Drums in the rain, p.22
Drums in the Rain, page 22
Hredeen would have none of it. He gently put his fingers beneath Taldan’s chin and raised him so that they were eye to eye.
“None of that has a place here. Those were Sladeran’s actions, and he has no place with us. As the triad, we are stronger, we will find a way to drive him back to the past for good someday, but for now, he will not take what we have between us.”
Taldan sucked in a tremulous breath, nodded, but Hredeen knew the sorrow lingered, that it would take more than words to heal all that had happened. Time and love, that was all they could offer each other.
Raine stirred, murmuring softly, then blinked up at them, adorably tousled and sleep confused, before his gaze sharpened and he gave a satisfied smile.
“You look beautiful together,” he whispered, and for once, there was no shadow in his eyes at the words themselves. His doubts seemed muted, and both Hredeen and Taldan glanced at each other, pleased that they could feel that, and each other, even if it was faint.
As if in accord, both men leaned down to kiss Raine, Taldan pulling him into a scorching kiss and Hredeen, laughing softly, laying a kiss upon his ear, breathing into it softly.
Raine yelped in protest, pulling away from Taldan and tucking his ear into his shoulder, eyeing Hredeen reproachfully.
Raine’s scowl fell away swiftly as he eyed them both, surprise and then pleasure rising. “The triad. Can you feel it? It’s beautiful…” he breathed, reverence in the tone.
Hredeen had to agree. But it was not yet complete. He found it difficult to imagine what it would look like in completion, when Taldan claimed him before the gods.
Here, with the feel of Raine and Taldan within him, he found himself thinking that perhaps, just perhaps, things could work out far better than he could ever have imagined.
Raine
Raine had a feeling of contentment that he had never experienced before. Lying on a couch, in Taldan’s arms, with Hredeen right here beside him made him feel complete in a way that lifted his heart, an ache so fierce it was almost pain. The breeze blowing in through the open balcony doors felt cool on his hot skin and stirred Hredeen’s beautiful hair.
The emperor’s rooms were full of people Taldan cared deeply about, as they cared for him. Prince Zaran, Isnay, Naral, even Ralnulian—along with Raine and Hredeen of course—all here to support him. To show their loyalty, friendship, and love.
He was slowly coming to the conclusion that he had found family, not of blood, but of soul. It was creating a sense of worth within him that grew each day, a fragile trust that this was real and not some desperate part of his imagination. He sat upon the new couch, lips curling in continuing amusement over its gifting.
Naral had speedily commissioned it and presented it with laughter glinting in his eyes.
It was specially formed to curve inward, made for three people, an intimate joining, for the emperor and his two Chosen.
Taldan had burst out laughing and hugged Naral tightly, surprising a gasp out of his friend. Taldan had never been noted for displays of affection, Raine knew, but it seemed things were changing, for the better in his mind.
Taldan seemed more than before, powerful but with a gentler edge, a connection to those around him that had not been present before.
Raine felt a surge of optimism. The feeling of power that had flowed between the three of them had the potential to become so much more. With time and effort, they would find the ways to use it, to recreate the original purpose of the Illumitae, but shaped and formed for the three of them, put to use in a more controlled and mindful way than the past.
For the past few days, there had been a lightness about Taldan, as though a terrible weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Hredeen looked almost dazed, as if he could not believe that this had come to a reasonable conclusion, that there was hope for the future. Things were still a little tentative between the emperor and his second Chosen, with both of them finding a balance in their new relationship, a blend of the past and present, a hope for the future. Raine found himself easing in when things grew uncomfortable, finding a path for two powerful men that had never had the opportunity to learn how to let out their true selves, especially to others.
It did not escape his notice that he had come from a similar background and yet could step into this role of peacemaker with relative ease. Perhaps it was his talent for deciphering what people hid emotionally. Whatever it was, now he could see the symbolism of the stag, who led the other two. That was exactly what was occurring, and it felt right and good, giving him a sense of confidence that he would never have imagined such a short time ago. Far from being the odd one out in the unfamiliar, three-way relationship, he was the guiding force.
He shook his head at the strangeness of his new path.
Taldan felt the movement and glanced down at him where he was tucked against the emperor’s side, comfortable upon the luxurious new couch.
Raine sent his contentment along the link and saw Taldan’s eyes soften as he felt it. There was a weak echo along the link, where Hredeen felt a wisp of what they were sharing. He couldn’t help wondering with a faint sense of anticipation how it would feel when Taldan and Hredeen’s link was finalized, becoming as strong, creating a three-way link that would be unrivaled since ancient times.
Hredeen huffed out a laugh from the other side of Taldan where he lay half sprawled upon the emperor, pleasantly relaxed after the wine from the celebration.
“I think the question is how you will survive feeling what courses down the link when the ceremony joins Taldan and me.” The purring innuendo within his words made Raine flush and tuck his face against Taldan’s side. He felt the emperor laugh softly before stroking his hair with affection.
Prince Zaran approached them, giving proper reverence before coming forward after Taldan indicated he could.
Raine felt a pang of sadness from Taldan that his brother had to conform to protocol. Tradition bound them all so tightly. Most of it foolish and unnecessary as far Raine was concerned. As a stranger to it all, he saw it from a very different viewpoint than those who had always lived within the empire’s intense shadow, within its very heart. Taldan knew his views and seemed to accept them. Raine didn’t want his own beliefs to color their relationship into anything negative. Whatever Taldan chose to do, he would support him.
Zaran went to his knees before Taldan, a smile on his face. Zaran’s lips opened to speak—and a sharp whistle sounded from the open balcony doors—an arrowhead bursting through the prince’s chest, followed a moment later by a second that tore clear through his shoulder, striking Taldan in his shoulder, blood spraying over Raine’s face.
Chaos exploded around them. Ralnulian let out a roar of rage before the assassin moved with an unnatural speed out to the balcony, leaping over the railing, his face contorted with lethal intent.
Taldan let out an anguished cry, an expression of disbelief as he slid to his knees, catching Zaran as he began to slide sideways, blue eyes wide with shock. He didn’t seem to realize he had been wounded as well. All his focus was on his brother.
Hredeen leaped from the couch, crouching in front of them and facing the balcony, shielding them. He had two large daggers drawn, and a snarl curled his lips, turning him into something completely feral.
Raine wiped blood from his face with trembling fingers, watching with wide eyes as Taldan lowered Zaran to the floor, tearing at his shirt, wild grief flowing down the link.
“No,” Taldan whispered, trembling fingers touching the point of the arrow that protruded an inch from his brother’s chest, a violation of flesh. Of life.
Isnay slid in on his knees, eyes wide, but with determination written in his expression. He put a daring hand over Taldan’s as the emperor’s began to glow with blue fire.
“No! The arrow needs to come out first. If you try to heal him like this, it could well kill him. It could be poisoned.”
Taldan trembled, the fire flickering up from his hands, up his arms, beginning to twine around his throat.
Raine laid his hands upon Taldan’s shoulders, steadying him as best he could.
The flames spread between them, then a moment later, another set of hands completed the triad. Taldan rose to his feet, blue fire lighting his eyes to nothing human. He stripped the bloody gloves from his hands, then spread his fingers out wide, flame licking from finger to finger. The blank mask framed his snarling mouth, made him something utterly terrifying.
He let out a roar of pain and wrath that made Raine flinch, though he kept his touch steady. It seemed the very room shook with the power of Taldan’s emotions, as though they became physical in some fashion. The flame rose, moving between the three of them until it took Raine’s breath, until everything he saw was tinted with blue, his body shaking with the force of the Illumitae coursing through him.
On the other side of Taldan, Hredeen looked inhuman, teeth bared, his eyes glowing with the Illumitae. He seemed to relish the embrace of the blue flame, to grow stronger with its presence, even as Taldan did.
It was that moment that Raine realized his place in this triad. A leader, yes. To keep the other two in check, when the force of the energy became too much, took them over completely.
As if in tune with his thoughts, Taldan thrust hands out before him, palms out. The flames gathered, swirling between the fingers, powerful, unstoppable, before Taldan cried out some word that Raine did not recognize. The blue flames turned red, a brilliant crimson that seethed with menace before it shot from Taldan’s grasp, gone out the balcony doors before Raine could blink.
Immediately, Taldan fell to his knees, face pale. The red light disappeared back into blue flame. Through their link, Raine could tell that it took every bit of strength Taldan retained to keep conscious, to be aware. Beside him, Hredeen still stood, still guarded. Mixed in with the Illumitae that still flickered, though now more faintly, was a faint red wisp that twined with the blue energy. Raine eyed it cautiously, sure that he did not want to touch it. Certainly it had seemed to avoid him; he had not even sensed it through the link.
Whatever it was, he flinched from its presence. It felt like a physical representation of Sladeran to him.
Taldan seemed to gather himself, turning his attention back to his injured brother. Zaran’s blood had stained his ornate tunic and seeped across the floor.
Isnay broke off the fletching from the arrow, then with a single thrust, pushed the shaft through Zaran’s body, the head emerging fully. Isnay grasped the shaft with bloody fingers and pulled it out with slow, steady force.
Taldan made a sound in his throat, as though the pain were his own. When the arrow was at last removed, he gathered his brother into his arms. Zaran stared into his older brother’s eyes, barely blinking, face alarmingly pale. His mouth moved, but there was no sound.
A trickle of blood left the corner of Zaran’s mouth, and Raine felt tears rising in his eyes.
This couldn’t be. Not now. Not when they were finding a path that would see the danger pass. If Zaran died…. Raine couldn’t imagine how Taldan would react, with his power now stabilized, his strength and abilities greater than before.
Was this what had happened to Sladeran? Had he received this power through the triad and then something occurred to make him more dangerous than before, able to wield the Illumitae in a whole new way?
Taldan gathered Zaran close, cradling him, giving him soft sounds of comfort coated in tears.
The blue flame flickered out over Zaran, and Raine held his breath. After all, the Illumitae had not completely healed Hredeen, but then it had not been Taldan wielding it at the time. In the hands of the emperor himself, it was a very different thing indeed.
The Illumitae flowed over Zaran, gentle, soft and slow, so different from what it had been a few minutes ago.
Now, it felt like love itself.
Raine had a revelation. The true Illumitae was a reflection of the gods themselves. Each with a different energy, a different outlook. Whatever the emperor felt, was what was given. Rage, love, anything at all, it filtered through. They were thinking that the gods controlled this, but in reality, it was the choices of the emperor himself that sculpted the magic, perhaps because Sladeran had offered his own body, mind, soul, for the creation of the Illumitae.
It was human choices that fuelled it, shaped it.
He knelt down at Taldan’s side, maintaining a hold on his emperor.
Tears ran down Taldan’s face, turning to liquid blue as they ran through the Illumitae that still wreathed him completely. The drops dripped down upon Zaran’s face, spreading out, engulfing him, turning him into something not quite human. It ran through the blood that dripped from his lips and turned them blue as well. The glow grew in brilliance until Zaran seemed not quite solid, not human.
Raine felt a shaft of fear curl over him. Were the gods taking Zaran? Was his soul preparing to join the gods?
Taldan let out a cry of agony, and only then did Raine realize that his own fear was feeding Taldan’s.
Cursing himself, he wrapped his arms around Taldan’s shoulders, one hand covering Taldan’s own wound. “Think of healing him, my emperor. Of asking for divine help.”
Taldan obeyed without thought, his head falling back as though he prayed, his jaw clenched in lines of determination, the lines of his face deepening.
Raine sent prayers of his own, hoping…
He used his own small amount of the blue fire, using all his strength to heal his emperor’s shoulder.
The Illumitae seemed to brighten, become more solid, and it twined around Taldan and Raine with lesser wisps trailing out to Hredeen. After reconnecting with them all, it gently flowed down to encompass Zaran, with small bits curling over Taldan’s wound.
Raine heard Isnay’s soft gasp, heard his swift retreat, but he could not focus on anything but keeping Taldan centered, keeping him in the here and now. Sladeran had come with the rage, yet Raine could feel a softness that held hints of the first emperor’s energy. He had been a man. If there had been madness, insanity, then perhaps in the beginning there had been love, concern, empathy.
Certainly, it seemed that he sensed Taldan’s grief and showed the faintest caring…
Taldan suddenly slumped over Zaran’s limp form, and Raine felt a surge of fear.
* * *
Hredeen
Zaran lay in Taldan’s arms, motionless, eyes closed, breathing but nothing else. There was no sense of him, no sign that his soul was present, that it was anything more than a body that his brother held.
Hredeen prowled around them, hands on weapons, rage and grief intertwined so that he could not think, could only react. He never took his eyes away from the balcony. He didn’t want to see Zaran as he was, broken, gone. The need to act, to find those who had perpetrated this atrocity and take their lives in reparation terrified him in ways he had never encountered before. He killed under orders. It was not an act of emotion, not underlain with black desires. He felt nothing when his missions were completed. Could feel nothing.
Such things had been beaten out of him. Yet this place, Taldan himself, had changed all that, given him access to a part of himself that he thought long gone, long since destroyed by those who took his future and made it their own.
Was this what Taldan felt? Unable to understand these new feelings, new responses? Neither of them had ever had anything to compare this to.
He found himself reaching out, desperate, feeling as though he might fly apart, become something else, something deadly and without the slightest compassion or humanity to create boundaries to his abilities. Something like Sladeran.
He felt Raine, the faint link that existed between them.
His energy, his soul, was like cool, clear water, shocking Hredeen out of his killing rage and back into something approximating rationality.
He sucked in a quivering breath, feeling as though he had been pulled back from a precipice that he barely understood, one that would have broken him completely, and by association, also Taldan and Raine.
Shaking, he glanced toward Raine, who still pressed against Taldan’s side, no doubt trying to keep him in one piece. The thought of the emperor, unchallenged, uncontrolled, with the Illumitae at his disposal and rage his goad, made him ill. Would that be the final act that would put Sladeran in control, Taldan once and for all extinguished, and a madman taking over the empire once more?
Raine glanced up and met his eyes with tears in his own. Without the slightest hesitation, without the appropriate fear for the emotions that Hredeen must be sending down the link, he held out his hand.
Hredeen felt something rise within him. This young man, so brutalized during his life, had the courage and strength to reach out to others. He had not closed himself off as Hredeen had. As Taldan had. He was something far greater.
Hredeen hesitated, feeling as if he would taint Raine by even touching him. The way he was feeling, he was nothing good, nothing fine.
Raine blinked, then his gaze softened into something so understanding, so beautiful, that Hredeen let out a sob, feeling as though his dark past had been examined, cast aside, and that his soul was still worthy. He gritted his teeth, fighting back another sound that would indicate his weakness. He who had been trained to have none at all.
Raine never took his gentle gaze from him, never showed in the slightest that he hated Hredeen, as he should.
Had Hredeen not killed one of his brothers? Had he not come back, inveigled his way into what was a tentative, fragile relationship, and turned it into something else, something that Raine was not comfortable with?
“Hredeen,” Raine whispered, never wavering in his outstretched gesture.
Hredeen wanted to run, wanted to flee this place where emotions floated so close to the surface. Where he could become something else, something new and beyond his past. More than a stolen child, more than a soulless assassin.
