The Shadow Gate (Dragon Spirits Book 2) by L.L. MacRae

Author:L.L. MacRae [MacRae, L.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-04-27T16:00:00+00:00

Selys found Kaio easily enough. He stood in the surf, waves lapping at his knees, staring at the pale horizon.

His head turned at her approach, and she halted on the soft sand. She didn’t want to crowd him or impose, so she waited for him to make the first move.

He was the one in charge now.

‘You back for good?’ Kaio asked when she didn’t say anything, his voice flat. Whatever emotions he bottled up, she couldn’t tell.

‘For now,’ Selys replied, honestly.

‘Why now? Been three years. You didn’t even write.’

Selys shifted her weight. ‘I wrote. You stopped replying.’

‘After you joined Neros’s Shrine.’

She grimaced at his tone. She’d stood fearless in the face of an Archon, but hearing her brother’s disappointment was crippling.

‘How can you stomach having that…that thing in your head?’ Kaio snarled, turning to face her.

‘She is the spirit of the ocean, nothing more.’

‘She ripped apart everything we had! She’s the reason we’re like…like…like this!’ Kaio gestured angrily around them. ‘You notice how few people there are? You know how many deserted us after the storm? After Neros killed our family?’

Grief surged through her chest at the pain in his words. At what she had to tell him. ‘No, Kaio. We did this to ourselves. Don’t blame Neros for trying to set us back on the path.’

‘Don’t you dare justify their murder. If Neros was another warband, we’d have retaliated. Annihilated them for striking at us. But it’s a dragon so we can’t do anything but accept it.’

‘We wouldn’t have been attacked by Neros had we not transgressed! Don’t you see, Kaio? Not everything you do is right. That’s like blaming Inquisitors if you get arrested in Porsenthian waters.’

He turned away from her again. Then, in a calmer voice, Kaio asked, ‘Why did Neros bond with you in the first place?’

Selys had been asking herself that question ever since she’d realised she had the dragon’s blessing. But Neros’s strength was so overwhelming, she hadn’t been able to get a concrete answer.

Neros never blessed her worshippers. She was unique among dragon spirits in that.

When she’d been on that freezing mountain with Fenn, she’d believed Neros had finally noticed her. Seen her dedication. Rewarded her loyalty. But Neros’s words echoed in her mind, and Selys knew that wasn’t true, as tempting as it was to believe she was special. ‘I have a debt to pay. You do, too, Kaio. For what we did.’

Kaio snorted. ‘Neros killed our family for what we did. That makes us even.’

Selys shook her head. ‘No. I must atone. The Myr are on the rise, we have to do something about that.’

‘Let Surayo do whatever she did before. Nothing to do with us.’ Kaio shrugged.

‘It’s our world too. We transgressed. We must make it right.’ Selys wished she could speak more clearly to Neros, like Fenn seemed to be able with Hassen.

More than the spirit confirming her debt, Selys had been pulled south. Neros wanted her here.

She could only assume she needed her brother to atone, too. Why else drive her back to Segandis?

Selys didn’t tiptoe around the more urgent issue.

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