The Order of the Eternal Sun by Jessica Leake

Author:Jessica Leake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Talos
Published: 2016-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

NO! I try to scream when my grandmother’s soldiers take hold of Alexander. Their wolves flank him ominously, and as they do, silver shackles appear, binding his hands and feet by long chains.

Grandmother must have thought he was Wallace after all I’d told her, and in my cursed weakened state, I couldn’t tell her otherwise. I struggle wildly in my mind, but my body refuses to obey. Lifting my head has been the most I’ve managed to accomplish. I feel like I’m submerged beneath a turbulent sea—the very air filled with enough pressure to keep me on the ground. How Alexander has managed to stand, I don’t know—though perhaps it’s only I who feel the terrible press of arcana.

With sheer force of will, I push myself to my knees. “Stop, please,” I manage weakly, but the soldiers take him away unheedingly.

Grandmother dismounts Serafino agilely and comes to me side. “Dearest one, I’m so sorry. I knew the transition to our world would be difficult for you, but I’m afraid neither of us was prepared for quite how debilitating it would be.” Her gaze shifts to the retreating soldiers. “Rowen,” she calls to the little fox waiting nearby, “will you come lend Lucy your aid?”

The fox pads over to my side and presses his soft fur against my leg. A burst of energy fills me, as though I’m finally breaking the surface of the sea, as though I stand in a beam of sunlight. I take deep, restorative breaths and get to my feet.

“You will need Rowen during your brief stay here,” Grandmother says with a sympathetic look in her eyes. “Our sun is not your sun. It will not restore your arcana, but Rowen, as an unattached spirit animal, is the perfect solution.”

Before I can address my many questions to the fox at my side, I jump to the most pressing matter. “Grandmother, that man you arrested, he’s not the one I was afraid of. You must call your soldiers back, for I fear you’ve made a grave mistake.”

The look in her eyes is one of deep regret. “I know who he is. Many times have I felt his presence attached to your arcana. I have seen the path he has chosen: he is a member of the Order of the Eternal Sun.”

I feel all the color drain from my face. Every sound becomes muted until all I can hear is the throb of my own heartbeat. “No, it’s Wallace who’s part of the Order,” I say. Tears sting my eyes.

You’ve always suspected, my mind whispers, and I squeeze my eyes closed as if I can block it out.

“This man you call Wallace is undoubtedly part of the Order as well,” Grandmother says, not unkindly, “but the gentleman who followed you through the portal is, too.”

My head jerks up at that. “Followed me through the portal … but I thought only those with Sylvan blood could travel between realms?”

She inclines her head, letting me come to my own conclusions.

“But …

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