Free Treasure of Light (The Light Trilogy) by Kathleen O’Neal Page B

response, the lavender fires on the horizon died, leaving them in a shadowy world. The glacial wilderness seemed to close in around her. Towering snowscapes leaned inward like huge hunching beasts. “You mean you can save him—but won’t—unless I cooperate with you?”
    “I mean we can save him. And everyone else in the universe for that matter. Including your beautiful daughter.”
    There it was. The deal laid out clearly. Jeremiel and Sybil in exchange for her. Her voice trembled when she spoke: “And if I refuse?”
    “It’s your choice. It always has been.”
    “What happens if I say no?”
    “Truly … everything you love will die.”
    She squeezed her eyes closed in futility. “I hate you! I can’t bear the thought of being your pawn.”
    “You’d rather allow billions upon billions to suffer terribly until Epagael gets bored?”
    “But you’re the Deceiver! All the Old Books—”
    “Yes, yes,” he said shortly. “We’ve already discussed Epagael’s propaganda and I’ll be happy to discuss it further in the future, but right now, my dear Rachel, you must make a small decision. You’ve met God. Who’s more the monster? Him, or me?”
    “I don’t know!”
    “Well,” he sighed and put his hands on his hips, pacing with such charismatic grace she couldn’t take her eyes from him. “Perhaps we can compromise?”
    “How?” All this is gamesmanship. I’ve no choice. To save Sybil and Jeremiel, I’ll do anything. And he knows it.
    He gazed at her from wounded eyes, as though he’d heard that thought. “For all the eons I’ve waited, I can wait a little longer for an answer from you. But you must get on that ship.”
    He extended a hand and his face seemed to glow more brightly, splashing the plateau with a wavering pool of gold. His cloak billowed around him like the great blue wings of a monstrous bird.
    “Rachel,” he said with soft urgency, extending his hand a little further. “It’s now or never. Jeremiel just stopped the scorch attack and has dispatched a samael for you, but you’re in a much different place than the captain expects. If he has to waste a lot of time looking for you, Jeremiel’s enemies on board will change their plans and target him. You’re going to lose a friend you love and your world will be next. You must return to the ice cave. Let me help you.”
    “Don’t touch me!” She backed away. “I just want you to leave me alone.”
    “I can’t do that, Rachel.”
    He gazed at her through stony amber eyes and held up his crystalline hand. A whirling blackness appeared in the glacial air, like a gaping hole in time and space. Rachel’s heart thundered. She’d seen that maw before. The last time it had burned all her faith, all her dreams, to blackened empty husks. The warm winds of eternity brushed her, blowing her long hair like a midnight breeze of summer.
    She turned to run, but the ebony vortex swirled out, hovering over her like a huge black beast. She slipped and cried out as she fell down the slope. The vortex descended, swallowing her up. Rachel screamed, falling, falling….
    An instant later, she landed before the ice cave again. She panted and clawed her way toward the cave entry to get out of the fatal wind.
    “One last thing,” Aktariel called from out of the disappearing maw. “Make sure you’re armed when you step off that samael into the landing bay of the Hoyer.”
    Then the void spun closed, leaving her alone in the windswept silver wasteland. Rachel got on her knees and lifted her fists to the heavens. “What’s happening to me?” she shouted. “What game is this?”
    Only a roaring rush of wind answered.
     
    CHAPTER 6
     
    Avel Harper ran a hand through his six-inch halo of hair. He stood beside Jeremiel in the tiny ward room outside of Engineering. On a series of overhead screens, they studied the distribution and numbers of vessels bringing up Horebian refugees. It had been only four hours since they’d taken over the ship