Forged In Flame (In Her Name: The First Empress, Book 2) Read Free

future of her entire species.
    T’ier-Kunai leaned closer and lowered her voice. “It also might be a chance for her to draw blood with her blade, should the opportunity arise.” 
    Despite his worries, he grinned, baring his fangs. 
    “Even if her sword remains in its scabbard,” T’ier-Kunai continued, “you must stop being foolish. Take her where she would like to go for her free time, as long as you judge it safe to do so.”
    “I would take Ria-Ka’luhr with me, if you would allow it.”
    “I will not.” She stared at the young priest standing next to the girl. “He has other duties to perform.”
    Ayan-Dar turned to study her, his eye narrowing. “You do not trust him.”
    She frowned. “I trust him with a great many things. But I would not trust her life to any but you and those who guard the creche. And as our newest priest, still after these years, he has yet much to learn.”
    “Do not hide behind words, high priestess,” Ayan-Dar said quietly. The other priests and priestesses had, with the quiet dignity of their positions, followed the fleeing disciples and were well out of earshot. Duty awaited them. They would not be going on their own free time, for that was a luxury of the young. “You have never fully trusted him since he returned to us from his quest. You have hidden your feelings well from the others, but you cannot hide them from me.”
    T’ier-Kunai spared him an annoyed glance before turning back to watch Keel-Tath, who was still waving at the parade of warriors and robed disciples moving down the trail. “All I have is that one moment when he lay in his chambers after being punished on the Kal’ai-Il , when I felt as if there were two of him. One was as I expected him to be, an accomplished acolyte, soon to be a priest, in great pain. The other was of a tortured soul, mad with rage and anguish. It was as if that one was locked away in a cell and the door had somehow been left ajar for just a moment before being slammed shut.”
    “The senior healer said it was due to his head injury.”
    The high priestess shook her head. “I do not presume to understand the healer’s craft, but this was something else, a glimpse into his very soul that I cannot and will not dismiss as imagination or some artifact of injury.” She clenched her fists in revulsion and pity at what she had sensed in that tiny purgatory. “It was real, Ayan-Dar, as real as the Great Moon that orbits our world. What concerns me more is that even in the ritual of the Change, when I held his palms and shared blood as the power of the Crystal of Souls swept through us, I saw nothing of that tortured soul. Since then, Ria-Ka’luhr has been nothing less than an exemplary young priest in all things.” She nodded toward Keel-Tath. “And has been nearly inseparable from her.”
    “You think he has somehow been…suborned?”
    “I think nothing, because I know nothing for certain, other than the reality of that single glimpse. Even though it has been years, I can still recall it as if it just happened. The keepers of the Books of Time have searched for references to such a thing, but have found nothing that satisfies me. And not knowing chills me, old friend.” She blew out a breath. “We will speak no more of this now. Gather up Keel-Tath and take her wherever in this world or among the stars she would like to go.”

 
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
    City Of The Dead
     
    “I spoke to the high priestess, and she had words of praise for you, child.”
    Keel-Tath bowed her head as Ayan-Dar spoke and brought her left fist to her chest in the tla’a-kane ritual salute. “Thank you, my priest.” Her right hand rested on the handle of her sword, her fingers caressing the tough leatherite wrapping. The weapon was perfectly balanced, perfectly sized for her hand. Like the armor that fit her body like a second skin, when drawn the sword was an extension of her body and will. And with training from both Ayan-Dar and