Now she was out sailing those seas without him while he remained landlocked, biding his time, and surrounded by people so that he was never more than a stone’s throw from anyone. The stench of the city was always in his nostrils, instead of the salt and wind of the open sea.
Archer tugged at the high collar on his uniform as they made the journey up the hill from the quays to the Moon Temple. It was summer’s end but the heat was intense enough to seem as though the season were just beginning. He felt sorry for the four guards assigned to accompany him; they wore scaled plate armor over their linen uniforms and sweat beaded on their foreheads.
Selena Koren doesn’t know heat like this. If what Celestine says is true, she is never warm. Not in ten years.
“I can’t imagine it,” he muttered, “but Skye shouldn’t have sent her. It’s wrong.”
“Said something, sir?”
Archer looked around to Deke Targan, the head of his personal guard.
“Eh?”
“I wondered if you needed anything.”
Archer shook his head.
Talking to myself already? And just forty-three years old. Too young to go daft.
Thinking of Skye was the surest way to lose himself in his thoughts and he berated himself, vowing for the millionth time to let her go.
She’s already done the same to you.
Deke Targan cleared his throat. With his red hair and large, round eyes, Archer couldn’t help but compare the young man to a goldfish.
“What? Sorry, lad,” Archer said, forcing a laugh. “This heat is driving me mad. I need no escort from here, nor from here back to the Citadel…”
“We’ll be waiting here when you are finished, Admiral Crane,” Deke said, drawing himself up.
Archer rolled his eyes after he had taken his leave and entered the blessedly cool confines of the Temple.
He’s the best man I’ve got but not a lick of humor in him.
Archer found Celestine in her spacious offices on the third floor. The High Reverent stared out the grand, wing-shaped windows that overlooked the city and the bay beyond, her hands clasped tightly behind her back. After the adherent, Lanik, announced him and departed, Archer removed his red admiral’s coat that was heavy with excessive gold embroidery and tossed it unceremoniously onto the floor. The oversized gold sunburst pendant that marked his rank clanked when it hit bottom like an anchor. He slouched into the seat opposite Celestine’s immaculate desk and took up a chart that the High Reverent had apparently been consulting prior to his arrival.
“What’s today’s news?” Archer asked.
Celestine didn’t turn from the window. “I think you were right.”
“Of course I was. What was I right about?”
The High Reverent didn’t reply and there was a silence broken by the rustling of the chart in Archer’s hands.
“They are training peliteryxes today,” Celestine said eventually, her voice soft. “The sky is so clear, you can see them flying off the roof of the Guild all the way from Isle Parish. Come see.”
Archer regarded his friend for a moment. Celestine’s Aluren overtunic was impeccable as always, her knee-high black boots were polished to a bright sheen, her rich brown hair tied up smartly. The sun was high in the sky and Archer guessed that Celestine had arisen with the dawn, working on Temple affairs and Skye’s directives for more hours than Archer had been awake, and that she would continue long after the lamps had been lit.
Beyond her, through the window, Archer could see small dark shapes gliding across the sky, unfettered.
He looked back to Celestine. “You need to get off this island as much as I do. Care to take a sail with me? I’ve been meaning to go to Isle Dantis for inspections. That’s my excuse anyway. Damn good one, I think. No one will suspect a thing.”
“Impossible. Skye’s left us too much work to do.” Celestine sighed, ignoring or missing the lightness in his tone. She still did not turn. “How long would it take to sail from here to Isle Saliz? A month? Two?”
Archer tossed the chart down and sat up. “Not so long as that with clear weather. Why? You want to help Selena? Because I can have a quarto put together in three days.”
“No, it’s…impossible,” she said again. The High Reverent turned from the window and sat down at her desk. She smiled wanly at her friend. “The time to act in that vein was before I sent Selena Koren on the quest that will most likely kill her.”
“I’ll go myself,” Archer said. “I’ll leave now. This moment. Anything to get away from this damnable city.”
“The Western Watch can’t spare you,” Celestine said and sighed. “But it’s as I said; you were right. We should not have sent her. Or that we should not have sent her alone. Gods, Archer, I didn’t even give her an Alliance ship. I hired some stranger to take her.”
“You did what you thought was best. What was necessary.”
“Did I?” Celestine rested her elbows on the desk and rubbed her temples.
“You did what Skye decreed.”
“Aye. Skye also decreed we bolster the armada. We can’t spare an Alliance ship for Paladin Koren’s quest. No one would fault me for that. Would they?”
She looked so young for a moment, so desperate for someone else to tell her what was right and wrong. Sometimes, Archer well knew, the burden of making the final decision seemed as heavy as an anchor around one’s neck.
“It’s a Temple matter, Cel. You would know better than I.”
Celestine sighed and nodded absently. Her gaze fell on the chart. Archer could see she was looking at Isle Saliz. The jungle island shaped like a jagged hunk of broken bones, or a nest of sharp teeth.
“My thoughts are so clouded lately. I can’t seem to make any decisions without second and then triple-guessing them. But I confess, Archer, I was so ready to rid the Temple of Selena’s presence. Her wound is a stain, not only on her but on the Aluren as well. So long as the ‘Tainted One’ is among our ranks, we struggle to fill them.”
“Is that true?” Archer knew of the Temple’s dwindling numbers. Everyone did. But he’d never heard the blame laid for it at Koren’s feet alone.
Celestine raised her dark eyes to meet his. “Yes. And no. The Zak’reth killed us, Archer,” she said. “We lost so many Paladins to their fiery blades. But Selena’s wound is frightening. It’s a constant reminder of the Two-Faced God’s power. Of its wrath. I suspect not many wish to join us for fear of suffering a similar fate. Sending Selena away…it was like ridding the Temple of a shadow that dimmed every room with its presence.” She closed her eyes. “I shame myself even saying the words. I should have protected her. Defended her. But Archer…” She opened her eyes and they were shining. “I feel so relieved now that she’s gone.”
Archer felt an uncomfortable twist in his gut. “Do you think Skye is right? Will killing the Bazira heal Selena’s wound?”
“Of course it will,” the High Reverent snapped, blinking rapidly. “Skye has the god’s ear better than any.” She took a steadying breath and smoothed her already smooth overtunic. “No, sending her was the best thing. For Selena and for the Temple. I pray that she will succeed and return to us whole and hearty. I pray for this every day.”