical way.
“Outsiders?” Vohn bristled. The Shadowvar was facing away from the door and Slayter, if he noticed Khyven at all, was too involved with what he was saying to care.
“A glimmery Luminent and a shadowy Shadowvar,” the mage said. “Running a Human kingdom. Outsiders.”
“Lorelle has been at the queen’s side since the usurper killed her parents, and I’ve been with the queen for years!”
Slayter waved that away. “I’m not talking about loyalty. I’m not talking about truth. I’m talking about perception. Those people out there—” he waved a vague hand at the wall “—they look at you and see horns. Your noktum-y skin. They think Shadowvar are demons. Vicious, brutal, violent eaters of Human flesh.”
“My culture is far more peaceful than any Human civilization!”
“No need to convince me. I know that. They don’t. Even if they could get their sluggish thoughts to come ’round to the truth, do you think they care that Shadowvar culture is more peaceful than ours? No. They care that you look different, that you have horns and they don’t. Someone says ‘a demon sits on the throne’ and they believe it. Because they want to.”
“I’ve never sat the throne.”
“It’s a metaphor.”
“Well, you can take your metaphor and—” Vohn finally noticed Khyven standing in the doorway and cut himself off. “Khyven! Did you find her?”
Khyven shook his head. “She had been there. She’s been sleeping in that room, apparently. But she wasn’t there when I arrived.”
“Do you think she used the Thuros?”
“I don’t know,” Khyven said.
“No,” Slayter said.
Vohn turned an annoyed look at him.
“The last time the Thuros was used it tripped my guardian spell.”
“When Rhenn was abducted,” Khyven said.
“Correct. And now I’ve specifically set a guardian spell next to the Thuros, just in case this Nhevaz returns. If she’d successfully opened it, I’d know.”
“Then the Readers have her?” Vohn asked.
“It is one of the possibilities.”
“I hate this.” Khyven clenched his fists. “She could be in trouble and we have no way to find her.”
“I could put a tracking spell on her,” Slayter said.
“You can?” Khyven perked up.
“It will take a little time, but yes.”
“But then… what if she isn’t in danger?” Khyven asked.
Slayter looked blankly at Khyven.
“My point is, I don’t think she’d like being tracked; us using magic against her,” Khyven said.
“Against her?” Vohn said. “We’re using it for her. She’s acting irrational. I, for one, think we might be past what she likes or doesn’t like. She isn’t talking to us. The most responsible thing we can do is to find out what she’s up to and where she is. She certainly isn’t telling us.”
“Her recent transformation has been intriguing,” Slayter mused.
“By Grina, not everything is an intellectual exercise for you, Slayter!” Vohn blurted. “Something’s gone wrong with her.”
Slayter raised an eyebrow as though he didn’t understand why Vohn was upset.
“Rhenn’s disappearance has been hard on her, that’s all,” Khyven said, but his gut told him Vohn had the truth of it.
“Have you considered alternate theories?” Slayter asked.
“Slayter—” Vohn began.
“I mean, aside from the trauma of Rhenn’s abduction, could something else have caused a change in her personality?”
“What do you mean?” Vohn asked.
“Well, there are four major thresholds in a Luminent lifespan. Each can profoundly change a Luminent’s personality.”
“You mean like life stages?” Khyven asked.
“Exactly like life stages. Except with Humans, the only predicable threshold is from childhood to adulthood. There is a general two- to four-year age span in which that Human transformation happens. All other Human life stages happen at wildly different times for each individual because they are linked with social behavior and opportunity more than with physical makeup. But with Luminents, everything is tied to their bodies. Their developmental thresholds are all very predictable based on age, and not only do these transformations profoundly affect their bodies, but each comes with a magical discharge.”
“Discharge?” Vohn asked.
“Luminent bodies are magical.”
“What are the thresholds?” Khyven asked.
“The Change, the Soul-bond, the Birthing Cycle, and the Release.”
Khyven held up a hand, trying to keep his temper as he realized this might just be a fascinating brain teaser for the mage. “Slayter, does this matter to what we’re talking about?”
“I think she bonded,” Slayter said.
“What?” Vohn said.
“Bonded. Mated. Paired.” Slayter threw out alternate words.
“I know what it means,” Vohn growled.
“Oh.” Slayter looked confused. “Then why—”
“Bonded?” Khyven said. “You mean the Luminent bond?”
“Ah, you know of it,” Slayter said.
“Rhenn told me,” Khyven said. “But I thought a Luminent could only bond with another Luminent.”
“Wait,” Vohn said. “You actually think Lorelle has soul-bonded with someone?”
“Just so,” Slayter said. “It makes sense.”
“It makes no sense,” Vohn said. “There are no other Luminents in Usara.”
“Luminents are known to stay within the borders of their kingdom, but odds dictate there must be at least a few wandering about.”
Vohn shook his head. “Impossible.”
Slayter raised an eyebrow again. “It’s actually the most natural, possible thing I can think of. Mating rituals and all. Look at Humans. They’ll bond whenever they—”
“You’re telling me,” Vohn interrupted, “that amidst the battle and the coup, the abduction of Rhenn and our subsequent cover-up, she found time to fall in love with some Luminent and bond with him? Where? When? Who is this mystery Luminent?”
“Actually, it’s probably not a Luminent,” Slayter said. “With the loss of her best friend and the subsequent turmoil, Lorelle’s emotions have been running at a peak. I’d wager she accidentally bonded with some Human. A failed bonding. A random accident.”
Khyven’s heart sank. “She wouldn’t do that. Not Lorelle. She has more control than anyone I’ve ever met.”
“Let’s look at the facts,” Slayter said. “Most Luminents stay in their kingdom of Laria, surrounded by other Luminents. If you’re a normal Luminent, young and unbonded and you undergo emotional distress, the Luminents around you take note and take steps to protect you from an accidental bond. An accidental soul-bonding in Laria is rare, I would wager. But an accidental bonding could easily happen here. Let’s imagine Lorelle was surrounded by a series of factors likely to cause trauma. Like being immersed in a swirling pot of emotionally volatile Humans. Like staging a coup and toppling a kingdom. Like losing your best friend to a Thuros-traveler with Line Magic.”
“How can you be so casual about this!” Vohn barked.
“Casual?” Slayter said.
“Would you two stop fighting?” Khyven said. “What does this mean for Lorelle? The way Rhenn described a failed bonding, it… It’s not good.”
“Oh, it certainly isn’t. Imagine ripping your body in half and giving that half to someone. First, it would be excruciating. Second, you’d bleed all over the place. Third, you’d die. But then imagine there’s one thing that can save you: if the recipient of your gift rips themselves in half and gives you half of their body in return. Then imagine if they don’t. Rather than connecting with half of their body, you cauterize your remaining half instead. You might live for a time. But it wouldn’t be pleasant. And it wouldn’t be long.”
“That’s grisly.” Vohn looked horrified.
“Now replace every time I said ‘body’ with ‘soul,’ and that will give you a good idea what Lorelle is going through.”
The front of Khyven’s head began to throb. A failed soul-bond would explain a lot. Why Lorelle was distancing herself from them. Why she was so single-minded about finding Rhenn. If Lorelle thought she was dying, she would drive for her goal like an Imprevari ox.
“You’re saying she’s going to die?” Khyven said.
“Yes, but probably not quickly,” Slayter said. “It’s the soul, not the body. She’ll likely start with a fracturing of her personality. At first, she won’t quite act like herself, then she’ll settle into her new role as her life light fades.”
“New role?”
“From what I’ve read, a Luminent attaches to the first powerful emotion that strikes her after the failed bonding. Most commonly depression. Then, once that sets in, they drift toward the dregs of society. Usually Human society. They can’t stand to be around normal Luminents anymore, so they end up as beggars, thieves, prostitutes… Humans pay a lot for a Luminent—”
“We get the point,” Vohn said angrily.
“Lorelle does not seem depressed,” Khyven said. She seemed enraged, actually. She had seethed beneath the surface every time he’d talked to her.
“What do we do about it?” Vohn asked.
“We help her,” Khyven said.
Slayter shrugged. “A failed soul-bond is a permanent condition. It can’t be undone. In the thousands of years of Luminents, there’s never been a single report of a Luminent undoing a failed soul-bond.”
“To Senji’s hell with logic,” Khyven said. “We save her. That’s what we do.” He felt a tightening fear for Lorelle, but he also felt ashamed, guilty for the other emotion that rose within him: jealousy. Who had Lorelle bonded with? Was there someone out there in the city right now holding half of Lorelle’s soul? It made his stomach twist.
“You don’t actually know that she soul-bonded,” Vohn said. “You shouldn’t say something like that unless you’re sure.” The Shadowvar shot a worried look at Khyven.
“It is the superior speculation, though. It explains many things.”
“Can you stop speculating and be Human for a moment?”
“You’re upset,” Slayter said.
Khyven let their bickering fade into the background as he imagined Lorelle during that first day he’d awoken. He could see her leaning over him.
“I believe I owe you something.”
Her soft lips pressing against his. It had been exquisite. It had felt… destined.
“For being… more than I imagined you could be.”
And now she had bonded with another. Some stranger on the street who’s only qualification was that he’d been standing near her when she’d lost control.
“It’s a permanent condition. It can’t be undone…”
Slayter’s comment swam in his mind and rage built within him at the unfairness of it all. Losing the kingdom after all they’d sacrificed to take it. Losing Rhenn. Losing his new family so soon after he’d found them.
Losing Lorelle.
Khyven slammed his fist on the table. Both Vohn and Slayter stopped their argument in mid-sentence. Vohn started, and even Slayter looked surprised.
“We find a way to help Lorelle,” Khyven growled.
Vohn nodded. Slayter shrugged.
It was easy to mistake Slayter’s behavior as flippant or uncaring. Certainly, the easily-pricked Vohn fell for it time and again. Slayter didn’t cover his knowledge in honey. But the mage had lost his leg in service to the queen and he hadn’t uttered a word of complaint. For years, Slayter had hidden in the palace, practically pressed to Vamreth’s breast, and he’d convinced the king he was a loyal servant so he could choose the one moment where his betrayal would mean the most. Most men couldn’t keep up that kind of facade for even for a week. Khyven certainly wouldn’t have been able to. Watching what Vamreth did—like cutting out poor Shalure’s tongue—would have sent Khyven into a murderous rage.
A man couldn’t do what Slayter had done without deep conviction.
It was because of him that Rhenn and the rest of them had survived, and Khyven would never forget that. It astounded him when he thought about it. There was a deep, powerful undercurrent to Slayter. He would do anything for Rhenn and her people. He’d proven it.
“Lorelle has served the kingdom faithfully her whole life, has served Rhenn her whole life,” Khyven said. “We aren’t going to turn away from her because a few books tell us that what she needs is impossible. How many times have we done the impossible together? Traveling the noktum, toppling Vamreth’s reign, using Mavric Iron and the Helm of Darkness.” He looked at Slayter. “Don’t say ‘can’t’ to me. The impossible is what we do.”
Slayter raised his eyebrows. “Nice speech. Perhaps you should be king.”
“We’re going to help Lorelle. We’re going to find Rhenn. We’re going to set things right,” Khyven said.
“As you say, Sir Knight.” Slayter smiled wryly.
“We save Lorelle,” Vohn affirmed softly. “Whatever it takes.”
“Are you talking about me?” a voice interrupted.
Khyven spun and Vohn jumped.
Lorelle stood in the doorway.
Chapter Nine
Khyven
Khyven’s breathing sped up at the sight of her. He felt invigorated, like a little lightning bolt had hit him. She stood in the doorway in the tight black clothes she always wore now with only her face, hands, and her pale ankles showing above her slipper-like shoes. Such attire was designed to hide a person, the garb of thieves and cutthroats. Before, Lorelle’s quiet way of walking had seemed unintentional, like she couldn’t help being graceful and therefore quiet. Now it seemed intentional, like she was trying to sneak about.
Dirt smudges marked her face and hands, but her golden hair looked newly washed. It always did, as though dirt couldn’t cling to the magical hair of a Luminent.
She glanced at each of them in turn, then she came in and took a seat next to Slayter, which was as far from Khyven as it was possible to be and still be at the table. This was the kind of thing she did now. It was like she couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him, could barely tolerate his presence. He swallowed hard.
Vohn looked uncomfortable. “Well, we were discussing…” he began, but faltered.
Slayter smiled. “We were talking about you. We wanted to know where you were.”
“You were talking about how to save me,” she said.
“You were listening at the door?” Khyven asked. Annoyance bubbled up inside him. “You could have come in. We’re not hiding anything.”
Lorelle took one look at Vohn’s downcast face, then back at Khyven. “Clearly not.”
“Where have you been?” Khyven asked.
“Do I report to you now, Khyven the Unkillable?” Her eyes had dark shadows underneath them, like she hadn’t slept in days.
