Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137226 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 686(@200wpm)___ 549(@250wpm)___ 457(@300wpm)
“Brynla Aihr,” the man says to me in a rough, whispered voice, his mouth slightly crooked. “We finally meet.”
He doesn’t have any of the dark and brooding features of the Kolbecks, so I’m not sure who this man is. He has a smooth, high forehead, his skin pale with shadows under his eyes and cheekbones, and his age is hard to place, like he could be in his fifties, or he could be in his thirties.
“Who are you?” I manage to say.
“Ah,” he says, with a slow nod. “I often forget that others don’t know of me like I know of them. I am Sae Belak. The Truthmaster for House Kolbeck.”
“The what?”
“Truthmaster,” he says patiently, his lips tugging up in a crooked manner.
“I don’t know what a Truthmaster is.”
He lifts his chin lightly. “Hmmm. No, I suppose you don’t. We are used by Harbringers at the convent and even by the government deep within the walls of Lerick’s crypts. You’ve heard of Cappus Zoreth, the one with the sight?”
I scoff. Cappus Zoreth, the one who started the Saints of Fire, has been drilled into every Eslander’s psyche at a young age, particularly at the convent. “I’m aware.”
“Of course you are. It was the Truthmasters who gave him that sight.”
Interesting. That is something I have never heard before. Regardless, this man and his robes and his way are giving me flashbacks to the Daughters of Silence, and I don’t like it. Still, he’s here and talking.
“So you give the Kolbecks sight, you help them see into future?”
He nods. “Only those who want to communicate with the goddesses directly. Most people don’t. So far only Torsten and Vidar take part. The others remain…wary.”
I frown. “You help people communicate with the goddesses? But the Soffers in Esland don’t worship any goddesses. They worship the dragons alone.”
“Maybe they are all one and the same thing,” he says, his eyes shifting colors in a strange way, like there are literal sparks in his eyes. “Come, let me walk to you Master Steiner’s lab.”
I stiffen with unease. “How did you know I was looking for Steiner?”
A patient smile appears on his smooth face. “The goddesses told me. That’s why I stepped out of the chapel to greet you.”
I look down at Lemi. My dog is paying the Truthmaster close attention, his ears pricked up, but he doesn’t seem to be nervous. Then again, he likes people more than I do.
“Come this way,” Sae Balek says, and when he turns to face the light that’s coming out of the stained-glass windows that look out into the courtyard, his eyes begin to change further, like the gold irises are starting to bleed into the whites, and the color is becoming metallic.
“You’re noticing my eyes,” he says as he keeps walking, facing directly ahead. “Do not be alarmed. This is them in their natural state. I use tricks of the light to make them seem normal, so that I don’t scare people when I first meet them.”
The man doesn’t need gold eyes to scare people, but I keep that comment to myself.
“You’re not curious as to why they’re gold?” he prods.
“I assumed if it was important you’d tell me,” I say truthfully.
His lopsided mouth curves into a smile. “You would be right. I have the sight—I do not need eyes to see. They have been taken out and replaced by the gold of the goddesses. Do you know about that material?”
I shake my head, more interested in the fact that he had his eyes taken out than the material itself. Why would anyone do such a gruesome thing? Even the extremist Soffers didn’t go to such lengths—although they do come close.
“I’m sure Steiner will fill you in,” he says, pausing outside an iron door that’s across from the one Andor and I exited last night into the back orchard. He knocks lightly on the door and gives me yet another patient smile, though it’s hard to read his face as anything but menacing with those two gold orbs staring at me, seeing but not seeing.
The door opens and a bleary-eyed Steiner is on the other side, a mug of something hot and steaming in his hand, the aroma rich and foreign.
“I have Lady Aihr to see you,” Sae Belak says in his whispery voice. “And her loyal hound. Do you have any findings on the new growth?”
Steiner rubs his chin and yawns. “Not yet. Perhaps tomorrow. I’ll find you when I do.”
“That would be appreciated,” Sae Belak says with a slight bow before leaving back down the hall, his robes fluttering behind him.
I look back to Steiner. “Good morning,” I say to him, suddenly feeling awkward. “I’m not sure how that gold-eyed man knew I wanted to meet with you this morning, but he insisted he bring me here.”
“Sae Belak? He knows a lot,” Steiner says mildly, and then steps back, gesturing for me to come inside. Unlike the more tailored garments he was wearing at dinner last night, he’s now dressed in a black smock that covers him to his knees, burgundy red pants beneath. “Andor mentioned last night after dinner that he wanted to bring you by the lab. I’m surprised he’s not here.”