Crystal Moon (33 page)

confusion. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded of Kyne,

then turned on Sianna. “Why did you lie to us? Who are you?”

“I tried to tell you I was not Laila, but you chose to believe

differently. I am DiSanti’s younger daughter. When Laila arrived

at Castle Vareck, I lied to protect her and the child she carries—

Aubin’s child.”

Katya sagged. “Aubin’s child,” she whispered.

“But where is she?” Kyne’s own awe and joy at the thought

of Aubin’s immortality was tempered by the woman’s absence.

Graham rode forward. “In the confusion of the fight, she

followed DiSanti.” Blood streaked his too pale features, but it

was not his own. He gripped his mount’s saddle with a white-

knuckled hand. His still splinted legs stuck out and had surely

been knocked about during his rush through the trees, but he

made no complaint nor asked for any concessions to his pain.

“Oh, no,” Sianna cried. “He’ll kill her. We have to stop

her.”

“We can’t help her now. The battle is begun. DiSanti knows

we’re here. There’s no time to waste.” Kyne felt Sianna’s

quick rush of worry and grief, but was relieved when she didn’t

argue. “Graham, rejoin our men.”

Graham nodded his agreement and urged his quinar into a

run. The two quickly disappeared into the night.

Kyne moved his mount next to Katya. “Katya, take Sianna

back to camp.”

“Where are you going?” Sianna clung to him as he tried to

pass her to Katya. “You’re going after the queen and princess

aren’t you? I must come with you.”

“It’s too dangerous. Go with Katya.” He attempted to pry

loose her fingers. Of all the people in his care whom he’d failed,

he would not fail to keep Sianna safe.

“I can use my skills to help you find them.”

“No....”

“She’s right,” Katya interrupted. “I don’t know exactly what

talent she has, but without her help, you’ll never locate the

princess. DiSanti has her well-hidden.”

Sianna’s resolve swept through Kyne. If he forced her to

go with Katya, she would follow. Better to keep her by his side.

Nineteen

Hakan pranced nervously, his hooves slipping on ground

made slick with blood as Kyne guided him around the edge of

the carnage. Sianna buried her face against Kyne’s chest to

block out the sights, but battlefield images burned in her mind.

The acrid smell of blood and urine scorched her nostrils. Her

ears rang with the clash of swords and cries of men fighting

and dying.

Nor could she shield herself from the combatants’ emotions.

Her whole being trembled with the force of their suffering, her

normal barriers dissolving beneath a psychic whirlpool of rage

and fear, pain and despair, threatening to swamp her senses

and drown her ka.

“Sianna?”

Kyne’s voice broke through the oppressive cloud covering

her. She reached out for him, and he was there in her heart and

mind, a sturdy lifeline of sanity. His presence created a dam

against the chaos. She took a shaky breath and lifted her head.

His eyes blazed with determination. The battle roused within

him the sleeping beast that lives in all men, stirred the blood lust

that allows a man to fight and kill to protect those he loves.

Only her presence and the need to rescue the royal family held

him back from joining the attack.

“Can you sense where the queen and princess are being

held?”

She sat up and looked around. Hakan stood in the middle

of DiSanti’s encampment. With the battle raging, it was nearly

empty. No one challenged them.

Cautiously, she opened herself to the emotions flowing

around her. A flood of anguish poured through the crack, and

she jerked away.

“I can’t...there’s so much pain...death...it overwhelms me,”

she gasped.

He pulled her tight against his chest. A shudder of

understanding ran through him. “I know, but you must try. You’re

their only hope. If DiSanti reaches them before we do, they are

doomed. Use my strength to keep the emotions at bay. Together

we can conquer the darkness.”

“Together,” she whispered. Together they were stronger

than the sum of their parts. Together they were invincible. She

reached out to him. A bolt of energy surged through her. “We

can do this.”

Amid the emotional labyrinth of injured, angry men, she

hunted for the soft aura of two frightened women. While she

searched, the force of Kyne’s presence in her mind held back

the tangle of negative emotions.

Feminine strength and outrage blasted her.

“The queen is here. That way.” She pointed toward the far

edge of the encampment and a large tent shrouded in red-black

gloom.

“Laila and my father are there also.”

With her talent merged with Kyne’s, Sianna found her

family’s emotions were no longer barred to her. In Laila, anger,

loss, and grief metamorphosed into a wrath that left a bitter

taste in Sianna’s mouth, but DiSanti’s hatred and destructive

quest for power stole her breath. Their intent was crystal clear.

“Hurry! They’ll kill each other.”

Kyne kicked Hakan into motion.

At the tent, Kyne dismounted. “Stay here.” Sword in hand,

he strode toward the tent.

She felt as Kyne readied himself to do battle, then he blocked

himself away from her. His absence left a dark, cold void in her

heart. If he were killed in his fight with DiSanti, her ka would

shrivel and die. But if he killed her father out of revenge, part

of Kyne would perish, and in death DiSanti would triumph as

he couldn’t in life. Kyne must choose his own path. She could

only pray he followed the right one.

She slid down Hakan’s side. Something warm and furry

brushed by her legs. She strangled a shriek before she

recognized Warda. Her legs wobbled, but she quickly followed

Kyne to where he stood just outside the tent’s entrance.

She slipped up behind him and crouched in the shadows. A

lamp illuminated the scene within and hid them from the

occupants’ view.

His back to Kyne, DiSanti held the dazed queen before

him, a shield against Laila.

“Are you a coward as well as a madman, Father?” Laila

taunted. “Hide behind a woman’s skirt if you want, but it’ll not

stop me from killing you.”

“But I’m your father.” His tone echoed his encroaching

madness.

In the maze of his mind, he justified his actions and blinded

himself to the evil he sowed. Even now, faced with reaping a

bitter harvest, he refused to admit his guilt.

Grief tore through Sianna. Like wormy fruit, at his core,

her father was rotten.

“Father?” Laila spat the word like a foul curse. “A pity you

didn’t remember that when you killed the man I loved. Fight

me, Father, or die where you stand. You’ll not escape.”

“Very well, Daughter. Prepare to die.” DiSanti shoved the

queen aside. She hit a support post, slid to the ground and lay

still. The lamp swung to and fro. Harbingers of doom, shadows

careened around the tent. He pulled his sword free and faced

Laila.

Their dark fury rocked Sianna’s hope. She grabbed Kyne’s

arm. “Stop them. She’s no match for him.”

Sword drawn, Kyne darted into the tent. “Face me,

DiSanti!”

Breathing hard, his gaze wild but still filled with cunning,

DiSanti slashed through the side of the tent. “Some other time,

Cathor.”

“No,” Laila screamed. She blocked Kyne as he lunged

after DiSanti, then she crumpled at his feet.

Sianna rushed to Laila’s side, further aborting Kyne’s chase.

He tried to push past the two women when Queen Theone’s

grip on his arm brought him up short. “Rul Cathor? Is it you?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Frustrated rage churned in his gut,

but he stopped as DiSanti disappeared into the night.

“DiSanti?” she asked.

“The coward has fled.”

At the sound of her satisfied chuckle, Kyne’s head shot up

to meet her gaze.

Though battered, her clothing torn, her hair hanging lank

around her face, the woman held herself regally. Eight years

under DiSanti’s control had taken its toll on her body, but had

not diminished her pride or bearing.

“You have my gratitude, young Cathor.” She inclined her

head and held out her hand. “Your assistance, if you please.”

Despite his protests, the queen insisted on rising. Wobbling

slightly in Kyne’s respectful embrace, she looked down at Laila.

“How does she fare?”

Sianna examined her sister’s injuries. “She’s opened her

wound, but she’ll recover. Her babe rests safe and secure.”

Sianna tore a strip from her shift and rebound Laila’s wound,

then took a step toward the queen and motioned toward the

bruise forming on her head. “May I?”

Queen Theone hesitated.

“Sianna is a trained healer. She’ll not harm you,” Kyne

said.

With a simple touch, Sianna lent the queen strength. The

queen gave a startled gasp, then smiled her thanks and started

to speak.

“We need to return to camp,” Kyne interrupted. “Can you

walk, Your Highness? Or shall I carry you?”

Queen Theone gave a regal sniff, and her spine went rigid.

“I can most certainly walk, young man. See to the other woman

and let us be on our way.” She shrugged off Kyne’s hands and

strode out of the ragged tent.

Kyne lifted Laila in his arms and shared an amused smile

with Sianna as they hurried after the determined queen. He

would deal with DiSanti—soon. First he must see to the women’s

safety.

Queen Theone and a groggy Laila shared Hakan’s back

while Kyne and Sianna walked. They picked their way by the

dim glow of the stars. Warda trotted at their side.

Around them, with the setting of the joined moons and

waning light, the sounds of battle faded. Kyne found the silence

deafening.

“Is the battle done?” Sianna’s voice quivered with

exhaustion.

Each passing moment strengthened the link between them.

Her emotions and thoughts became his as his became hers. He

knew her inner struggle to block out the pain and fear swirling

around them. To shelter her battered ka, he projected a mental

barrier. She smiled, and he felt the tension drain out of her.

Would that he could protect her from every horror this world

inflicted on the innocent.

“Mayhap in the darkness they cannot tell friend from foe,”

Queen Theone said.

Kyne glanced over his shoulder and asked, “Do you know

where DiSanti holds Princess Thomasa?”

“I know not.” Darkness couldn’t hide the look of raw pain

in the queen’s eyes. “Three annum ago we attempted an escape.

We were betrayed. DiSanti’s guards caught us along a mountain

trail. When one reached for Thomasa, she kicked her quinar to

evade him. The beast reared, and she fell down the mountainside

into the Aron River. The current snatched her away. Her

screams yet haunt my dreams.” Her voice dropped, along with

her head, hiding her tormented gaze from Kyne.

“Over the years, DiSanti has taunted me with various tales

of her capture, torture and death, but he could never show me

her body. A loyal servant confirmed what I already know.

DiSanti didn’t recapture her. She is out there somewhere.

Alone.” Her voice broke on a strangled sob.

Kyne doubted a child of eleven annum had survived a plunge

into rocky river rapids. That DiSanti never found her battered

body was no proof the princess lived. The river ran for hundreds

of leagues and split into three branches.

Proper decorum abandoned, Kyne took the weeping

queen’s hand in his, surprised at how fragile she felt. Her

imperious tone and commanding attitude had effectively hidden

her physical state. Her strength was all mental. There were no

words to ease her ache.

“It will be dawn soon. We must hurry. My camp is but a

league away. You can rest there.”

Queen Theone straightened. “Of course.” Though her voice

trembled, her mask of control was back in place.

Kyne led, cutting a path through the forest undergrowth

with his sword. He grimaced as the finely honed instrument

took a beating from the tough saplings and rough bark. His

crystalsmith would complain when he saw the condition of the

blade.

Sianna walked beside Hakan to help the queen hold Laila,

but her gaze constantly strayed to Kyne’s broad back, watching

the easy flow of his muscles as he slashed a way through the

forest. Firmly joined with him, she easily channeled him strength.

In turn, he maintained the wall protecting her from the mental

chaos roiling around them. She smiled. They made a good team.

She allowed herself only a brief moment of sorrow for her

father’s wasted life. In the end, his quest for power would

destroy him. She could only pray it would not ruin Kyne as

well.

Despite the cool harvest air, sweat trickled down her back.

She longed to return to the bathing cavern of Castle Vareck. At

the thought, images of being there with Kyne made her squirm.