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He leaned against the pillar which stood sentry outside of her chambers, and the grooves etched into the stone dug into his back. When it was only him and the darkness, his imagination always ran amok. It made him imagine a different life, where he was not her sworn protector, where she did not belong to the Mother and to Selynis. Where his sister did not call him soft between the ears for loving one who could never love him back. But he could not help his foolish heart.
Juron shifted his weight and let out a gentle sigh. His fingers played around the elegant hilt of his light-forged sword, and he felt the energy singing within. Slow and steady as a stream, with the soothing kiss of sunlight. Its presence reminded him of the priestess. She was light magic incarnate.
He shook his head and tried to sober himself from his troublesome thoughts. What use was he to the priestess if the mere thought of her distracted him from his purpose? If the only thing he could be was her guard, then he would be the best guard she could ever ask for.
Juron trained his eyes on the blunt shadows ahead and steeled his mind. He wasn’t sure what time it was and how long it would be before his sister took over from him, but through the arched window, he glimpsed the ripe moon sitting full and fat like a pearl sewn into the black velvet of night. The unblemished limestone buildings of the city below stood silent and still—
A scream pierced the night.
Taria. It came from Taria’s room.
Juron threw himself from the pillar and lunged for the door, shoving it open so desperately that it splintered off its hinges. He charged over the broken door without sparing it a second thought. All that mattered was Taria.
He drew his sword. Steel whispered into the shadows.
But no one else was there. The priestess was sitting up in her bed, the blankets pooled around her. The shoulder of her gossamer nightgown had slipped down, exposing her mahogany skin to the night. The moonlight silvered the soft curve of her shoulder, and he had the sudden urge to trace it. A familiar ache filled his heart.
Her white locks flowed over her other shoulder, so luminous they made the moon look faint. She stared at him with her golden eyes. Light magic poured from her like the aura of dawn. Maybe she was meditating. Though he had never seen her meditating with her eyes wide open.
“Taria?” he said gently.
The priestess did not blink. Juron paced over to her bed and perched on the edge. He nudged her shoulder, the one he’d considered tracing. He tried not to think about the softness of her skin.
She jolted to life then, and Juron almost leaped away with the suddenness. She rose onto her knees and clasped either side of his face, staring at him with unblinking eyes. This close, they blinded him.
“Taria, what’s the matter?”
Now she finally answered him, her gaze clouded with the remnants of her divine vision.
“Death,” she rasped, her chest heaving with the strain. “Death comes for us all.”
Reyna’sstorywillcontinuewithBook2ofLegends of Imyria: Storm of Shadows.You can click here to preorder now and have Book 2 automatically downloaded to your kindle as soon as it releases!
