The beginning of the world was a story Sam had heard a hundred times or more. How strange, she thought, that though they were separated by a thousand miles, the people of Thule and of Rhea never diverged in their faithânot at its core. In Thule, the priests of Cathair told much the same story as the Sun Sisters, though Emese's role in mankind's creation was greatly diminished. They worshipped the Creator, not the Mother. As a Thulian child born of a Rhean mother, Sam had learned to worship both, never understanding why the rest of humanity felt they had to choose between them. Religion divided them when it should have united them against their true enemyâTeivel's children, or, as they were known in Thule, demons.
But religion didn't solve for Braeden. He was neither wholly human or demon, a child of all Three. Which Gods did he worship? Sam had never bothered to ask, so caught up in the unraveling of her own secrets. Her stomach churning with a mix of anguish and regret, Sam realized she loved a man she hardly knew.
"You look ill," Kameko commented quietly beside her. One of the sisters in the pew in front of them whirled around and glared at them both. "Sorry," Kameko mouthed, rolling her eyes as soon as the sister turned back around.
Sam nearly smiled at that.
After the morning prayer wrapped up, Kameko escorted Sam back to her room on the second floor. Pausing at the door, Sam's cousin let out a long suffering sigh, her boredom written plainly across her face.
"I want to go out," Sam said suddenly. The hour-long prayer session wasn't enough reprieve from the tiny, windowless room that was both a safe haven and her prison. Besides, she needed to do something useful. She needed to figure out a way to escape from this place and then find Braeden, in that order. Focus on one thing at a time, she scolded herself. "You said I could go anywhere in the convent. I want to see the rest of it."
Kameko gave her a dubious look. "There's not much else to see beyond the temple. Just a small village and Snakeweed Creek."
"I want to see it," Sam said stubbornly. She needed to scout out and memorize every possible hideaway and escape route. If she tried to flee back through the desert, she wouldn't survive more than a day, not unless she managed to steal a horse and several canteens worth of water. And if heat and thirst didn't kill her, demons would. The Rhean Desert was crawling with them. She and Braeden had been able to fight them off together. Aloneâeven assuming she managed to steal back her weaponsâSam was a dead woman walking.
Kameko shrugged, seemingly unaware of Sam's duplicitous thoughts. Or perhaps she was so bored of the monotony of the last few days she simply didn't care. "I'll take you to the stables."
Sam fought to hide her surprise. "I'm allowed to ride a horse?"
"Not a fast one," Kameko deadpanned, and despite herself, Sam guffawed. Her cousin's stoic expression didn't change, but her eyes held a twinkle. "The Arbiter said nothing about whether you could or couldn't ride. Assuming you know how to ride, that is. I noticed you and your...companion arrived without mounts."
Sam sobered at the mention of Braeden. "We had horses. They ran off."
"Frightened by demons?"
"No," Sam said grimly. "Something worse."
Kameko threw her a quizzical glance, but didn't ask any more questions, quiet the entire walk to the convent stables.
The stables weren't farâthey were, in fact, located in one of the domed buildings linked by the arcade to the main temple, encompassing the entire ground floor. A novice guarded the entry, affording Kameko a stiff nod and ignoring Sam completely. The stable hands, however, were all young men and boys, presumably from the nearby village. They eyed Sam with curiosity but without malice. Tales of the aliah and his Thulian friend must not have reached them yet.
Sam allowed herself a flicker of hope. It was likely the Arbiter's pride that held the sisters' tongues. Who would admit to imprisoning the aliah, only to let him slip through their fingers? That meant no one else was hunting Braedenânor would anyone else be after her once she escaped. Here, the sun sisters might be a law unto themselves, but outside the convent, the emperor reigned supreme. Sam wasn't foolish enough to hope the law would stop the sisters from coming after her, but it would force them to be discreet.
She smiled brightly at one of the stable boys as he approached her, causing him to blush and stammer. "M-m-mother bless you, my lady," he said in a rough Rheic dialect Sam barely understood. He glanced at Kameko and then back at Sam, his blush deepening. "I'll g-g-get your mounts."
Kameko snickered as soon as he had his back to them. "You've made a conquest, cousin."
Sam felt her own cheeks flush. After spending a year disguised as a boy, she wasn't accustomed to attracting male attention. She wasn't sure she liked it, either, but the stable boy seemed harmless enough. "Hush, he'll hear you."
The stable boy returned with two mares, one chestnut and one roan with white markings. They were both beautiful creatures, with arched necks and refined, wedge-shaped heads. "This is Dahlia," said the stable boy, patting the roan on the withers. He opened his other hand, revealing a few slices of apple. "Give her a treat and she's yours forever."
Sam took an apple slice from the stable boy and held out her offering to the horse. "Hello, old girl," she said softly. "I'm Sam." The mare nuzzled her hand then lipped up the treat, chomping away. As soon as she finished, Dahlia playfully lipped Sam's shoulder. "I don't have any more apple," Sam laughed, feeling more lighthearted than she had in days.
"Do you need a hand up?" the stable boy asked her, his ears going red. Already mounted atop her mare, Kameko let out a snort.
Sam frowned at her cousin. "I'm fine, thank you," she said as kindly as she could before vaulting into the saddle.
They cut through the gardens and rode out into an open canopy of acacia trees. A surprisingly talkative tour guide, Kameko told Sam the convent sat on the border between the desert and Sibyl's Forest. Technically, the convent owned the lands right up until the forest, but people seldom traveled that far. And no one ever went into the forest, not if they valued their lives. Not even the Sun Sisters.
Sam jerked harder on the reins than she meant to, earning a baleful look from Dahlia. "Sorry, old girl," she apologized, urging her back into a slow trot. She forced herself to relax before asking Kameko as casually as she could, "Why?"
"It's silly, really," said Kameko, slowing her horse to match Sam's pace. "An old legend from an Age before our time. Some say a monster hides behind the treesâone of the daem who escaped during the Age of Shadows, too powerful for the warders to force him to return to his prison in the Afterlight. So they bound him to Sibyl's Forest instead, where he lies in wait for any man, woman or child foolish enough to cross over the wards into his territory."
"Is it true?"
"I don't know," Kameko addmitted. "Every year, the novices dare each other to spend a night in the forest. It's tradition. And every year, some idiot takes the dare. Three years ago, I was that idiot. And nothing happened to me."
"I sense a 'but.'"
"The next year, another novice took the dare. Her name was Lida. She was new to the conventânot convent-born, like meâand old for a first-year novice. She wanted to prove she belonged here." Kameko grimaced. "I encouraged her. I told her it was a child's play. But Lida never came back from her night in the forest."
"Could she have run away?"
"It's possible," Kameko said doubtfully. "The sisters formed a search party to look for her. The search party came back from Sybil's Forest unscathed, but they found no trace of Lida. Needless to say, no one took the dare this year. The sisters expressly forbade it."
"Hmmm," Sam replied noncommittally, her thoughts flying fast and furious. She could escape into the forest if she could find no better option. The very thought made her heart pound. She'd encountered a monster in the woods beforeâthe demon that killed her mother, and would have killed her too if it weren't for Tristan. She didn't particularly want to tempt fate twice.
Kameko shot her a sideways glance and said, as though clairvoyant, "You aren't thinking of escaping through the forest, are you?"
"N-no," Sam choked out. Gods damn it, had she been so transparent?
"Good. Because you'd never survive it."
A/N: Just a short lil update. The day job calls *wahhh.* Look forward to your thoughts, and please vote if you enjoyed, as always!