Page 125 of The Isles of the Gods
I’m still staring at the magician hunched on the floor when Laskia appears in the passageway behind him. Jude’s beside her—he has a bloodied nose now, and one eye swollen shut, panic all over his face.
He lifts a hand as Laskia stalks forward—she passes the kneeling magician without a downward glance—but there’s nothing he can do to stop her as she draws a knife from herbelt.
“Keegan,” Leander murmurs from his place behind me, his voice distant. There’s a strange, slow quality to it, as if he’s thinking about something else. “You’re sure I can make the sacrifice here?”
“As sure as I can be,” Keegan replies, watching Laskia advance slowly, adjusting her grip on the hilt of the knife. “All the gods are present at the temple of their mother.”
“Then I suppose this is where the faith comes in,” Leander says softly.
Laskia stops just out of my reach, sizing me up—her gaze is wild now, eyes too wide, lips parted. Her perfectly tailored suit is filthy, her skin stained with dirt and sweat.
“Leander, cut your hand again.” I don’t dare take my eyes off Laskia. I won’t be able to buy him more than a few moments. “If you can sort offlickthe blood…” But I trail off before I finish. I can hear how it sounds.
“This is the Temple of the Mother,” Leander says quietly,echoing my thoughts. “Something far greater is called for here. No more holding back.”
Laskia tilts her head—even through her madness, it’s clear she heard the same strange note in his voice as I did.
“Leander?” I ask warily, not daring to turn my head, not daring to take my eyes off her.
“Give him to me,” Laskia spits, losing patience.
Leander’s hand closes on my shoulder and squeezes gently.
“You’ve both sacrificed so much to bring me here,” he says, quiet and calm. There’s a serenity in his voice I’ve never heard before, and it sets the hair on the back of my neck prickling. “I’m so sorry. You’ve givensomuch. Too much. Now it’s my turn.” And then, after a beat: “I wish we’d had more time, Selly. I wanted to teach you to dance.”
“What?” Cold fingers wind their way around my heart, and I lift my hand to place it over his on my shoulder, weaving our fingers together. “Leander, what are you talking about?”
“Barrica,” he calls, his voice rising, gaining certainty with every word. “I place my faith in you. I make my sacrifice to you. Grow strong, and stand strong in your role as Sentinel. Keep Macean bound in sleep, and let my people—let all our people—live in peace.”
Keegan gives a strangled cry beside me, and as Leander pulls his hand from mine, I whirl around in time to see him rest it on the edge of the balcony.
In one quick movement he vaults up onto the railing, standing there, spreading his arms wide in supplication.
He’s frozen in place for less than a heartbeat, but I lunge for him, already in motion before I have time to think.
My fingertips brush his leg, and I grab at thin air as Leander throws himself out into the empty space beyond the balcony.
My scream is ripped from somewhere inside my chest, and Keegan grabs for me, wrapping his arms around me in a bear hug as I scramble after Leander. I fight to throw him off as the moment between one heartbeat and the next stretches into forever.
But I know, even as my vision blurs, even before my scream has begun to echo, that it’s too late, and instead I whirl around to bury my face in Keegan’s chest.
I can’t bear to watch Leander die.
LASKIA
The Temple of the Mother
The Isles of the Gods
Time stands still.
Between one heartbeat and the next, I see everything I have done—every time I’ve proved myself, and Ruby changed the rules. Every time I confided my fears, and Sister Beris nodded, and pretended to care.
I hear the whispers all over again, see the sidelong glances, and rage washes through me, twists inside me like a fire takinghold.
I have come too far, done too much, to surrender now.
I will show them what I am worth.
