Ella looked out at the darkened mouth of the chamber. It was now so dark outside that nothing could be seen at all. She shivered.
Killian opened his mouth, and Ella wondered if he was going to ask her how she had managed to cross the portal. What would she say about his father, who must now be waiting at the stone archway?
Instead he said, "You're cold. I don't have any food or blankets with me, but here, come close. We're safe here, get what sleep you can."
Killian shuffled along the ground and stretched out to lie on his side. Ella moved forward and shifted her body so she was in his arms, her head under his chin.
Her mind whirled with everything he'd told her, but overriding it all, she was conscious of his lean body behind her, the strong muscles of his arms and his warm breath on the back of her neck.
Ella hadn't slept since before she'd gone to the cemetery to find Lord Aidan's grave.
She tried to stay awake, but sleep came instantly.
38
THE NIGHT was interminably long, but the sombre sun came once more to the hazy sky, blurred and dulled into a featureless yellow orb. As Ella woke she looked once more at the sleeping Evermen in their strange shells and shuddered.
Ella wondered how much time had passed in Merralya. Where was Miro right now? Had he and Amber found the cure for the strange poison that inflicted their son?
"Are you cold?" Killian asked.
He pulled her closer to him, and Ella suddenly wanted him, more than she'd wanted any other man. But they were in a nightmare world, with the Lexicons' power steadily being drained, and they needed to move on or they would be stranded.
Ella sat up and looked at Killian.
His face was careworn but he was still the same Killian she remembered. His time in Shar had changed him, and he was now the man Ella had always known he could be.
She realised she was looking at Xenovere's heir. She was looking at one of the Evermen.
"We need to go," Ella said.
An expression of disappointment crossed Killian's face as Ella drew away, and on impulse she leaned down and brushed her lips against his. It was a chaste kiss, but he smiled and his arm went around her to pull her closer into his embrace.
"No." Ella smiled. "Come on, we don't want to be stranded here."
He stood first and held out a hand to help her up. Ella rose to her feet and looked around the chamber. She had her satchel, but little else to gather up. Killian had nothing with him.
As they exited the chamber at the top of the mountain Ella again marvelled that the Evermen had gone to such lengths to build this place in imitation of Stonewater. For a time they travelled down the steps in silence, and then Killian spoke.
"This is Shar's equivalent of daylight, but that doesn't mean the wraiths won't attack. Night is worse, much worse."
When they reached the bottom of the mountain, Ella turned and looked at Killian. "Do you remember when we travelled through Petrya, and we were hunted by that strange creature?"
"I remember."
"You told me your story. About how you were a thief in Salvation until that man from the travelling troupe caught you stealing from him."
"Marney Beldara," Killian said. "That was his name. He was an incredible acrobat, and a wonderful man. He made me join his troupe. He said it was to repay my debts, but I realise now that he used the excuse to help an orphan of Salvation."
"Were you happy then?"
"I suppose I was as happy as I've been."
"Then in Seranthia…"
"In Seranthia, Marney said something to the crowd about helping the street children. Perhaps he said more, but it was nothing seditious. The Emperor's men came the next day. I was spending time with Marney's daughter Carla. We were lovers… It was the only reason we weren't there. They burnt the big tents to the ground and killed the animals in their cages. They rounded up the troupe, all of those I thought of as my family. We found their bodies at the bottom of the Wall. It took hours to bury them."
"Xenovere was an evil man," Ella said. "I'm sorry to bring up old wounds." She took a deep breath. "How do you feel about Tingara now?"
"It's a confused place. As bad as the Emperor was, his peace was better than the war the Primate brought to the world. Tell me, what's changed in the Tingaran Empire these past years?"
Ella thought about the things Rogan had told her. "They just call it the Empire now. Yet Tingara's the largest nation by far, and Seranthia is still the administrative capital as well as the heart of the economy. Rogan Jarvish is acting as Lord Regent, but he's having a difficult time. A Tingaran would be best placed to lead the new Empire."
"A Tingaran? I suppose that's true, if you want to have someone the people of Seranthia will follow, but I would have thought Altura and Halaran would never again call a Tingaran Emperor. Not when a man with the right connections to be Emperor would have undoubtedly been one of the Black Army commanders that devastated Halaran."
"The right person would be someone who stood up to the Emperor and the Primate, yet is a Tingaran by birth. Perhaps a relative of Xenovere…"