The Crown of Stones: Magic-Price (48 page)

“Essentially. You had barely a hint of life remaining.”

“You brought me back? Like I did with Jarryd.”

“The process was similar. But without the power of the
Nor-taali
it took nearly everything I had just to link us together. I’ve been healing you in stages as my magic returns. As you can see, I’m not quite finished.”

“Couldn’t Jarryd have loaned me strength?”

“He was in no condition for it. The effects of your injuries were coming strongly through the link. He was barely conscious when we found you.”

“And the Langorian?”

“The man that hurt you? Do you think I would leave the swine anything but dead?” Flashes of Lork bloody and screaming passed between us and I had my answer.

I squeezed my tender right hand into a fist. “And these will fade?”

“As I said. Although, there are benefits to being coupled as we are. For a time our connection will allow you to cross bloodlines, heal, make the rain. You can limit the consequences of your spells, redirect the cost, kill and defend with far more creativity.”

“I can access your erudite abilities?”

“It’s an opportunity you should treasure while you can.”

“And when the bond expires? Will I retain any of it?”

“I’m afraid not. Like the marks, the knowledge is only temporary. But it doesn’t have to be. Think of this as a sampling of what I have to offer…if we were to make it permanent. And not just in magic. You can breach the innermost parts of me. Feel me in unimaginable ways.” Sienn scooted up the bed to sit beside me. “Think about the possibilities, Ian. The things we could do together. To each other,” she said enticingly. “With our souls mingled.” Her hand slipped under the blanket. “Our consciousness and senses joined.” She ran it up my leg. “The experience would be…”

Something beyond ecstasy,
I thought hungrily.

But even bonded to Sienn, I still couldn’t find a single reason to trust her.

She took her hand away. “You’re hesitating.”

“And you’re pushing. Why?”

Sienn said nothing. She looked at me between pleats of jagged white hair as if my question didn’t bother her at all.

The cold wave of emptiness coming out of her said just the opposite.

“You’re lonely,” I said. “Really lonely,” I added, and she blushed. “I’m flattered you think I’m the answer to that, but—”

“Oracles aren’t supposed to cast on themselves,” she said abruptly. “Those with the gift aren’t just observers. They can go beyond inhabiting the body they visit and can actually influence it. They can change things. In the past it’s dangerous and forbidden, but in the future…” she shrugged.

“You gave yourself a vision,” I guessed. “And I was there?”

“It was just a glimpse. An instant that may never happen, a possible path we may never take. But…we held the marks of joining. I could
feel
you. It was
beautiful and real, and…” Sienn let out an uneasy laugh. Almost, it masked the sob in her throat. “Love is something I’d never had before. It was only a moment. But when I see you now…I want it back.” She laughed again. “It sounds stupid, doesn’t it?”

I struggled to answer. Our blended emotions were wreaking havoc inside me. My heart was pounding. Catching my breath was near impossible. “No,” I said. “It’s not stupid. It’s nice.” She smiled a little. “But if we’re headed for that, then let it happen. You can’t force us together.”

“You’re right.” Sienn got up. She turned away and I had to quell the urge to go to her. “You’ve been out a few days,” she said warmly. “You’re probably hungry.”

“I could eat.” Getting out of bed, I snagged my breeches off a chair and slipped them on. “How does this work? My magic is back. I can sense you, but not Jarryd. Does one link override the other?”

“I taught him how to block you. But you can be aware of us both at the same time, if you wish.”

“I’m surprised to see you here. After what happened at the inn…” I got a quick memory of me walking out on her. I felt her anger and humiliation. How my words hurt. How her feelings for my father complicated everything.

I tried to shove her sentiments surrounding the moment away, but they were strong. They begged for attention. All of Sienn’s feelings did. They were raw and acute, and it was clear the restraint she claimed was an exaggeration. Her emotions weren’t controlled. They were locked away. In reality, Sienn Nam’arelle was a tangle of longing, desire, hope, anger, anxiety, despair, embarrassment, fear and frustration.

Coming off a lifetime of
Kayn’l
had left her in turmoil.

She had found some comfort, at first, in my father’s company. Her resulting gratitude and awe of him was apparent. Her affection and devotion to him was real, at least at the start. It was born of the time they spent together. The hours they trained and planned, talking about freeing our people, talking about me. Reth told Sienn of his wish that I stand with him to build the foundation of our new realm. He told her—

Son of a bitch.
I cut short the flow of memories and turned on her. “You knew? From the beginning, you knew that Reth was my father? God damn it, Sienn.”

“I’ve left him,” she said. “For good.”

“And I’m supposed to believe you?”

She threw me a sad, flat look. “I saw him, Ian, his face…his scars. I told Jem I can’t follow him anymore.”

“How did he take it?”

“I think he wanted to hurt me.”

My temper stalled. “I would have made him regret that.”

“No, don’t say that. No matter what he’s become, I can’t discount what he’s done for me. I was nothing. I didn’t even care that I was nothing and Jem understood that. He helped me through it. He gave me purpose.” She wiped at her damp eyes. I could feel her heartache like it was mine. “I believed him a kind, decent man.”

“Maybe he was.” I moved up behind her. “I’d like to think there was something my mother saw in him.”

“It’s still there, Ian—the good. It has to be.” She leaned back against me.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her. “Even if that’s true, there’s no way to reach it. Not with Draken’s soul inside him.”

“What about the Crown of Stones? Can you use it to somehow undo their bond?”

“I have no idea. Have you had any luck with Tam’s journal?”

“Not yet.” Sienn snuggled into my neck. I could sense the contentment settling over her. “Jem is emptying labor camps all over the realms. He’s established a temporary Shinree village just over the border in Langor.”

“Not the spot I would have chosen.”

“I know.” Sienn reached a hand up behind my head and sifted her fingers through my hair. “But once we’re all free of the
Kayn’l
a proper settlement will be built.”

“Does my father truly believe Draken will allow that?”

“They have an agreement.”

“Gods,” I grunted. “Those two are made for each other.” I brushed my lips against her neck. A chill came over her and we both shuddered.

“Joining with Draken was wrong,” she conceded. “But Jem’s goal is admirable.”

“And what goal is that?” My hands slid down the front of her dress. They lingered over her breasts, and a jolt of longing swept through her and into me. “Power?”

“Freedom,” she sighed absently.

I laughed. “Freedom he’s slaughtering innocent people to get.”

“Innocent,
Rellan
people,” she said.

Her words were like a bucket of cold water over my head.

I spun Sienn around. I tried to feel if she truly meant it, but too many emotions were in us both right now to tell. “Do you really believe that?”

“Yes. No.” She shook her head. “I don’t know. Jem’s guidance is too important to lose. We need his leadership to make a place in this world.”

“This world is being torn apart by a war he started.”

“The fighting must end, yes, but Jem doesn’t have to die to see it done.”

“Will he go back on
Kayn’l
? Submit to imprisonment? Slavery?”

“Of course not.”

“Then he dies.”

“Ian, Jem is your father. He’s your family. That’s something few Shinree ever get to claim.”

“He killed my mother, Sienn.”

“Then he is all you have.”

“No. You’re wrong.” I reached out and took her face in my hands. “I have more right now than I’ve had in a very long time. Maybe ever,” I said. Because in spite of the enormous hurdles between us, as Sienn spoke of family I found myself thinking of her. I thought of Jarryd and Malaq, and the gods help me, in some twisted way I even thought of Neela. Not a one of them were blood or kin. I hadn’t known them all that long. But they were a part of my life now, whether I wanted them or not. “Whatever this is, whatever I feel when I’m with you, I don’t want to lose it, but… I’m sorry, Sienn.” I dropped my hands. “I hunt criminals for a living. I hunt them and kill them, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do to Jem Reth.”

Resignation tensed her face. “I’m sorry too.” Sienn slammed the link between us shut so fast, I stumbled. “I’m calling due the oath you swore to me in Kael.”

“Sienn…”

“
No
, Ian, Malaq Roarke was drawing his last breath on that tavern floor—”

“I know.”

“And you swore that if I saved him you would honor your vow.” Her tone turned sinister. “Take the crown. Kill Draken. But Jem stays alive.”

“Or what, you’ll kill me?”

Sienn didn’t reply, and the room turned as cold as her eyes.

Turning away, I went to the bed. I started tossing the blankets aside, looking for my shirt. But it wasn’t there. Nothing of mine was in the room. Not my boots, my weapons.
Nothing
, I thought, and the knowledge of how true that was brought an abrupt wave of anguish sweeping over me. Whether it was hers or mine; I didn’t care. I felt very much like a small animal trapped in an even smaller cage.

All I wanted was to escape.

I threw the blankets down and headed for the way out.

“You’re always leaving me,” she said then.

The pain in her voice cut deep, but I yanked the door open anyway.

“Do you understand what I intend?” she asked.

“Yeah, I got it Sienn. If I kill Jem, you kill me. Not overly fond of the idea. But with two less Reths around, the world might just be a safer place.”

FORTY SEVEN

I
was really wishing I had my shirt, or at least my boots. If I did I would have kept going, through the main room and out the front door. Instead, I was left standing in what appeared to be the command center of the Rellan army, noticeably underdressed.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t have thought twice. I’d dealt with being conspicuous my whole life. Just, the last thing I expected, at this moment, was to see General Aldous, a handful of high-ranking Kaelish soldiers, a dozen Kabrinian Royal Guardsmen, a few Rellan generals, Jarryd Kane, and Queen Neela Arcana—in my dead friend’s house.

They were all assembled around a large table on the other side of the kitchen, engaged in a lively, somewhat heated debate. Not a one had noticed me yet and was I seriously considering making a run for it (bare feet and all).

Then Jarryd ruined my escape plan.

Spotting me, he excused himself from the group. Freshly washed and shaved, with a new, white tunic, blue breeches, and his hair tightly braided, Jarryd’s appearance was similar to when we first met in Kael. But the resemblance was only on the surface. No matter how he scrubbed himself, or what clothes he wore, the green, smooth-faced young messenger I knew was gone.

It wasn’t just the assortment of healing contusions leftover from his run-in with the Arullans. Though the injuries did make him seem older and roughened his features, giving him a harder, more intimidating air. They only accentuated the chilly, jaded expression that had taken over his eyes.

In what had to be a result of our connection, Jarryd’s gaze was now that of a more worldly man. A man that had done things he wasn’t proud of. Yet, if it came down to it, he would do far worse in a heartbeat. They were the eyes of a survivor, someone who had learned to endure the unendurable. I imagined they looked a lot like mine.

Jarryd reached me. The unsettling quality dimmed with a flash of his usual, uneven grin. “Thank the gods you’re up and about.” He threw his arms around me in a hearty embrace. “Sorry,” he whispered. “If I’d known you were awake I would have warned you.” Pulling back, his stare drifted to the marred flesh on my chest. “A lot’s happened while you were out.”

“That seems to be the pattern.”

Jarryd smiled. Then a swift measure of sympathy and uncertainty came over him. “Reth?” It sounded vague, but it wasn’t. When I dropped the wall to warn Jarryd of the eldring, he became aware of everything that happened after we parted ways at the beach. Ansel, Krillos—the disturbing details of my meeting with Reth. Jarryd knew it all, and how it affected me.

“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks.” I glanced at the gathering across the room. “Think you can get me out of here for a bit? I could really use a spell.”

Jarryd started to reply when the front door opened and a lanky boy in a heavy cloak, and too much hair over his eyes, walked into the house. With a careless shove, he swept the mess of strands back, and I recognized the move before I saw the face.

“It’s that page,” I said, “from Kael. What’s he doing here?” The boy pulled a leather satchel out from the folds of his cloak and I got a glimpse of a Kaelish uniform underneath. “Don’t tell me he enlisted.”

“Afraid so,” Jarryd said somberly. “Liel’s been assigned as an aid to General Aldous. He seems quite proud of it, actually.”

Spotting us, Liel headed over. He offered me a deep bow that sent his curls flopping again. “I’m glad to see you well, My Lord.”

I pulled him up. “Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?”

“Yes, My Lord,” he said, tossing the hair again. “Several times.”

Grunting, I looked him over. “You’re a long way from home, boy.”

“I am,” he said sheepishly. “The day I rode out to the forest to find you, was the farthest I’d ever been from the city. I could barely stay on my horse. Now look at me,” he grinned. “I’m a soldier.”

“Riding into the middle of a war is a lot different than riding in the woods.”