Spirits of Light and Shadow (The Gods of Talmor) (33 page)

“Braetin’s servants are pleased to assist in this,” Graiphen said.

“Very well,” the emperor replied. “I will be pleased to have the temple’s help in this matter.”

“Of course.” Graiphen smiled and bowed.

Seba began to laugh hysterically. “It doesn’t matter. Your witch is dead,” he said to Korbin.

“Octavia,” Korbin said. Without another word, he ran for the door.

“She couldn’t best me. And I will not be silenced about the evils you both practiced against me.” He turned to the emperor. “She was taught by the same witch who taught me. She cannot be trusted.”

Chapter 26

Octavia’s eyes opened and she felt no pain. The white, misty air curled around like smoke, but it smelled faintly of jasmine. She’d always liked that scent.

“I’m dreaming.” Her voice echoed as though she were in a cave, although the mist kept her from seeing any walls.

“Perhaps,” said a familiar woman’s voice.
Trinity.

Octavia turned and saw her sister, sitting beside a clear pool. The area grew clearer, and she could see large willow trees and soft mossy grass. “Trin?” she asked, but she knew that face, that voice.

Her sister smiled and held out her arms, and Octavia ran toward her. She knelt on the grass and wrapped her sister in an embrace. Hot tears ran down her cheeks. When she pulled back, she realized they were both crying. “I’ve missed you so.”

“It’s seemed like the blink of an eye for me,” Trinity said. “How many years have passed?”

“Six.”

Trinity frowned, as though trying to understand the passage of time, but in the end, just shrugged. “Well, we’re together now.”

“I’m dead?” Octavia asked. She’d always feared death, but now wondered why. It was softer and so much more pleasant than life. No worries, no pain.

Trinity nodded.

“What is this place? Are there others here? Is Rhikar here?” Octavia had never been certain about the existence of an afterlife. The teachings of the One dealt mostly with the realm of men, although other realms were mentioned, some only reachable through death or the elevation of the soul.

“This is a between place,” Trinity explained. “I’ve been sent to meet you, to talk to you about the realm of men. To ask you to return.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Most don’t,” Trinity said. “But the realm of men is in danger from the one you know as Braetin and the others of her kind.”

“The eight Spirits of Light and Shadow?”

“Yes. They do not belong. They were driven back before, but at great cost. The temple of Braetin has been lured into recalling their goddess, and in doing so, have invited terrible things into the realm, things that will, in the end, cost all of humankind. They may be the destruction of the One.”

“Is that possible?” Octavia asked.

“Our realm had a beginning, and so it may have an end.”

“What if it ends?”

Trinity shrugged. “All things end.”

“It cost me my life to defeat Seba, and he was a mere human, aided by the dark side of the One. Braetin is so much worse. I was able to confine her only because she was not watchful, and even then, only for a few moments.”

“Your success is not guaranteed,” Trinity agreed.

“What help can you offer me?”

Trinity smiled sadly. “None.”

“I’m on my own?” Octavia stared, disbelieving.

“You’re never on your own. I can perhaps guide you, but the dead cannot exist in the realm of men. You know that.”

Octavia nodded and stared into the distance, thinking. “It hurt so much there. There is pain and suffering and betrayal.”

“Your road has been difficult lately. There are good things, too.”

Korbin’s face sprung to Octavia’s mind. Now that Seba was defeated, Korbin would be restored. He would likely go on with his life, but what would that life entail? “If I return to battle these interloping Spirits, the road will be even more difficult than before.”

“Yes,” Trinity said. “I expect so.”

Octavia sighed. “All right. I’ll go.”

Trinity smiled. “I knew you would.”

“Yes, I suppose I did, too.”

∞

Korbin stood in the garden, staring at dark branch covered with cherry blossoms. Spring had come early this year, and for that, he was grateful. The winter had been bitter, in more ways than one.

“Dul Korbin?”

He turned and saw one of the nurses the emperor had ordered to watch over Octavia. “Yes?”

“She’s awake and asking for you.”

Korbin smiled. “Thanks.”

Octavia had woken for the first time only a few days before, but she still slept a lot. The healer said he’d never seen someone wake at all after so long and so deep a period of unconsciousness, so he had little to offer in terms of whether or not the process was normal.

Korbin had yet to speak with her, having never been at the palace at the right time, so he trotted through the corridors of the emperor’s home in Vol, not caring a whit about protocol. He had to see Octavia.

When he arrived at her room, another nurse was combing Octavia’s hair while a third washed her face.

“Korbin,” Octavia said softly, shooing the women away.

When the last nurse reached the door, she said to Korbin, “We’ll be right outside if she needs us, Dul.”

“Thank you,” he said.

Now, seeing her awake, he hardly knew what to say. He’d sat beside her bed so often while she slept but had not been convinced this day would ever come. Now that it had, he felt strange and awkward.

“What day is it?” she asked.

“Friarsday,” he told her as he approached.

“So it was only yesterday that—”

“No. I’m sorry. It was two months ago.”

Octavia pressed her head back into her pillow, suddenly looking pale. “I’m all right,” she said finally. “Two months? It’s seemed like the blink of an eye for me.” The phrase seemed familiar, but she couldn’t remember why. “Where are we?” She looked around the opulent room with its fluffy white bed and elegant furnishings.

“The emperor’s palace just outside Vol.”

“Is he here?”

“No, he returned to the capitol after Seba’s arrest.”

“And your father?”

Korbin frowned. “The temple has been quiet of late. No more deaths, though.”

“You haven’t seen him?”

“No,” Korbin said. “I haven’t wanted to.”

Octavia smiled. “He did what he had to do. I asked him to call Braetin.”

“Did she help you?” Korbin asked. “When I arrived at the temple, they said you betrayed their mistress. If they hadn’t believed you dead already, I’m not sure what they would have done to you.”

“She protected me while I prepared, yes, but in the end, she tried to seduce Seba. I had to stop her.”

Korbin chuckled. “You stopped a goddess. What does that make you?”

“Foolish,” Octavia said. Her expression told him she was only half-joking. “I couldn’t have maintained it for long. And as you say, if I hadn’t been already dead…”

“But you weren’t dead,” Korbin said.

Octavia smiled. “Of course not. I’m sorry. I’m still a little dazed. I feel so tired.”

“Do you feel like getting out of bed?”

“Soon,” she said. “But maybe not today.”

“Okay,” Korbin replied.

“I’m surprised you’re here. I thought you’d be off to the sea.”

Korbin frowned. “I couldn’t leave you. I told the emperor I wouldn’t make any decisions until you recovered.”

“Decisions?” Octavia sighed and closed her eyes.

She looks exhausted
, he thought. “I’ve been asked to take a place on the Council of Eight. With four places vacant, the emperor has been making appointments. It’s been difficult to get him to wait this long.”

She turned her head and met his gaze. “You don’t want to do it?”

“I don’t know. I suppose I’ll have to do something, and being a messenger isn’t exactly what the emperor has in mind. Honestly, I never thought I’d have to make decisions based on what he wanted.”

“Mm hmm,” Octavia muttered, her eyelids fluttering closed. For a moment, Korbin watched her sleep. They did what they’d set out to do. They’d stopped Seba and released Graiphen from his influence. In doing so, they also prevented him from doing further harm to Korbin as well as the remaining four members of the Council, all of whom had been affected by Seba’s witchcraft. Dul Ursin was now the head of the Council, by the emperor’s appointment, and life was returning to normal for most people. But Korbin doubted his life would ever be normal again.

Soon, he’d have to make decisions, get on with life. Octavia would have choices, too. Maybe she’d even leave Vol. Thanks to the emperor’s public gratitude and acknowledgement that as with all things, Kilovian witchcraft had both a good side and a bad one, her face and name would be well known, even more so than when they were wanted criminals.

All of that would wait, though. For now, he wanted to watch her sleep as he had done so many times over the past weeks. He knew now that he’d fallen a little bit in love with her, but also that he could never tell her. A sense that they were about to be ripped away from one another grew within him, the belief that their lives would be driven apart by tides they couldn’t control. For now, he had just this moment, and he would savor it.

A Note from the Author

Thank you so much for reading Spirits of Light and Shadow, the first book in the Gods of Talmor series. If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave a review at your favourite online retailer.

I welcome contact from readers. At my website
http://www.indiadrummond.com
you can contact me, sign up for my newsletter to be notified of new releases, read my blog, and find me on social networking. Follow my
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—India Drummond

The Gods of Talmor series

Book 1: Spirits of Light and Shadow

Dark magic spreads throughout Talmor’s second largest city, threatening to disrupt the balance of power between the temples and the senate. Soon, the most powerful man in the city is cursed, and only his estranged son Korbin can help. With the assistance of Octavia, a Kilovian conduit schooled in the magic of the One, Korbin seeks to help his father—and find redemption. When an ancient Spirit of Shadow sets the pair in her sights, however, their hope of redemption and restoration fade, and they seek only to survive.

Book 2:
Coming Winter 2014

More Upcoming Books

The Lies Dragons Tell:
Coming Autumn 2014

Co-authored with KC May.

The Caledonia Fae series

Book 1: Blood Faerie

Unjustly sentenced to death, Eilidh ran—away from faerie lands, to the streets of Perth, Scotland. Just as she has grown accustomed to exile, local police discover a mutilated body outside the abandoned church where she lives. Recognising the murder as the work of one of her own kind, Eilidh must choose: flee, or learn to tap into the forbidden magic that cost her everything.

Download Blood Faerie from Amazon

Book 2: Azuri Fae

A faerie prince disappears in the borderlands, and his father enlists the help of outcast Eilidh and her bonded druid, Quinton Munro. Tantalised with hints of a lost and ancient magic, they learn that time is working against them every step of the way. Is the prince’s disappearance related to the vanishing of an entire Scottish village?

Faced with deception, assassination attempts, and a mad queen who would sacrifice her own child to keep a dreaded secret, Eilidh struggles with an impossible situation. Her people demand she commit treason and betray the man she loves. Will she do what duty requires, or throw away the chance to reunite the kingdom in exchange for the life she hadn’t dared hope for?

Download Azuri Fae from Amazon

Book 3: Enemy of the Fae

With a young, inexperienced monarch on the Caledonian throne and traitorous plots implicating those nearest Queen Eilidh, unrest is rife in the kingdom. She must sift through the intrigues and lies to survive, all while trying to discover which of her trusted companions hates her enough to commit mass murder.

Pressures threaten to overcome the young ruler, and to protect Quinton Munro, her bonded druid, she must send him away. His journey becomes a mission when he stumbles on an ancient truth that will shake the foundations of the entire faerie realm. Confronted by infinite danger and the promise of limitless power, Munro faces the most difficult choices of his life. Will he hide the truth to preserve stability in the faerie kingdoms or embrace the promise of his true druid heritage?

One friend will die because of that truth, one friend’s betrayal will cause irreparable scars, and the once tightly-knit band of druids will learn that not all magic is benevolent.

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Book 4: Druid Lords

The druids of Caledonia have taken their place in the Halls of Mist, only to learn that their path is fraught with many dangers. When their newest member, Huck Webster, finds a woman of magical talents in Amsterdam, their troubles multiply. Lying between them and a peaceful existence are a dead prince, a furious queen, and a druid accused of murder. Each druid must search his soul and discover where his talents, and his loyalties, lie.

Download Druid Lords from Amazon

Book 5: Elder Druid

As the Druid Hall celebrates the completion of the Mistgate, their leader Munro is abducted, leaving them in disarray. Queen Eilidh declares Munro dead, which threatens the fragile balance of power in the Halls of Mist. With the druids crippled by grief and uncertainty, no one notices the insidious force influencing them from a dark mirror realm.

That force has a voice, a sinister whisper in Lord Druid Douglas’ ear, compelling him to feed the Source Stone and driving a wedge between him and his companions. Trath’s magic could protect the druid lord, but the prince has fled heartbreak in search of a different life. But will his quest bring redemption or ruin?

Download Elder Druid from Amazon

Book 6: Age of Druids