‘I never needed your defence.’
‘But still I gave it, because I loved you.’
He flinched as though slapped. ‘Evie, you’re going to have to trust me. Nothing you see from here on is going to be familiar to you. Hospitals don’t exist here, neither does any of the technology you have taken for granted. I know you think I’m crazy but I am all you have. And I promise you that I am sane.’
‘Why am I here?’ she demanded, her confusion mounting to the stirrings of panic.
‘I just told you. You were born here. I had to return you to your home.’
‘Return me? So you’d already taken me from it once … is that what you mean?’
‘Yes,’ he said, shocking her. ‘I took you from this world when you were a newborn.’
‘Twenty years ago?’
He shrugged. ‘Yes, but perhaps time passes differently in the world I took you to. How old do I appear to you?’
It was her turn to shrug. ‘I don’t know. I suppose beneath all that terrible beard and unruly hair you are in your late thirties, early forties. Why? How old did you hope to be?’
He nodded sadly. ‘I was just eighteen when I was given the task of taking you to safety.’
She needed to keep him talking while her mind tried to make some sense of what was going on. ‘So my father — the king,’ she said carefully, nodding at him to show that she was trying, ‘asked you, a young noble, to rush me away to safety from this Loethar fellow who was killing all the royals.’
‘Thank you for paying attention.’
‘So that makes me a princess.’
‘Yes. That’s why we had to protect you.’
She couldn’t help herself. As much as it galled her to humour this ridiculous story any further, she was intrigued as to where he’d take the tale next. ‘Do I have siblings? Fellow young royals?’
‘Two brothers, one of whom is adopted.’
‘Ah, so they were whisked off to other places, were they?’
He shook his head. ‘No, only you. You had to be hidden. The Valisar dynasty has never had a surviving daughter. In centuries of rule, all girls — until you — have either died in the womb or soon after birth.’
She hadn’t expected that and felt a fresh wave of panic. He really looked like he believed all this. ‘So I’m the first surviving female heir of the Valisars and they had to get me away. Why? Isn’t a male heir more important, or do they do it differently in the Denova Set?’ Even she could hear the sarcasm biting and hated herself as she watched those words batter against someone she loved.
‘Your brother, Leonel, is the primary heir. But Leonel is not gifted in the way we suspected you could be … and I now know you are. We were right to take the precaution.’
‘Gifted?’ She felt goosebumps rise on her flesh. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The talent that was beginning to show itself through your work as a healer will actually have been severely suppressed in the world I took you to. Here, it will presumably manifest itself far more dramatically. At least that’s what I’ve been led to believe.’
‘You’re losing me, Reg.’
‘Call me Corbel … please.’ She really did feel lost, and she assumed it showed because his expression softened. ‘Let me tell you everything I know and then you can make up your mind.’
‘About whether to stay, you mean?’
He shook his head. ‘There is no way back, Evie,’ he said gently. ‘Hear me out, hear it all and then decide whether you still trust me.’
Her mind was reeling but she didn’t feel as though she had much of a choice. Carefully, she returned to her position against the tree and nodded. ‘All right, Corbel de Vis, tell me everything you know.’
Kilt Faris chewed on a piece of meat. Jewd had insisted that he eat. It had been several hours since he’d faced his nemesis and though his men had left him alone he knew that patience wouldn’t last. The sickness had passed but he could still taste its acid remnants at the back of his throat. How would he ever explain his behaviour to his people … to Jewd?
From the corner of his eye he saw Jewd and Leo nod between themselves and approach, sitting on either side of him. He knew they wanted answers.
‘Where is he?’ Jewd asked Leo, breaking the tense silence.
‘I’ve asked Gavriel to get him away. He and the woman have taken Loethar higher, heading east. I’ll meet up with Gavriel shortly … when we understand more.’
Jewd nodded and they both turned to Kilt.
‘Are you going to explain it?’ Leo asked.
‘I didn’t know, if that’s what you’re asking,’ Kilt growled.
‘Didn’t know you were an aegis, or didn’t know who your Valisar was?’ Leo said firmly.
Kilt ground his teeth, flung the piece of meat down. ‘What was the point in admitting anything all these anni? It hasn’t been relevant, wasn’t relevant until now.’
‘Leo’s just finished telling me what an aegis is. What I want to know is, did you know you were one?’ Jewd demanded. His voicewas quiet but his tone told Kilt that he did not want anything but a truthful response.
‘Yes,’ he said through gritted teeth, avoiding Jewd’s eyes.
‘For how long?’ Jewd pressed. Kilt could hear the pain in his voice.
Kilt sighed. ‘Does it matter?’
‘To me it does, because you’ve been lying.’
Now he did look at Jewd and saw the anguish in his friend’s face, recalled promising the man just the day previous that he had no further secrets. ‘Jewd, please listen to me. I didn’t know that Loethar was even Valisar. How could I? None of us did. I learned about the powers of the ageis at the Academy. I sensed my powers were more than just a trifling magic around the time of my mother’s death, but essentially they felt like tricks for most of my life.’
‘I don’t believe persuading people to spill their private knowledge is a circus trick, Kilt,’ Jewd interrupted, his voice hard. ‘What you’ve admitted to being able to do is hardly trifling. It fills me with both awe and dread. And anger — because you chose to keep it from me.’
‘I told you, I have not used those powers until just days ago when I went in search of Lily.’
‘Well, at least you admit that she means that much to you!’ Leo cut in archly. ‘We will find her and we will get her back, Kilt, I promise you that. But right now we have to understand what we’re up against here. We are not your enemy, so stop treating us as if we are. Jewd and I need to share as much as possible with you or we can’t protect you.’
Kilt laughed sadly. ‘Protect me? You have no idea what you’re dealing with.’
Leo was not to be dissuaded by the disdain in his friend’s voice or the low threat that underpinned his words. ‘That’s the point I’m making. We don’t have any idea and so we wish to understand. I know what an aegis does, what he or she is born for. I’ll be honest, I’ve never felt mine present.’ He gave a hollowgrin. ‘But, my understanding is that as a Valisar I should feel that person and only that person who was born for me.’