By Vengeance Guided (The Lost Shrines Book 1) (17 page)

Daen slumped, falling to one knee, head bowed and breath heaving from his body.

The cold fog slithered out of Caer and his wings curled back, slipping under the tattered remains of his shirt. He shifted his weight to keep him upright as usual disorientation hit him both physically and mentally.

Once sure he wouldn't fall over, Caer stepped next to Daen and laid a steadying hand on the man's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Not exactly. But I think I will be."

The prince didn't look up when he spoke and his laugh sounded a little forced when he answered, but it was enough for now.

Unable to avoid it any longer, Caer turned to face Lia.

She stood, still rooted to the spot where his Attribute had Judged her. Her face was pale and her hands shook where she clasped them in front of her stomach. Her eyes narrowed into slits and her mouth pinched with determination.

"What. Was. That?"

How could he begin to answer?

"It was his Attribute."

Caer winced when Daen answered for him. The prince's voice sounded a little steadier, but he wasn't sure now was the best time for him to be chiming in.

"You're Milesan?"

Her face and her voice blanked of any emotion when she asked and he had no idea how she felt about this latest revelation. After the morning's disclosures, however, honesty seemed the best way to go.

"Yes. I am Caerwyn, Lord of Alwyn. Lord of Vengeance. Lord of Justice."

Milesans made most people nervous. At the very least. Uncomfortable, scared, terrified. Those were all responses he was used to receiving when people realized he was a Lord of the Milesan. The reaction when they actually saw his Attribute was usually much more visceral.

Lia's face eased, her posture relaxed, and she nodded absently. "Well, that explains some things."

Caer blinked at her, unsure how to respond. He offered Daen a hand and helped him struggle back up to his feet, to give himself a moment. The prince groaned, wrapped his arms around his waist and shook his head.

"Could someone explain it to me, then, because I think I missed a few pages."

"Foremost, Lia is innocent."

Caer considered her lack of surprise and the valley's numerous secrets. "At least, she's not the one guilty of using sorcery against you."

"But someone did?"

"Yes. A love philter. A dark, potent one that leads to obsession and madness."

Daen rubbed his fingers across his eyes. "It seemed to work well. I think I owe both of you an apology."

"No," Lia jumped in. She didn't look at Caer when she spoke but he had no doubt the censure in her voice was aimed more than halfway at him. "I don't think any of us behaved very well. Or were thinking clearly. Why would someone want to do this, though?"

Caer shrugged. "I think he wanted exactly what he got. A chaotic political situation he could push and prod in the direction he wanted it to go in. My arrival threw his plans into disorder."

"He? Who, he?" Lia demanded.

At the same time, Daen's regal bearing returned and his back straightened into a sharp line. "Who did this? Was he punished?"

Caerwyn held his hands up to hold off the wash of raised voices. Everything was always so clear to him in the moments after, it was hard to believe everyone couldn't see what his Attribute made obvious.

"Gui. Gui was responsible for the web of sorcery. It—there's links to someone else involved, but the Attribute felt it had enough to answer the request. It's harder to Judge a person not present. Distance makes things less clear."

"I want answers," Lia snarled, fierce and angry. "Let's go find him so you can Judge him some more."

"It doesn't work that way, the request was fulfilled, the Attribute won't respond to Daen again. Besides, Gui is outside of the valley. Thankfully, he was still close enough that magic found him and passed Judgment."

He shuddered at the memory of the last time he'd had to track someone down. His Attribute had pressed him to search for three days with little food or water or rest. His shoulders and back had ached for weeks after with the exertion of flying.

"What do you mean he's out of the valley? Where? Why?"

Caer shrugged. He had his own guess as to where Gui was heading but no proof.

"I don't know where. The perspective is…different when the Attribute takes over. I only get the impression of distance without a sense of direction. I don't get motivations, either. Simply guilty or innocent."

His eyes slid away from Lia, not ready to think about what he'd seen. He doubted she'd be willing to share the reason right now, considering his own secrets and lies.

"I may know why."

Daen still looked a bit wobbly on his feet, his face drawn tight with exhaustion.

"He came to me last night, hinting more about the secret relationship between you two. I think he was trying to push me over the edge. Get me to do something reckless and permanent. He succeeded but I don't think this plan was what he'd been hoping to achieve. He tried to talk me out of it but I was adamant. Obsessed."

The last word was offered with a self-depreciating smile.

"He had to guess what would happen if you invoked Judgment."

Lia sighed with frustration.

"He probably ran at first light. No one would have paid any attention if he'd gone out riding alone. He does it every morning. Mostly to sneak off and plot against me."

"If he was Judged, then he was also punished, right?" Temper seethed deep in Daen's eyes when he glared sharply at Caerwyn.

"In a way. The magic binding you was twisted back on Gui. At some point in the next year, he will fall in love with something unattainable. My Attribute warped the magic enough to ensure a person wasn't the object."

"That's it?" Lia asked, incredulous. "He'll fall in love?"

Daen, however, looked thoughtful. "You said the obsession and the madness would keep getting worse?"

"Much, much worse."

The prince nodded.

"Then I think it's a fitting punishment."

-9-

Too much had happened, too much new information twisted and tied itself in a knot of confusion.

Wyn was not who or what he'd let her believe.

Gui had been so much worse than she had thought.

And Daen had been as much a victim as she and the valley.

A glance at the prince made her shiver. He'd obviously meant it when he declared he was satisfied with Gui's punishment. The madness and burning focus consuming him when he'd confronted them less than an hour before left him looking wrung out and exhausted now that it was over.

Less than an hour. It was surreal that so much of her world had been shaken in such a short time.

She'd known Caer wasn't telling her everything, but this… The man she…the man she had been sleeping with had been a complete and total lie. She'd begun to trust
Wyn
. Shared some of her secrets with him.

None of it had been real.

Ignoring the ache of loneliness, the pang of losing something she'd never truly had, Lia tried to figure out how badly she’d screwed up. How much had she given away? How much more at risk were her people and her valley?

The way
Caerwyn
looked at her after Judging her made her think he'd seen more than he let on. Much more than she had already shared.

A snake of dismay wound itself through her stomach, across her chest and tightened around her heart.

The d'Hara family had kept their little corner of the world safe and secret for millennia. In the space of a few short years, Lia and her sister had brought it to the brink of destruction and exposure.

Poor Tanis.

What a legacy they were leaving her. Now Lia had to tell the little girl that Gui had disappeared from her world, as well. He hadn't been much of a father but Tanis hadn't had much stability in her short life. Now, another underpinning had been jerked away.

Lia searched out Tanis and her nanny, finding Gabrielle folding linens in the nursery. But there was no sign of the little girl.

"Where's Tanis? Out picking berries with Nel?"

"Oh, no." The older woman smiled. "Her father took her for a ride then a picnic in the forest. Said he wanted to spend more time with his daughter. Good to see he's finally learning priorities."

Glacial fear froze her heart. The air in her lungs nearly choked her as she listened to Gabrielle. She shook her head in a vain effort to deny what she was hearing.

A warm hand settled low on her back and Lia let herself rest into it. She knew it was Caerwyn. Knew she couldn't trust the support. But, Goddess, she needed it.

Gui had Tanis. He'd taken her niece who knew where. Or why.

"Is something wrong, milady?" The nanny finally noticed Lia's distress and the girl’s concern snapped the Handmaiden out of her fog. She didn't have time to be upset. She had to fix this.

"Yes. Find Nel and Keneally. Tell them to meet me in the stables. I'm going after Gui."

She turned and ran into a wall of men. Wyn stood right behind her and Daen at his side. Both men blocked the doorway.

"What are you doing? Get out of my way. I have to find them. Bring her back."

"I know, but they are already out of the valley. We don't know which way they went yet. Chances are, Gui is the one responsible for the attack on you. You can't go after them alone. It would be better if we knew where to start before we go chasing after them."

Lia narrowed her eyes and let the frustration, pain and anger of the morning burn through her glare. "Do you think I'm being overemotional? Reckless? Immature?"

Caer shook his head and frowned at her. "No. I think you're acting like someone who's putting a loved one first. The way anyone would."

Anguish flickered, there and gone. The same bleakness she'd seen when he talked of his parents. Perhaps not everything had been a lie after all.

"He's a sorcerer. One who knows how you think and react. He'll be ready for you. Let us help you, Lia."

"I have no reason to trust you. Either of you."

"I know." The rough voice sounded as raw and aching as she felt.

He, and Daen, had resources she didn't. Though none of them said it, if Gui was involved in sorcery, chances were Hafgan was involved, as well. If that was the case, she'd need all the help she could get.

"Fine. What do you suggest?"

"First rule of war. Know your enemy."

Lia nodded, knowing he was right. She glanced at the stunned and silent Gabrielle.

"Find Nel and Keneally. Have them meet us at Gui's room." She amended her orders. Then it occurred to her that she had no idea how much support Gui had within the valley. "Not a word to anyone about any of this."

She laced her voice with a hint of command that would not be ignored.

"Let's go," she murmured then swept past the two startled men.

*****

Gui didn't take much with him. His wardrobe was full of more clothes than Caerwyn had ever owned in his life. The writing desk was scattered with notes and scraps and letters. An entire library of books filled the wall shelves. A huge, solid trunk sat under the window, locked up tight and looking unbreakable.

Caer painstakingly sorted through the clothes, checking multitudes of pockets, thick hems, and linings for anything stashed or forgotten.

Daen leafed through the books one by one and Lia combed through the mess on the writing desk. After a brief explanation that satisfied neither of them, Nel had been sent to search the study Gui often used and Keneally went to the stables to sort through gear he'd left behind in his hurry.

The silence, oppressive and dark, settled around them. It wasn't the right time for personal conversation but Caer couldn't stand the strain. The need to fix things dug deep and refused to let him go until words plunged out of their own volition.

"Lia, not everything was a lie."

Her head turned slightly towards him but she didn't look up from her task.

"I was honest about what I could be." Frustrated that she hadn't even twitched, he growled, "It's not like I'm the only one who kept secrets."

That got her attention but her eyes flicked toward Daen first, who continued flipping pages, then transferred a dark, scathing glare.

"I don't think now is the time to have this conversation. Do you?"

No, it probably wasn't. But he hadn't realized how much she'd come to mean to him until he'd stood there, subsumed by his Attribute, watching himself lose her. Nothing he said now, here, would sway her.

They both had missions to fulfill. She was right. There would be a better time and a better place.

The awkward, stretched silence continued while they methodically searched every inch of the room until nothing remained untouched but the monstrous trunk mocking them in the corner.