Megan Derr The Lost Gods 04 Poison

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that had allowed him to puzzle it out.
Gael tiredly righted his seat and fell into it. "I never wanted to keep our affair a secret. Yet from the very first, I have felt
nothing but cold fear for him. I knew instinctively that if anyone found out I loved him, it would cost his life. I just do not know
why!" He closed his eyes against the pain that washed over him. Noire& what would he do without him? Where was he?
Was he hurt? He dared not think it could be worse& no, he would know the very moment someone took his heart and soul
from him.
"I do not see how anyone could have known," Ailill said slowly. "I did only because I know him so well, but if not for that
incident with the Ram I would have remained oblivious." He shook his head and smiled ruefully. "Noire had all of us fooled,
even Freddie. We thought him only a messenger with a mischievous streak& and so much insecurity because stupid people
hold his mixed blood and peasant origins against him." He slid Gael a thoughtful look. "No one, I think, would ever imagine
Noire has captured the notoriously reserved Grand Duke himself."
"It has been hard on him, keeping our secret," Gael said. "I did not like it, but it was worse for him. A thousand times I have
wanted to just end the secrecy& yet despite it still I have failed to protect him." He stared at the crumpled notes on the
table, the glittering silver pin. Reaching out, he snatched up the cravat pin and held it tightly in one hand, ignoring the sting
as the sharp point of the teardrop dug into his palm. "Have we no idea where he could be?"
Ailill shook his head. "We have kept it quiet, your Grace, until we could speak with you. Noire& did all of this to keep it a
secret still. I did not want to take steps on the search until I knew doing so would not cause further harm."
A hesitant rap on the door broke into the conversation. "What!" Gael bellowed, furious that someone would disturb him now.
The door opened to admit Matti, the White Fox. She looked at him, the hurt in her eyes apparent. "Your Grace," she said as
she stepped into the room. "This was just found on the front table." She held out a piece of thick, white paper, folded closed
and sealed with plain black wax.
"Thank you," Gael said, trepidation growing.
Matti frowned. "Your Grace& what is going on? Why would you act like that and then dismiss us so?"
"Not now, Matti."
"So you do not trust your own Beasts?" Matti demanded. "You look as though you are on the verge of crumbling. I have
never seen you so white, so miserable. It is obvious you need us, and yet you turn us away to speak with a Beast of her
Grace?"
Gael shook his head slowly back and forth. "I cannot explain right now, Matti. Suffice to say I have been betrayed, and the
file:///H|/NOVEL/New%20novel/4.htm[9/25/2009 10:25:21 AM]
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betrayal could not run deeper than it has. Please, just go."
Looking as though she'd been slapped, Matti nevertheless curtsied low before walking slowly from the room.
Having to hurt one of his Beasts so just made everything worse; it was more than he could take, but he had to endure or
he'd never find Noire. That was all that mattered now. He didn't care about the Ceremony. Nothing mattered but finding
Noire.
Picking up a knife, Gael sliced open the wax seal and unfolded the paper. He hissed in shock, outrage.
If you wish for your lover to live, make certain that this time the Ceremony goes as it should. Choose correctly. Should you
fail to do so, he will die.
Destroy the journal. Do not search for him.
Gael let his head fall to thump hard against the back of his high chair, eyes falling shut as he fought despair. How could
anyone know about the journal? Even Noire did not know of it, though a thousand times he had wanted to share it. That
journal was to hopefully prevent the tragedy from occurring next time, if they could not prevent it this time.
Though it would seem he had no choice but to make certain all went as it should. If he didn't&
The note was taken gently from his fingers, and Gael said nothing as Ailill and Ivan read it. Slowly he forced his eyes back
open. "You are a Firelander."
Ivan nodded. "Yes."
"They say the Firebird has returned to your land, and something in me knows it's true. Were you happy to learn of his
return?"
Ivan shared an enigmatic look with Ailill, then turned back to him. "Yes and no. It is true that something& changed when the
Sacred Firebird returned. All of Pozhar feels& better, I guess, for his presence. However& to bring the Sacred Firebird back
to life required killing a thousand people, over the course of as many years. Two of those people were my friends, and while
one is still alive, he is not quite as he used to be." Ivan smiled faintly. "For Raz is now Zhar Ptitka, and that makes it hard to
simply be a thief."
Gael dredged up a faint smile. "So you know the newly ascended Firebird. How interesting. A thief, you say? Now a god& "
He shook his head and stared at the cravat pin in his palm, the end stained with blood where it had pierced his skin.
"Pozhar was always unique amongst the four countries, in that it tried to defy its god. The rest of us live quite close to our
gods, or what is left of them. The rulers of Kundou even now rule by right of the power bestowed by the Storm Dragons. All
of Piedre loved and feared the Basilisk Princes, and even now slowly begin again to worship a god the rest of the world
fears& here in Verde, from the moment our Forms were discovered, and Etain her wings, we have been regarded as would-
be gods, meant someday to ascend to power and immortality to forever guard the children of Verde."
Slowly he shook his head back and forth, then stared again at the pin in his hand. "Yet what is the point of doing such a
thing, of becoming a god, if you do it only because you are forced? I have been told since I was child that I would either
become a god or die at the hand of one of my closest friends& and now I am being told that if I do not become a god, my [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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