Page 31 of Shardless
She was falling farther behind, so Skyereached back and grabbed the lazy mare’s bridle, pulling it forward. “Not necessarily. A significant portion of our population is on the other side of the Aion Gate. The Council has as much a responsibility to those people as they do to the people on the mainland and Tempris.”
Aimee hummed disapprovingly. “Well then, please correct me if I’m wrong, but I was told that each gate on Tempris used to lead to a different kingdom—all of which resided under the Genesis Council’s jurisdiction. Is that accurate?”
“Yes,” Skye answered with a nod, already knowing where she was taking him with this line of questioning. “Before the Schism, the fey empire was vast, sprawling out across all the known worlds. Tempris was the crossroads that connected them all. Every gate on the island—the Seren Gate, the Aion Gate, and all of the many other gates that no longer function—connect to other realms separated by time and space.”
“I don’t understand then,” Aimee claimed. “Don’t the Genesis Lords have a responsibility to the citizens in those kingdoms as well?”
Skye clicked his tongue and gave the mare’s bridle another tug. Looking back at Aimee, he continued, “Yes, they do. But, unfortunately, the Gate Watchers don’t have the resources to monitor and power every gate on the island, and the Dawn Court has refused to reevaluate our budget. So, we do what we can with what we have.”
“Alright,” Aimee acquiesced. “If that’s the case, then why did the Watchers choose to focus on the Aion Gate instead of any of the others? Why did they prioritize the gate that leads to the mortal realm?”
Skye resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Heknew for a fact that the noblewoman had been educated on the myriad of reasons the Dawn Court had ordered the Gate Watchers to give the Aion Gate priority. What he didn’t know was why she seemed to think that playing dumb would appeal to him.
“Several reasons,” he replied patiently. “The most important being that we need the mortals that choose to become Feseraa. Even before the highborn birthrate began to dwindle, humans were considerably more prolific than the fey. Over the past two centuries, the noble families have tried to negate the effects of our declining fertility by negotiating breeding arrangements outside of formal marriage bonds, but, as I’m sure you know, that initiative has been met with limited success. Pureblooded fey children are still rare, and most households have had to use mortals to boost their numbers. Hence why we have a vested interest in maintaining contact with what is, for all intents and purposes, a magicless realm. While mortal blood does significantly dilute our magic, the survival of our species may eventually come to depend on our ability to breed with the humans.”
Aimee coughed delicately, visibly uncomfortable with the turn their conversation had taken. Her mother was a Feseraa, and though she and her brother had enough magic to be considered a part of the small circle of highborn gentry, they still had human blood running through their veins.
“On the subject of breeding” —the noblewoman gave him a sidelong glance— “I hear that your mother is trying to secure an alliance with House Arendryl by way of a breeding offer. House Arendryl has already recommended ayoung woman from their estate in Faro. Do you know who Lady Emrys plans to put forward as the sire? I heard your name come up in conversation. Is there any truth to the rumors?”
A muscle in his jaw began to feather, and Skye let out a hissing sigh. His mother’s efforts to involve him in her political machinations were the very last thing he wanted to discuss. “You’re very well informed,” he said, giving Aimee a tight smile, “but my mother would be very cross if I were to reveal all of her intrigues. If you have any other questions about the gates, I’ll be happy to answer those. Otherwise…” He looked to the two riders in front of him. Aiden had moved up next to Taly, and the two had started talking quietly. “Otherwise, I should probably go speak with Taly—make sure there are no problems with our route.”
Aimee placed a hand on his arm. “You mentioned resources. Why aren’t you able to open the other gates? Did the time mages do something to break them?”
“No,” Skye replied, dragging his eyes away from Taly. “Most people are usually very quick to accuse the time mages of sabotaging the gates during the Schism, but that’s simply not true. The gates aren’t broken. They just can’t function correctly without a time mage—the Time Queen to be exact.”
“That dreadful woman? If that’s the case, perhaps we’re better off without the gates.” Aimee’s voice held a note of contempt that didn’t surprise Skye in the slightest. Many of the mainland fey were still very quick to condemn the High Lady of Time for her actions during the Schism, regardless of the lack of any physical evidence. “You know, our stepfather says that thetime mages were nothing but power-hungry tyrants, never willing to work with anyone. He says that the Schism finally gave us definitive proof that they were simply too dangerous to be allowed to live.”
Skye grew quiet. Although he hadn’t been alive when the great disaster occurred, he had studied it. No one had ever figured out why the Time Queen had forcibly shut down every gate on the island. Thousands died when the bridges between the worlds collapsed, and they’d lost contact with all of the gated realms—over half their population.
“While I can acknowledge that the Time Queen’s actions were reprehensible,” Skye said carefully, “I’m not sure I agree that executing every new time mage for what theycouldbe capable of is either fair or just.”
“And I disagree,” Aimee said with a practiced sigh. “After all, if there are no time mages, then the Time Shard can never revive. There will never be another High Lord or Lady of Time… or another Schism. It’s a small sacrifice to make.”
Skye’s lips thinned, and he couldn’t help but think that Aimee reminded him of a rather annoying bird he had once seen in the mortal realm—imitating and echoing whatever words were fed to her, regardless of their merit.
Aimee waved a dismissive hand as she prattled on. “The Sanctorum may have become a little overzealous during the Hunt, but their actions have always served the greater good.”
“Perhaps if you spent more time on Tempris, you would feel differently,” Skye replied, forcibly reining in his burgeoning ire. “The Sanctorum’s cruelty was felt far more keenly here, and you’llfind that most of the island’s citizenry still hold a great deal of resentment towards their order.”
Aimee huffed, then smoothed back a dark curl. “Well,perhaps,if the Time Queen and her followers had simply come forward rather than running away to wherever it was they went, the Sanctorum wouldn’t have been forced to resort to such drastic measures during the Hunt.”
Skye raised a disapproving brow. The Hunt was still a sensitive subject in most circles. After the Schism, it took the Genesis Lords on the fey mainland almost a year to pry open the Seren Gate and regain access to Tempris. By that time, the Time Queen as well as every time mage under her command had inexplicably vanished. So, the Sanctorum was formed, and the Hunt began. The newly anointed officers were given a single directive—find the High Lady of Time and her followers.
However, when the time mages couldn’t be found—ultimately presumed dead when the time crystals began to lose their magic—the Sanctifiers, rather than surrender the power they’d been granted, created for themselves a new purpose. They convinced those still in mourning that “drastic measures” were needed to prevent another calamity. They fanned the flames of panic and hysteria, soaked the soil with innocent blood.
When Aimee opened her mouth to make some other careless remark, Skye cut her off. “The Schism and the Hunt were both tragedies.” His voice held a hidden edge, and he gave Aimee a meaningful look. “And they resulted in the deaths of far too many innocent people. People who had no connection to the Schism or the Queen. People without even the faintest trace of time magic,whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You would do well to remember that—especially if you have any intention of travelling to the mortal realm when the Aion Gate opens. I should not need to remind you that the Genesis Lords beyond the gate have publicly condemned the Sanctorum and the Dawn Court for continuing to support it.”
Aimee faltered, visibly surprised by Skye’s rebuke. This was the closest he had ever come to being rude, despite her repeated unwelcome and overly aggressive attempts to woo him. Clearing her throat uncomfortably, she stammered, “Forgive me, Skylen. I spoke out of turn.” Her cheeks flushed, the color dampened somewhat by the heavy cosmetic glamour she wore. “How… how is the Seren Gate different from the Aion Gate? They lead to different realms, so I assume there must be some differences in the way they function.”
“No,” Skye answered curtly. His eyes slid to the riders ahead of him, and he frowned when he saw Taly turn to Aiden and laugh at something the other man had said. “The Seren Gate and the Aion Gate function in exactly the same way. They just open on different schedules.”
“And what exactly does that mean?” Aimee looked to see what had captured Skye’s attention. When Taly glanced back, a broad smile on her face, the noblewoman turned her nose up into the air.
Skye shook his head, looking away from where Taly and Aiden rode side-by-side and refocusing on Aimee. “That means that time runs at a different pace in each of the gated realms. Since we don’t have the ability to force the timestreams to align, we have to wait for time inthe bridged realms to sync up with time here on Tempris. The fey mainland and Tempris are very similar—a year spent here is almost the same as a year spent on the mainland, give or take a few days. That’s why we’re able to open the Seren Gate several times a month.
“In contrast, the Aion Gate connects to the mortal realm. Time in the mortal realm generally runs far more slowly than on Tempris, so we have to wait for the rare moments when the two timestreams synchronize. When that happens, we charge up the gate and try to keep the power steady enough to stabilize the connection.”
“Stop,” Taly called out from the front of the procession. They were approaching a fork in the road. Aiden had stopped beside her, and Skye saw him whisper something as he tugged on the sleeve of her coat. Taly nodded, the tightness around her eyes melting away as she smiled back at him.
