A Veil of Secrets Read online

  “I came for you.” He exhaled through his teeth. “I had to come to you.”

  His frustration appeared so genuine I almost believed him. “Why?”

  He fixed me with a searing look that dared me to question his sincerity. “Not knowing where you had gone or if you were in danger made me crazed.”

  Fragile as his admission was, I still had doubts. “Aren’t you afraid it’s the harbinger’s lure?”

  “Yes.” He shook his head. “But if it is a lure, it’s not yours, or you don’t mean it to be.”

  Because he had been honest, I returned the favor. “How can we trust one another then?”

  “Trust takes time we don’t have.” The color drained from his face. “There is another way.”

  I eyed him warily. “I don’t care for your expression.”

  His chuckle was sharp. “I don’t care for the offer I’m about to make, either.”

  Desperate to be freed, I braced myself. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Lailah could read my mind.” He tore his gaze from me. “Can you? If I consented?”

  I recoiled from him. “No.”

  “The damage has been done.” He offered me a shaky grin. “You won’t hurt me. You need me.”

  “Even if I had that power, I would have to either inject you with venom I don’t have or implant a sigil which I can’t produce. Idra is the only harbinger I know who can tap into the collective minds of all harbingers. The rest of us are bound to our makers.”

  He wiped a hand over his mouth. “I’m ashamed to say I’m relieved to hear that.”

  The tremble in his hand and the catch in his voice were too real to be manufactured.

  Whatever Lailah had done to him, it had left him carved with the same invisible scars as me. He had offered me the one thing he most feared losing again—control of himself. A harbinger could have seized his mind and bent him to her will. She would have had the venom-tipped nails I lacked.

  “What you offered…” I swallowed. “It was more than I could have given you. I would extend my hand so we could shake on our new alliance, but…” I lifted my wrists.

  He circled around behind me. “You won’t flitter off again?”

  Why would I? I had nowhere else to go. Even this scrap of hope must be investigated.

  I glanced over my shoulder. “What happened to trust?”

  A tug on my wrists and he set me free. “I thought we agreed it was a work in progress.”

  After taking a deep breath to settle my nerves, I told Asher what I had found.

  He shook his head. “Lleu didn’t mention such a pen, but if he was under orders from the maven, he couldn’t have. I heard the same rumblings as you did about some disturbance the night before we arrived. No one seemed to know any specifics.” He came around to face me. “If your scent drove the risers to frenzy, could another harbinger’s arrival have gotten them riled up the night before?”

  “Do you think Idra was there?” The idea chilled me.

  “It’s convenient she was there the first time we crossed, but because she was, I’m more inclined to think she sent a scout to survey the area in case you slipped through her fingers.” He paced. “That means she’s been planning for this—whatever this is. She may have sent the risers to rush us along.”

  I rubbed my wrists. “What do we do now?”

  “What you will do with or without me. Go after Edan.” He knotted his mount’s reins around the lone pine growing beside the road then freed a leather satchel. “Let’s head in and take a look around.”

  “Asher, wait.” I braced my palm against his chest to hold him still.

  “I know what it’s like to be taken by a harbinger. If I can help save Edan, then I will.”

  I fingered the button on his shirt. “Why are you doing this?”

  He wrapped one wide palm behind my neck. “For you.”

  Emotion clogged my throat.

  If I weren’t so selfish, so desperate, I would have ordered him to turn back for his own safety. But something had happened when we were together the first time. I could have taken those paths, walked those streets and toured that eerie town. If Asher hadn’t shown up when he did, I might have been lost to that place. I wasn’t sure if he could have followed me, but I knew he had seen the same things as I did. Perhaps together we could find our way there.

  And then find our way back.

  “All right.” I stuck out my hand, expecting him to take it without fuss. “Let’s go.”

  He checked his sword and tied a small water pouch to his belt. “Is that a good idea?”

  “You grounded me. You’re the reason I escaped the first time, so I think it’s an excellent idea.”

  “May I?” He held up the same black rope he had used earlier.

  I nodded, and he tied the end around my wrist and the other around his waist.

  He tested his knot. “This way you might see things clearer.”

  Ah. So his pride still smarted. I was being punished for leaving him. “We can try it your way.”

  As the stinging anticipation of the veil swept over my skin, I was grateful for any anchor.

  After he shrugged into the pack, he let me lead the way. Out of options, I took the road. It was the place where I first saw the crossroads. Its name implied a place where a mortal road might intersect with a celestial one. Mists slinked along the ground, wending through our legs as we forged ahead. I remembered the distance as being a half mile from where the veil started and where it ended as long as you kept straight. We must have walked twice that without gaining new ground before stopping.

  Asher offered me his water. “This is new.”

  “It’s a new trick to me too.” Ahead was blurry and vague, behind us…clarity. “Look there.”

  “I noticed.” He wiped sweat from his brow. “She couldn’t hint much clearer than that.”

  “If she wants us to turn back,” I reasoned, “we must have a chance of finding her.”

  “We can go a while longer.” At my snarl, he amended, “I wouldn’t eat what we found in here. I have some supplies, but it would be easier to leave and eat and then come back once we’ve rested.”

  He made too much sense for me to argue with him, so I didn’t.

  Hours later, a roar set my skin crawling.

  Asher eased beside me. “That sounded like an ursus.”

  “It might be one.” I darted in the direction of the noise, dragging him behind me. “We lost several here.”

  I ran through the mist until a large shape loomed ahead. The ursus snorted when she spotted me and took a few steps closer once I presented my hand.

  “This was Edan’s mount.” The sow sniffed my fingers. When she spotted Asher, her lip curled.

  “What’s wrong with her?” he murmured.

  “The harbinger infected her.” I pointed at the wound the harbinger had inflicted on her. The skin was puffy and red. The worst were the signs of infection already presenting in her. Her disorientation and glazed eyes were both signs the plague had taken root. “She’s a carrier for the plague.”

  He cursed under his breath. “Is she contagious?”

  “Not unless we eat her.” From what Henri had said, “The plague is transmitted primarily through animals. People eat the animals and become infected.” I touched the edge of her wound and felt hard knots. “I wish Henri were here now to explain this to me.” Asher leaned closer. “There are lumps underneath her skin.” I swallowed. “They’re moving. I think—I mean it’s possible… I think they may be sigils.”

  His gaze went to my throat. “Like the one she implanted in you?”

  My hand brushed the scar tissue on my throat. “Yes.”

  Except she had injured the animal with her finger. I assumed that was how she had infected it. Sigils were fist-sized. I would have noticed
one of them detaching from her and buzzing the ursus.

  Unless… A horrible thought struck me. What if the sigils were the cause of the plague? It made sense they might be since they also created harbingers. But how had Idra gotten them into the ursus? I had seen with my own eyes the carcasses of infected animals split open, devoured from the inside. I had no trouble imagining the horrid little creatures capable of such carnage, but the how eluded me.

  “What makes you so sure those are sigils?”

  “They’re sentient.” I wet my lips. “I can sense them the same way I sense other harbingers.”

  His gaze softened on the beast. “What should we do with her?”

  “Lead her out if we can.” I grabbed her reins. “We can take what supplies are left and then…”

  One of us needed to show her mercy. Plague deaths were violent and painful. I knew the pain of having a sigil burrowed in me, and she had two. The kind thing was to not let her deteriorate that far.

  Asher brushed his hand down my arm until his fingers covered mine. “Let me do this for you.”

  I handed him the reins, squeezing his hand in silent thanks.

  Disorientation made her cautious. We must have spent the better part of the afternoon urging her onto the road and back into the southland heat. Her mood improved once she saw sky and scented air not contaminated by the strange magic of the veil. Asher discovered the skinned and roasted lepus in the pouch where Edan had stored it. Asher fed it to the sow to earn her trust, removed her tack and brushed her down.

  He untied me from his rope, coiled it tight and packed it away for later.

  Grabbing my elbows, he eased me down until I sat on the ground. “Wait here.”

  I pulled my knees into my chest and rested my arms across them then put my head down.

  The sow grunted as Asher led her away. The hopeful sound, like he might have more lepus, sent my heart drumming. This poor creature had deteriorated so far, so fast. I had seen Idra jab Edan with the same poisoned claw. Was he feverish or in pain? Had he been given a bed or cast upon the floor?

  A sharp roar brought me to my feet. Despite Asher’s attempt to spare me, I followed the sound.

  He circled the ursus, who had snapped her reins to escape him, with his sword drawn.

  I edged as close as I dared. “Do you need help?”

  “I can handle it.” He spared me a tired look. “Go rest. I won’t be much longer.”

  The sow swung her head toward me, her glazed eyes shining, and she took a step.

  “Asher.” I held still so as not to tempt her.

  He yelled at the sow to get her attention, but she ignored him. Seeing his opportunity to end this, he eased behind her while her back was to him. He had reached her shoulder, sword lifted, when the beast charged me. Ursus can run fast, faster than he could, but not so fast that I couldn’t outfly her.

  I pushed off the ground and hovered out of reach. “I’ll distract her.”

  Asher nodded and began a slow approach from the rear.

  Any ursus was a lot of animal for one person to dispatch, let alone a half-crazed one.

  The sow snorted at me in disgust, as though I were beyond rude for not letting her catch me. Her attention shifted as Asher came alongside her, and she loosed an earsplitting roar that startled me.

  If I had been Asher, I don’t know that I could have stood my ground the way he did.

  He lifted his sword and faced her down when she turned and charged him.

  He couldn’t outrun her. He had just proven that. But I could.

  I pushed myself harder than I ever had, until my wing joints popped, but I reached Asher before she did. Luckily, he was too shocked to fight me as I slid my arms around his waist from behind and lifted him off the ground. “Hold on.” Try as I might, I couldn’t get him higher than a few feet before the sow attacked. She stood on her hind legs and roared, swiping her paw and catching my ankle.

  “Put me down,” he yelled. “My sword is useless like this. She’ll kill us both.”

  I opened my arms, and he dropped to the earth, rolling to his feet a moment later.

  He ducked beneath me and faced the sow, sheathing his sword to the hilt in her chest.

  The ursus groaned, her paw uncurling to release me. She sat at first then toppled onto her side.

  Asher jerked his blade free. “Don’t look.”

  I looked. I couldn’t tear my eyes away as he cleaved her head from her neck.

  Yellow liquid poured from the wound and mixed with the dirt.

  The fight left me drained, so I landed with a hiss.

  Asher hurried to my side. “How badly are you hurt?”

  “It’s not too bad.” I tried putting weight on the foot and failed.

  Asher wiped his hands on his pants. “May I?”

  “I— Wait.” I gasped when he scooped me into his arms. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m taking you back to camp so I can examine you.” He shifted me to the right, then to his left. I was in danger of spilling my stomach before he asked, “I’m not pinching your wings, am I?”

  No one else would have cared about such a trivial thing under the circumstances. Not even Edan.

  “They’re fine.” I hesitated before I linked my arms behind his neck. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Let me have my fun.” He smiled slightly. “I might not have this chance again.”

  Warmth spread up my neck and into my cheeks. “I doubt you’ve dreamed of this moment.”

  He seemed rather pleased with himself. “How do you know what I’ve dreamed of?”

  “I don’t,” I admitted. I had been so absorbed in my own troubles my whole life I hadn’t thought much of what males might dream, let alone this particular one. “Though it seems unlikely you wished I would be mauled by a crazed ursus so you would have an excuse to carry me.”

  “I would never wish you harm.” He carried me so delicately my wings neither trailed over the ground to be trampled on nor crunched against my back while we spoke of plague and death. “Even if the result put you in my arms.”

  I chuckled at the gleam in his eye, relieved by his attempt at levity. “You are ridiculous.”

  “I won’t deny that.” A frown tugged at his lips. “After all, you have seen me at my worst.”

  “Help me find my brother, and all will be forgiven.”

  If there was an added spring in his step after my bribe, I pretended not to notice.

  Males are such prideful creatures after all.

  Chapter Twelve

  Afternoon bled into night as I sat and stared at the veil, willing Idra to appear and taunt me to my face. But she didn’t magically appear, didn’t hum through my mind, and the longer I stewed, the more furious I became. Thanks to her, I would never have a normal life. I was dependent upon the charity of others to keep me alive, and that gift was extended with the sole purpose of indebting me so that I would have no choice but to do as I was asked by any of the parties involved. To refuse was to die.

  Though I had not been asked any favors as of yet, I knew the day was coming. War was coming.

  Araneaeans could not turn a blind eye any longer. The Necrita were parasites feasting on us. There was no time left for fear or doubt. This was a time for action, and I was coiled and ready.

  “What are you thinking about?” Asher paused in his doctoring. “Even your toes are clenched.”

  My skirt was hiked up to the knee on my wounded leg. Already the skin knitted itself together, but Asher was determined to clean the jagged claw marks. He had rubbed in a healing salve and now was using a scrap of fabric to wrap my leg. He kept finding ways to touch and soothe me, as if I was a wild thing he tempted from the sky into his arms. It was as though he used his gentleness to bind me.

  “I’m thinking exactly what you think I’m
thinking about.” From spite, I wiggled my toes at him.

  “We will find him,” he said earnestly. “I promise you that.”

  The validity of his promise hinged on the trust we had not yet established, not completely.

  Yet I wanted to believe his offer of unconditional aid, and so I did, with all my heart.

  I studied his handiwork on my leg. “How did you learn to dress wounds so efficiently?”

  “I’m a Mimetidae guardsman.” He chuckled. “Either we learn to patch ourselves up, or we bleed to death young.” He rooted through his pack and produced a container of white willow bark for tea.

  His amusement made me wonder. “Do you like what you do?”

  “It’s all I know.” He shrugged. “I like it well enough.”

  “Hmm.”

  He rested his hand on my knee. “Is that the start of a question or a decision not to ask one?”

  His thumb smoothed absently over my skin, and chills swept the length of that leg.

  “I was about to ask something rude,” I confessed.

  “Yes, we partake of the flesh of our enemies. Yes, we believe it is the will of the two gods. Yes, I do regret the death of even one undeserving person dealt by my blade, and no—” he cut a mischievous glance my way, “—I had no part in what happened with Lleu and that poor hen. I was in the guard tower when I heard it clucking for mercy.”

  Laughter burst from me, so loud I clamped a hand over my mouth. Part of me knew he was trying to distract me from the problem of finding Edan. The other was so grateful for diversion that I let his wild story enthrall me.

  “What happened to the hen?”

  He made a twisting motion in front of his mouth. “We vowed never to speak of it.”

  “You, sir, are a rotten tease.” I pulled on my leg, but he held tight. “Can I have that back?”

  He feigned a deep sigh and released me. “I figured you might want it returned eventually.”

  I threw my skirt over my exposed skin. “I do need it more than you do.”

  “I’m not convinced.” He was close enough to reach out and touch the edge of my wing. “You do have these, after all. Even without your leg, you could still travel. Really, if you think about it, it’s a hindrance.” Tingles danced in the wake of his tender caress. “I might even trade you a leg for those.”