The Sun and Its Shade by Piper CJ

Author:Piper CJ
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Six

Wrong. Nox knew this was wrong.

This wasn’t what it looked like. This wasn’t what it smelled like. There was no smoke, no fire, no screaming or anger or pain. It was familiar, but nothing about it was accurate. She had been here before. The textures of the glossy floors and walls, the smells of the quaking aspens and waterfall, and the polished sheen of the marble all rang with familiarity. But she’d never seen it like this.

Was this a dream?

Nox scrambled within herself to remember what she knew to be true. She was Nox. She was twenty-one. She’d grown up in Farleigh. She no longer lived or worked at the Selkie. She was traveling with two reevers. Amaris was gone. She was asleep in Henares. She had taken a bite of an apple. An apple?

But this…

She had visited this place just yesterday.

It was the Temple of the All Mother, except when she’d seen it, everything had been on fire. The tree had been consumed with the grotesque twist of ash and embers, its bark up in flames. The white and gilded marble of the temple had been a kiln, every touch against its stone a painful, punishing scorch. There had been blood, bodies, and cinders. Smoke had been thicker than air. The sounds were those of men, metal, and pain. Any clouds above had been too thick to reveal a moon. All the light that colored her memory had been red and angry. It had been so, so hot.

As she looked around, everything was cool—not just the temperature but the energy, the moonlight, the gentle rubbing of the blue-green leaves in the glen beyond the temple.

She peered down on the room as if witnessing everything from a vantage point overhead. She was a bird, a phantom, a fly on the ceiling. The marble room was motionless and utterly peaceful, bathed in night-quiet shades of silver and shadow. The gilded flecks in the white stone caught not only the outside light of a vibrant full moon but the iridescent luminescence of the tree growing from the center of the room. The tree—the focal point of the temple—seemed to be somehow both below her and all around her. It was healthy, twisted, ancient, and wise, with no sign of flame or char or ruin. The tree, as old as time itself, bore no fruit. A gentle breeze rustled its limbs, and its branches swished along with the wind as if moving to music. She felt the air as if it were brushing her hair along her cheek.

Then she saw someone.

She recognized the Tarkhany priestess before her immediately.

Nox had seen the holy woman just yesterday, and it had been one of the most horrible moments of her life. The fallen woman’s tragic state was not one Nox would soon forget. Tonight, the temple’s priestess wore a rich, blue gown that contrasted beautifully against the deep color of her skin. The dress appeared to have been soaked in the celestial glimmer of starlight. It

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