“You say that,” Izar said. “But Toric is still only godtouched, not a god himself. He can’t be everywhere at once. I might not be able to march troops in, but a small force can be just as effective if Toric is distracted.”
Silas’ look grew dark and dangerous. “What are you suggesting?”
“I mean there’s one person I’m reasonably sure Toric wouldn’t torture,” Izar said. “Someone who could keep him occupied while we stole the emperor right out from under his nose.”
The captain’s eyes drifted to Zoa as he spoke and Jeric’s chest seized up. “No,” he said, clenching his fists. “How could you even suggest that?”
“Suggest what?” Silas’ words were a raw growl now.
“That I go in,” Zoa said softly. She was trembling, but even if she’d been perfectly still, nothing could hide the fear bleeding through the link that ran between her and Jeric. He grabbed her without thinking, pressing her tight against his chest.
“How can you even say that?” he shouted at Izar.
“I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think it would work!” Izar shouted back. “Listen, I love you both more than my life, but this is bigger than us. If Vallus doesn’t come back and do his job, the people will rise up in a rebellion that could plunge the entire Empire into civil war.”
Jeric froze at his words. He’d never heard Izar so serious, not even in the depths of battle.
“Dezira herself said it, Zoa,” Izar went on, his voice gentling. “Toric has no power over you unless you give it to him, but you’ve been giving him power for the last five years. Every moment you let him scare you, every memory you let him control, you give him power. But he has nothing if you refuse to be cowed. It is he who is weak against you, not the other way around.”
Zoa was shaking in earnest against Jeric’s chest now and Izar stepped forward, wrapping his arms around them both. “If you can keep Toric busy for even an hour, Jeric and I can find the emperor and get him out, and maybe Solus’ Chosen as well. We can wreck everything he’s trying to build, but only if you help us.”
The captain pulled back then and caught Zoa’s chin with his hands, turning her head up to look at him. “You can beat him, Zoa,” he whispered, leaning down until his forehead rested against hers. “You can beat him once and for all. You can avenge your sister, avenge yourself, all by thwarting his desire. All you have to do is remember what your goddess told you. Remember where your power lies.” He kissed her forehead gently, right over the place where her moon was hidden. “I know you can do it. So does Jeric, if he’ll stop being so protective for a moment and listen. We’ll be right there with you. You won’t be alone. So please, Zoa. Please don’t let him win.”
From the moment Izar kissed her, Zoa’s trembling had stopped. As the captain finished, she looked up at him, her dark eyes calm and determined as she nodded.
“Zoa,” Silas said, his voice a warning.
“No,” Zoa said. “He’s right. We are Chosen to follow our desires, but just as there are more gods than Dezira, there’s more to life than just desire. This is bigger than me or you or any of us. But,” her lips curled into a beautiful smile. “I would be lying if I said desire played no part of this. Dezira is goddess of all desires, and right now my desire to protect this life we all enjoy, as well as my desire to prove that Izar is right, that Toric has no power over me, is very strong indeed.”
Silas let out a deep, angry breath. “‘Live as you desire,’” he quoted, “‘and you shall do my work in the world.’” He shot Izar a murderous look. “I only hope you know what you are doing, mortal. Zoa is as dear to me as she is to our goddess, and if she comes to harm through this, you won’t have to worry about Toric.
I
will break you, right after I break him.”
“Zoa will come to no harm,” Jeric said, his voice deep and determined. “Izar is right, she can do it, and we will be there to help.”
“Best get moving then,” Silas said, stalking back toward the altar. “I’ll keep working on the barrier. If you’re not back by morning, I’m going to go and start enslaving Legion commanders until one of them marches the Imperial Guard through Toric’s door.” He glanced back over his shoulder. “Understand?”
“Yes, Silas,” Zoa said, pushing her lovers toward the small door. “Praise to the Moon.”
“Praise unto Her,” Silas answered, falling to his knees before the altar again.
When the three of them were out of the little temple, Jeric grabbed Zoa and Izar and pulled them close. “Are you sure about this?” he whispered. Even he wasn’t sure who he was asking, but it was Zoa who answered.
“Absolutely,” she said. “Question is, what do we do now? Our best bet is to go in the evening when the emperor will be up and easy to find. That’s six hours away at least.”
“Never waste time before a battle,” Izar said, taking their hands and leading them down the temple corridor. “For now, we eat and plan our strategy. I’ll send someone to see if we can’t find a layout of Toric’s palace. Once we know what we’re up against, we’ll go from there.”
Jeric and Zoa both nodded, and then Izar left, jogging across the temple toward the stair where a squad of soldiers waited.
“Come on,” Zoa said, tugging Jeric’s hand. “Let’s get the food part of things settled and then head to my room. The acolytes should have moved my trunk in by now, and I’ve got an idea.”
Jeric nodded and followed her to a group of acolytes, where she gave strict instructions that Izar or any soldier acting in his name was to be shown to her room at once. She also ordered a great deal of food. The acolytes took it all in stride, bowing before the Chosen. As soon as her orders were given, Zoa led Jeric through a covered walk and into a smaller, secondary building that served as the Chosen’s dwelling. Her suite was in the corner, a large, lovely set of rooms with a view of the temple garden. Zoa went to her trunk at once, flinging her dresses over her shoulder. Jeric sat on the bed, watching in bemused confusion until she found what she was looking for and held it up for him to see. Jeric sucked in a breath before he could stop himself, for in Zoa’s hands was the purple dress she’d worn at Rosa’s.
“I suppose it could be no other,” he said quietly, though the idea of the dress that marked his first vision of her being worn for someone like Toric made his blood boil.
“I’m not wearing it for him,” Zoa said, folding the dress back into its sandalwood box. “I’m wearing it to make a better future for us, one that Toric can never touch.” And with that, she walked over to the bed and bent down, kissing him slow and sweet. Jeric gasped at the touch, his hands going up to tangle in her dark hair.
“For the first time, I know exactly what I desire,” Zoa whispered against his lips. “It’s this, what we have right now, and I won’t let anything keep me from it. Not the emperor, not a rebellion and certainly not Toric. He has no power over any of us and I will never let him shadow me, or what we have, ever again.”
“I know you won’t,” Jeric whispered back. “Our desires are the same, Zoa. You, me and Izar.” His face broke into a grin. “Toric won’t know what hit him.”
Zoa looked up at him with her heart in her eyes, and then she kissed him deeply. Jeric pulled her against him, his hands sliding over her body. They were rolling on the bed by the time the food arrived, and though as Avatars of Dezira they had absolutely no cause to stop for the acolytes’ sake, they pulled apart. First, they were hungry, but mostly it just wasn’t the same without Izar.
“We’re spoiled,” Zoa said, popping a plum into her mouth.
“Beautifully so,” Jeric answered, taking one for himself.
They laughed then, and the tension in the room broke as they sat back to wait for their beloved captain.
* * * * *
Izar joined them a half hour later, his charming face lit up with a sly grin. “Luck smiles on us,” he said, tossing a large piece of paper on the bed where they were sitting. Jeric’s hand got there before Zoa’s, but he held it out so they could both see it was a hand-drawn map of a large palace. It was more like a rough sketch than a draftsman’s work, but it was detailed and covered with Izar’s handwriting.
“Couldn’t get an actual map on such short notice,” Izar said, helping himself to the laid-out food. “But Emperor Vallus has been haunting his cousin’s house for years. There are several of the Imperial Guard who’ve had to drag him out of there over his reign, and so we put our heads together and worked out a rough layout, as well as the emperor’s likely location.”
“Handy,” Jeric said, tracing his finger through the house until he came to the place where Izar had written VALLUS, a large antechamber on the third floor. “Are you sure he’s here?”
“Sure as I can be,” Izar said. “As I said, even before his current stay, he was at his cousin’s a lot. It looks like Toric just gave him his own apartments, probably to keep the old windbag out of his hair and out of trouble. From what the guards say, Toric himself keeps to the main part of the house.” He reached over and tapped a large hall on the bottom floor.
Zoa licked her lips. “If they’re separated, that makes things easier.” She pointed to the front gate, marked with several of the little Xs that represented guards. “Since I can claim official temple business, I’ll go in through the front. Toric won’t be able to resist gloating over the fact that I’ve come to ask him to stop whatever he’s doing. That, plus what I’ve got to say to Toric, should keep him busy for at least an hour.”
Izar nodded. “Meanwhile, Jeric and I can go in through the kitchen gate. We’ll get upstairs, grab Vallus, and be out before Toric knows we’re there.”
Zoa frowned. “I don’t know if I can distract him enough for you to get a guard squad to the third floor without him knowing.”
Izar scowled, and Jeric, catching his captain’s eye, picked up from there. “We’re not bringing a guard squad,” he said quietly. “This is an act of treason. We’re going directly against the emperor’s order. With that in mind, the fewer people involved, the better we’ll be. Izar and I will go in alone.”
Zoa stared at him.
“I’ll have my men outside,” Izar said, picking up where Jeric left off. “The second we’re out, the emperor will be safely bundled off to his own palace and order will be restored. Well, as much order as old Vallus can bring, anyway. But we have to do this quickly, quietly and secretly. According to the Legion Commander, Toric has spies everywhere. I don’t dare risk telling anyone our plans except you two, Silas and my own men that I brought down from the north.”
Zoa shook her head. “I don’t like the idea of you two going in without support.”
“And I don’t like the idea of you facing Toric,” Izar said, walking over to caress her face. “But none of us will be alone, will we? We’ll all be in the stewpot together.”
Zoa leaned into his hand, but then her face drew into a frown. “Even if you two are the only ones going for the emperor, what about the Sun’s Chosen? Your map doesn’t show him at all.”
“He’ll have to wait,” Izar said, biting into a fig. “The emperor is our primary target. If Toric has any sense, he’s keeping the Avatar of Solus sedated in a vault chained under as much metal as he can find, though even that might not be enough if half what I’ve heard about the Sun’s Chosen is true. Still, we can’t waste the time looking for him.”
“I’m sure the Avatar will be fine,” Jeric said, dropping a hand to Zoa’s back.
“He’s not the one I’m worried about,” Zoa said. “Don’t forget, Toric cast a huge spell not five days ago, shortly after the Avatar vanished into his palace. I know you’ll both be careful, you didn’t survive the Northern Front by being fools, but…” Her voice began to wobble and Zoa stopped for a deep breath. “Please, take care. Toric is not to be underestimated.”
“We won’t underestimate a man that dangerous,” Izar said, grinning as he leaned down to kiss her. “We’ll watch each other’s backs. The Emperor will be out before you know it.”
Zoa smiled. Izar’s kiss tasted of fig. His body was warm above hers, while Jeric’s hand was solid and comforting on her back. Sometimes, overwhelmed by what they could do as lovers, she half forgot her men were experienced soldiers as well. Clever, resourceful men used to bad odds. Now, freshly reminded of Izar’s cleverness and bravery as well as Jeric’s steadfast loyalty and calm, she felt a sudden confidence that these men could do anything, beat anyone, even Toric. That thought made her relax for the first time since they’d arrived in the city and she leaned into Jeric’s arm as Izar broke away to finish his plate.
They ate a while longer, studying the sketched map and talking over their plans again before Zoa suddenly stopped cold.
“Oh goddess,” she muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Wait, this won’t work at all.”
“What?” said Jeric and Izar together.
Zoa spread her hand out over the map. “This is Toric’s palace. He’s a powerful dark moon Chosen who’s been gathering strength for weeks, maybe longer. That whole place is bound to be steeped in his power. I didn’t even think about it since Jeric and I are immune, but the lust in there is going to be crippling for anyone not bound to Dezira.” She looked at Izar. “You’ll be on the floor and out of your mind the second you step inside.”
The captain frowned. “That is a problem.”
Jeric bit his lip. “Maybe you could wait while I—”
“No,” Izar said, cutting him off. “You’re not going in alone.” He leaned back and looked at them. “Is there a way I can avoid it? A spell of protection or something like that?”