Page 191 of The Stolen Throne
His lips crook. Just a tiny bit, but it makes me feel a little better. “No, you’re right. We should talk.”
After a pause, during which I’m trying to figure out from his face if he really means that, I glance over my shoulder at Horus. “Go ahead.”
His gaze darts between me and Cain, then gives a nod and leaves, taking Bene with him.
“Oy,” one of the Tropikan guards calls to us. “How much longer?”
Cain stops the next Wanderer to come through the portal and asks.
The man flicks me a blame-filled glance before addressing him. “Three more groups, and that is the last of us, zariphson.”
Finally.
“Did you get that?” Cain asks the guard.
“Yeah.” He turns back to his fellow guards, and they proceed to have a muttered conversation that I can’t catch. Without a word, they leave.
All of them. Just like that.
Cain and I glance at each other.
“What in Nova?” I ask.
He looks as perplexed as I feel. “The celebrations stopped an hour or so ago. Pella asked one of the guards at the palace. They said something about spending the last few hours of this blessed day with loved ones.”
Seems strange to go so abruptly from parades and parties to quiet time with family and friends. Then again, every place has customs that probably seem strange to outsiders. In Aryd we have a festival that involves spilling a virgin man’s blood over the water of the Hyades River, so who am I to question things here? “With all the celebrating done, the Rites must be over. I guess that means the dominion is open again? No need to guard the portals?”
“That would make sense.”
Still, I’ll feel better once we’re all safely in the palace. All we can do is wait for these last few groups.
“Maybe we should talk when we get back to the palace,” Cain says.
“Yeah.”
With each passing second, I search what I can see of the Enoran temple on the other side. There is a face I’ve been waiting for. She hasn’t come through with any of the others, but I sent word that she needed to be here in Tropikis, not remain in Aryd. She’ll have to be in this next group. Tabra needs her.
Ten minutes later, Achlys appears on the other side of the portal. She’s dressed as a Wanderer, but her red hair, a little longer than when we first escaped the palace, is impossible to miss. She smiles, and my heart cracks around the edges at the sight of it because she doesn’t know.
Which is probably why the first thing I do when she’s through is hug her. Achlys jolts at the physical contact, then stills in my embrace, and when I lean back, I’m sure she can see it in my face.
Her lips tremble. “Tabra?”
It hurts to breathe every time I think of my sister. “She’s not in good shape.”
Achlys’s face tightens, and she glances toward the door, her urgency visible. “Take me to her.”
I wanted to be the one to take her, to be there for her when… But I can’t make her wait. “Go with the others,” I tell her. “I’ll see you there.”
She’s off almost before I finish talking.
The final group takes another five minutes or so.
“I’m the last,” the sentry on the Enoran side tells Cain as he steps over to our side.
We got them all through. I want to be relieved and take a breath. I’m learning the hard way not to do those things. We can’t let our guards down while Eidolon is still a threat. More than that, many died in that attack before we got them here. I can’t be relieved in the face of that.
“We need to tell the priestesses that we are done here,” I say.
