“I merely want to talk to him,” Leo said, his patience wearing thin.
The commander nodded. “Of course.”
She pressed a button, and the door to the chamber opened. Mason looked up as Leo swept in. He towered over the boy, making him crane his neck to see his full height. And then Leo rested his hand on the boy’s head. Gently, almost tenderly, Leo cupped his cheek.
“You are unwanted,” he said, his eyes boring into Mason. “They discarded you just like your parents did. But in Ravence, you are wanted. You’re needed.” He gripped the boy’s chin, gently yet firmly. “Tell me what I need to know, and I’ll see that these men won’t kill you.”
The boy looked at him with his pale, colorless eyes. Eyes just like Yassen’s. “I—I don’t know,” he stammered. “They didn’t tell me much.”
“Oh, but you do,” Leo said. He had seen the shadow of a lie cross the boy’s eyes. “You heard something.”
Mason gulped. He tried to wrench his face away, but Leo held firm.
“Your time burns, boy,” Leo said.
“She’s lying to you!” he blurted.
“Who?”
“The one who sees visions in the flames,” he said. “That’s what they told me! I swear, I don’t know her name!”
Leo finally let go. He thought of Saayna standing before the Eternal Fire, the disdainful look in her eyes. Anger rose in him, thick and vicious.
He strode out of the room, the door sliding shut behind him with a click of finality.
“Keep questioning him,” he said to Chandi. “Find out what else he knows.”
The commander nodded, her blue lips curling into a wry grin. “My men will see you out,” she said. “As for the ones at the gate, I apologize for their insolence. They seem to have forgotten who they report to.”
Leo accepted her salute and followed the Black Scale, but he was no fool. Double meanings and lies threaded through Chandi’s words. Samson may have forfeited his command of the Black Scales to Leo in name, but their hearts still bled for him.
Leo burst out of the building, surprising the Ravani soldier who scrambled into a salute and scampered after him as he stormed out of the base. Arish awaited him on the hoverpod’s ramp. When he saw the king’s face, he turned to his guards and quickly ordered them in.
“I’ve been a fool, Arish,” Leo said once they were alone. “The runes. They were wrong. The second rune on the priest, the one that Saayna showed me, it looked like a hurricane, bending inward. But the rune the Arohassin have, it points out. It points north. Saaynaalteredthe rune.”
Arish sat down with a sigh. He appeared to pick his words carefully. “Perhaps there is the possibility that you are wrong, Your Majesty. How can we be so sure that Saayna altered the rune?”
Leo ground his teeth. Raw fury roiled through him, fresh and hot. Suddenly, he understood why the Eternal Fire raged so often. He wanted to burn something too.
“She wants to protect the Prophet,” Leo said.
“Yet does she even knowwhothe Prophet is?” Arish said. “There is no name in the runes, no clear distinction of who exactly we’re looking for. All we know is that the Prophet is a woman who cannot burn. She was not in the city, and now we know she’s not a priest.”
Leo stared at him. What Arish said could be true, but if so… His anger dissipated at once, leaving ash in its wake. If so, then he had killed all those priests for nothing. Just like the girl.
“No,” Leo said, shaking his head violently. “Saayna is hiding something. I know it. She must have warned the Prophet, sent her away before we learned she was at the temple. Search the mountains. Send more guards to root through the tunnels—”
Arish touched his hands, voice soft. “I will always follow you, Your Majesty, but…” He paused. “You are ruining yourself, Leo. Let’s stop this awful chase. If Saayna is right, then the coming of the Prophet is inevitable. She will show herself to us. Until then, let us seek forgiveness.”
Leo laughed, but the sound was bitter.
“You too, Arish?” He shook his head. “Damn.”
His Astra gave a small smile and looked down at his wrinkled hands. “I know you are not as religious as me, but we’re growing old, Leo,” he said. “After today… Don’t you think it’s time for us to deserve peace? To rid ourselves of our sins?”
“Do not go soft on me now.”
Leo thought of Alabore and what he had seen before building Ravence—a desolate stretch of desert underneath the pale moons. A haven for his people. A chance for peace.
